The King of the Ring tournament is one of WWE's longest-running traditions, with the first event taking place back in 1985. Since then, there have been 21 'Kings' crowned in the semi-regular tournament, which has led to some mixed fortunes for the winners.
The tournament is set to return this year, with the first-ever Queen of the Ring tournament debuting alongside it. There will be a great deal of interest as to who gets the nod as King and Queen, as it is usually an indicator as to who the company wants to push.
King of the Ring by no means guarantees that the winner will go on to find success, as precedent suggests it can actually have a detrimental effect. Of the 21 winners, only a handful have been truly elevated by the gimmick, with several more using it as a character tweak if nothing else. There have been many more examples of the tournament having little effect on a superstar's prospects, with a litany of cheesy King gimmicks to boot.
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The Kings Of The Ring Who Had Success
The early iterations of the King of the Ring in the late eighties/early nineties were arguably when it was at its best, as it was a fresh idea that (usually) signaled that a superstar was getting a meaningful push. For example, the likes of the 'Macho Man' Randy Savage, Bret Hart, and Owen Hart all increased their stock after winning the tournament.
Perhaps the most notable winner of the tournament has been Stone Cold Steve Austin in 1996, as it essentially helped launch his main event career through the 'Austin 3:16' promo. Having Austin run through the field of established stars to win the event completely overturned his fortunes within the company and provided one of the most iconic moments in wrestling history.
The span of King of the Ring tournaments from 2000-2002 all served a purpose for creating a star too, with Kurt Angle winning in 2000, Edge in 2001, and Brock Lesnar in 2002. It was after these last three successes that King of the Ring became a more infrequent event, with the next one being in 2006.
King Gimmicks In WWE Are Mostly Terrible
Despite there being some success stories from the event, there are also an awful lot of duds. For every Steve Austin, there were winners like King Mabel and Billy Gunn to tarnish the prestige of the tournament a great deal.
One of the reasons why the tournament has failed to create stars, particularly in recent years, is that the 'King' part has been taken far too literally and used as a gimmick. The two most recent winners, Baron Corbin and Wade Barret were made into comedy-adjacent heel characters that were cheesy and annoying. Baron Corbin's recent run as 'King Corbin' was completely detestable and demoted him from the upper-mid-card spot he had carved out for himself in the years prior.
Of course, there are positive examples of this too, as King Harley Race and King Booker were both great characters in their own right, but these two men hardly needed a push when they were already main event-level talent. The King gimmick can be used as an accompaniment to an already established name, but there is no chance it can elevate someone higher than they already are, as it's too corny.
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The King Of The Ring Tournament Is Pointless
On top of the King gimmick being mostly terrible, the tournament has proven to mean nothing in the long run for so many wrestlers. There are cases where it just became a bit of annual filler that didn't have much impact on the storylines WWE had going at the time. When Ken Shamrock won in 1998, he didn't get pushed back up the card and ended up being a perennial mid-carder for the rest of his WWE career.
There are several examples of stars winning the tournament when they didn't especially need the push, including Sheamus in 2010 who had already become a World Champion in the company by that point. Failed pushes have also come off the back of King of the Ring victories, like in 2008 when William Regal would win, only to disappear from television after a wellness policy violation.
It seems in recent years WWE have forgotten how the tournament can be used as a star-making vehicle, with the silliness of the King gimmick being the crux of the whole endeavor. It is unlikely that they will go back to booking future stars through a closely fought wrestling tournament, as it is just a disguise to add a bad gimmick on someone for marketing purposes.
