King of the Ring

The most enjoyable king of the ring ever the first i saw live on sky sports. The street fight was the best match of the night. Kurt was lucky to beat shane. And the Booker T jump in at the main event the wcw champ taking out the wwf champ great show

Match 1: King of the Ring Tournament Semi-Final Kurt Angle vs. Christian Not a bad start but I expected more, specially with Angle. It was still solid tho. 5/10

Match 2: King of the Ring Tournament Semi-Final Edge vs. Rhyno Solid again but nothing great. 5.5/10

Match 3: WWF Tag Team Championship Dudley Boys vs Spike Dudley and ? Good choice of partner for Spike. A good match but again the level of the PPV was pretty average so far. 5/10

Match 4: King of the Ring Tournament Final ? vs. ? The final. I'm not a fan of King of the ring tournaments on PPV. At least, only the final should feature on the PPV. Still, a good match. I have the feeling it could have been better. Still good tho. 6/10

Match 4: WWF Light Heavyweight Championship Jeff Hardy vs. X-Pac Two pretty spectacular wrestlers who never showed what they are capable of in the match. Again, it wasn't bad but still average, we expect more from a PPV. 4.5/10

DDP-Taker confrontation. The confrontation was well build up. It was pretty one sided but I actually expected it to be more brutal. Taker is worth more than being used for storyline builders on PPV. 6/10

Match 5: Street Fight Kurt Angle vs. Shane McMahon Match. Match of the night by far. Very brutal. Shane is impressive, very impressive for a non wrestler. The match feature a move that could have literally cost Shane's life. Amazing match. 9.5/10

Match 6: WWF World Heavyweight Championship - Triple Threat Match Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho Lots of speculations and rumors around this one. Well build up. Not the best triple threat match ever but certainly not a bad one. I know Austin is the heel..still, sometimes he appeared too weak, which is bad. So solid match for sure featuring the beginning of Invasion. The ending tho was a little disappointing. Still deserves a 7/10

Overall an average PPV. Angle vs. Shane comes out as one of the highlights of the year tho. Main event was good, the KOR final was quite good too but the other matches are all average.

After an incredible WrestleMania 17 showcase, this next major PPV really takes a step back in terms of overall quality and excitement. In large part, this could be because the King of the Ring format is pretty much played out at this point, creating some awkwardness in card-construction.

Some further thoughts...

-Not one actual KOTR tournament match peaked my interest whatsoever. It was all basically a setup for the later Angle/McMahon confrontation.

-I know Kane was an enormous physical presence, but that's about all he was here. Having him be a random mixed-tag partner in a Dudley Boyz feud? Odd and ineffective.

-The Taker/DDP thing was embarrassing. That's how you start the WCW takeover/introduction angle?! Yikes.

-The actual Angle/McMahon street fight match is the only bright spot of this entire event, what with all the stunts/bumps in that long duel. Shane in particular has a very interesting "punk everyone wants to hate" vibe, yet does bumps that everyone can't help but applaud!

-I always considered Benoit and Jericho to be far more average than the consensus, so pitting them against Austin in the finale wasn't great for me. The match goes well-enough, but really no drama to the ending (a flat finish).

There was only one KOTR event after this one, and I can understand why. This format worked great in the 90s, but had lost its way by this point.

2001's King of the Ring was quite enjoyable. While the actual KotR tournament wasn't great (it was a risky move putting 4 heels in the final 4), two matches in particular were outstanding:

• Shane McMahon vs Kurt Angle (Street Fight). I am constantly amazed by Shane's in-ring skills (he could show some of the WWF's roster- X Pac, Dudleys- a thing or two). He puts in a lot of effort in this match, as well as Angle (who wrestles his 3rd match of the night). Very good spots in this match, esp. Shane's Shooting Star Press and a few nasty bumps (Angle's botched Overhead Suplex where Shane landed on his head, as well as an Overhead Suplex through a glass set prop.) A spectacular ending caps off a great match,which is the best of the night.

• Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (Triple Threat Match for the WWF Title). Also a great match. Jericho, who has worked his ass off in the WWF for nearly two years, is rewarded with his first PPV main event, and it's a good one. Good technical wrestling between Jericho and Benoit (who manage to trap Austin in the Crippler Crossface and Walls of Jericho at the SAME TIME!) Features an appearance from a major WCW player and an extremely bizarre conclusion.

Other matches include X-Pac vs Jeff Hardy, Spike Dudley & Kane vs the Dudleyz, Diamond Dallas Page vs The Undertaker (non- sactioned brawl) and the KotR Tournament (featuring Edge, Christian, Rhyno and Kurt Angle)

This was an excellent PPV that sent a lot of careers going up and reestablished a lot of guys status as legends.

Kurt Angle-This guy is your olympic hero mine "Oh Its True Its True" but after watching him in this ppv he became one of my favorites, he was able to face two rising superstars in Christian and Edge(see below) and then if that isn't enough he was able to go through one of the most brutal matches i've ever seen in the street fight with Shane O' Mac. What a night by our olympic gold medalist, he deserved to be WWF champ for a lot longer than 2 weeks.

Edge-What a performer, if this guy doesn't have a serious run at the WWF title within 3 years there is something wrong with the WWF creative team. Not only was he able to put on a great match against another rising talent in Rhyno, but than able to put a stellar performance against Kurt Angle(see above). He is very well deserving of the title King of the Ring. He will also be well deserving of the WWF title within he next few years.

DDP-What a treat it was to see this great wrestler, who was rotting away for years in the old WCW, finally get a chance to shine in the WWF. What a good job by the WWF creative team to reveal that the man stalking the Undertakers wife Sara for weeks was this man was none other than the King of Bada Bing. Keep giving him angles like this and he will definitly be someone to keep an eye on in the coming years.

Booker T- What a way to come in, attacking the WWF champion Stone Cold Steve Austin during the main event. This man may be the most underrated performer in all of wrestling. Although his appearance in this show was brief it had a huge impact on the entire show. Look for more great things from this man real soon.

Shane McMahon-Wow this kid is crazy. Why does he do it he's a billionaire. The street fight with him and Kurt Angle ranks right up there with Rock-Mankind Royal Rumble 1999 "I Quit" match in terms of brutality. Shane never ceases to amaze with the bumps that he is willing to take in order to make his matches the best they can be.

All in all this was an awesome PPV, if not for anything buy it for the Shane-Kurt street fight that was brutal, as well as the PPV debuts of WCW stars DDP and Booker T, what a good show!!!!