The If Factor: The King of the Ring 1999

Brian Damage

The If Factor is a series of articles that features real scenarios in pro wrestling that, at one point or another, were suggested, planned, and considered but did not get the green light to continue. What would the landscape of professional wrestling look like if these ideas came to fruition?

The If: The Big Show Wins the 1999 King of the Ring Tournament

When Paul Wight jumped from World Championship Wrestling to the World Wrestling Federation in 1999, he signed a 10 year contract. Originally, Wight was to be known as ‘Titan’ named after the WWF’s parent company. On Wight’s final appearance in WCW, Eric Bischoff revealed his name by saying…”The Titan-ic has sank!” Vince McMahon would drop the name instead calling him by his real name during his debut at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre pay per view.

For a few weeks following his debut, Wight was know as ‘The Big Nasty’ until creative finally settled on ‘The Big Show’ which the initials were believed to be an inside joke on one of the channels airing their competition aka TBS. Considering the WWF invested so much money and years into Paul Wight, Vince McMahon wanted to get his money’s worth and immediately pushed The Big Show extremely hard. He debuted aligning himself with Mr. McMahon in his feud with the company’s top star Stone Cold Steve Austin.

In the Summer of that year, plans were made to have The Big Show win the King of the Ring tournament to further his push. That is until the box cover to the home video release was leaked and revealed that the Big Show would win. The cover stated…“See the Big Show go through 8 men enroute to winning the King of the Ring!” When the word started to spread, Vince McMahon called an audible and changed the winner to become Bad Ass Billy Gunn. Gunn was put in a program with the Rock and his singles push really went nowhere. Would Paul Wight have benefitted more if he won the tournament as planned? Would it have remained the same?

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