WWE Fantasy Universe S1 Ep.4: King Of The Ring

Team Hollywood don’t even grace us with their presence of Raw or Smackdown after Judgement Day. They appear via satellite, out celebrating together. The Rock says that Team Hollywood will go down as the greatest faction of all time and they are out partying. He reveals that next week, Billy Kidman and DDP will have championship matches. Kidman warns The Hurricane that not even superpowers can protect the cruiserweight title from him. DDP sends a message to RVD. He is facing a different DDP now. The old DDP was weak, but the new DDP has bought in and rediscovered his killer instinct. Hulk Hogan warns the WWE that Team Hollywood is taking over. Billy Kidman goes on to win the cruiserweight championship on Raw. We will talk about DDP a little later.

Road To King of the Ring

Hell To Pay

The Undertaker competes in the King of the Ring tournament, but he is knocked out of the first round in a huge upset against Shawn Stasiak thanks to interference from Hulk Hogan.

The Rock comes out on Raw full of catchphrases and creative insults as usual, he carries a black suitcase with him. The Rock says he wants to do something special for someone who is the life support of the wrestling business. He puts over this man as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. He brings out Hulk Hogan of course. The Rock has a gift for Hogan to express his gratitude on behalf of the people. The fans boo all this. The Rock pulls out of his case, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, Big Gold. The Rock puts it around Hogan’s waist and calls him the Eternal World Heavyweight Champion. Hulk Hogan begins to deliver an acceptance speech, but The Undertaker comes out on his bike.

The Undertaker mocks all of this pathetic brown-nosing and gives them two options. Option 1, The Rock accepts a challenge for the WWE title at King of the Ring. Option 2, he comes down there and kicks their asses until they give him one. The Rock and Hogan beckon him to come down to the ring. Undertaker rides down and brawls with them both, he is joined by Kane to come out on top in the fight. Undertaker grabs Hogan’s World Heavyweight title and takes it with him. He fastens it into his bike and drives off.

The next week, Hulk Hogan is livid and demands Undertaker return the property. Hulk Hogan takes some personal shots at Undertaker, including mentioning his real life wife at the time. Undertaker comes out and has a new focus other than the world title. If Hogan wants his belt back, he can fight him for it…inside Hell in a Cell. Hogan brags about the people he has beaten, he shows no fear and accepts the challenge.

Undertaker reminds us what happened the last time he wrestled inside a Hell in a Cell at King of the Ring, he threw Mankind off the cell and nearly killed him. He hates Hulk Hogan even more, so what do you think he is willing to do this time?

All The Gold

DDP defeats RVD on Smackdown to win the Intercontinental championship thanks to an assist from The Rock. Afterwards, they beat down RVD. Eddie Guerrero makes the save, but DDP hits a Diamond Cutter with a chair around his neck. Eddie Guerrero joins Steve Austin on the “injured by Team Hollywood” list. Chris Benoit comes to Eddie’s aid but it’s too late. On the same show, The Rock approaches Triple H backstage. Rock has heard rumours that Triple H is going to be joining his buddies in the nWo. HHH neither confirms or denies this but Rock tries to convince him otherwise. He knows that Triple H hasn’t made the splash in Hollywood…yet. He says that he can land Triple H a major role if he was to consider joining them instead. Triple H doesn’t give answer, he just leaves. DDP asks why he wants HHH, Rock says “better with us than against us.”

On the next Smackdown, RVD approaches Benoit and offers support in the fight against Team Hollywood. They approach Stephanie McMahon who understands the frustrations and has a plan. During a Rock promo, Stephanie comes out and says she has been passive on Team Hollywood recently because, well, it is good television. However, she wants to remind them that they do not run the show, she does. So for King of the Ring, she is killing 2 birds with one stone. Benoit and RVD will team up to face Rock and DDP with both the WWE and IC titles on the line. Rock is furious.

