WWE King of the Ring Flashback
June 25, 2000 - 10 years ago
Top Ten Things To Know!

(1) KOTR Conclusion: One of the worst tournament brackets in terms of quality match-ups helped spell the doom of the KOTR tournament as a standalone PPV.

(2) KOTR Final: Kurt Angle beat Rikishi in a five-minute match to become King of the Ring.

(3) Main Event: The Rock & Kane & Undertaker beat Triple H & Vince McMahon & Shane McMahon.

(4) KOTR Semi-Finals: Angle beat Crash Holly, Rikishi beat Val Venis in three-minute matches.

(5) KOTR Quarter-Finals: Angle beat Chris Jericho, Crash beat Bull Buchanan, Venis beat Eddie Guerrero, Rikishi beat Chris Benoit via DQ.

(6) Best Match: Edge & Christian beat Too Cool to capture the WWF Tag Team Titles in a four-way match also involving Matt & Jeff Hardy and T&A. (***)

(7) Hardcore Style: Crash Holly lost in the semis of the KOTR, but captured the Hardcore Title.

(8) Wrestlers Currently On Raw: Triple H, Chris Jericho (technically).

(9) Wrestlers Currently On Smackdown: The Undertaker, Kane, Edge, Christian.

(10) Wrestlers Currently In TNA: Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Dudleys (Team 3D).

***

WWF KING OF THE RING
June 25, 2000
Boston, Mass.
Report by Wade Keller, PWTorch assistant editor

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introduced the program.

(1) Rikishi beat Chris Benoit by DQ at 3:22. At 1:45 Benoit applied a standing crossface and followed with some hard chops. At 2:35 Benoit applied the Crippler Crossface on the mat. When Rikishi wouldn't submit, Benoit went nuts and used a chair to prompt the DQ. As referees stormed the ring to check on Rikishi, Benoit climbed to the top rope and hit Rikishi with a headbutt. Barely a match, but okay while it lasted. (3/4*)

Backstage Vince McMahon said sometimes his wife gets the best of him, but in the end he will win. He said he is "Joe Cool" tonight. Shane McMahon, Triple H, and Stephanie were not convinced that Vince was going to stay cool...

(2) Val Venis pinned Eddie Guerrero at 8:06. Methodical opening minutes with solid, but unspectacular action void of heat. At 6:30 Val got a near fall with his feet on the ropes for leverage. At 7:15 Guerrero came back with a top rope huracanrana. Trish got on the ring apron leading to Eddie rolling up Val for a near fall. Val came back with his belly-to-back suplex for the surprise pin. (*3/4)

(3) Crash Holly beat Bull Buchanan at 4:00. By 1:45 the crowd was chanting "boring." At 3:50 Bull missed a scissors kick. Holly followed with a roll-up for the pin.

Backstage Linda met Vince in his office. Vince did a long promo about how it is Linda's fault that Rock & Undertaker & Kane will lose. He said because she insisted on adding the title change stip, they won't be able to work together. He said he won't need to interfere because Rock, Undertaker, and Kane will beat each other. Linda only said a few words.

(4) Kurt Angle pinned Chris Jericho at 9:50. After a decent opening three minutes, they went to a short chinlock on the mat as the crowd chanted "Angle sucks." The crowd wasn't especially responsive to the action despite both wrestlers being "over" in the WWF right now. They did pop for some of the more believable near falls. Angle went for a suplex, but Jericho escaped and applied the Walls of Jericho. Stephanie ran to ringside to distracted the ref while Angle was tapping out. Jericho released the hold to yell at the ref. Angle kneed Jericho from behind, knocking him into the ref. With the ref down, Stephanie entered the ring with the belt, but she hit Angle by mistake. Jericho then forced a kiss on Stephanie and dropped her to the mat. Angle then got up and gave Jericho his finishing suplex and scored the pin. Average match. (**1/4)

Vince and Shane discussed their strategy for the match. Shane didn't like Vince's vow not to have people interfere... Ross interviewed Mick Foley from the WWF New York nightclub sporting his new crew cut...

(5) Edge & Christian beat Too Cool to capture the WWF Tag Team Titles at 14:11 in a four-way match also involving Matt & Jeff Hardy and T&A (w/Trish Stratus). Edge and Christian called their pose the single greatest pose in the history of Boston. They reenacted the Bill Buckner infield error. At 3:40 Matt Hardy pinned Test. Hot opening minutes due to Hardy highspots. At 7:55 Christian pinned Matt Hardy. Grand Master entered the ring for the first time to face off against Edge. Christian got one-up on Scotty and then went face-to-face with Grand Master in the corner and mocked his dance routine. A few minutes later Edge and Christian both began mocking the worm set-up dance. Scotty got up and rammed their faces into the mat and then gave them both the real worm. When Grand Master had Edge pinned, the ref had to get Scotty out of the ring. With the ref's back turned, Christian entered and hit Grand Master with the title belt. Edge then scored the pin on Grand Master. (***)

(6) Rikishi pinned Val Venis at 3:13 with the back suplex to advance to the King of the Ring finals. After the match Trish jumped on Rikishi's back and tried to choke him, but he flipped her over setting her up for the Stink Face. Val stopped him and KO'd him with stairs... Jonathan Coachman interviewed Gerald Brisco. Somebody came by and asked Gerald if he wanted crotchless panties...

