WWE King of the Ring 2002

King of the Ring 2002 - June 2002

Columbus, OH

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: The Undertaker holds the WWE World Championship, Rob Van Dam is the recognized Intercontinental Champion, Bradshaw holds the Hardcore Championship, The Hurricane is the Smackdown-exclusive Cruiserweight Champion, Trish Stratus is the Womens' Champion, and William Regal holds the European Championship. Billy and Chuck are the WWE Tag Team Champions.

COMMENTATORS: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler


Here is a match that tries desperately to be great, but missteps by defying its own logic - Rob Van Dam vs. Chris Jericho in the first of tonight's three King of the Ring tournament matches. The first 15 minutes or so are excellent, with RVD and Jericho trading stiff, high impact offense. Unfortunately, the last few minutes resort to cheap "finisher spamming" and, even more egregious, an almost offensive decision to undermine the exposed turnbuckle trope, retroactively cheapening much of the match by nullifying the suspense around that element. In other words, if you're going to expose a turnbuckle in your match, drawing attention to it and building the last third of a match around it, that thing oughtta be respected as a "game-ender," not a tool for a transition spot. There are some other glaring flaws in the match (RVD's ability to go from overselling to a full health is more glaring here than in his other matches, Jericho outright positioning himself for the Frog Splash), but that's not to say this one is anything close to a dud. With a hot crowd, plenty of time to build drama, and the tremendous effort these two put in, the overall presentation works and one absolutely gets the sense that winning and losing matter, that the tournament is a big deal, and, most importantly, that Rob Van Dam will not be at 100% for the finals. (3.5/5)

The tournament continues with our next match - Brock Lesnar vs. Test. This might be one of the best "hidden classics" I've seen in months, an absolute stiff-as-a-board battle that proves Lesnar not only had plenty of "It," but had enough "It" to elevate Test into the best match of his entire career (or at least the only one I've seen that I'd strongly, strongly recommend to others). In my review of the previous month's Judgment Day, I mentioned that a 4-star match, to me, usually means that its worthy of a rewatch. By that standard, this counts...except for the unnecessary, gratuitous interference at the closing, which doesn't help protect Test anyway. The fact is, Lesnar (even pre-UFC world beater Lesnar) was enough of a monster to make his clean wins the opposite of embarrassing for the loser. In fact, Test overselling Heyman's interference takes away from the fact that he went toe-to-toe with the Beast and got some solid licks in. Fans of flawless execution and picture-perfect sequences will no doubt spot specific moments where these two seem to lose the plot, but because of how snugly this one is worked, these brief moments of confusion come across as literally two guys just trying to shake the cobwebs out of their believably zonked craniums. Absolutely great match that, with a more definitive finish, I'd have no problem giving 4 stars to. (3.5/5)

The Cruiserweight Championship is on the line next, with The Hurricane defending against Jamie Noble. This feud centered not around the title, but around the sneaky Nidia, Hurricane's "crazy ex-girlfriend," who had ended up with Noble, the King of the Trailer Park. Based on the pre-match video vignette, one would think this match would have a ton of heat, but the crowd is indifferent. A better-than-average third act elevates this one, but not to the point of being worth watching. (2/5)

Eddie Guerrero takes on Ric Flair in the next contest, a match that, interestingly enough, has a little bit to do with Steve Austin's departure from the company a few weeks prior. See, Guerrero was slated to compete against Austin at this show, but because the Rattlesnake "took his ball and went home," Latino Heat and the returning Chris Benoit blamed Ric Flair for keeping him from what would've been a spotlight, star-making match. This led to Guerrero and Benoit beating down the Nature Boy and, thus, this match. Guerrero and Flair wrestled loads of times in WCW, but typically with their roles reversed. Its fun to see Guerrero playing the dastardly heel here, though the vicious beat down he gives to Flair make Space Mountain's numerous comebacks a bit hard to swallow. Guerrero works on Flair's knee throughout, though, as the commentators wisely point out, his frustration leads to him getting sloppy and lazy, failing to maintain his attack at crucial times. As a huge Guerrero fan, its hard not to view this one with a bias or be a bit disappointed with the finish, which involves a run-in by a guy that, maybe in 2002 made sense, but in 2015 looks completely out of place as Flair's "savior." Fun to watch for fans of either guy, but inessential. (3/5)

The Women's Championship is on the line next, with Trish Stratus defending against Molly Holly. Anyone one thought shaming females for being a hair above weight started with Mickie James should revisit this feud, in which Holly was ostensibly a villain because of her "virginal ways" (as JR puts it). The Columbus crowd chants "She's A Fat Ass," forgetting that Holly, even when "dressing down" as she is here, is probably still at least a fairly hot "Ohio 8." A "We Want Puppies" chants is quieted by Stratus and Holly actually attempting a wrestling match, one featuring at least a handful of solid sequences and spots, including a viciously stiff dropkick from Holly and Stratus delivering a half-dozen chest chops that would make Ric Flair proud. A mistiming towards the end followed by a questionable, sloppy ref count hurts this one even more than the lame audience, but it is still somewhat commendable how much they tried to load into this sub-5 minute match. (1.5/5)

Kurt Angle is in the back, wig tucked under his headgear. Angle makes a corny joke about Hulk Hogan tapping "faster than Bojangles on speed" and being the WWE's only real American hero. Not his best work.

