3. Royal Potential
Call this a tentative positive, but it really is the entire purpose of the King of the Ring tournament elevating talent and giving them so added purpose. Bad News Barretts win comes a month after losing his Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania XXXI. Barrett has been the victim of numerous stop-and-start pushes through the years, so this KOTR coronation comes with some trepidation. Will WWE lose interest in Barrett again, thus rendering the King of the Ring gimmick and event moot once again? Hopefully, WWE did not make a snap decision to resurrect this tournament without the intention of following through on some kind of push for the eventual winner and bringing it back on an annual basis. This tournament really could provide a boost for some wrestlers if its done well. As mentioned previously, tourneys like this give wrestlers something to fight for rather than just throwing two guys out there on Raw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDvmNYCMLWA If WWE wants to make the KOTR title mean something more, have it carry a PPV main event or a title match of some sort. Maybe with Money in the Bank less than two months away, becoming King of the Ring could carry an automatic entry into the MITB ladder match (while others have to qualify). Little things like that would add some weight and meaning to KOTR beyond a crown and scepter.
Scott Carlson
Contributor
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
See more from
Scott