Dark Pegasus Video Review: King of the Ring 2000

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 05.05.2008

Loyal to a fault.

King of the Ring 2000
by J.D. Dunn

All good things must come to an end. The WWF got caught up in the perfect storm of good luck. Triple H and the Rock both hit their wrestling peaks at the same time, and the influx of the Radicalz from WCW created one of the best midcards that the WWF had ever had.

Unfortunately, in all of that, someone had to get pushed aside, and guys like Al Snow, Val Venis, and Hardcore Holly, who had been in the midst of strong pushes at the end of 1999 meandered along for a while, getting grumpier and more discontent as the summer wore on.

This show is an attempt to throw them a bone, and that's appropriate because it winds up being one of the biggest dogs of the year. BA-ZING! It also continues a trend of bad King of the Rings as the 1997 and 1999 shows were arguably the worst shows of their year, and 1998 was only saved by Mick Foley trying to commit suicide for our viewing pleasure.

June 25, 2000

Live from Boston, Mass.

Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

Opening Match, King of the Ring Quarterfinals: Rikishi vs. Chris Benoit.
Rikishi had just gone over Benoit for the Intercontinental Title, so it was a no-brainer that Benoit go over here because his conditioning and moveset is built for a tournament, right? Pffft. Benoit hits a backdrop suplex and applies a side guillotine lock. Rikishi misses a charge, and Benoit rides him down into the Crossface. Rikishi makes the ropes. Benoit simply grabs a chair and goes to town on the 'Kish for the DQ at 3:24. Not only is that a bad decision, but it's a horrible finish. Benoit reapplies the Crossface and then drops a headbutt on Rikishi's shoulder. Finally, Sgt. Slaughter and a gaggle of referees pull him off. 1/2*

In the back, the McMahon-Helmsley Regime makes plans for Linda's arrival. See, she was going to confront her husband once and for all.

When asked for an explanation, Chris Benoit explains he does what he wants to when he wants to. I get the feeling that Hunter fed him that line.

Quarterfinal Match: Eddy Guerrero (w/Chyna) vs. Val Venis (w/Trish Stratus).
This is during Val's brief "business relationship" with Trish. Okay, slept with Mrs. Yamaguich-san. Slept with Terri "Skeletor" Runnels. Slept with Ryan "Who's sister am I again?" Shamrock. But Trish comes along and suddenly he just wants a "business relationship?" This is also during Val's rave remix of his theme music. Eddy's haircut here makes him look identical to his brother Hector back in the day. Eddy hits a flying back elbow, but Val chops him and drops him on the barrier. Eddy catches him on top and delivers a superplex. Eddy locks in a Mexican Surfboard and segues into a wicked Dragon Sleeper version. Val rakes the eyes to get out of it. Val goes to work on the back, but Eddy snaps off a rana and goes up. The frogsplash misses, and Eddy runs right into a spinebuster. That sets up the Money Shot, but Eddy gets the knees up. Eddy gets two off an Oklahoma Roll. Val nails Eddy and gets two with his feet on the ropes. Usually, it's Eddy cheating to win. Eddy sets Val on top and hits the huracanrana. Trish distracts the ref but gets yanked off the apron by Chyna. Val goes after Chyna but gets clocked. Eddy sneaks in and rolls him up for two. That should have been the finish, but Val pops up and finishes with the Seaman's Suplex at 8:05. Not bad, but they were trying to push Val, who was not over, by putting him over Eddy, who actually had tons of heat. Bookers always fall into that trap, and the same thing always happens – both guys lose heat. **3/4

In the back, Pat Patterson picks out dresses… and then he sees the camera and gets into character. BA-ZING!

