# King of the Ring (1985)

The 1985 King of the Ring was the inaugural King of the Ring professional wrestling tournament produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). The tournament was held on July 8, 1985, at the Sullivan Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, as a special non-televised house show. Don Muraco won the inaugural 1985 tournament. In addition to the tournament, there was only one other match during the night. In this match Hulk Hogan pinned Nikolai Volkoff in order to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Only the finals of the tournament and the main event where shown through closed circut (CCTV). The event drew 23,000 people of whom 20,000 were paid.

## Production
### Background

In 1985, to boost attendance at their house shows, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) scheduled their July 8, 1985, event as a tournament called the King of the Ring. It was a single-elimination tournament in where the winner would be crowned the "King of the Ring." The inaugural tournament was held at the Sullivan Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, as a special non-televised house show.

## Aftermath

A second tournament was scheduled for 1986, also as a non-televised house show, thus establishing the King of the Ring tournament as an annual event. The event continued to be held as a special non-televised house show up through 1989 and in 1991; a tournament was not held in 1990. A tournament was also not held in 1992, but returned in 1993, this time as a pay-per-view (PPV) entitled King of the Ring. Only the final few matches of the tournament took place at the PPV, with the first few tournament matches being held prior to the PPV. The PPV would continue until 2002, the same year that the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), after which the tournament would only be periodically held across episodes of Raw and SmackDown. However, the final match of the 2006 tournament took place at the Judgment Day PPV, while the semifinals and finals of the 2015 tournament aired as a WWE Network-exclusive event.

## Results

| No. | Results | Stipulations |
| 1 | Jim Brunzell defeated The Spoiler | King of the Ring tournament first round match |
| 2 | Tito Santana defeated Terry Funk by disqualification | King of the Ring tournament first round match |
| 3 | The Iron Sheik defeated B. Brian Blair | King of the Ring tournament first round match |
| 4 | Ricky Steamboat defeated Greg Valentine | King of the Ring tournament first round match |
| 5 | Les Thornton defeated Steve Lombardi | King of the Ring tournament first round match |
| 6 | Don Muraco defeated Junkyard Dog | King of the Ring tournament first round match |
| 7 | Pedro Morales defeated Johnny V | King of the Ring tournament first round match |
| 8 | Paul Orndorff vs. Bob Orton, Jr. ended in a double disqualification | King of the Ring tournament first round match |
| 9 | Jim Brunzell defeated Tito Santana | King of the Ring tournament quarterfinal match |
| 10 | The Iron Sheik defeated Ricky Steamboat | King of the Ring tournament quarterfinal match |
| 11 | Don Muraco defeated Les Thornton | King of the Ring tournament quarterfinal match |
| 12 | The Iron Sheik defeated Jim Brunzell | King of the Ring tournament semifinal match |
| 13 | Don Muraco defeated Pedro Morales | King of the Ring tournament semifinal match |
| 14 | Don Muraco defeated The Iron Sheik | King of the Ring tournament final match |
| 15 | Hulk Hogan (c) defeated Nikolai Volkoff | Singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship |
| (c) – the champion(s) heading into the match |||

### Tournament bracket

| First Round | First Round | First Round | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Final | Final | Final |
| Don Muraco | Don Muraco | PIN | | | | | | | | | | |
| Junkyard Dog | Junkyard Dog | 10:58 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Junkyard Dog | Junkyard Dog | 10:58 | Don Muraco | Don Muraco | PIN | | | | | | | |
| | | | Les Thornton | Les Thornton | 6:22 | | | | | | | |
| Les Thornton | Les Thornton | PIN | Les Thornton | Les Thornton | 6:22 | | | | | | | |
| Steve Lombardi | Steve Lombardi | 6:43 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Steve Lombardi | Steve Lombardi | 6:43 | | | | Don Muraco | Don Muraco | PIN | | | | |
| | | | | | | Pedro Morales | Pedro Morales | 14:52 | | | | |
| Paul Orndorff | Paul Orndorff | DDQ | | | | | | | Pedro Morales | Pedro Morales | 14:52 | | | | |
| Bob Orton, Jr. | Bob Orton, Jr. | 15:06 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bob Orton, Jr. | Bob Orton, Jr. | 15:06 | BYE | BYE | | | | | | | | |
| | | | Pedro Morales | Pedro Morales | | | | | | | | |
| Pedro Morales | Pedro Morales | PIN | Pedro Morales | Pedro Morales | | | | | | | | |
| Johnny V | Johnny V | 1:06 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Johnny V | Johnny V | 1:06 | | | | | | | | Don Muraco | Don Muraco | PIN |
| | | | | | | | | | | Iron Sheik | Iron Sheik | 12:55 |
| Tito Santana | Tito Santana | DQ | | | | | | | | | | | Iron Sheik | Iron Sheik | 12:55 |
| Terry Funk | Terry Funk | 13:48 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Terry Funk | Terry Funk | 13:48 | Tito Santana | Tito Santana | Draw | | | | | | | |
| | | | Jim Brunzell | Jim Brunzell | 20:00 | | | | | | | |
| Jim Brunzell | Jim Brunzell | PIN | Jim Brunzell | Jim Brunzell | 20:00 | | | | | | | |
| The Spoiler | The Spoiler | 7:15 | | | | | | | | | | |
| The Spoiler | The Spoiler | 7:15 | | | | Jim Brunzell | Jim Brunzell | 7:43 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Iron Sheik | Iron Sheik | PIN | | | | |
| Ricky Steamboat | Ricky Steamboat | PIN | | | | | | | Iron Sheik | Iron Sheik | PIN | | | | |
| Greg Valentine | Greg Valentine | 19:59 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Greg Valentine | Greg Valentine | 19:59 | Ricky Steamboat | Ricky Steamboat | 10:55 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Iron Sheik | Iron Sheik | PIN | | | | | | | |
| The Iron Sheik | The Iron Sheik | PIN | Iron Sheik | Iron Sheik | PIN | | | | | | | |
| B. Brian Blair | B. Brian Blair | 8:06 | | | | | | | | | | |
Hulk Hogan (c) defeated Nikolai Volkoff
1. ^ Tito Santana fought Jim Brunzell to a time limit draw; Brunzell then won a coin toss to determine who would continue in the tournament.