10 Fascinating WWE King Of The Ring 1999 Facts

5. The Gunn/Shamrock Finish Was Inspired By A Previous Shamrock Match

King Of The Ring 1999 Finish Ladder
WWE.com

Ken Shamrock was often protected in defeat by strong booking, such as having him get disqualified for "kicking too much ass", or getting pinned only after a heavy amount of skullduggery.

In this instance, Shamrock was assaulted on the pre-show by a kendo stick-wielding Steve Blackman (playing a McMahon mercenary), and suffered internal bleeding, coughing up fake blood. In the quarterfinal match with Gunn, "Mr. Ass" countered a hurrachanrana into a powerbomb, resulting in the injured Shamrock coughing up more stage blood until the match was stopped.

The inspiration for this finish came from a match Shamrock had with Vader for the FMW promotion in Japan back in 1997. At one point, Vader powerbombed Shamrock with such force that Shamrock began coughing up very real blood from an internal rupture, and the match was quickly stopped.

Contributor
Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.