The following Smackdown, The Rock comes out with a guitar and he is a lot calmer than last week. He has a guitar in hand and he has prepared a little something for the GM Stephanie McMahon to display his satisfaction with her work. We get a Rock Concert where he sings songs poking fun at Benoit, RVD but mostly Stephanie, calling her every insult under the sun. He gets lost in the sauce and he says that even the people who hate him are having a good time right now. Triple H’s music plays. Rock and HHH come face to face, Rock tries to calm him down by saying he was just having fun but Triple H doesn’t look happy. Before we see what develops next, Benoit & RVD come out to attack Rock, accidentally hitting HHH in the chaos. DDP tries to help but the babyfaces are victorious in this fight.

Caught in the Middle

Edge steps up to Triple H and tells him to tell his boys to steer clear of him if they know what is good for them. Triple H says they are his friends, but he is not part of the nWo. Edge doubts this very much and says he needed them to defeat him. HHH denies it but lucky for them both, they will meet in the KOTR tournament so they can find out who is better.

Triple H defeats Edge on Smackdown, but again there was interference from the pestering nWo. After the win, Triple H hunts down the nWo backstage and confronts them. He tells them to stop getting involved in his business. Nash says that “his business is our business” if he is going to be associated with them. HHH says he is not part of their group. They have heard rumours that Team Hollywood is looking to poach Triple H and question if Triple H has already made up his mind. Triple H says the only allegiance he has to is himself.

Edge gets a measure of revenge against the nWo by costing Shawn Michaels his KOTR semi-final match with Shawn Stasiak. HHH loses to Matt Hardy in the next round of KOTR thanks also to Edge interference. Triple H has his encounter with The Rock, teasing him joining his faction. Triple H is highly sought over.

HHH speaks to Stephanie and asks for a match with Edge at the PPV and he gets it. Then, the Rock Concert stuff happens which casts doubt on Triple H joining Team Hollywood. Stephanie complains to him about Rock and says that he needs to be dealt with. Triple H says that he will deal with Rock, assuming that Stephanie gives him a title shot at the same time. She mulls this over, but again ultimately chooses against handing him a world title match. She doesn’t want to be accused of playing favourites. They argue and as he storms out he says “maybe not everything Rocky had to say was false”.

Crowded

Trish Stratus is focused on getting herself a rematch with Lita over the women’s title without Matt at ringside, but she cannot seem to find a way. Lita purchases a manager’s license for Matt so he has every legal right to be ringside. Stephanie says unfortunately she cannot do much to remove Matt from ringside, but she can make things a little fairer. She says Matt won’t be alone at ringside. In fact the rest of the women and a bunch of other wrestlers will be ringside too. It will be a lumberjack match for the women’s title.

KOTR

We have the 16th King of the Ring tournament. 8 men from each brand compete for a shot at the WWE title on the line at Summerslam. On the Raw side:

Kurt Angle defeats Big Show

Shawn Stasiak defeats Undertaker

Kane defeats Mark Henry

Shawn Michaels defeats Rikishi

Kurt Angle defeats Kane, QF

Shawn Stasiak defeats Shawn Michaels, QF

Kurt Angle defeats Shawn Stasiak, SF

Over on Smackdown:

Brock Lesnar defeats Test

Ric Flair defeats Randy Orton

Triple H defeats Edge

Matt Hardy defeats Jeff Hardy

Brock Lesnar defeats Ric Flair, QF

Matt Hardy defeats Triple H, QF

Brock Lesnar defeats Matt Hardy, SF

Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar will meet again. Kurt reminds him that he won when they met last time and the result won’t be any different. Brock Lesnar wishes Kurt luck, because he will need it this time.

Rebranding?

In what would be considered a heel move across the water but a neutral move in America, Rhyno thinks the European championship is dated and needs an update. He teases retiring it and reviving the classic WCW belt, the United States championship. William Regal interrupts and calls that idea sacreligious, the highest level of disrespect to the great place he was brought up in. Lance Storm then gets involved, saying how he agrees with Rhyno only partially. If they are going to retire the European championship, they shouldn’t bring back an irrelevant piece of crap like the US title. They should introduce officially the title that he created in WCW, the Canadian championship.

