Customer Rating:      Summary: The event where the Invasion feud began Comment: The street fight between Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon stole the show on this night. They had in my view one of the best, if not the best, street fights in WWE history. Another thing to point out is that the KOR started the Invasion feud between then the WWF and WCW with Ecw.
Before the semi-finals got underway of the tournament, Diamond Dallas Page opens up the show to address the crowd to what he did to the Undertaker and his wife Sara over the past couple of weeks. He soon pleads to the Undertaker to "Make Him Famous" and then takes a seat in the front row.
1. KOR Semi-Finals
Kurt Angle vs. Christian
This was the first of 3 matches Angle competed in during this night. Christian and Angle had a solid opener. They had a good match in the ring and a nice little brawl on the outside. Shane comes out and helps Angle to score the pinfall over Christian to advance in the KOR tournament. 3.5/5
2. KOR Semi-Finals
Edge vs. Rhyno
This is another good match up in this tournament. Rhyno and Edge had a good fight going on on the outside. They had a very good, competitive match in the ring as well. Theres a point in the match where both Rhyno and Edge trys to hit the spear/gore and they just tackle the hell out of each other. Pretty good match up. 4/5
3. Tag Team Titles
Dudley Boyz vs. Kane & Spike
Kane turned out to be spike's mystery partner for this match. This was a good tag match. Everybody looked very good in this one. There were a couple of good spots dealing with Kane and spike. It had a very sweet counter from the dudley dog into the 3d. It also had a good table spot after the match where Kane chokeslams buh buh through one. 4/5
4. KOR Finals
Edge vs. Kurt Angle
This last match in the tournament was the most competitive one out of the three. They had a good wrestling contest in the ring with some nice counters and wrestling moves. Shane would also interfere in this match but only this time to screw Angle in becoming the only 2x KOR. Edge and Angle would go on to have better matches in the future but this is one to watch. 4.5/5
5. Cruiserweight Title
Jeff Hardy vs. X-Pac
Another good match up. Hardy was more of the high flyer in this one while X-pac stayed more to the ground. Pac was more trying to wear down Hardy than using high risk where Hardy was. A good cruiserweight match. 4/5
Undertaker vs. Diamond Dallas Page
After viewing footage of DDP being stalked throughout the night, this is the point in the ppv where Taker makes his enterance to proclaim into making DDP "Famous". I wouldn't say this is a match at all, this was just a beat down from Undertaker to ddp to what ddp has done to him in weeks beforehand. Just a another segment to set up the Invasion feud and to give Angle more time to rest up for his street fight.
6. Street Fight- Kurt Angle vs. Shane McMahon
This match is what stole the show. It looked like this was Angle's first match of the night, even though he wrestled 2 more matches prior to this one. There was everything in this match from weapon use, wrestling, submissions, and high risk. Once it got taken to the outside, Shane gets belly to belly through one glass wall and thrown through another. Shane gets real bloody in this one and he also displays a great deal of heart in this match. It had an unbelieveable finish with Angle angleslamming Shane from the top rope. Phenomenal match, match of the night and maybe of the year. 5/5
7. WWE Championship
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho
This is the match where the Invasion from WCW truly began. This is also where Benoit really hurts his neck which forces him to stay out for a year.
It seemed in the beginning Benoit and Jericho were going to team up and take out Austin. There were a couple of very good spots of one on one action with Benoit vs. Austin and Jericho vs. Austin. Austin seemed as he was the under dog in this match even though he was the champ. Jericho and Benoit would tie it up for awhile as well. Booker t would make his debut in this match and drive Stone Cold through the announce table. A match that had a lot of great action. A very solid main event to begin the Invasion feud. 5/5
KOR is a good event to pick up if you like the KOR tournaments. The whole year of 2001 was a very surperb year and KOR is no exception.
Customer Rating:      Summary: One of the Best PVP Ever. Comment: The Kurt Angle vs Shane McMahon match is beyond words. Kurt Angle at his very best. I still cringe when I watch certain spots in this match.
Customer Rating:      Summary: The Birth of King Edge & The Invasion Angle Comment: I was going through some of my WWF videos and found out that I had this event on DVD & decided to watch it. This King of the Ring was mostly remembered for not only the beginning of the Invasion storyline but the awesome main events that would follow along with the beginning of the rise of a young talented wrestler that would soon move up main event status.
Kurt Angle vs Christian. This is the first match of the semi finals of the KOTR tournament. A solid opening contest that could have been better but the main focus was on the interference of Shane McMahon that would cause some confusion (for J.R. & Heyman) throughout the night. It brings more anticipation to their Street Fight, which would occur later on.
Edge vs Rhyno. This is the other semi final match. Rhyno is a hard worker and Edge, now, has earned his respect but this one was merely average. Both guys do moves that we have seen before, which is not bad but considering the importance of the event, you would expect more. Still, this is worth the viewing as it was a good effort.
WWF Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz vs Spike Dudley & Kane. This is one of those "put over a storyline" type of matches. The Dudleys won the titles three days prior and Spike challenges them on Heat for the match. Kane,(who was I.C. Champ) was just added to the mix. Overall, an enjoyable match with a nice table spot but nothing that will blow you away.
Kurt Angle vs Edge. This is the final match of the tournament and it is the best match of the tournament. However, Angle and Edge would go on to have even better matches in 2002. The match was good but this was one of those "put a storyline over" as Shane McMahon makes an expected run-in to hype the anticipation of the Street Fight later on. Edge becomes the 2001 King of the Ring.
WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy vs X-Pac. This was not that good of a match but it was watchable & average for what it was. I did like the fact that the crowd was into this match because they were hard to win over (more on that later as well). There were a few moves that were botched as Jeff tried to be crazy & creative while X-Pac tried to just wrestle a regular match.
The confrontation between The Undertaker and Diamond Dallas Page. I remember the hype for this event, especially with DDP being revealed as the man who stalked Undertaker's real life wife and could not wait to see it. It is still a disappointment. Taker, who is one of my favorites, just kills any credibility that DDP had in just ten minutes. Too bad, it did not live up to the hype.
Street Fight: Kurt Angle vs Shane McMahon. It's Angle's third match of the night and quite frankly is the best match on this card, while at the same time, Shane's greatest match in his career. AND FINALLY, THE CROWD MAKES SOME NOICE. My question is who did not, this match was awesome that my words don't do justice. This match had it all. Brawling, weapons, high impact moves, storytelling...and even some amature wrestling. A classic showcase by these two.
WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit. This match started off slow but soon picked up & became the great match that we would expect from these three as we received some nice triangle action here without it slowing down. People consider the ending to disappoint but Benoit broke his neck & honestly I did not think it took too much away from the match. The real highlight was the interference of WCW Champion Booker T who tossed Austin through a table & injured him for about a month. The crowd was not into it for some strange reason but if you saw the whole event, you would not be surprised because they were quiet for most of the night (except the Street Fight).
Anyways, the King of the Ring tournament could have been better considering the talent involved but the main events were worth the price of admission as they were match of the year candidates for 2001. The rest of the card is not bad (except the Taker/DDP confrontation) so overall it is worth a purchase.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Enter The Era Of Awesomeness Comment: This was a rarety in that the actual King Of The Ring tournament that highlights this PPV was nothing more than a filler compaired to everything else that was going on in WWF at the time and was just an afterthought once the PPV ended. This PPV was important for actually kicking off the WCW invasion angle as we saw the debut of the WCW Champion, saw the WCW "owner" involved heavily in matches throughout the night, and saw a match that foreshadowed the direction that the WCW vs. WWF storyline was going.
Kurt Angle vs. Christian - This was the first of two semi-final matches in which they booked two heels against each other but the bigger story here was about Shane McMahon costing Christian the match so Angle would have to wrestle another match before his street fight with Shane.
Edge vs. Rhyno - Another heel vs. heel match that was missing that "it" factor that makes a good match. Watchable but they seemed off here. A highlight to watch though was the spear & gore delivered at the same time.
Tag Team Champions Dudley Boyz vs. Spike Dudley & Kane - This was just a filler match on here as Spike picked a partner to go against his brothers who turned on him weeks earlier...and Kane was the partner. Match was good & actually better than the pervious two matches with everyone taking some big bumps. But look out for the ending as Kane delievered a sick chokeslam to Bubba Ray.
Edge vs. Kurt Angle - The King Of The Ring final was the best match in the tournament but they would go on to have better matches a little under a year later. This was one of those "put a storyline over matches" in that Shane McMahon cost Angle the match to continue the build up for their street fight later on, Christian interfeared & looked like he tried to cost his brother the match which would start their "jealously" storyline. Again, it's not the best match between Angle & Edge but the highlight is that Edge is the new King Of The Ring which began his single's run in WWF.
Lightheavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy vs. X-Pac - This was one of those "paint by numbers" matches as Jeff Hardy was just going from spot to spot while X-Pac tried to make this look like an actual wrestling match. It wasn't that good but compared to the other matches thoughout the night, it was above average.
Undertaker confronts "Diamond" Dallas Page - The storyline was built up very well as DDP was stalking Undertaker's real life wife & when it was revealed as DDP from WCW, that only added to the anticipation. However, this was that match that I said earlier foreshadowed how the WCW invasion storyline would go. Undertaker completely SQUASHED & DESTORYED Page for almost 10 mins. before DDP ran away though the crowd. One of the rare WCW main event superstars to come over to WWF for this angle was made to look inferior to a WWF superstar and the month long hype for DDP was killed in 10 mins. Overall, this is good for those who just like seeing a beatdown but besides that, it was the beginning of the WCW burial called the "Invasion" storyline.
Street Fight: Shane McMahon vs. Kurt Angle - This match was one of the matches of the year as these two delivered such an amazing performance that it ended up injuring both men for at least a month afterwards. This had something for everyone's taste. Brawling, weapons, high impact moves, storytelling...and even some amature wrestling. To this day, when you see the "Don't Try This At Home" advertisement on WWE DVD's, most of the highlights on there come from this match. Again, a modern day classic.
WWF Champion Stone Cold vs. Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit - This match stars off a little slow but continued to build up into something special & tells a good story here between these three as you know you are rarely disappointed in a performance from any of these 3 men. The bigger story here was the WWF debut of WCW Champion Booker T who put Stone Cold though a table & hurt him to the point where he was out of action for a month.
Overall, the King Of The Ring tournament didn't live up to it's height while it was the other matches that saved this PPV from being a disaster. But the main event & street fight alone make this a PPV that I would get...but only at a low price.
Customer Rating:      Summary: The best King of the Rings- Comment: Here are my favorite King of the Ring's
King of the Ring 1993,Winner-Bret Hart
King of the Ring 95,Winner-Mabel
King of the Ring 96,Winner-Stone Cold
King of the Ring 97,Winner-HHH
King of the Ring 2000,Winner- Kurt Angle
king of the Ring 2001,Winner-Edge
|