Mike Reviews WWE King of the Ring 2002

Happy Royal Saturday Everyone!

We continue our journey into 2002 WWE, with King of the Ring 2002. Feel free to catch yourself up on what happened at Judgment Day and Insurrextion before we move ahead with King of the Ring. As the name would suggest, the big issue to be dealt with on this show is the King of the Ring tournament itself, but we’ve also got Triple H Vs Undertaker and Kurt Angle Vs Hulk Hogan to enjoy!

So, find your favourite pair of regal slippers and let’s settle in for King of the Ring 2002! You can view the card for the event by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=2308&page=3

King of the Ring 2002 is emanating from Columbus, Ohio on the 23rd of June 2002

Calling the action are Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole and Tazz

The opening video package shows some previous King of the Ring winners, although it omits Mabel, Ken Shamrock and Billy Gunn. I get them not wanting to show Mabel due to how embarrassing it was in hindsight, and Shamrock wasn’t in WWE at the time, but why would they leave out Billy Gunn when he was currently in the Tag Title picture with Chuck Palumbo? #JusticeForKingAss

Opening Match
King of the Ring Semi Final
Chris Jericho (Smackdown) Vs Rob Van Dam (Raw)

Jericho got in a bad mood following this one as he didn’t think reviewers were giving it high enough ratings, so hopefully this doesn’t get me in hot water if I don’t like it enough! We get arm drags into the old Central American stand-off in the early going, which the crowd appreciates, and that leads into RVD getting a proper shine on Jericho after Jericho decides to slap the Van Daminator. There’s actually a faint “EC-Dub” chant going on at one stage, although it doesn’t last for long. The babyface shine is a really good showcase for RVD, as he gets to hit most of his cool innovative high flying moves, and he even gets to dive out onto Jericho at one stage. However, when RVD heads up for the Five Star Frog Splash, Jericho kicks the referee into the ropes and RVD ends up crotching himself for the cut off.

That was actually quite a clever cut off spot, as Jericho could always explain that he kicked out at the referee accidentally and the referee can’t prove otherwise because he wasn’t looking at him at the time, so he is grudgingly forced to allow the match to continue. Jericho looks good during the heat, as he takes part in classic Heel antics such as removing the turnbuckle pad from one of the corners and choking RVD with some wrist tape. RVD does a decent job of selling everything and the crowd stays into the match for the most part, either cheering for RVD to fight back or booing Jericho for being in control. Jericho eventually misses a shoulder tackle in the corner, and that gives RVD an opening to make the comeback, with RVD doing a good job of mixing in high flying RVD styled offence into the traditional formula.

Jericho fires back by folding RVD up with a nice looking German Suplex, as this has been a very fun opener. It’s not been the Five Star Classic that Jericho seemingly thought it was back in 2002, but it’s still been a darn good start to the show and the crowd has enjoyed it. We get some nice near falls, with RVD busting out the Split-Legged Moonsault for two at one stage, whilst Jericho sends RVD into the exposed buckle from earlier for two in a nice callback. They do a really nice sequence where Jericho misses a Lionsault and RVD misses the Frog Splash, leading to Jericho getting the Lionsault on the second attempt for two in a tightly executed near fall. Jericho actually manages to lock in the classic Lion Tamer due to RVD being so flexible, but RVD manages to grab the ropes and the Frog Splash ends it for RVD soon after.

WINNER: ROB VAN DAM
RATING: ****

Thoughts: Excellent match there, as they were both working really hard and the crowd appreciated the action on display. This was a good match-up for RVD stylistically, as Jericho can usually adapt quite well to whatever opponent he’s in there with

RVD doesn’t care if it’s Test, Brock Lesnar or even Godzilla in the Final, because he’s going to win, although Jericho attacks RVD from behind in order to get his heat back for the loss and to also give RVD an even bigger mountain to climb in the Final.

Backstage, Paul Heyman is happy that Jericho beat up RVD and then hypes Brock Lesnar up a bit, making fun of the Godzilla comparison.

