The 2000 King of the Ring was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWE). It was the eighth annual King of the Ring event and hosted the finals of the 14th King of the Ring tournament for men. It took place on June 25, 2000, at the Fleet Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
The main event was a six-man tag team match between the McMahon-Helmsley Faction (Triple H, Vince McMahon, and Shane McMahon) and the team of The Rock and The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane). Triple H's WWF Championship was defended in the match where whoever scored the pinfall would win the title; he lost the title to The Rock, who pinned Vince. The undercard featured the 2000 King of the Ring tournament, which was won by Kurt Angle. The 2000 edition was the largest King of the Ring tournament, with 32 competitors taking part.
Other matches featured on the undercard included a three-on-two Handicap Tables Dumpster match between The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) and D-Generation X (Road Dogg, X-Pac, and Tori), a Hardcore Evening Gown match for the WWF Hardcore Championship between champion Pat Patterson and challenger Gerald Brisco and a four corners elimination match for the WWF Tag Team Championship between champions Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty) and the challenging teams of Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy), and T & A (Test and Albert).
Production Background King of the Ring was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event held annually in June by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1993. The PPV was named after the King of the Ring tournament, a men's single-elimination tournament that was established in 1985 and held annually until 1991, except for 1990, with the winner crowned the "King of the Ring"; these early tournaments were held as special non-televised house shows. Unlike the non-televised events, the PPV did not feature all of the tournament's matches. Instead, several of the qualifying matches preceded the event with the final few matches then taking place at the pay-per-view. Other matches took place at the event as it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view. The King of the Ring event became considered as one of the WWF's "Big Five" PPVs, along with the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, the company's five biggest annual shows of the year. The eighth King of the Ring PPV hosted the finals of the 14th tournament, and it was held on June 25, 2000, at the Fleet Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
Storylines King of the Ring featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on Raw is War and SmackDown!—World Wrestling Federation's television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a heel or a face as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
The pay-per-view event featured the annual King of the Ring single elimination bracket tournament. At 32 participants, this year's tournament had the biggest field in the tournament's history. The tournament hasn't had a field as large since. The qualification matches for the tournament began on the May 29, 2000, episode of Raw is War, with Rikishi and Bull Buchanan defeating Shane McMahon and Steve Blackman respectively. The qualification matches continued on the June 1 episode of SmackDown, as Kurt Angle defeated Bradshaw and Crash Holly defeated Albert. On the June 4 episode of Sunday Night Heat, Chyna and Val Venis defeated The Godfather and Al Snow in respective matches to qualify for the tournament. On the June 5 episode of Raw is War, WWF Intercontinental Champion Chris Benoit and Hardcore Holly qualified by defeating Road Dogg and Faarooq respectively. On the June 8 episode of SmackDown!, Chris Jericho defeated Test and WWF European Champion Eddie Guerrero defeated Matt Hardy to qualify for the King of the Ring tournament. On the June 11 episode of Sunday Night Heat, Bubba Ray Dudley and Perry Saturn defeated Big Bossman and D-Von Dudley in respective matches to qualify for the tournament. On the June 12 episode of Raw is War, X-Pac qualified for the tournament by defeating Dean Malenko and Jeff Hardy qualified by defeating Christian. The qualification matches for the tournament ended on the June 15 episode of SmackDown!, as Edge defeated one half of the WWF Tag Team Champions Grand Master Sexay and the other half of the WWF Tag Team Champions Scotty 2 Hotty defeated D-Lo Brown. On the June 18 episode of Sunday Night Heat, the tournament started as Bull Buchanan defeated Perry Saturn and Val Venis defeated Jeff Hardy. On the June 19 episode of Raw is War, the tournament matches continued as Kurt Angle defeated Bubba Ray Dudley, Chris Benoit defeated X-Pac, Eddie Guerrero defeated Chyna, Chris Jericho defeated Edge, Rikishi defeated Scotty 2 Hotty and Crash Holly defeated Hardcore Holly.
The main rivalry heading into the event was between the McMahon-Helmsley Faction (Triple H, Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon) and the team of The Rock and The Brothers of Destruction (Kane and The Undertaker). At Judgment Day, The Undertaker returned to the WWF with a new biker gimmick after an eight-month groin injury and attacked Triple H during an Iron Man match between The Rock and Triple H for the WWF Championship. As a result, The Rock was disqualified and Triple H won the match 6–5, thus becoming the WWF Champion. On the June 1 episode of SmackDown!, The Rock, Kane and The Undertaker all won qualifying matches to qualify for a WWF Championship title shot at King of the Ring. On the June 12 episode of Raw is War, WWF CEO Linda McMahon announced that at King of the Ring, The Rock, Kane and The Undertaker would team up to wrestle Triple H, Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon in a six-man tag team match. On the June 15 episode of SmackDown!, a stipulation was added into the match that if Triple H's team won, Triple H would defend the title against the winner of the King of the Ring tournament at Fully Loaded, but if any person from The Rock's team got the pinfall, that person would receive a title shot instead. On the June 19 episode of Raw is War, the stipulation was tweaked so that if any member of The Rock's team got the pinfall at King of the Ring, that person would become the new WWF Champion.
