King of the Ring

King of the Ring was a professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event series held by WWE. The main focus was the King of the Ring tournament which was previously held annually from 1985 to 1991, with the exception of 1990. In 2003, the event's pay-per-view slot was replaced by Bad Blood.

This article is about the event series. For the tournament itself, see King of the Ring tournament.
For other uses, see King of the Ring (disambiguation).
King of the Ring
The King of the Ring logo
Promotion(s)WWE
First eventKing of the Ring (1993)
Last eventKing of the Ring (2015)

The tournament endured a four-year hiatus until its return in 2006 as an exclusive tournament of the SmackDown brand. The tournament returned as an inter-brand occurrence for both SmackDown and Raw in 2010 and 2019. King of the Ring was a tri-branded tournament, also featuring ECW wrestlers, in 2008 and a non-branded tournament in 2015 (the original brand extension ended in 2011).

History

The King of the Ring was an event in which typically sixteen wrestlers wrestled in a one-on-one single elimination bracket. When a wrestler wins a match in the bracket, he advances to take on another wrestler who has also won. The final few matches would then take place at that year's King of the Ring event. The winner of the final match is officially crowned the King of the Ring. There were also other matches that took place at the King of the Ring event since it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view. The King of the Ring pay-per-view was considered one of the WWE's "Big Five" events of the year, along with the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series, up until its disestablishment after the 2002 event.

The King of the Ring was the only one of the WWE's "Big Five" pay-per-view events (The others being the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series) to never be hosted at least once at Madison Square Garden.

King of the Ring event dates and venues
Event Date City Venue Main event Ref
King of the Ring (1993) June 13, 1993 Dayton, Ohio Nutter Center Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow in the 1993 King of the Ring tournament finals [1][2]
King of the Ring (1994) June 19, 1994 Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore Arena Jerry Lawler vs. Roddy Piper [3][4]
King of the Ring (1995) June 25, 1995 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Spectrum Sycho Sid and Tatanka vs. Diesel and Bam Bam Bigelow [5]
King of the Ring (1996) June 23, 1996 Milwaukee, Wisconsin MECCA Arena The British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels (c) for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship with special guest enforcer Mr. Perfect [6]
King of the Ring (1997) June 8, 1997 Providence, Rhode Island Providence Civic Center Faarooq vs. The Undertaker (c) for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship [7]
King of the Ring (1998) June 28, 1998 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Civic Arena Stone Cold Steve Austin (c) vs. Kane in a First Blood match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship [8]
King of the Ring (1999) June 27, 1999 Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Coliseum Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Ladder match for control of the World Wrestling Federation [9][10]
King of the Ring (2000) June 25, 2000 Boston, Massachusetts Fleet Center The McMahon-Helmsley Faction (Triple H (c), Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon) vs. The Rock, Kane and The Undertaker for the WWF Championship [11]
King of the Ring (2001) June 24, 2001 East Rutherford, New Jersey Continental Airlines Arena Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (c) in a Triple threat match for the WWF Championship [12]
King of the Ring (2002) June 23, 2002 Columbus, Ohio Nationwide Arena The Undertaker (c) vs. Triple H for the WWE Undisputed Championship [13]
King of the Ring (2015) April 28, 2015 Moline, Illinois iWireless Center Bad News Barrett vs. Neville in the 2015 King of the Ring tournament finals [14]
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

References
  1. "411MANIA". Random Network Reviews: King of the Ring 1993. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  2. "WWF King Of The Ring 1993 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  3. "411MANIA". From The Shelf – WWE King of the Ring 1994. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  4. "WWF King Of The Ring 1994 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  5. "411MANIA". Random Network Reviews: King of the Ring 1995. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  6. "411MANIA". Random Network Reviews: WWF King of the Ring 1996. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  7. "411MANIA". Dark Pegasus Video Review: King of the Ring 1997. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  8. "411MANIA". Random Network Reviews: King of the Ring 1998. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  9. "411MANIA". Kevin’s Random Reviews: WWF King of the Ring 1999. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  10. "WWF King Of The Ring 1999 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  11. "411MANIA". Kevin’s Random Reviews: WWF King of the Ring 2000. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  12. "411MANIA". Random Network Reviews: King of the Ring 2001. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  13. "Card « WWE King Of The Ring 2002 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  14. "PWTorch.com – CALDWELL'S WWE KOTR SPECIAL REPORT 4/28: Complete "virtual-time coverage" of King of the Ring finals on WWE Network". pwtorch.com. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
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