Match Two
King of the Ring Semi Final
Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman (Raw) Vs Test (Smackdown)

Lesnar was getting the monster push over on Raw, whilst Test was getting his bi-annual renewed push, which he usually got due to being big and physically impressive. It’s an interesting opponent for Lesnar actually, as rather than putting him in there with someone he can easily maul he’s instead in there with a hefty big dude who will actually be able to mix it up with him somewhat. Plus, Test is also a Heel, meaning that someone is going to have to play subtle babyface tonight. It looks like it will be Test, as he gets to fire up in the early going and take down Lesnar with clotheslines and the like. Lesnar of course shrugs all of that off, because Brock, and then takes Test down with a Spine Buster seemingly for the cut off.

Test doesn’t sell too badly during the heat, although the crowd reactions are a bit disappointing because the crowd doesn’t really want to cheer for Test, so they don’t have a lot to do here other than occasionally being wowed by a Lesnar display of strength. It’s quite an effective way of putting Lesnar over actually, as Test had been around for going on three years at this point and he’d held multiple singles Titles during that time, so Lesnar coming in and dominating him this way naturally makes him look impressive. Test does eventually start fighting back though, getting a couple of near falls with some high impact offence.

Sadly they spoil things a bit by having Lesnar need Heyman’s assistance to win, which takes away some of Lesnar’s lustre somewhat. Test is a solid mid-card player, but he’s not going to be near the World Title picture at any real point, whereas Lesnar is supposed to be a Main Eventer in waiting, so really he shouldn’t need help from his manager to win here. Test can by all means get a healthy amount of offence in, because ultimately Lesnar shrugging it off and winning is only going to make him look even scarier, whilst Test can brag that he physically took the fight to the Champion elect. Lesnar does get to kick out of Test’s Big Boot at least, in a near fall the crowd actually buys into, but Heyman then distracts Test and that leads to an F-5 from Lesnar for the three.

WINNER: BROCK LESNAR
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: Some of the counterproductive booking and lacking crowd reactions aside, this was a fine HOSS match, as they just wellied one another until it was time to take it home. I could have lived without the Heyman distraction finish, but Lesnar’s push ended up being fine in the end, so it’s only a small quibble on my part in the grand scheme of things

The Raw locker room are happy that it’s two Raw guys in the Final. Bubba Ray Dudley picks Brock Lesnar to win, whilst the Smackdown guys are unhappy. Lance Storm and Christian are particularly unhappy that there will be no Canadians in the Final.

Michael Cole and Tazz hype up the Cruiserweight Title match, as that belt is ackscloosive to Smackdown. The match then gets a video package, which didn’t usually happen with Cruiser matches. I guess this one of those rare periods where WWE was taking the division somewhat seriously?

Match Three
WWE Cruiserweight Title
Champ: The Hurricane Vs Jamie Noble w/ Nidia

The story here was that Hurricane was getting threatening notes and it was revealed that Nidia was the cause, due to her being an embittered former girlfriend. Noble was then introduced as Nidia’s new beau, setting this one up. There was also a separate storyline point going on that Nidia was turned on by violence (well, Paul Heyman WAS booking at the time) but I don’t think that one lasted for long and soon both Nidia and Noble were just wacky white trash characters without the sadism aspect. Hurricane shines on Noble to start, even getting a Shining Wizard at one stage but it’s just treated like a transition move here. The action itself is quite good, although the crowd doesn’t get that into it. Nidia eventually distracts Hurricane and lures him to ringside, where Noble is able to take the Champion down with a clothesline for the cut off.

Noble works well during the heat, looking good on offence, with Hurricane actually managing to draw some cheers from the crowd. I think the fact this match had an actual storyline reason for existing has helped somewhat with keeping the crowd invested slightly more than they would be a for a cold Cruiserweight Title bout. For some reason, WWE fans just never really accepted or got into the Cruiserweight division, even when they brought it back in the 2010’s. I think there’s just something ingrained in the mind of the average WWE fan to just not take a lighter weight division seriously, even when the wrestling is good like it has been here and the wrestlers actually have proper characters and aren’t just “small dude who does a wrestle”. Years of WWF/E being all about the big guys and the lighter weight divisions being treated as unimportant probably just sits on the fan’s mind.

