Every WWE King Of The Ring Winner Ranked From Worst To Best

6. Gunther (2024)

WWE King and Queen of the Ring 2024 Gunther Triple H
WWE

When Gunther lost the Intercontinental Championship to Sami Zayn at WrestleMania 40, there really was only one place for him to go: up.

The question was, how should the Ring General ascend to a World championship on the back of losing a mid-card title?

The answer: enter and win the King of the Ring tournament, of course.

Gunther made his way through a traditional 16-man tournament (none of this four-way match BS), reaching the finals at King and Queen of the Ring in Saudi Arabia, where he faced Randy Orton. The Ring General would topple the Viper and earn not just the crown, but a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam.

Two months later, Gunther defeated Damian Priest to win his first WWE World championship, a title he would hold until WrestleMania 41, when Yeet-a-Mania ran wild on him.

For Gunther, King of the Ring provided a very natural narrative stepping stone, elevating him from IC title to World title, with a nice crown to boot. He carried the crown about for a bit, but once he became World champion, there was no real need to lean on the royalty gimmick.

Contributor
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.