Courtesy of WWE
THE ROYAL HISTORY OF KING OF THE RING
- Mike Mueller, Senior Editor
The King of the Ring has been a mainstay in the WWE ever since its debut in 1985, but throughout its existence, the importance of the crown has gone up and down more than the stock market in the 2000’s. Before the newest King and Queen are crowned this Saturday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, let’s look back at the inconsistent history and significance of the King of the Ring and its winners.
HISTORY AND WINNERS:
Beginning in 1985, the King of the Ring was a one night tournament that the WWF put on as a special house-show attraction. For the first six years, a king would be crowned for the audience in attendance, but not much else was made of the victory. It was rarely, if ever, mentioned on tv, and only one man, Harley Race, turned that victory into a gimmick. Race’s predecessor and first ever king, Don Muraco, never embraced the “king” gimmick. Neither did Randy Savage, Ted Dibiase, or Tito Santana, the next three winners.
In 1989, despite Tito Santana winning the tournament that year, Randy Savage started going by “Macho King”, and while he had won the tournament in 1987, that appears to be purely coincidental according to WWE canon. 1989 and 1990 also saw a few times when the title of “king” was actually defended in a wrestling match. Harley Race, Haku, Randy Savage, and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan all had tenures with the crown, but again, all of that seems separate from the King of the Ring tournament winners.
The King of the Ring returned one more time as a house show in 1991, where it was won by Bret Hart. 1992 didn’t crown a winner, but in 1993, King of the Ring returned once more, this time as a WWE Pay-Per-View. It was the first new PPV the WWE had put out since the Royal Rumble in 1989. The tournament finals would see Bret Hart go over Bam Bam Bigelow to become a two time winner of the title, and the only person to date to win it more than once.
For the next nine years, the King of the Ring would remain on pay-per-view, and be won by a…mostly…”who’s who” of wrestling legends. Owen Hart, Mabel (we said “mostly!”), Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Ken Shamrock, Billy Gunn, Kurt Angle, Edge, and Brock Lesnar would all go on to wear the crown.
After Lesnar’s win in 2002, the event would go away until 2006, where it was a Smackdown exclusive tournament won by Booker T. From there, the tournament would go in-and-out of WWE programming, making appearances in 2008, 2010, 2015 (the last time the event was a PLE), 2019, 2021, and this year in 2024. Europeans have naturally done well in the tournament, as William Regal, Sheamus, and Wade Barrett all took home the crown. Baron Corbin was upgraded to King Corbin in 2019, and Xavier Woods gave us a feel good moment in 2021, fulfilling a childhood dream to be King of the Ring. In 2021, WWE also crowned their first Queen of the Ring, Zelina Vega.
2024 TOURNAMENT
This year, the men’s tournament was absolutely stacked with big names: Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, Jey Uso, AJ Styles, and LA Knight all went out in earlier rounds, and now we are left with Gunther taking on either Randy Orton or Tama Tonga. All three of these men would be good choices for the crown.
Randy Orton is a first-ballot hall of famer. If the goal of the tournament is to re-establish its legitimacy a la Bret Hart in 1993, Orton would be the best choice.
Tama Tonga is the nephew and adopted son of Haku, who spent time as King in 1988 and 1989, so it would make sense from a lineage standpoint to put the crown on him. Plus, the new iteration of the Bloodline would receive a huge shot in the arm with this win.
Finally, Gunther is just about as perfect of an option for King as there ever was one. He truly is a ring general and always puts on outstanding matches, his legitimacy can not be denied. Plus, while Imperium is more militant, Gunther is European and that’s always a safe bet for a KotR winner.
The Women’s side wasn’t quite as stacked, but Iyo Skye, Jade Cargill, Naomi are all huge names who took early round losses, and the final will see NXT call-up Lyra Valkyria take on either Nia Jax or Bianca Bel Air.
While it would be interesting to see Bel Air win the crown and any animosity that could cause with her tag team partner Jade Cargill, it seems most likely that Nia Jax will win to set up the classic “David vs. Goliath” scenario of the young, small babyface taking on the massive, seasoned veteran heel. Either of those two ladies are good options for the crown, but Nia seems like the better fit for Queen.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE FORGETTABLE
Alright, now that we know the history of the King of the Ring, let’s take a look at the significance of winning this tournament. After all, its inconsistent past might indicate that it’s not that important to begin with, but when WWE wants to treat it right, it can be just as valuable as any major title or Money in the Bank briefcase.
A large part of a successful reign as king is determined by the storyline and push the winner gets over the following year. Let’s look at a couple examples of each of the good, the bad, and the forgettable winners and what were the keys to their success, or lack thereof.
