Complete results of a card that also saw the CROWNING OF "MR ASS" BILLY GUNN

The opener set the tone for the entire show, as X-Pac beat Bob Holly via DQ....  it seemed to me that, while this was a nice, solid match, it was a bit short, and had an unnecessary screwjob ending.  There no reason Holly couldn't put X-Pac over clean, but instead they did the DQ finish, with Holly intentionally using a chair right in front of the ref.

Amidst those fabled "internet rumors" that the Big Show was a surefire bet to win the title of "King," Titan threw a curveball to us early.  In the second match, the Big Show faced Kane....  and LOST.  The story here is that with the ref knocked out, Kane illegally choked Big Show out, and then pasted him with a wicked chair shot.  The ref came to at that point, and counted the three for Kane.  Again, a decent little match, but one that seemed to finish a little flat. Road Dogg and Chyna faced off in the next first round contest.  They played up the angle of Road Dogg not wanting to hit a woman, so a lot of this match consisted of Chyna dominating Road Dogg in between exchanges of mat wrestling and rest holds.  They actually went a solid 8 or 10 minutes it seemed, until finally HHH's interference on Chyna's behalf became too much.  Commissioner Shawn Michaels interjected himself and dismissed HHH from ringside.  While the ref and Road Dogg were distracted by Michaels' antics, Chyna snuck up behind Dogg and tried her patented low blow; but Road Dogg was wearing a protective cup, and the blow had no effect.  Chyna was quickly pump-handle slammed and the Road Dogg advanced.   Another decent little match, this one with a neat ending. In the final first round match, Billy Gunn advanced past Ken Shamrock when the referee stopped the match.  Shamrock had been brutalized by Steve Blackman earlier on Heat, and was "bleeding internally."  A Billy Gunn powerbomb caused Shamrock to start spitting up blood again, so the ref called the match.

As a way of spacing out the first two rounds of KotR tourney matches, a rematch of the Hardys/Brood tag match from Heat (which was brought to an early end by the Acolytes interferring) was booked.  This match easily had the best action of the night, and after silence in the early moments, the crowd was heating up for the big moves near the end.  Said "big moves" included what Jim Ross called "the damnedest spear I've ever seen."  I concur, JR.  The spear was executed by Edge on Jeff Hardy, but it wasn't enough for the win.  Instead, the Hardys snuck away with a victory when Gangrel's attempt to interfere backfired.  Now, the Hardys are the #1 contenders to the tag team titles.

The second round started with Billy Gunn and Kane doing their things.  Mr. Ass is starting to click in the ring a little bit more, but this match with Kane still didn't ignite the crowd or seem to really catch fire.  Instead, the two basically marked time until the ending which had the Big Show coming down to whack Kane with a chair (revenge from their match, of course), aiding Gunn in getting the win.

The other semi-final pit best friends against each other, as X-Pac and Road Dogg lit it up.  After some token sportsmanship, they locked horns and wrestled a tight little 5 minute match, leading up to hitting the X-Factor and getting the win.  More token sportsmanship followed.  This match could've been something, but instead came off as way too short and simply anticlimactic.  Good while it lasted, but... The WWF Title match took the next slot.  The Rock and Undertaker got off to a hot start with an early ref bump and near falls for the Rock.   This was the first of two matches that the live crowd would stay red hot for the entire time, and with good reason:  the Rock led the Undertaker to one of the latter's best matches in quite some time.  The fast-paced brawl went all over the building, and flowed nicely from out of the ring insanity to in-ring action.  As the match progressed, the Rock had to deal with Paul Bearer preventing refs from making three counts, an ether soaked rag, and ultimately, interference from HHH.  In the end, it was HHH's Pedigree on the Rock that allowed the Undertaker an opening to perform the tombstone and get the win.  A pretty solid match, though obviously not the ending the fans wanted.

The King of the Ring final followed, with X-Pac as the sentimental underdog going up against Mr. Ass.  Gunn dominated early, and actually a Fame-asser in the opening minutes.  But a lazy cover allowed X-Pac to kick out and continue the match.  From there X-Pac did have a heat sequence that got the crowd into it a bit.  But it was not to be, as Gunn eventually hit an Atomic Fame-Asser (from the second rope) to score the three count.  Now, will we call him "King Ass" or "The Ass King"?

Main event time.  But first, a little backstory:   on Heat, Shane was forced to wrestle Ken Shamrock.  Shane suffered a neck injury, causing Vince to declare that he'd find a "suitable replacement" (which was OK'ed by Michaels).  After HHH -- in his wrestling gear -- interfered in the title match, Michaels ejected Hunter, as it was clear he was Vince's choice.  Vince was forced to scramble.... and before the main event match took place, he announced Steve Blackman (now doing a "mercenary for hire" gimmick) as his partner.  But before things could go much further, the latest edition of "GTV" interrupted the broadcast, showing Shane McMahon bragging to the Posse about faking a neck injury so that Vince could get a more capable replacement.  Michaels immediately ordered Shane to participate in the match, anyway.