Rikishi defeated Chris Benoit via disqualification
The fans in Boston's FleetCenter, which sold out in less than five minutes,
was ready for action as the King of the Ring kicked off live. And it was
action they got as Rikishi took on Chris Benoit in the first of four King of
the Ring Tournament quarterfinal match ups. Benoit immediately went to work
on Rikishi's right shoulder and then applied the Crippler Crossface.
Unfortunately for Benoit, he was too close to the ropes, and Rikishi was able
to squirm over and grab the bottom strand. Benoit was so frustrated that he
immediately went outside and grabbed a steel chair, and then clobbered
Rikishi with it in full view of the referee. Benoit earned himself a
disqualification, and Rikishi therefore advanced to the semifinals to face
the winner of Eddie Guerrero vs. Val Venis. However, Benoit was relentless,
and he continued to hit Rikishi with the chair, delivered a flying headbutt
off the top rope and then slapped on the Crippler Crossface again before
officials finally got him to break the hold. After the match, as Rikishi lay
writhing in pain, Benoit declared in an interview with Michael Cole that not
only is he the best technical wrestler in the world, but he can do what he
wants, when he wants and there's nothing that anybody can do about it.
Linda McMahon arrived at the FleetCenter during Sunday Night HEAT, and she
told Michael Cole that she was there to confront her husband. In the
McMahon-Helmsley dressing room, Triple H and Shane McMahon pleaded with Vince
to keep his cool. Vince scoffed at the notion that Linda would be able to get
under his skin and promised to be "Joe Cool" throughout the night. Triple H
and Shane didn't seem convinced.
Val Venis, accompanied by Trish Stratus, def. Eddie Guerrero, accompanied by
Chyna
After ample interference by both Trish and Chyna, Val used his quickness to
hit Guerrero with a Fisherman's suplex and score the pinfall victory.
Crash def. Bull Buchanan
Buchanan had a clear size and height advantage -- despite Crash's claims of
being 7 feet and 400 pounds -- and he used it to pummel Crash with several
high-impact maneuvers. Crash seized the opportunity when Bull missed a
scissors kick, as he quickly tied up Buchanan into a pinning predicament to
score the win. Crash moved on to battle the winner of the Kurt Angle vs.
Chris Jericho match.
Backstage, Vince McMahon walked into Linda's office. Linda told Vince that
she was there to make sure the six-man main event was actually
three-on-three, and not 12-on-3 like on SmackDown! Vince couldn't believe his
wife would accuse him of such a thing; he said it would be a fair match --
and Vince McMahon would come out on top, like always.
King of the Ring Tournament Quarterfinals (cont.)
Kurt Angle def. Chris Jericho
Angle and Jericho had several near falls, and it appeared Jericho had the
match won after getting Angle in the Walls of Jericho. Stephanie
McMahon-Helmsley ran down to the ring, distracting the official just as Angle
started tapping out. Jericho released the hold to confront Stephanie and the
official, and Angle gave him a shot to the back of the head, sending him
flying into referee Teddy Long. With Long out cold, Stephanie entered the
ring with her Women's Championship and aimed squarely at the head of Jericho.
But Y2J ducked and Stephanie hit her good friend Angle instead! With Angle
down, Jericho turned his attention to Stephanie. He grabbed her ... and
kissed her! Stephanie was totally grossed out, but she succeeding in
distracting Jericho. Angle sneaked behind and dropped Jericho with the
Olympic slam. The referee recovered and counted to three, and Angle advanced
to face Crash Holly in the semifinals!
Fatal Four Way Elimination Match for the Tag Team Championship: Edge and
Christian win the titles
Jeff Hardy eliminated Test and Albert after a Swanton bomb. Jeff was about
ready to finished off Christian with the same maneuver, but Edge knocked him
off the top rope, and Jeff was soon victim of Christian's behind-the-back
DDT. That left Too Cool and Edge and Christian as the final two teams. Too
Cool hit Edge with the Hip Hop Drop, but as referee Mike Chioda escorted
Scotty out of the ring, Christian came from behind and clobbered Grand Master
Sexay with one of the belts, and Edge made the cover and he and Christian
became the new Tag Team Champions.