Quarterfinal Match: Bull Buchanan vs. Crash Holly.
Crash was doing the plucky underdog thing here, going over Albert to qualify. Buchanan destroys him, of course. The fans chant, "boring" throughout. I'm puzzled as to how they thought making Buchanan the Enos to Boss Man's Boss Hog would get him over. He misses the Scissors Kick and gets rolled up for the big upset at 3:52. Yes, Crash advanced while Eddy and Benoit did not. 1/2*

In the back, Linda McMahon asks Vince what he's going to do about the six-man tag tonight. Vince actually had balls at this point because you'll notice whenever Linda appears now, he cowers from her. He promises no interference tonight.

Quarterfinals Match: Kurt Angle vs. Chris Jericho.
See, now wouldn't this be a fine choice for the finals? Instead, they're fighting it out for the right to meet Crash Holly. Jericho was semi-feuding with Triple H in a proxy feud with Stephanie. Kurt wins a slugfest and hits a belly-to-belly. Jericho comes back with a flying forearm and a bunch of chops. Jericho gets backdropped but lands on the apron and sneaks in a missile dropkick. The Lionsault gets two, but Angle gets his foot on the rope. Jericho hits the springboard dropkick, and they brawl on the outside. Angle whips Jericho into the steps to take over. Jericho gets two off a butterfly backbreaker but misses a dropkick. Angle catapults him into the buckle for two. A German Suplex gets two. Angle blocks a charge, but he takes too long on top and gets huracanrana'd. Spinning wheel kick gets two as the crowd starts to buy the nearfalls. Kurt cuts off the bulldog with a clothesline. Jericho slips out of the Angleslam, though, and counters to the Walls of Jericho. Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley runs down and distracts the ref so he can't see Angle tapping out. Jericho gets shoved into the ref, bumping him. Steph tries a belt shot but accidentally nails Angle. Oops. Jericho grabs Steph and kisses her. No wonder Triple H doesn't like him. Kurt is able to recover and hit the Angleslam at 9:50. This is one match that didn't need a screwy finish, but at least the Steph-Angle stuff would lead somewhere. Not a bad match, but probably disappointing to most. **3/4

Mick Foley joins us from WWF New York solely for the purpose of reminding us that WWF New York exists.

WWF Tag Team Titles, Four-Way Elimination: 2 Cool vs. Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz (w/Lita) vs. T&A (w/Trish Stratus).
Tonight's five-second pose is a tribute to Bill Buckner. Buckner? I don't even know 'er! Ha! In a twist that sounds bizarre in today's dearth of good tag teams, Edge & Christian actually got so over that they occasionally had to break up their title reigns just so they didn't bury the whole division. It happened with 2 Cool just before this show and would happen again at the beginning of 2001. This is actually Lita's PPV debut with the Hardyz after sending Essa Rios back to Jobberville, New Mexico. Sadly, that means she will no longer be oiling up her cleavage when she comes out, but happily, it will mean that her primary strategy for staying over is showing as much thong as possible. The Hardyz doubleteam Albert, but Matt stops to take a swing at Trish. Lita knocks her down, but the distraction allows Test to slam Matt. Jeff sneaks in and hits Test with the Swanton. Matt rolls over and eliminates T&A at 3:42. Scottie works in a few moves, but it's mostly E&C versus the Hardyz for the next few minutes. Lita hits Edge with the Litacanrana. I guess he liked it so much he put it in his mental Rolodex for later. Matt goes for the Twist of Fate on Edge, but Christian blind tags himself in and eliminates Matt with the Unprettier at 7:56. Sexay hits Edge with a missile dropkick, prompting Ross to ponder what his parents think about his dancing. Lawler quips, "Why don't you ask them sometime?" Scottie takes a cheapshot to turn him into the face-in-peril. Christian's spastic mocking of the 2 Cool dance makes the match worthwhile. Sexay gets the hot tag and cleans house. The would-be champs work in the headbutt your partner's crotch spot. They flapjack Sexay and do a mock Worm, but Scottie hops in and facebusters them. That leads to the real Worm. The champs hit the Death Sentence, but the ref puts Scottie out of the ring, allowing Christian to sneak in and nail Sexay with the belt to regain the tag titles at 14:10. This would have been significantly better had they just done 2 Cool versus Edge & Christian. I get the feeling the other two teams were just there so we could see Trish and Lita. Not that I mind. **1/2