Hurricane does eventually get a good reaction for fighting out of a rest hold and then makes the comeback, getting the Overcastle out of the corner for two at one stage. We trade near falls, with Noble continuing to look good on offence and Hurricane showing some good fire. Nidia once again provides a distraction by stealing Hurricane’s cape, but Hurricane suplexes Noble to the floor in response and then gets a nice dive from the top rope onto the challenger. They’ve been getting some okay reactions here at points, they’ve just struggled to maintain it throughout the majority of the bout. Hurricane ends up getting an awesome Neck Breaker on Noble from the top rope into the ring, and that gets a nice pop, but Nidia distracts the referee so that he can’t count, which protects the cool move at least. Hurricane looks to finish with the Choke Slam following that, but Noble kicks out in a great near fall. Noble replies with a Powerbomb and Hurricane gets his foot on the rope, but Nidia pushes it off without the ref seeing and that leads to Noble getting the three.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: JAMIE NOBLE
RATING: ***1/4

Thoughts: This was a good match, with some solid wrestling and decent character work from all three involved in the match. Nidia’s interference may have got a bit OTT at points, but it got the message across that she was an effective valet and Noble got enough offence in the match itself that he didn’t look like an ineffective goof who only won because of his manager

Earlier today, The Rock arrives.

Terri Runnels is interviewing Eddy Guerrero, which of course leads to Eddy giving a shout out to his extended family, because that’s high comedy apparently. Eddy does eventually get serious and act all mean about his match with Ric Flair next. This wasn’t Eddy’s best promo.

Match Four
“Latino Heat” Eddy Guerrero Vs “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair

This one came about because Eddy and Chris Benoit were Flair’s hired goons whilst he was the Raw owner, but now that Flair has been ousted from power, his boys have turned on him and they’re feuding. This was a pretty wild time for WWE, with Stone Cold walking out and then Vince McMahon just deciding to retake control of the company again, only to then bring in General Manager’s. You didn’t know what was going to happen each week, and not in an exciting “I can’t wait to see what happens next” way but rather a more chaotic “what the heck is this company doing?!” way. This is clearly the home video version on the network because they’ve dubbed out Flair’s theme with the one he used in 1992 whilst being WWF Champion. Flair is so tanned here that he’s almost resembling Urien from the Street Fighter series.

This was during a period where Flair was dealing with a lot of self doubt in real life, with him not really feeling like he got his mojo back until Evolution came along, so he doesn’t really “feel” like he’s Ric Flair here. However, the crowd still loves Flair’s trademark chops, taunts and spots, so the match has good reactions when Flair gets to do that stuff. Flair gets the better of the contest in the early going, with Eddy’s chest soon turning beet red from all of Flair’s brutal fiery chops. Eddy eventually targets Flair’s leg, which Flair of course sells well, but the crowd doesn’t seem to care that much about things now that Flair is on the defensive. Eddy even putting Flair in his own Figure Four Leg Lock doesn’t really elicit a reaction from the crowd. I’m not sure if that’s just because the crowd doesn’t dislike Eddy enough to care that he’s beating up Flair, or if they only really care to see Flair play the hits and him selling in a bout with a seven point match structure just isn’t what they came to see.

Eddy eventually misses a Frog Splash and Flair attacks Eddy’s legs, which is Chris Benoit’s cue to join us in an attempt to help out Eddy. Flair locks in the Figure Four on Eddy, but once again the crowd doesn’t care, which is super weird considering that it was really the only proper move that Flair was still doing in 2002 outside of the occasional suplex. Sadly they can’t manage the classic backslide power up counter spot (which isn’t an easy spot to do in fairness) and Eddy gets a Spinning DDT for two when Flair gets his foot on the ropes. The crowd is so silent here that you could hear a pin drop, it’s very unnerving. Benoit tries interfering, but the ref isn’t having that and sends Benoit to the back, which allows Bubba Ray Dudley to come into the ring and attack Eddy whilst the ref is distracted with Benoit, leading to Flair getting the pin for three.

WINNER: RIC FLAIR
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: The actual wrestling here wasn’t horrible or anything, but outside of the crowd reacting to Flair’s chops early on, they sat on their hands for the rest of the bout and it left the whole thing feeling really flat and lifeless. It’s a shame, as when you see two stars of this calibre opposing one another you do at least expect that the crowd will be excited to see it, but that wasn’t the case here at all. A very underwhelming bout overall

In Times Square, William Regal and Chris Nowinski are complaining about their waitress, so she tampers with their feud. Thrilling stuff, although Regal using British slang and vernacular is always a positive.

