10 Fascinating WWE King Of The Ring 2000 Facts

On the surface, the 2000 King of the Ring looked like a show too good to fail. The roster of the time was arguably WWE's greatest ever, and shows from 2000 like the Royal Rumble, Backlash, Judgment Day, Fully Loaded, and SummerSlam rank among the greatest events in company history.

Surely, a tournament with the likes of Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero in it would provide enough scientific oomph to put King of the Ring on that level, but it wasn't to be. Instead, the 2000 version of the show was a low point of that year. Granted, it was still greater than the 1995 and 1999 editions of the event, but I think I'd rather eat Ramen noodles out of a colostomy bag than watch King of the Ring 1995. The 2000 show was better, which isn't exactly high praise.

There have been dozens of WWE PPVs worse than the 2000 King of the Ring, but the night is best termed as a huge disappointment. Sure, Angle took the throne and The Rock became WWE Champion again, but the potential for more was there. Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco dressed in drag doesn't qualify as "more".

Here are ten facts about the 2000 King of the Ring you may not have known.

Speaking of the depth of the 2000 WWE roster, the tournament field was unlike any in WWE before or since. In all, 32 individuals took part, having to essentially win two qualifying matches just to get into the tournament. It's a good thing the brackets weren't configured for 128 entrants, otherwise the show would have been cancelled and a number of talented wrestlers would have flooded Twitter to air their displeasure.

Ron "Faarooq" Simmons was the only previous World Champion to have been in the field of 32, but ten other participants would hold a World Championship later in their career. That group includes Edge, Christian, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Bubba Ray Dudley, Bradshaw, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and Kurt Angle. Now that's depth.