All signs pointed towards a triple threat, until Tajiri defeated Lance Storm on Raw. Whilst Vince McMahon is booking the match for King of the Ring, Tajiri approaches and says “maybe, the new title is WWE Japanese championship”. Vince doesn’t hate this idea and decides to put this up for grabs. At KOTR it will be a fatal four way and depending on the winner is how the European championship will go forward being named as.

A New Goal

Chris Jericho is now a reluctant member of the Un-Americans and Christian is dedicated to helping Jericho rediscover his Canadian roots, so that he can be a functioning member of this team. Jericho plays along but he is clearly unenthused by his new team. Christian tells Jericho that it is not only Raw that has been over-Americanised, but Smackdown too. They need to pay them a visit. The Un-Americans go to Smackdown to confront the tag team champions Booker T and Goldust. Christian calls Goldust a perfect figurehead for America because everything about him is wrong and offensive. Booker T does not allow them to come to their brand and throw insults so he challenges on of them to a match. Christian of course says that he accepts…on behalf of Chris Jericho.

Chris Jericho and Booker T wrestle on Smackdown and Jericho gets the victory thanks to Chrstian interference. Christian orders Jericho to help him beat down Booker, but Goldust makes the save. Later, Booker T and Goldust want a match with the Un-Americans but Christian says that isn’t going to happen unless they make it worth their while, by putting the tag titles on the line. Booker T & Goldust accept.

The Runt

Raven says that he offered Spike Dudley an opportunity at salvation. He could have shed his image of being a weak nobody, the runt of the litter, to become great by association with Raven. Now, that opportunity has passed and now Raven seeks to destroy Spike Dudley. Over the following weeks, Raven stalks and assaults Spike Dudley on Raw, finding ways to isolate him from Tazz for an assault. Tazz tries to set up a rematch but Spike says no. Spike wants to prove once again that he is more than just the runt of the litter “I am Spike FUCKING Dudley and I can kick ass just as much as anybody else”.

Raven tries to ambush Spike again, but Spike knew it was coming and counterattacks. Spike beats Raven’s ass and they fight in a car park. Spike drives Raven’s head through a car window. “If you have the balls, you will bring your hardcore title to fight me at King of the Ring.”

King of the ring

WWE puts on the 10th annual King of the Ring event. As the commentary begin to introduce the show, they have breaking news coming in that the Hardcore title match is happening right now! We cut to the back, Raven and Spike Dudley have begun fighting in the Boiler Room and finally a referee reaches them to officially begin the match. Raven beats Spike’s ass but he gets overconfident, allowing Spike to launch a chair at his head. Spike hits the Dudley Dog through a table and pins Raven to win! He scores an upset victory.

Spike Dudley wins the Hardcore title in 3:21.

Next up, Booker T & Goldust defend their tag titles against Chris Jericho and Christian, the Un-Americans. Christian orchestrates an ambush on the tag champions, this match is just a straight up brawl. Booker T and Goldust fight back into the match. Booker confronts Jericho and asks why he associates with this loser and he slaps Jericho. This gets Jericho hot, he tackles Booker T out of the ring. The match continues to be a fight on the outside, neither legal man makes it back into the ring and the referee counts to 10.

Tag title match ends in a Double Count Out in 3:27.

These two teams continue fighting through the crowd and to the bank until they aren’t visible.

Rhyno defends the European championship next against William Regal, Tajiri and Lance Storm. Whoever wins will determine the future of this title. Regal and Storm form a loose alliance to try and take out Rhyno and Tajiri, however they are unsuccessful. Rhyno double gores them and sets up a 1 on 1 with Tajiri. They have a nice back and forth, power moves vs superior striking. Tajiri seems poised to secure an upset victory after a trio of Buzzsaw kicks, but Regal pushes Tajiri out of the ring and steals the pin. The European championship remains unchanged for now.