Match Five
WWE World Women’s Title
Champ: Trish Stratus Vs Molly Holly

Holly had cost Stratus the belt back at Backlash, but Stratus has since won it back and now they are wrestling one another for it. This was during the period where we were all supposed to believe that Holly was an ugly frump with a big bum, because I guess the writing team thought that was funny or something? I mean, even if we disregard the fact that Holly’s rear end was no bigger than really most of the other women on the roster at the time, a large bottom is hardly something that everyone finds unattractive. There are plenty of people who would consider an above average sized caboose to be a feature as opposed to a bug you know? Basically, Molly Holly is not even remotely ugly when compared to the average human, so WWE trying to present her as some kind of sour faced ghoul was just really stupid.

They wrestle this one at a quick clip, and it’s generally good action, as Holly was a very good wrestler and Stratus was gradually improving as an in-ring performer thanks to working with the likes of Holly and Jazz. Holly targets Stratus’ arm in the early going, with Stratus selling well and holding her own on offence when it comes time for her to fight back. They’ve worked this one smartly actually, with the more experienced Holly taking control of the majority of the bout and Stratus having brief flurries before getting cut off again. It plays to the strengths of both wrestlers at this current stage in both of their respective careers, as Stratus wasn’t quite ready to be controlling matches yet, but she was getting there and improving on a regular basis.

Stratus eventually manages to stop Holly before she can come off the top with something and gets the headstand rana off the top before making a comeback. Scott Keith made a good point of this back in the day, in that Stratus switching to forearms and elbows was a smart move on her part, as it’s easier to deliver those rather than worked punches and it helped keep Stratus’ work from looking too soft during this development stage of her career. Holly misses the Molly Go Round from the top rope, but she is able to counter a Stratus follow-up pin attempt with a tights assisted pinning hold of her own and that wins Holly the Title.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: MOLLY HOLLY
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: Solid stuff here, with the match being structured well and Holly at least getting a Title run as a way to take the edge off this awful character they gave her. Holly did an excellent job of controlling things and Stratus carried her end of it well, so it ended up being a successful outing

Marc Lloyd is backstage with Kurt Angle. Angle is offended that someone would refer to Hulk Hogan as being an American Hero. This was a solid promo from Angle, although the crowd yelling “WHAT” ruined it somewhat.

Match Six
“The Real American Hero” Kurt Angle Vs Hollywood Hulk Hogan

Angle was angry at Hogan being referred to as an American Hero, as Angle felt only he deserved that distinction. That works for a feud! There was also an additional thing going on where Angle had lost his hair in a match with Edge and he was wearing a silly wig under wrestling head gear, with Hogan trying to encourage Angle to embrace the baldness. The crowd comes alive for this one like they haven’t since the opener, with Hogan being way over and the match being designed well in order to give the fans chances to cheer in the early going when Hogan is able to shine on Angle. Angle of course takes impressive bumps in order to make Hogan look good, with the two having decent chemistry together as opponents.

Hogan can’t really take most of Angle’s high impact move-set, so Angle has to focus on mostly basic offence like punches and whatnot, but the crowd is into the match enough that it doesn’t feel lesser that we’re not getting the full Angle experience here. Angle’s Heel stooging for Hogan is really first class here, but he eventually manages to catch Hogan with a mule kick (unseen by the referee) and that’s enough for the cut off. Hogan sells well whilst taking the heat (I know, Hulk Hogan being a good babyface in peril, who knew?) and Angle continues to keep it simple with punches, kicks and stomps, although Hogan does take a back suplex at one stage as well. It was probably one of the nicest and safest back suplexes that you’ll see, but it still looked okay and it was a bigger bump than I though Hogan would be capable of taking here.

Hogan eventually fights his way out of an Angle chin lock, with the crowd eating it all up with a spoon, but Angle manages to counter a Hogan attempt at a Sleeper Hold into yet another suplex and that’s the double down. The Olympic Slam follows that, but Hogan kicks out at two and starts Hulking Up, with the crowd loving it. Seeing 2002 Era WWE fans losing it over Hulk Hogan’s act is always wild to see, but he fit in surprisingly well. Hogan un-wigs Angle, which the crowd also loves, and that gives us a chance to see Angle’s bald head. Angle teases that he’ll walk out following that whilst Hogan taunts in the ring, but Angle decides to bring a chair into the ring and try to clock Hogan with it. Hogan dodges that, allowing Angle to do his favourite spot of having the chair bounce off the ropes into his face, and that looks to lay the table for Hogan to get the Leg Drop of DOOM. Angle counters that into the Ankle Lock though, and Hogan surprisingly taps out in order to give Angle the clean win.

