King of the Ring (2006)

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King of the Ring
World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand(s)SmackDown!
DateApril 14 – May 21, 2006
CitySee below
VenueSee below
King of the Ring tournament chronology
← Previous
2002 		Next →
2008


The 2006 King of the Ring was the 17th edition of the

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The tournament was held between April 14 and May 21, 2006 and was the first tournament conducted since the 2002 tournament which was won by Brock Lesnar. This was the first time the King of the Ring tournament was not conducted as part of the former pay-per-view event that bore the tournament's name since the 1991 tournament, which was won by Bret Hart. Unlike previous tournaments, this King of the Ring was made exclusive to the SmackDown! brand division and only wrestlers contracted with the brand could compete. The 2006 tournament final was held at Judgment Day on May 21 and was won by Booker T, who defeated Bobby Lashley
in the final and began referring to himself as "King Booker" until he left WWE in October 2007.

Background

The

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 1985 with the winner being crowned "King of the Ring." It was held annually until 1991, with the exception of 1990. These early tournaments were held as special non-televised house shows and were held when the promotion was still called the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, renamed to WWE in 2002).[1] In 1993, the promotion began to produce the King of the Ring tournament as a self-titled pay-per-view (PPV). Unlike the previous non-televised events, the PPV did not feature all of the tournament's matches. Instead, several of the qualifying matches preceded the event with the final few matches then taking place at the pay-per-view. There were also other matches that took place at the event as it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view.[2]

King of the Ring continued as the annual June PPV until the 2002 event, which was the final King of the Ring produced as a PPV.[3] After a four-year hiatus, the tournament returned in 2006 and was held exclusively for wrestlers from the SmackDown! brand. The 2006 tournament was the 17th King of the Ring tournament. The quarter-final and semi-final rounds took place across episodes of SmackDown! from April 14 to May 12 with the final round taking place at the SmackDown!-exclusive pay-per-view, Judgment Day, on May 21.[4]

Matches

Quarter-finals

The first quarter-final match in the 2006 King of the Ring tournament took place on April 14, 2006 edition of SmackDown! between

clotheslines and a Belly To Belly Suplex to Orton. Angle applied an Ankle Lock earlier on in the match but Orton escaped the move. Orton gained momentum and attacked Angle's arm and shoulder, injuring them. Orton continued to tear Angle's arm and shoulder until Angle attempted a Sunset Flip and reversed it into an Ankle Lock but Orton did not submit and worked on Angle's injured arm and shoulder. Angle eventually sent Orton out of the ring. As Orton returned into the ring, Angle performed three German Suplexes and attempted an Olympic Slam, which he calls Angle Slam. Orton countered it into an Inverted Backbreaker. Orton tried to hit the RKO but Angle blocked the move and applied an Ankle Lock on Orton, forcing him to submit to the hold. After the match, Angle applied two more Ankle Locks on Orton, injuring his ankle in storyline.[5][6]

The second quarter-final match took place on April 21 edition of SmackDown! between

Scissors Kick on Hardy but Hardy avoided the move and executed a Side Slam, which he calls Side Effect. Sharmell joined the ring and distracted the referee. Hardy tried to execute a Twist of Fate but Booker took advantage of the situation and low blowed Hardy to win the match.[7][8]

The third quarter-final match took place on April 28 edition of SmackDown! between

splashed Lashley into the ringpost.[9]

The final quarter-final match took place on May 5 edition of SmackDown! between

hit Benoit with a chair. Finlay followed by executing a Kryptonite Krunch Piledriver, which he calls Celtic Cross for the victory.[10]

Semi-finals

The semi-final round of the King of the Ring tournament on May 12, 2006 edition of SmackDown!. The first scheduled match was between Kurt Angle and Booker T. Angle suffered injured ribs after being attacked by Mark Henry during his

Rey Mysterio.[9] Angle was escorted out of the arena by the security before his scheduled semi-final match against Booker. As a result, Booker was awarded the victory by forfeit and advanced to the final round of the tournament.[11]

The only semi-final match that took place was between Bobby Lashley and Finlay. Finlay and Lashley continued to wrestle each other and performed their moves. Lashley tried to finish the match by attempting a

Spear on Finlay. Finlay avoided the move and tossed a chair into the ring. The referee began disposing the chair. Finlay took advantage and grabbed his shillelagh but the referee caught Finlay with it and disposed it. Finlay caught a chair and hit Lashley with it. Finlay tossed the chair outside the ring but when he turned back, Lashley speared him to win the match and advance to the final of the King of the Ring tournament against Booker T.[11]

Final

The final round of the King of the Ring tournament took place at

Shoulder Block attempt. This allowed Booker to take control, although Lashley quickly countered with a Belly To Belly Suplex. Before he could capitalise, however, Sharmell distracted Lashley. After some more back and forth offense, Sharmell caused another distraction, allowing Booker's associate Finlay to interfere in the match and hit Lashley with a shillelagh. Following that, Booker then hit a Scissors Kick on Lashley and pinned him to win the tournament. Lashley was outraged, however, and speared Booker through a throne to gain some revenge.[12]

Aftermath

Many

Finlay were scheduled to a match at Judgment Day because Finlay cheated to defeat Benoit in their tournament quarter-final match. At Judgment Day, Benoit defeated Finlay by forcing him to submit to a Crossface, which Benoit called Crippler Crossface.[13]

As a result of winning the 2006 King of the Ring tournament,

Rey Mysterio at The Great American Bash.[18]

The next King of the Ring tournament was held in 2008. The entirety of the 2008 tournament was held as a special episode of Raw. The tournament was also an interbrand tournament and included wrestlers from all three of WWE's brands at the time: Raw, SmackDown, and ECW.[1]

Locations

Match Tournament Round Date City Venue Event
Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton Quarter-Final April 14, 2006[5] Green Bay, Wisconsin[19] Resch Center[20] SmackDown!
Booker T vs. Matt Hardy
 April 21, 2006[7] St. Louis, Missouri[21]
Savvis Center[20]
Bobby Lashley vs. Mark Henry April 28, 2006[9]
London, England[22]
 Wembley Arena[20]
Finlay vs. Chris Benoit
 May 5, 2006[10] Cincinnati[23]
U.S. Bank Arena[20]
Booker T vs. Kurt Angle Semi-Final May 12, 2006[11] San Diego[24]
iPayOne Center[20]
Bobby Lashley vs. Finlay May 12, 2006[11] San Diego, California[24] iPayOne Center[20]
Booker T vs. Bobby Lashley Final May 21, 2006[25] Phoenix, Arizona[25]
US Airways Center[25]
 Judgment Day

Tournament brackets

The tournament took place between April 14 and May 21, 2006. The tournament brackets were[26]

Quarterfinals
(TV –
SmackDown!
) 		Semifinals
(TV –
SmackDown!
) 		Final
(PPV – Judgment Day)
         
Kurt Angle Sub
Randy Orton 8:13
Kurt Angle Forfeit (injury)
Booker T Bye
Matt Hardy 15:03
Booker T Pin
Booker T Pin
Bobby Lashley 09:15
Chris Benoit 21:09
Finlay
 		Pin
Finlay 13:30
Bobby Lashley Pin
Bobby Lashley CO
Mark Henry 5:02

References

  1. ^ a b Beaston, Erik (August 18, 2019). "WWE King of the Ring: Everything You Need to Know About Historical Tournament". Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
  2. ^ "King of the Ring 1993". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
  3. ^ "King of the Ring 2002 results". Online World of Wrestling. June 23, 2002. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
  4. ^ "WWE King of the Ring Winners". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  5. ^ a b "The Wrestling Machine snaps". WWE. April 14, 2006. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  6. ^ Benjamin, Charlie (April 14, 2006). "WWE SmackDown Report". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  7. ^ a b "Something to Celebrate". WWE. April 21, 2006. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  8. ^ Benjamin, Charlie (April 21, 2006). "WWE SmackDown Report". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  9. ^ a b c "The Dream stays alive". WWE. April 28, 2006. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  10. ^ a b Dee, Louie (May 5, 2006). "The A Man of his word". WWE. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  11. ^ a b c d Dee, Louie (May 12, 2006). "Tragic Homecoming". WWE. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  12. ^ a b c Hoffman, Brett (May 21, 2006). "The King is Crowned". WWE. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  13. ^ Hoffman, Brett (2006-05-21). "A Good Old-Fashioned Fight". WWE. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  14. ^ Hoffman, Brett (June 2, 2006). "All hail the king". WWE. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  15. ^ Ed Williams III (June 16, 2006). "Royal beating". WWE. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  16. ^ Dee, Louie (June 23, 2006). "Family tradition". WWE. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  17. ^ Ed Williams III (June 30, 2006). "Lashley reigns supreme". WWE. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  18. ^ Hoffman, Brett (July 23, 2006). "Shattered Dreams". WWE. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
  19. ^ "WWE SmackDown Results". Online World of Wrestling. April 14, 2006. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  20. ^ a b c d e f "WWE SmackDown 2006 Results". The History of WWE. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  21. ^ "WWE SmackDown Results". Online World of Wrestling. April 21, 2006. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  22. ^ "WWE SmackDown Results". Online World of Wrestling. April 28, 2006. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  23. ^ "WWE SmackDown Results". Online World of Wrestling. May 5, 2006. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  24. ^ a b "WWE SmackDown Results". Online World of Wrestling. May 12, 2006. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  25. ^ a b c "Judgment Day 2006 Results". Online World of Wrestling. May 21, 2006. Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  26. ^ "WWE King of the Ring 2006 Bracket". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2010-08-31.

External links

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