William Regal wins the European title in 2:40.

Before heading out for his entrance, Triple H walks past the nWo and he reminds them to stay out of his business. Triple H also walks past Team Hollywood who have a spare t-shirt for him. He brushes them off and heads to the ring. We have Triple H vs Edge in a No Holds Barred match. Edge is looking to prove himself against an established star, but it is an uphill battle. They go to war, using whatever weapons they have at their disposal. Edge shows his resiliency being able to kick out of a bunch of big moves. Triple H sets up for the pedigree, but he is attacked from behind by a masked man, wearing an nWo t-shirt. The man breaks a chair across HHH’s back, before hitting him with an X-Factor on the chair. Commentary suspect that this must be X-Pac, but why is he attacking his supposed buddy? Edge takes advantage of the situation, pinning and getting a big career victory.

Edge wins in 5:14.

Next up, Lita vs Trish Stratus in a lumberjack match for the women’s championship. Lita is sent outside of the ring in front of Jeff Hardy but he lets her go back in unharmed. Trish is sent out of the ring outside in front of Matt and he also lets her go. It is when Lita and Trish fall to the outside in front of other people when they get hurt the most. The other women on the roster are more than happy to deliver a beating on both of these women. Matt tries to save Lita from the match and take her away, but Jeff stops him and he throws Lita into the ring. Trish his Stratusfaction on Lita and wins the match. Matt argues with Jeff, claiming that he is responsible for Lita’s loss.

Trish Stratus wins the Women’s title in 3:46.

The King of the Ring finals puts Brock Lesnar against Kurt Angle for the second time. It appears that Lesnar and Heyman have been going over a game plan this time around, because Lesnar had an answer for everything Angle threw at him. All of Angle’s offence became null and void as Lesnar countered or no-sold it. Angle locks in the Ankle lock, but Lesnar powers out of it with ease. Lesnar unleashes a beatdown until Angle is ready for the F-5. Lesnar is the 2002 King of the Ring.

Brock Lesnar wins King of the Ring in 3:04.

Our semi-main event is a tag match for both the WWE and Intercontinental championships. The Rock and DDP defend against Chris Benoit and RVD. The match of the night here, which isn’t a surprise considering the talent involved. For once, there is actually no outside interference from Team Hollywood but Rock & DDP are not shying away from cheating to win. Benoit and RVD are showing chemistry as a team, acting on the same page whilst on the other side it is Rocky barking orders at DDP. Benoit sets up Rock for a diving headbutt, DDP meets him in mid-air with the Diamond Cutter! He drags Rock on top of Benoit to secure the win.

Team Hollywood retain their titles in 7:25.

Our main event is The Undertaker vs Hulk Hogan inside Hell in a Cell. A barbaric piece of brutality, Undertaker is taking out all of his frustrations on Hogan here. This is incredibly one-sided, Hogan gets some shots in but this is mostly total destruction from Taker. Mid-way through the match, Rock and DDP make their way back out to try and break into the cell but they are unsuccessful. Benoit, RVD and Kane come out and fight them off. Meanwhile, Billy Kidman rappels from the ceiling onto the top of the cell and finds a way to break into the structure. With the centre of the cell busted wide open, and Undertaker stood below watching him, Kidman leaps into the cell and takes Taker out with a diving crossbody. A bloodied Hogan and Kidman double team Undertaker, Hogan drops a trio of leg drops and finally puts him away.

Hulk Hogan wins in 6:35.

The Rock and DDP return through the crowd and enter the cell, locking it behind them. Team Hollywood brutalizes Undertaker with a chair over and over and over again until he is beyond incapacitated. Team Hollywood stand strong, united and dominant yet again at the end of a PPV.

So, Team Hollywood has another dominant month. All 4 of them are holding some form of gold and now it appears that Undertaker is another threat that they have dealt with. Tune in next week when we build towards the Vengeance PPV. Will anyone manage to get vengeance against Team Hollywood?