A video package chronicling the Hogan/Angle feud is next. What is really interesting here is that the feud started because Hogan wanted to retire, but Vince McMahon would not allow him to. This led to Hogan stating that, since he'd already held the Undisputed World Championship, the only accomplishment he had yet to achieve was kicking Vince's ass in the ring. Why's that interesting? Because its pretty rare an angle from June ends with a pay-off the following April (Hogan and Vince would square off at 2003's WrestleMania 19 event).

Everything about the next match seems to occur in opposites. The Hulkster makes a tremendous entrance, leading to an absolutely phenomenal pop, while Kurt Angle comes out to a deafening chorus of "You Suck" chants. The crowd is hot and Hogan takes more bumps here than in any match I've seen him wrestle from this era in his career, but, for whatever reason, the match resolves just as it is peaking, ending where a "false finish" should be. Don't be mistaken - the result was the right one - but considering how "game" Hogan looks here, it sure seems like this match could've went an additional 2-3 minutes and gone down as one of the Hulkster's last great contests. While I wouldn't call this match average (Hogan is too over, the crowd is too enthralled, and the action is too well-paced for that), the unfortunately sudden ending keeps it from hitting much higher than one notch above. (3/5)

Goldust, Booker T, and Rock sketch in the back. Pretty funny stuff featuring three over characters. I'm not sure we could even get that many on the screen at one time in December 2015.

The King of the Ring Finals are next - Brock Lesnar vs. Rob Van Dam. In a move I'm not sure they did every year prior (and certainly not every year since), the winner of this particular finals will be receiving a World Championship match at SummerSlam. I was pretty disappointed by this as it featured considerably less back-and-forth than Lesnar's bout with Test earlier and incorporated very little-to-none of the storyline back damage that Rob Van Dam suffered at the hands of Chris Jericho in the opening contest. The crowd was hot for it and the action we do get was good, but this was just too underwhelming to deserve any sort of recommendation. (1.5/5)

Backstage, the nWo - Kevin Nash, Big Show, Sean Waltman, and Shawn Michaels - give Triple H their best wishes in his main event title match against The Undertaker, which is next. Paul Heyman joins Lawler and JR on commentary and goes out of his way to put both guys over, wisely building up his own client Brock Lesnar in the process by making sure the audience knows that, at SummerSlam, Lesnar will not just be beating some tomato can - he'll be beating one of the greatest champions ever (no matter who wins). I thoroughly enjoyed Taker and HHH's match at WrestleMania XVII, but this one doesn't offer anything new (or as epic as the aforementioned gem). That's not to say these two don't work hard pulling out all the stops to try to get the crowd involved, including some fairly atypical bumps from the Deadman and a double ref bump. Still, the crowd doesn't erupt until The Rock shows up to confront Paul Heyman, who had been running his mouth about how Lesnar had chased the Great One out of the arena. Once Rock takes a seat at the commentary table, though, the crowd's excitement is momentarily deflated as they demand The Brahma Bull to play a more immediate role in the in-ring action. Fortunately for the live audience, he does in fact make his presence felt a few minutes later, earning a loud "Rocky" chant in the process and thoroughly outshining any of the mild babyface reaction Triple H had received. The final minutes are drawn out to the point that one is tempted to reach for the remote, though I'd suggest to stick around - the pinfall that ends this is one of the heeliest heel moves I can recall, the kind of thing that would still work in today's landscape if it was employed by the right crafty ne'er-do-well. The post-match shenanigans are almost comically overbooked and unnecessary. Nothing very special, but not a total bore. (2.5/5)

With an entertainment rating of 2.56-out-of-5, King of the Ring 2002 isn't the worst show I've seen this year, but is far from the best. Things start off promisingly enough with RVD/Jericho and Test/Lesnar delivering the goods. Guerrero/Flair isn't too shabby either, nor is Hogan/Angle. What hurts this show is how tedious the main event is, an Attitude Era "paint-by-numbers" match that the crowd doesn't seem to care about until The Rock shows up in the final third of the match. Lesnar/Van Dam, somewhat of a "dream match" on paper, is a total letdown, especially considering what both men accomplished in their earlier match of the night. Everything else on the show is almost instantly forgettable.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuever