King of the Ring 2002 King of the Ring 2002 was the tenth annual King of the Ring professional wrestling pay - per - view ( PPV ) event produced by the World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) . It took place on June 23 , 2002 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus , Ohio . It was the final King of the Ring pay - per - view event and the only King of the Ring pay - per - view to feature Raw and SmackDown brands . The main event was a standard wrestling match for the WWE Undisputed Championship . Undisputed Champion The Undertaker defeated Triple H to retain the title . The undercard featured the 2002 King of the Ring tournament won by Brock Lesnar . Other matches on the undercard included Kurt Angle versus Hulk Hogan , Ric Flair versus Eddie Guerrero , a WWE Women ' s Championship match between champion Trish Stratus and challenger Molly Holly and a WWE Cruiserweight Championship match between champion The Hurricane and challenger Jamie Noble . Background . King of the Ring featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre - existing feuds , plots , and storylines that were played out on " Raw " and " SmackDown " — World Wrestling Entertainment ' s ( WWE ) television programs . Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension , and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches . All wrestlers were from WWE ' s Raw and SmackDown brands — a storyline division in which WWE employees are assigned to a television program of the same name . King of the Ring featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre - existing feuds , plots , and storylines that were played out on " Raw " and " SmackDown " — World Wrestling Entertainment ' s ( WWE ) television programs . Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension , and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches . All wrestlers were from WWE ' s Raw and SmackDown brands — a storyline division in which WWE employees are assigned to a television program of the same name . The pay - per - view event featured the annual King of the Ring single elimination bracket tournament . The winner would earn a WWE Undisputed Championship match at SummerSlam on August 25 . Qualifying matches for the tournament started on the June 3 , 2002 episode of " Raw " , with X - Pac and Booker T defeating Goldust and the WWE European Champion William Regal respectively . On the June 6 episode of " SmackDown " , two qualifying matches were held . The first match saw Val Venis defeat Christian . The other scheduled match was between Chris Jericho and Edge . Edge forfeited the match due to his shoulder injury that he suffered the previous week in a Steel Cage match . Jericho attacked Edge and worsened his injury . On the June 10 episode of " Raw " , the qualification continued as the WWE Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam defeated Eddie Guerrero and Brock Lesnar defeated Bubba Ray Dudley . On the June 13 episode of " SmackDown " , the final qualification matches occurred with Test and Hardcore Holly defeating the WWE Cruiserweight Champion The Hurricane and Tajiri respectively . On the June 17 episode of " Raw " , the quarterfinal matches occurred with Rob Van Dam defeating X - Pac and Brock Lesnar defeating Booker T . On the June 20 episode of " SmackDown " , Test defeated Hardcore Holly and Chris Jericho defeated Val Venis in the quarterfinal matches . The main rivalry heading into the event was between The Undertaker and Triple H for the WWE Undisputed Championship . At WrestleMania X - Seven the previous year , Undertaker and Triple H first fought each other with The Undertaker extending his WrestleMania record 9 - 0 by defeating Triple H . At Backlash , The Undertaker cost Triple H his title match against Hulk Hogan , making Triple H attack him the next night on Raw . Undertaker cost Triple H a match against Chris Jericho on the same week ' s Smackdown . The two fought at Insurrextion with Triple H winning . On the May 30 , 2002 episode of " SmackDown " , the storyline restarted when Undertaker defeated Randy Orton to retain the Undisputed Championship . Afterwards , Triple H assaulted Taker , claiming that if Taker gives him a title shot , he won ' t retain the Undisputed title . Later that night , Undertaker distracted Triple H and cost him a match against Test . After the match , Undertaker nailed Triple H with multiple chair shots esp . targeting his arm with it . On the June 6 episode of " SmackDown " , Triple H and Hulk Hogan co - won a battle royal , an over - the - top - rope elimination match . The match was to determine the number one contender for the Undisputed Championship at King of the Ring . The SmackDown Owner Vince McMahon booked Triple H and Hogan for a standard wrestling match , which was also a rematch from Backlash between the two . In that match , Triple H defeated Hogan to become the number one contender for the Undisputed Championship at King of the Ring . The next week , Vince McMahon arranged a contract signing between the two , but after the contract was signed , the security attacked Triple H . Triple H , however , brought his Sledgehammer and hit the Pedigree on one security guard , making Undertaker retreat . Triple H then destroyed the announcers table , the timekeeper ' s table and a camera . Later that night , Triple H fought both Undertaker and Kurt Angle , and got DQed by using the Slegehammer on Undertaker . The next week Triple H fought Billy Gunn , only for the Undertaker and Angle to attack him . However , Angle accidentally hit the Undertaker . Undertaker wanted a match against Angle that night , a match that he lost thanks to Triple H ' s interference . The predominant feud from the SmackDown brand was between Kurt Angle and Hollywood Hulk Hogan . At Judgment Day , Angle got his head shaved bald following his loss to Edge in a Hair vs . Hair match then during the latter event , Hogan dropped the WWE Undisputed title to The Undertaker due to interference from SmackDown Owner Vince McMahon . On the May 23 episode of " SmackDown " , Angle started wearing a hairpiece with a piece of amateur wrestling headgear after being shaven bald . On the May 30 episode of " SmackDown " , Angle interrupted a staredown between Hogan and Vince McMahon when he nailed Hogan with a steel pipe to the back of the head . Later that night , Hogan cost Angle a Steel Cage match against Edge . On the June 13 episode of " SmackDown " , Hogan challenged Angle to a match at King of the Ring , which saw Angle accepted . Later that night , Angle and The Undertaker attacked Hogan before a tag team match pitting Hogan and Triple H against Angle and Taker . After Angle and Taker defeated Triple H by disqualification , Hogan went after Angle and eventually stripped Angle ' s wig from his head . The next week , Hogan attacked Angle after Angle ' s match with the Undertaker . The predominant feud from the Raw brand was between Ric Flair and Eddie Guerrero . For the previous two months , Ric Flair had feuded with Steve Austin eversince the start of the brand extension where Austin was a free agent and signed with the Raw brand on the April 1 episode of " Raw " , following advice from Vince McMahon and Ric Flair . On the Mat 20 episode of Raw , Eddie Guerrero attacked Austin on a bar . On the May 27 episode of " Raw " , Chris Benoit returned to the WWE in his hometown of Edmonton , Alberta from a neck injury that he suffered the previous year at the King of the Ring event . Later that night , after Eddie Guerrero lost the WWE Intercontinental Championship to Rob Van Dam in a Ladder match , Guerrero knocked Van Dam over the top rope with the ladder . Moments later , Austin charged to the ring and attacked Guerrero along with Flair and Arn Anderson until Chris Benoit got to the ring and assaulted Austin , enabling Guerrero to perform a frog splash on him . On the June 3 episode of " Raw " , Steve Austin defeated Flair in a match where Flair became Austin ' s servant . If Flair would ' ve won , Austin would forever be on the bench . However , the feud ended abruptly with Austin ' s unexpected departure from the company on June 10 for his refusal to lose a hotshotted match to Brock Lesnar . That same night , Flair lost his half of the WWE ownership to Vince McMahon and returned to active wrestling . On the June 17 episode of " Raw " , Flair gave a speech over losing the position of Raw Owner to Vince McMahon . The speech was interrupted by Guerrero and Benoit . Flair challenged Guerrero to a match at King of the Ring , which Guerrero accepted . Afterword , both Guerrero and Benoit assaulted Flair , ending with Guerrero straping Flair in Flair ' s own Figure four leglock submission hold . A secondary feud from the SmackDown brand was between The Hurricane and Jamie Noble for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship . On the June 6 episode of " SmackDown " , Noble and his valet Nidia made their WWE debut by attacking Hurricane in his locker room . The following week on " SmackDown " , after Hurricane lost to Test in a King of the Ring Qualifying match , Noble and Nidia made their way to the ring and took turns finishing the Hurricane off with a series of slaps before taking his mask . On the June 20 episode of " SmackDown " , Noble defeated Billy Kidman to become the number one contender for Hurricane ' s Cruiserweight Championship at King of the Ring . After the match , the Hurricane got his mask back after nailing Noble with the chokeslam . A secondary feud from the Raw brand was between Trish Stratus and Molly Holly for the WWE Women ' s Championship . On the April 1 episode of " Raw " , after Stratus defeated Terri Runnels in a Paddle on a Pole match , Holly returned in a drastic attitude change and new look by nailing Stratus in the head with a paddle , breaking it into two . On the May 27 , 2002 episode of Raw , Stratus and Spike Dudley defeated Holly and William Regal in a mixed tag team match . After the match , Holly attacked Stratus with Regal ' s brass knuckles . Holly would sneak attack Stratus on many occasions , leading to a title match between the two for Stratus ' Women ' s Championship at King of the Ring . Tournament brackets . The tournament took place between June 3 and June 23 , 2002 . The tournament brackets were :