WINNER: KURT ANGLE
RATING: ***1/3

Thoughts: Hogan did a LOT of jobs by his usual standards during this 2002 run, with Rock, Undertaker, Triple H, Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar all getting notable wins over him, with all of them aside from the HHH and Lesnar ones happening on pay per view. It’s no surprise that he ended up leaving later in the year because he could probably see the writing on the wall as to where he stood on the pecking order. That being said, this match was very entertaining thanks to the crowd atmosphere and both wrestlers did an excellent job of making the other look good, with Angle pin-balling all over the place for Hogan whilst Hogan did the clean submission job and sold well for Angle throughout the bout. My rating might be higher than most, but I really enjoyed this one back in the day and I still find it to be good fun these days as well

Booker T and Goldust are hanging out backstage, with Goldust dressed as The Rock. This leads to the real Rock showing up and tearing Goldy a new one. This was entertaining stuff, made all the better by Goldust selling his verbal beat down in humorous fashion. Booker gets to stand up to Rock a bit at least, leading to some tense respect between the two. Rock yelling “stop touching yourself” at Goldust was the highlight.

Semi-Main
King of the Ring Final
Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman Vs Rob Van Dam

They are at least putting the Final in a prominent slot on the show. Winner of this goes to SummerSlam for a WWE Title shot. RVD gets a flurry of offence in the early going, but Lesnar catches him with a Powerbomb and starts working some heat. RVD is flexible and a good athlete, so he can take really good bumps and fold his body up in order to make Lesnar look good here. This isn’t a classic King of the Ring Final, but then again quite a few King of the Ring Finals have been disappointing.

Off the top of my head I think the Bret Hart Vs Bam Bam Bigelow and Rock Vs Ken Shamrock Finals were good, with the rest mostly being a bit flat. This one sadly falls into the latter category somewhat, as the match is more about establishing Lesnar as a big scary animal rather than focusing on a great wrestling match. It’s a reasonably effective take on that approach, but it won’t be for everybody.

RVD eventually manages to dodge a Lesnar attack in the corner and makes a comeback, which the crowd appreciates and cheers for. RVD runs through all of his big moves (the Rolling Thunder, the Frog Splash etc) but Lesnar is able to survive them all, although Heyman helps out when it comes to the latter by distracting RVD briefly so that Lesnar has a chance to recover. RVD tries a cross body block following that, but Lesnar catches him and delivers the F-5 for the three count.

WINNER: BROCK LESNAR
RATING: **

Thoughts: This was okay, with it achieving what it needed to in giving Lesnar a big win in order to get him into the WWE Title picture. It wasn’t a great match, and it was barely six minutes long, but the wrestling itself was fine and the crowd did react when RVD started fighting back, so it wasn’t heatless. I know some won’t like the King of the Ring tournament being used like this, but I didn’t mind it too much as it’s not like they were giving the monster push to a guy like Mabel who had no chance of Main Eventing. Yes, it probably was too soon to try Lesnar in the top role at this stage in his career, but he at least had something to him that someone like a Mabel didn’t, so it was worth trying to get someone new over and this was about as effective a job as they could have done in getting Lesnar over here

The nWo wishes Triple H luck for his upcoming match.

Main Event
Super Duper Undisputed Title
Champ: The Undertaker Vs Triple H

They were doing a story here that the nWo wanted Triple H to win the belt and then join the ranks, but that ended up getting dropped when Kevin Nash got injured and Vince McMahon came onto TV and just low-key announced that the group had disbanded. There was an additional story element that Taker had essentially cost Triple H the belt against Hogan at Backlash 2002. Triple H had beaten Hogan in a #1 contender’s bout and was now out not only to get his belt back but to get some revenge also. At the time I thought they’d give Triple H the belt back here, especially as Taker’s reign was hardly providing much in the way of excitement. However, WWE had other plans.

Considering that Brock Lesnar’s tournament win has set him up to challenge for the belt at SummerSlam, his agent Paul Heyman comes down to annoy Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler on commentary. Ross reminds us that The Rock is in the building also, as he’d returned to WWE following Stone Cold walking out a few weeks prior to this event. That pretty much telegraphs that he’ll have some involvement of some kind. This one is a slug fest from the opening bell, with Triple H getting the better of it in the earlier stages. It’s not overly exciting but it makes sense considering the fact Triple H is mad about Taker costing him the belt at Backlash.

