This is the final King of the Ring pay-per-view to date, outside of a WWE Network special event in 2015 that you've probably forgotten existed. After many years of being one of the lowest bought events on the calendar, Vince decided to add some extra stakes to this year's tournament, offering up a WWE Championship match to the winner. Honestly, that's probably all it would take to bring in significantly more interest to the tournament in the future, but the stipulation only got a one year trial. As the years wore on, it did seem as if this decision was a mistake, as other annual events that would take the place of King of the Ring continued to bring in lower and lower buyrates, though that lack of success was evidently never enough for Vince to reconsider. It's a shame, as King of the Ring still holds some nostalgic value for parts of the fanbase, and I've seen through my reviews that it was, on average, more entertaining than the other non-Big 4 shows. With that in mind, did King of the Ring deliver a compelling night of action on it's ride into the sunset? Spoiler alert, not exactly.
- King of the Ring 2002 comes to you from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, the home of the Blue Jackets and the first of four WWE pay-per-views to be hosted in this venue. Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler are on the call.
- Our opening contests are both of the two semi-finals matches in the King of the Ring tournament, with the two winners advancing to face off later in the night. We kicks off with Chris Jericho versus Rob Van Dam, a wise decision, as these two bring plenty of action for the table to get the crowd pumping. Jericho cheats early and often, and draws a considerable amount of heat for his shenanigans, impressive considering his slide down the card. Jericho gets the better of an exciting sequence, leaping over a leg sweep by Van Dam, whipping Van Dam into an exposed turnbuckle and hitting a release German suplex for a near fall. More near misses on three counts follow, with Van Dam connecting on a split-legged moonsault and Jericho getting the Lionsault on his second attempt. The crowd is fully hooked after Jericho counters a hurricanrana into the Walls of Jericho, but Van Dam quickly escapes, crotching Jericho on the top rope and nailing the Five-Star Frog Splash to secure victory. Afterwards, Jericho sets up Van Dam as an absolute underdog later in the night, as not only will be facing one of Brock Lesnar or Test, but he'll also be going in hurt, as Jericho jumps Rob and locks in the Walls of Jericho again.
- Speaking of Lesnar and Test, they collide in an absolute hoss fight up next. These two just batter each other, Test getting his stock elevated by going toe-to-toe with the seemingly untouchable "Next Big Thing", unleashing some powerful offense and the type of babyface fire I've rarely seen from him. The highlight of this war was Test countering a powerbomb to absolutely wallop Brock with a Big Boot, Brock narrowly getting his shoulder up in a great near fall. Test lines up for a second chance at Brock's jaw, but Paul Heyman jumps on the apron, and Lesnar takes advantage of the split second opening to lift Test up and end it with an F-5. Following the Jericho/Van Dam match with this one was inspired booking, as each match presented something completely different and both were exciting in their own way.
- It's odd to look back on a time when the cruiserweights of WWE were getting dramatic storylines and a solid amount of airtime, but the feud between The Hurricane and Jamie Noble over Hurricane's Cruiserweight title has gotten a lot of development. It's all centered around Noble's girlfriend, Nidia, who had dated and been dumped by Hurricane in kayfabe, and the trailer park couple were out for revenge. The crowd absolutely doesn't care about this rivalry, unfortunately, as they're dead silent heading into this encounter, and Noble and Hurricane didn't give them much more of a reason to take notice with a forgettable, underwhelming match. Both men work a lot of holds, and trade some well executed offense that lacks the flashy athleticism of most cruiserweight matches of the time. To their credit, they do try and raise the stakes late into the match, but a suplex to the outside by Hurricane nearly goes completely wrong, as Noble nearly destroys his knee with an ugly landing on the floor. Both men redeem themselves with a top rope swinging neckbreaker, just about the only move in the match that gets a reaction from the crowd, and Noble proves his toughness by surviving that and kicking out of a chokeslam. Noble blocks a dive by Hurricane to hit a stiff powerbomb, and Nidia blocks Hurricane's foot from reaching the bottom rope, allowing her boyfriend to get the three and the belt.
- The WWE roster was absolutely loaded with talent coming out of the purchase of WCW, allowing for the possibility of some truly exciting dream matches. Off all the different combinations, I honestly think pitting Eddie Guerrero against Ric Flair might the best of them all, and getting to witness a showdown between two of the most charismatic men in professional wrestling felt like an absolute privilege. Unfortunately, this match comes during a period where Flair wasn't quite feeling his best as a performer, and it was also thrown together at the last minute, as the departure of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin jeopardized the plans for a singles match between Austin and Flair, the payoff to months of building tension between the two. Flair and Guerrero just don't bring the fire and intensity you would expect out of them, working a soulless 17 minute match that never gets out of first gear. Eddie spends a good portion of time working Flair's leg, building up to an application of the Figure Four on Flair, but after failing to get a tap out, Eddie moves on to rest holds on other parts of the body, abandoning all the work he had just done, top class psychology there. Flair trades back with some attacks to the leg to set up a Figure Four of his own, but Chris Benoit, aligned with Eddie as a pair of brand-hopping troublemakers, turns up to lock in a Crippler Crossface on Flair on the outside. The referee breaks that up, and the distraction allows Bubba Ray Dudley to even the playing field, sneaking in to hit a Bubba Bomb on Guerrero, handing Flair the win.
