Poor Wade Barrett, the latest to suffer at the hands of a corny, outdated concept. When the 'King Of The Ring' idea was launched in pay-per-view format back in 1993, Bret Hart came out of the event looking like a genuine world beater. Some later winners weren't quite as fortuitous, but few were treated like an afterthought quite as quickly as Barrett. Winning the stripped down tournament in April, 2015, the Englishman was immediately cast as something of a comedy character. Instead of making him appear like a genuine star, the 'King' moniker made Barrett look like a fool. The fault can only be attributed to the creative team, who offered the man nothing substantial to work with. A feud against R-Truth, for example, was never going to cut it. Matches on television and pay-per-view proved hard to come by for Barrett, who was mainly used on lower-level programming and during the pre-pay-per-view 'Kickoff' shows. The King Of The Ring is something a lot of older fans cherish, but it requires somewhat of a rethink by management. Crowning someone else in 2016 could prove to be a poisoned chalice.
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