The Good:
Pre-1993 can’t really be judged since it was a special attraction for a house show, but in 1993 the WWE absolutely nailed the choice with Bret Hart. Bret was a former world champion and put legitimacy on the crown right away. He had the hardest road to get to the finals, and each of his wins came in a different fashion, none of which were the Sharpshooter. Plus, it was the start of his years-long feud with Jerry Lawler, who was offended by Bret being called a king.
In 2008, William Regal was acting General Manager at the time, and as good of a heel as you’ll ever see. He used his authority as GM to give himself a cake-walk road to the crown and embraced the role as only a masterful British heel can. As king, he went on to win the Intercontinental Title. In this case, Regal was a successful example of WWE’s idea “He’s British, so it’ll work.”
The Bad:
Okay, let’s talk about Mabel. In 1995, WWE was hellbent on pushing Mabel as a top heel in the company, and a threat to Diesel’s world title reign. He was coming off of a two year run as a part of a fun-loving hip hop tag-team, and WWE figured the best way to legitimize and get heat on him was to have him win the KotR tournament. It was a good idea in theory, but Mabel was not a good in-ring worker, not a good promo, and his matches with Diesel were some of the worst world title matches in the company’s history. The fans never bought in and Mabel’s reign as king was a total failure.
In 1999, WWE was hellbent on pushing Billy Gunn as a top heel in the company, and a threat to The Rock. He was coming off of a two year run as a part of a fun-loving degenerate tag team, and WWE figured the best way to legitimize and get heat on him was to have him win the KotR tournament…where have I heard this before? Anyway, along with not beating The Rock, Billy Gunn’s very first match after winning the crown was a loss to Bradshaw, who was still 4 years away from being a world champion. Gunn never got off the ground as a singles star, and went back to being the tag team specialist that he was and still is today.
The Forgettable:
Baron Corbin’s never ending identity crisis turned him into a king in 2019 and while they at least embraced the “king” gimmick, he spent most of his time as king losing to Chad Gable and Roman Reigns. I’d talk more about it, but this is in the “forgettable” category for a reason.
Similarly, Wade Barrett’s run as king in 2015 was also largely forgettable. He would mainly feud with Neville, which included a tag team loss at Summerslam to Neville and actor Stephen Amell, and then go on to form the League of Nations with Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, and Rusev; a group that mainly just jobbed to babyface tag teams. Barrett was an unsuccessful example of WWE’s idea “He’s British, so it’ll work.”
THE MAN MAKES THE CROWN
However, despite the amount of credibility the WWE tries to give it, ultimately it comes down to the winner to make the most with their moment in the sun. When it comes to the King of the Ring, one important truth must stay in mind: The man makes the crown, the crown doesn’t make the man.
Nobody “took the ball and ran with it” better than Owen Hart. Following his brother’s victory in 1993, little brother Owen was a great choice to be the 1994 winner, considering he would spend the next several months feuding with Bret over the World Heavyweight Title. Owen went all-in on the king gimmick. He put a little crown on top of the heart on his singlet, he started referring to himself as the “King of Harts”, and he would mention that he was the King of the Ring winner in every single promo he cut. While Hart wasn’t the strongest on the microphone, he could commit to a character in a way that very few in the business ever have.
Another great example of the man making the crown was Booker T. Booker’s 2006 KotR win gave him an opportunity to go all in on a character that was very unlike anything he had done before. It could easily have been a flop, but his choice to go full European royalty style with the character was so out of left field that it actually left the ballpark as a home run. The departure from the break dancing, “can you dig it” character was a refreshing change of pace for Booker T, and arguably extended his run near the top of WWE, something very few ex-WCW stars were able to achieve.
Kurt Angle’s win in 2000 was a smash hit. Already massively over as an Accomplished Arrogant Athlete (Three “A”’s to match Kurt’s Three “I”’s, I think he’d approve), Angle winning the King of the Ring and wearing the crown every week gave off a strong “prom king” vibe which made the audience hate him, and spend a lot of money to see him get his comeuppance. After all, what is more easy to hate than the entitled, popular, jock prom king? Stroke of genius there, Kurt.
Finally, this article would be remiss if it didn’t mention Stone Cold Steve Austin. While he didn’t embrace the “king” character (because that is the polar opposite of who his character was), Austin’s win in 1996 was the true beginning of his push to the top of the company. The 1996 King of the Ring was where he delivered the famous “Austin 3:16” promo. Without that promo, he may not have ever been the huge superstar that he became. Ok, he most likely would have, but he would have sold a hell of a lot less T-shirts.
So what will the 2024 King and Queen of the ring make of their title reign? Will they turn it into the next huge moment like Steve Austin? Will they embrace the character like Booker T and Owen Hart? Will they rule with an iron fist like William Regal? Or…will they be the next Mabel?