Semi-Finals: Rikishi vs. Val Venis (w/Trish Stratus).
These two were actually in the midst of one of the most violent feuds of the year. Val attacks but gets kicked to the floor and tossed into the steps. Back in, Rikishi gets a big-ass legdrop. Val comes back with a Divorce Court to target the shoulder that Benoit attacked in the quarterfinals. Val continues the arm work, wrapping it around the post. He comes off the top right into a belly-to-belly suplex at 3:16, though. Well, that just sucks. Trish tries to exact some revenge, and Val has to save her from a Banzai Drop. Val slams the steps into Rikishi's shoulder, and then Val smashes a chair into it. This would set up a surprisingly good cage match at Fully Loaded. 1/2*

Gerald Brisco spews venom about Pat Patterson screwing him over for the Hardcore Title.

Semi-Finals: Kurt Angle vs. Crash Holly.
Crash gets some occasional jobber-ish offense to keep things interesting, but this Angle all the way. The Northern Lariat and missile dropkick nearly gets the win for Crash, but he gets hung out to dry and finished with the Angleslam at 3:58. Maybe it's just me, but shouldn't you kind of build *up* to your finals? 1/2*

Brief recap of the MSG show. Future WWE Superstar Donald Trump was in attendance in the front row. His ego was using the luxury box that night.

Kane says it's all about the title.

Undertaker says much the same thing.

Recap of the epic(ly awful) Brisco vs. Patterson feud. Patterson double-crossed Brisco and stole his Hardcore Title. To make sure he wouldn't be pinned, Pat dressed in drag and hung out in the ladies' locker room. At least, that's the excuse he came up with in order to wear that dress. Not to be outdone, Brisco donned a wig and dress and snuck in after him. All of the chaos pissed off Vince McMahon who made a Hardcore Evening Gown Match.

Hardcore Title, Evening Gown Match: Pat Patterson vs. Gerald Brisco.
The problem with this match, other than Patterson looking like Sable does today, is that the WWF lucked onto a mildly amusing joke and then drove it into the ground like they do everything else instead of just letting it be what it was. Patterson rubs his maxi pad into Brisco's face. The crowd HATES the match and boos the hell out of it. Crash Holly actually gets a huge pop for putting the match out of its misery with a run-in. He smashes Patterson with a garbage can and picks up another Hardcore Title at 2:48. O

Handicap Tables & Dumpsters A&C Trash Receptacle Match: X-Pac, Road Dogg & Tori vs. The Dudleyz.
The Dudz had been trying to put Tori through a table, but fate kept intervening. DX, Edge & Christian teamed up to push a Dumpster large trash receptacle containing the Dudleyz off the entrance stage to the floor. In order to win, the Dudz have to put DX through tables, but DX has to seal the Dudleyz in one of the large trash receptacles. D-Von plays face-in-peril briefly before the Dudz come back and hit the crotch dives. D-Von pulls a Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone as he hits Tori and hangs around south of the border for a while. The Dudz chase down DX, but Road Dogg and X-Pac battle back and put them in the receptacle. The ref is busy rubbing Tori's crotch boo-boo to notice, though. Meanwhile, the Dudleyz escape out the sides and smash DX with chairs. They really up the ante by setting up the steps in the ring, setting up two tables below, and powerbombing Road Dogg from the ring through the tables. X-Pac, apparently having smoked a bowl before the match, sets up D-Von on a table. That doesn't make much sense because the Dudleyz don't lose if they go through tables. Bubba crotches X-Pac anyway, and D-Von superplexes him through the table. That just leaves Tori who scampers into receptacle. Oh, but it was all part of her devious plan because DX recovers and blasts the Dudz with chairs, knocking them into the trash receptacle for the win at 9:45. After the match, the Dudleyz hand out a couple of 3Ds and put Tori through a table. Remember what I said about Val going over Eddy being an example of putting a cold guy over a guy who has heat? Well, this is an even better example. DX only had heat for Road Dogg's entrance shtick. Even Hunter wouldn't hang out with them anymore. In fact, they'd be off the next PPV and fighting each other at Summerslam. **1/4

