10 Fascinating WWE King Of The Ring 2002 Facts
1. The Buyrate Was Down Mightily From The Previous Year
The year 2002 marked a major downshift in interest in the WWE product, that Attitude Era fad having faded like any other craze. Of each of the Big Five pay-per-views in 2002, only the Royal Rumble was up buyrate-wise from the previous year. The other four saw notable decreases, with none taking it harder in the shorts than King of the Ring.
After pulling in 445,000 buys for the 2001 edition of the show, the 2002 King of the Ring was good for only 320,000 buys, a 28 percent drop. That 320,000 was still the fourth-highest out of ten King of the Rings (even topping 1998 by 10,000 buys), but the writing was on the wall.
Coupled with Vince McMahon's reported dislike of the general event (per Bruce Prichard), King of the Ring was scrapped for 2003 and beyond as a standalone pay-per-view.