(7) Kurt Angle pinned Crash Holly at 3:53 with his finisher. Decent competitive match, but despite all of the upsets earlier, nobody thought Crash would win. (*1/4)

(8) Crash Holly pinned Pat Patterson to win the Hardcore Title in a match that began as Patterson vs. Gerald Brisco in a drag queen match. Patterson tried to sweet talk Gerald about their friendship, but then took a cheap shot. Patterson shoved a banana in Gerald's face, then pulled a tampon out from under his dress and rubbed it in Gerald's face. The crowd reacted with the bad kind of booing. At 2:15 Crash ran out and threw a trash can into the ring. He KO'd Patterson who had been ripped down to his red bra and panties, then scored the pin. During the replay, Ross begged for a shot of the outside of the arena instead. They gave it to him. [NR]

(9) X-Pac & Road Dogg & Tori beat The Dudleys in a tables vs. dumpster match at 9:40. At 3:30 D-Von gave both DX members headbutts to their crotches. He then did the same to Torrie which got a huge pop. His head stayed in her crotch for several seconds afterward which got an even bigger pop. Buh Buh got upset/jealous with D-Von and urged him to go after X-Pac and Road Dogg who were retreating toward the back. At 5:00 DX put the Dudleys into the dumpster, but the ref wasn't looking, so the Dudleys crawled out and hit DX with chairs from behind. Buh Buh powerbombed Road Dogg through two tables at ringside. X-Pac fought back and went to the top rope to splash D-Von through the table, but Buh Buh rocked the ropes and X-Pac lost balance and straddled the turnbuckle. D-Von then powerbombed X-Pac through the table. The Dudleys then went after Torrie, so she jumped into the dumpster. As the Dudleys looked into the dumpster and considered their next move, DX came out and nailed the Dudleys with chairs and knocked them into the dumpster for the win. After the match the Dudleys gave X-Pac and Road Dogg 3Ds, then powerbombed Tori through a table in order for the match to end with a babyface pop. (**3/4)

(10) Kurt Angle pinned Rikishi at 4:59 to win the King of the Ring tournament. At 3:00 Rikishi gave Angle the Stink Face to an average crowd pop. Angle came back quickly with a suplex on Rikishi for a near fall. At 3:45 Rikishi sat down on Angle and scored a very, very near fall which popped the crowd. Rikishi went to the top rope, but Angle suplexed him off of it and scored the pin. Angle celebrated as if he had just won the Gold Medal as Rikishi held his arm in agony at ringside. Later they showed Angle backstage drinking milk. Ross plugged that Angle would get a WWF Title shot at the July PPV. (*1/2)

(11) The Rock & Kane & Undertaker beat Triple H & Vince McMahon & Shane McMahon when Rock pinned Vince at 18:55. Kane roughed up Shane early. Shane crawled to ringside, but Undertaker caught him. Rock and Triple H then squared off at 3:00, but Triple H bailed out and tagged Shane back in. When Shane ended up at ringside again, Undertaker threw him back into the ring. At 5:30 Undertaker chokeslammed Shame in mid-ring. When he went for the cover, Rock pulled Undertaker off - the first sign that Vince's plan was going to work. Triple H came in and exchanged punches with Taker. Undertaker gave Triple H a DDT and went for the cover. Kane yanked Undertaker off of Triple H. When Shane whipped Rock into the ropes, Triple H yanked down on the top rope and Rock flew to the floor. The McMahons joined Triple H in kicking Rock. At 9:20, back in the ring Triple H gave Rock a Pedigree and scored a two count that was interrupted by Undertaker at ringside. At 15:40 Rock went for the People's Elbow, but Kane entered the ring and stopped him with a chokeslam. Triple H stood up and smiled. Kane nodded at Triple H. Triple H got a bit too friendly with Kane, so Kane gave him a tombstone (apparently they are approving that on a case by case basis). Undertaker chokeslammed Shane off the top rope through the announcing table in the bump of the night. In the ring, Vince stood over a fallen Rock. He then began the People's Elbow (which was funny), but Rock got up and caught him with a Rock Bottom for the win. After the match Undertaker shouted at Rock that he owes him one. He didn't look happy. (**3/4)

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE FLASHBACK: Kane character debuts 18 yrs. ago today in first-ever Hell in a Cell match - Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels

HIAC FLASHBACK: Kane beats Undertaker in HIAC match 5 yrs. ago today, plus Randy Orton vs. Sheamus for WWE Title

ROH FLASHBACK: The aftermath of Joe vs. Kobashi 10 years ago today