The crowd reactions are quite disappointing considering the star power of the two wrestlers and the fact that they are dispensing with a patient approach and just going straight to brawling. The match just feels flat to be honest, and when Taker cuts Triple H off for a bit it slows down considerably with the crowd sitting on their hands. Pardon the pun, but the arena has all the fizz and excitement of a morgue. Even a Triple H suplex on the floor to Taker doesn’t wake them up. Did the crowd just eat a heavy meal and follow it up with a warm glass of milk or something? I suppose Hogan lost the big match to Angle earlier and a Heel won the King of the Ring Tournament, so maybe they’ve been flattened out by that? The work itself has been fine for the most part, if not especially varied or unique.

Taker undoes a turnbuckle pad and tries to throw Triple H into it, but he ends up getting hoist by his own petard when Triple H reverses an Irish Whip to send him into it before following up with a spine buster for two. Taker responds by doing the Snake Eyes onto the metal buckle, but Triple H no sells it All Japan style and gets a running knee for another two. Taker catapults Triple H into the corner, with Earl Hebner taking a bump in the process, which leads to a double clothesline for the double down. This is Rock’s cue to come down to the ring, but he decides to start doing commentary rather than getting involved in the match. Heyman of course decides to flee rather than hang around with Rock there.

Taker brings a chair into the ring, but Triple H stops him from using it and clotheslines him to the floor. Taker decides to boot Rock whilst out there, which leads to Rock fighting back and trying to hit him with a chair. Taker ducks though and Triple H takes it instead, doing a blade job for good measure. Taker goes for the Last Ride inside the ring and gets it, which leads to Nick Patrick running down for a two count. Fans popped for the near fall at least. Taker is unhappy and clocks Patrick, which leads to Rock coming in and giving him a Rock Bottom. Triple H rolls over and makes a dramatic cover, but it’s been too long and Taker is able to kick out at two. They milked that too much to the point that it was obviously not the finish.

Both wrestlers slowly drag themselves to their feet, which leads to Triple H getting a Pedigree and doing another slow dramatic cover. However, Earl Hebner is too hurt to make the count. Triple H tries to revive him, but in the process Taker punches him right in the Terra Ryzing before getting a school boy roll up for a dirty three count. A somewhat apropos finish when all is said and done.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: THE UNDERTAKER
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: This one went on for too long and the crowd just wasn’t with it, so it ended up being a bit of a drag as a result

Rock runs down following the match to attack Taker and lays him out with the People’s Elbow, but Triple H is still angry about the chair shot from earlier and drops him with a Pedigree. Taker makes use of the opportunity to put Triple H down with a choke slam though. So not only did the Heel win the match but they couldn’t even give the crowd the babyface(s) standing tall in order to send them home happy.

In Conclusion

There’s enough good wrestling on King of the Ring 2002 that it at least gets a thumbs in the middle leaning up, although the Main Event drags the show down a bit. Turning the King of the Ring tournament itself into a vehicle to get Lesnar over meant that we didn’t get a chance for the workhorses to really shine in the tournament, outside of the Jericho/RVD match, so that might annoy some folk who generally prefer something like the 1993 tournament where it was specifically designed in order to let a good wrestler like Bret Hart go in there and have three completely different good matches with a varied list of opponents. King of the Ring 2002 was all about letting Lesnar plough through the roster in order to establish him as a valid #1 contender, which is a perfectly acceptable way to book a major tournament like this, but it won’t be for everyone.

Jericho Vs RVD, Noble Vs Hurricane and Angle Vs Hogan were all good matches by my book, and I thought the wrestling in the Women’s Title match was good also, although they weren’t given a lot of time and the storyline with Molly Holly was pretty appalling. If you switch it off at Lesnar’s King of the Ring victory then you’ve got a solid pay per view, but you might want to avoid taking in the Main Event. Interestingly, I seem to be an outlier here, as going back to read Scott and Thomas‘ reviews, they seemed to really hate this show. I don’t know, I didn’t think it was that bad. Yeah, it ends with a bit of a whimper, but there’s some good stuff to be found in here and overall there was slightly more good than bad in my opinion. Your own mileage may vary however.

Mildly recommended show