King of the Ring semifinals
Rikishi def. Val Venis
Rikishi became the first superstar to qualify for the King of the Ring finals
when he caught Val coming off the top rope and dropped him with a
belly-to-belly suplex for the win. After the match, Trish jumped on Rikishi's
back, but the big Samoan dropped her and was going to splash her from the
second rope. Val made the save, low-blowing Rikishi and then pummeling him in
his already injured shoulder area with the steel steps and a steel chair.
Kurt Angle def. Crash
Crash tried to use his quickness -- just as he did against Bull Buchanan. But
Angle was just too much, and the American Hero won the match after an Olympic
slam. The King of the Ring Finals would be Kurt Angle against Rikishi.
Hardcore Evening Gown Match: Crash wins Hardcore Title
It was supposed to be a match between new Hardcore Champion Pat Patterson and
former champ Gerald Brisco. However, this being the hardcore division, the
match was interrupted -- by another match. Crash ran to the ring with another
official, clobbered Patterson with a trash can, and pinned him to become the
new Hardcore Champion, much to the delight of the thousands at the
FleetCenter.
Handicap Table/Dumpster Match: Road Dogg, X-Pac and Tori def. Dudley Boyz
The match would end either when the DX team stuffed the Dudley Boyz inside
the Dumpster and closed the lid, or when the Dudleys put all three of their
opponents through a table. DX had the match won when they threw Buh Buh Ray
and D-Von in the Dumpster, but the referee was attending to Tori. By the time
X-Pac and Road Dogg got the referee's attention, the Dudleys escaped. They
followed up by dropping the Road Dogg through two tables -- stacked on top of
each other -- and then suplexing X-Pac through another one. They turned their
attention to Tori, who jumped into the Dumpster to protect herself. When the
Dudleys followed, Road Dogg and X-Pac bashed them with a pair of steel chairs
and closed the lid, winning the match! Afterwards, the Dudleys dropped Road
Dogg and X-Pac with 3-Ds, and then Buh Buh Ray finally got his wish --
powerbombing Tori from the second rope through a table!
King of the Ring Tournament Finals: Kurt Angle def. Rikishi
Angle took advantage of the fact that Rikishi was competing with a badly
bruised and injured right arm. Still, Rikishi was able to kick out when Angle
hit an Olympic slam out of nowhere. Angle returned the favor when he kicked
out after a Rikishi sit-down splash. Rikishi took a big risk when he climbed
to the top rope; Angle retaliated by knocking him off his feet and pummeling
him with several shots to the injured arm. Then Angle delivered a
belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope, and pinned Rikishi to become the 2000
King of the Ring!
Six-Man Tag for the World Wrestling Federation Championship: The Rock pins
Vince McMahon to become new Federation Champion
According to the match's stipulations, if The Rock, Undertaker or Kane pinned
any member of Triple H's team, they would be crowned the new Federation
Champion. With that in mind, The Rock, Undertaker and Kane wouldn't let one
another get pinfalls because they all wanted to win the match and become
champion. At one point, when The Rock went for the People's Elbow on Triple
H, Kane entered the ring and chokeslammed the People's Champion! Just when
Triple H thought that the Big Red Machine was on his side, Kane Tombstoned
the champion! However, the Undertaker wouldn't let Kane get the pin. Later,
the Undertaker arm-dragged Shane off the top rope, and the "Boy Wonder" when
crashing through the announce table! Inside the ring, Vince spotted The Rock,
still recovering from Kane's chokeslam. Vince tossed one of his elbow pads
into the crowd and went for a People's Elbow of his own! But The Rock may
have been playing possum a little bit -- he jumped up as Vince bounced off
the ropes and gave the owner a Rock Bottom, and pinned him to become the new
Federation Champion! Triple H, irate that he had lost the title without being
pinned, retreated to the locker room with fire in his eyes as King of the
Ring came to an end.
