Vanilla Midget
Championship Contender
I haven’t seen a thread on this yet, apologize if I missed one. King of the ring is back in 2019. This if often suggest in forum posts a way to return WWE to its past greatness, and it’s back rear its head once again.
KOTR has by and large been supplanted by Money in the Bank as the standard event to anoint new main event wrestlers, though since it disappeared as an annual event it has fundamentally failed to do so. The last four winners have all adopted the King gimmick, and the last three have all been of European descent. It’s really turned into a way of repackaging mid card guys from the UK into a royalty gimmick, then jobbing them out. Could Drew McIntyre be next?
King Booker was the last one to become a world champion. Prior to Booker, the event was annual and most of the talent through the 90s and early 2000s briefly flirted with the crown, cape or sceptre and promptly dropped them. This is the better use of this event: re-contextualizing an up and comer as main event material.
King of the Ring can and should be WWE’s version of the G1 in NJPW. But it hasn’t been. Wade Barrett’s run as King was a joke. Regal’s drug suspension knocked him down. Sheamus quickly dropped the King gimmick when he won the US title and started wearing red, white and blue.
It’s a really interesting field this year, great mix of experienced guys and new guys. The only former world champions are KO and Miz. Only the former has a hope in hell of winning. Here’s the field:
Smackdown:
Ali
Andrade
Apollo Crews
Buddy Murphy
Chad Gable
Elias
Kevin Owens
Shelton Benjamin
Raw:
Baron Corbin
Cedric Alexander
Cesaro
Drew McIntyre
The Miz
Ricochet
Sami Zayn
Samoa Joe
Save for Miz, Corbin and Elias (the sports entertainment guys, if you will), everyone in this field is recognized for their pure wrestling ability. There’s a ton of great match possibilities. It would be interesting to see if we get a Raw vs Smackdown type tournament. Hopefully the bulk of these matches actually get time, but don’t hold your breath.
Right away I see Drew winning this, with the finals coming down to him vs KO. I really hope the end goal isn’t to stick a crown and cape on the guy. If he does win, I’d love to see him have some kind of Austin 3:16 moment and smash the goofy hat and throne. Would be a cool visual.
It’s cool to see the 205 Live graduates all present here. They’ve been painfully under utilized. I could also see Ricochet getting the nod here. I think he’s used the King Ricochet moniker in the indies, correct me if I’m wrong.
My personal pick to win is Cedric. I would love to see his momentum keep building. That match with Drew on Raw is incredible. I wish they’d give the guy new theme music. I find it really hard to pop for his current theme.
What are you thoughts? Who should win, who do you want to win or who will win?
KOTR has by and large been supplanted by Money in the Bank as the standard event to anoint new main event wrestlers, though since it disappeared as an annual event it has fundamentally failed to do so. The last four winners have all adopted the King gimmick, and the last three have all been of European descent. It’s really turned into a way of repackaging mid card guys from the UK into a royalty gimmick, then jobbing them out. Could Drew McIntyre be next?
King Booker was the last one to become a world champion. Prior to Booker, the event was annual and most of the talent through the 90s and early 2000s briefly flirted with the crown, cape or sceptre and promptly dropped them. This is the better use of this event: re-contextualizing an up and comer as main event material.
King of the Ring can and should be WWE’s version of the G1 in NJPW. But it hasn’t been. Wade Barrett’s run as King was a joke. Regal’s drug suspension knocked him down. Sheamus quickly dropped the King gimmick when he won the US title and started wearing red, white and blue.
It’s a really interesting field this year, great mix of experienced guys and new guys. The only former world champions are KO and Miz. Only the former has a hope in hell of winning. Here’s the field:
Smackdown:
Ali
Andrade
Apollo Crews
Buddy Murphy
Chad Gable
Elias
Kevin Owens
Shelton Benjamin
Raw:
Baron Corbin
Cedric Alexander
Cesaro
Drew McIntyre
The Miz
Ricochet
Sami Zayn
Samoa Joe
Save for Miz, Corbin and Elias (the sports entertainment guys, if you will), everyone in this field is recognized for their pure wrestling ability. There’s a ton of great match possibilities. It would be interesting to see if we get a Raw vs Smackdown type tournament. Hopefully the bulk of these matches actually get time, but don’t hold your breath.
Right away I see Drew winning this, with the finals coming down to him vs KO. I really hope the end goal isn’t to stick a crown and cape on the guy. If he does win, I’d love to see him have some kind of Austin 3:16 moment and smash the goofy hat and throne. Would be a cool visual.
It’s cool to see the 205 Live graduates all present here. They’ve been painfully under utilized. I could also see Ricochet getting the nod here. I think he’s used the King Ricochet moniker in the indies, correct me if I’m wrong.
My personal pick to win is Cedric. I would love to see his momentum keep building. That match with Drew on Raw is incredible. I wish they’d give the guy new theme music. I find it really hard to pop for his current theme.
What are you thoughts? Who should win, who do you want to win or who will win?