- The Women's Championship between defending champion Trish Stratus and challenger Molly Holly was mostly just an excuse for Jerry Lawler to break out a whole bunch of jokes about Molly's underwear and weight, although the actual match was solid enough. Trish has progressed well as a wrestler, Molly is very polished in the ring, and the two women put together a few solid sequences, like Molly spiking Trish into the bottom rope with a drop toe hold following a victory roll by Trish, and Stratus hitting a Chick Kick to knock Molly off the apron. Molly picks up a cheap title win here, grabbing Trish's tights for leverage after a roll-up.
- In another clash between a current midcard standout and a past legend, Kurt Angle meets Hulk Hogan in a battle of two so-called "American Heroes", though Angle correctly points out that his contributions to this country are far greater than Hogan's. Obviously, Hogan isn't going to be able to work Angle's intense style, though the two men cobble together a solid enough 12 minute match, with Angle doing most of the heavy lifting. To his credit, Hogan does take a few bumps, even taking an Angle Slam from Kurt that led to a near fall, followed by a fun spot where Angle pull down the straps of his singlet only for Hogan to start Hulking Up. Kurt's silly wig and headgear are removed, so he fakes walking out on the match, only to try a sneak attack with a chair that backfires, as his swing of the chair bounces off the top rope back into his face. Hulk wants the Leg Drop, but Angle catches the leg, quickly applying the Ankle Lock. Hogan desperately tries to get free, but can't get Angle to let go, and for what I believe is the only time in his career, Hogan has to tap out. Big win for Angle, very gratifying to see how much faith the company has in him.
- The finals of the King of the Ring tournament are short and sweet, as Rob Van Dam comes up short against Brock Lesnar. Van Dam does get a few hope spots, nailing his Rolling Thunder for a near fall on an emphatic kick out by Brock, then the Five-Star Frog Splash connects. Heyman attempts to stop a pin by spiking Van Dam on the top rope, but that almost backfires, as Van Dam falls backward into the cover and Brock dramatically kicks out just before 3. Van Dam then tries a twisting crossbody, and Brock plucks him out of the air, drilling RVD with an F-5 to claim victory. These two were capable of a lot more than this, which we got to see next month at Vengeance, but this was still a fine way to continue Brock's push, and that Heyman spot was a brilliant piece of heel comeuppance.
- Main event time, as The Undertaker defends the WWE Undisputed Championship against Triple H. These two have had some terrific WrestleMania matches against each other, including an entertaining arena-wide brawl just over a year earlier, but this was an absolute snoozer. Both men turn in woeful performances in a match that felt like it lasted an ice age, with the only entertainment coming after The Rock shows up. Before that point, though, this was just terrible, and included an embarrassing spinebuster delivered by Triple H, with Undertaker not able to get high enough off the ground to provide the type of impact that move normally hits with. Paul Heyman is on commentary for a little while and offers nothing, a far cry from his amazing work in the booth the previous year, and then The Rock chases him out of there. Undertaker attacks Rock for absolutely no reason, and the two go at it with referee Earl Hebner down. Rock accidentally clonks Triple H with the chair, and Undertaker follows up with the Last Ride, but Triple H kicks out, and Undertaker takes out the replacement referee, Nick Patrick. With Hebner still down, Undertaker is able to survive a Rock Bottom and a Pedigree, hitting a low blow on Triple H and rolling "The Game" up to win. I have no clue why that was booked to be the finish, as Undertaker never attempts roll-ups, it's bizarre to see him win with one. I have to think this was supposed to be the way to make Triple H look as strong as possible in defeat, rather than going more cleanly after that Last Ride, and also the weaker finish made it more plausible for him to recover for the post-match angle, where he drops Rock with a Pedigree, a weird action to take given Rock did everything possible to ensure Triple H would win this match. Just strange choices all the way around in this match, and the fact that it was an absolute stinker really doesn't help.
4/10
I really wanted to rally for King of the Ring '02, to be able to curse out Vince for cancelling this staple and ruining everything. But it would be disingenuous to claim that this was a good show, though the big wins for Brock and Kurt were well appreciated, and the first two matches had their moments. The main event was by far the biggest negative for this show, a disaster of a match that offered little substance and did nothing to make you look forward to any potential world title matches.
If you're interested in seeing my takes on the next 9 events, you can check out my reviews of Vengeance 2002, SummerSlam 2002, Unforgiven 2002, No Mercy 2002, Survivor Series 2002, Armageddon 2002, Royal Rumble 2003, No Way Out 2003, and WrestleMania 19. Happy reading.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Backlash 2003, where Goldberg debuts in the WWE for a blockbuster match with The Rock. See you soon.
- Henry
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