Can You Name EVERY WWE King Of The Ring Winner?

Can you name every person to have been crowned the WWE King of the Ring?

by Andrew Pollard
WWE Raw Oba Femi King of the Ring
WWE

Having returned to becoming an annual event in recent years, usually taking place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, WWE's King of the Ring tournament plays a vital part in shaping the company's summer plans, setting up the King of the Ring winner - and Queen of the Ring winner, for that matter - for a World Title shot at SummerSlam. Well, until this year, of course, when the King of the Ring controversially decided that Brock Lesnar was a more attractive option at SummerSlam, rather than going after the World Heavyweight Championship or WWE Championship.

For the King of the Ring tournament, this is something that began life as a non-televised, one-night live event attraction in 1985, with the winner receiving a shiny crown as their prize, and some opting to incorporate the 'King' moniker into their on-screen character. By the time 1993 rolled around, the King of the Ring became its own PPV, with the quarter-finals onwards taking place on that PPV, following on from the opening qualifying round playing out on early episodes of Raw. That model would last through until 2002, when the event would go on hiatus, returning sporadically in subsequent years before being fully brought back in a major way in 2024.

Looking back over 40 years of history, then, how well do you know your King of the Ring history? To date, there are 24 men to have won the King of the Ring, some of whom quite literally wore the crown. And yes, that's also including the few wrestlers who won those early non-televised tournaments.

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So, how many of those King of the Ring winners can you name?

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.