Another major rivalry heading into the event was between Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty), Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy) and T & A (Test and Albert) over the WWF Tag Team Championship. On the May 29 episode of Raw is War, Too Cool defeated Edge and Christian to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. Edge and Christian invoked their rematch clause for the titles. T & A and the Hardy Boyz were also feuding at the time, and were added into the tag title match, making the match a Four corners elimination match at King of the Ring.
On the June 19 episode of Raw is War, Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco interfered in a King of the Ring tournament match between WWF Hardcore Champion Crash Holly and Hardcore Holly. Hardcore was disqualified after Brisco hit Crash twice with a 2x4 and, thanks to the 24/7 rule, Brisco pinned Crash to win the Hardcore Championship. After returning backstage, Patterson hit Brisco in the head with a champagne bottle, and pinned him to win the Hardcore Championship. On the June 22 episode of SmackDown!, WWF Chairman Vince McMahon announced that Patterson would defend the title against Brisco in a Hardcore Evening Gown match at King of the Ring.
At Judgment Day, D-Generation X (Road Dogg and X-Pac) defeated the Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) in a Double Tables match. On the June 19 episode of Raw is War, the Dudleyz cost X-Pac a King of the Ring tournament match against WWF Intercontinental Champion Chris Benoit. As a result, DX and Tori demanded a match against the Dudleyz. WWF Chairman Vince McMahon announced that at King of the Ring, DX and Tori would wrestle the Dudley Boyz in a Handicap Tables Dumpster match at King of the Ring.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsJim RossJerry LawlerSpanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraHugo SavinovichInterviewersMichael ColeJonathan CoachmanRing announcerHoward Finkel RefereesMike ChiodaEarl Hebner Jim Korderas Tim White Theodore LongChad PattonJack Doan
Preliminary matches
The first match that aired live on pay-per-view was a King of the Ring tournament quarter-final match between Rikishi and Chris Benoit. Rikishi dominated most of the match until Benoit started using submission maneuvers. He locked in the Crippler Crossface on Rikishi, who caught hold of the ropes. Benoit released the hold but hit Rikishi with a chair and was disqualified, allowing Rikishi to advance to the semi-finals. However, Benoit continued to attack Rikishi with the chair and applied another Crippler Crossface on Rikishi, injuring his shoulder.
The next match in the quarter-final round was between Eddie Guerrero and Val Venis. Guerrero and Venis traded momentum back and forth during the match. In the closing moments of the match, Venis tried to hit a "Money Shot" (diving splash) on Guerrero but Guerrero blocked the move. Venis' valet Trish Stratus then jumped on the apron, prompting Guerrero's valet Chyna to prevent Stratus from interfering. Venis took advantage and scored the pinfall following a fisherman's suplex.
The quarter-final round continued pitting Bull Buchanan against Crash Holly. Buchanan dominated most of the match and due to his bigger size, Buchanan easily performed his moves on Holly. Buchanan tried to finish Holly with a scissors kick, but Holly ducked the move and pinned Buchanan with a roll-up to win the match.
The final match in the quarter-final round was between Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho. Jericho dominated the early part of the match until Angle got the momentum. Angle continued to perform his moves on Jericho until Jericho regained momentum. In the closing moments of the match, Angle attempted to hit the Angle Slam on Jericho, but Jericho avoided the move and locked Angle in the Walls of Jericho. The WWF Women's Champion Stephanie McMahon then interfered in the match and distracted the referee. Angle tapped out to the Walls of Jericho but the referee was distracted. Jericho released the hold and knocked out the referee. Stephanie tried to hit Jericho with the Women's Championship belt but Jericho ducked and Angle was hit instead. Jericho then kissed Stephanie but Angle got the advantage and hit an Angle Slam on Jericho for the victory.
Next was a four corners elimination match for the WWF Tag Team Championship as the champions Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty) defended the titles against Edge and Christian, the Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy) and T & A (Test and Albert). T & A was the first team to get eliminated when Matt Hardy pinned Test following Jeff's execution of the Swanton Bomb. The match went back and forth until Christian eliminated the Hardy Boyz by pinning Matt after hitting him with an Impaler. The match was left between Too Cool and the team of Edge and Christian. Too Cool dominated the challengers and seemed to have the match won when Sexay hit Edge with a "Hip-Hop Drop" (diving leg drop) and tried to pin Edge but there was no referee present. Christian took advantage and hit Sexay with a tag team championship title belt, allowing Edge to pin Sexay to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.