King of the Ring Finals: Kurt Angle vs. Rikishi.
They try to sell Rikishi's arm injury as a big minus, and that might mean something if he had more than seven minutes of total action in the first two rounds. Kurt whips Rikishi's shoulder into the steps. Back in, Rikishi comes back with a Samoan Drop and an Ace Crusher (with his bad shoulder). Stinkface, but Angle gets pissed and hits an Angleslam for two. Angle tries a sunset flip but gets squashed. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! I should point out that, only eight months into his career, Kurt was the master of the last millisecond kickout. Angle catches Rikishi on top and delivers the belly-to-belly superplex. ONE, TWO, THREE! Kurt is your King of the Ring at 5:58. Impressive finisher aside, the win was rather anticlimactic. The seven matches in the tournament averaged a little over five minutes. Not exactly an epic tournament, and once Jericho, Eddy and Benoit were eliminated in the first round, everyone knew who was going over. 3/4*

WWF Heavyweight Title Match, Six-Man Tag: Triple H, Vince McMahon & Shane McMahon (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) vs. The Rock, The Undertaker & Kane.
See, defending the World Title in a tag match wasn't TNA's idea. That doesn't make it a *good* idea, mind you. Whoever gets the fall wins the title. Kane didn't really belong here, so let me do a little hasty fantasy rebooking. Swap out Jericho for Kane and make it an elimination match. Jericho got eliminated in the first round. Kane could have easily done that and made Angle look that much more impressive. Not only that, but Angle could have continued the punishment on Kane after the match, setting up the match with the Undertaker at Fully Loaded that we got anyway. In this match, partners Rock and Undertaker would get into it over Taker costing him the title at Judgment Day, allowing Taker to get eliminated and still save face. Jericho would eliminate Hunter on a fluke setting up the match we got anyway but with a better reason for actually having it, and it gives Jericho some respect as a main eventer. Instead, we have Kane wedged into a match where he didn't belong. Simba attacks Kane from behind, so Kane puts his hands behind his back and offers Shane a free shot. Kane destroys McMahons until Rock blind tags himself in. Shane gets systematically destroyed by all three babyfaces. Undertaker chokeslams him, but Rock makes the save. See, Rock has to work against his team or else he loses the title. That's the genius of Vince's plan. They brawl on the outside, and Rock sets up the table. It doesn't get used right away, though. Back inside, Hunter Pedigrees Rock, but Taker makes the save. Rock plays face-in-peril before hitting a Samoan Drop for two. Kane suddenly turns on the Undertaker and then cuts off the People's Elbow. Hunter gives Kane the "thumbs up," but Kane picks him up and gives him the Tombstone. ONE, TWO, THR-Undertaker makes the save. Finally, something really interesting happens as Shane gets caught going up, and the Undertaker chokeslams him off the top through the table. Crazy visual there. Vince tries a People's Elbow, but Rock pops up and finishes him with a Rock Bottom at 17:55. Hunter is pissed because Vince just lost his WWF Title for him. The stipulations kept this from being any kind of good. *3/4

The 411: Just like the year before, this was probably the worst show of the year. If you look at some of the more puzzling booking decisions, in each case it's homegrown WWF talent going over outsiders like Guerrero, Benoit, Jericho and the Dudleyz. I suppose that kind of loyalty is somewhat admirable, but they soon learned it just wasn't practical and went back to pushing the guys who were actually over regardless of how they got there. Chalk this one up to taking a step backward so they could take two steps forward.

Thumbs down.

Final Score:  4.0   [ Poor ]