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

16. Sheamus (2010)

King Sheamus
WWE.com

When Sheamus won the King of the Ring tournament in 2010, it felt a bit like the playbook was run in reverse.

For years, the king gimmick was used to elevate mid-card talent that was on the cusp of breaking through to the main event (several names will show up later to confirm that mentality). And while it was true that the Celtic Warrior had only been on the roster for less than two years, he was already a former WWE Champion, making this an odd move.

The Irish-born superstar would eschew the normal crown and purple cape, opting instead to dress more like a traditional Irish king.

Storyline-wise, Sheamus followed up his late 2010 tournament win by: losing a feud to John Morrison; being attacked by Triple H as payback for putting him on the shelf months earlier; and winning the United States Championship (four months after KOTR). Quite the “elevation” after winning the tournament.

It wasn’t until 2012 when Sheamus would sniff the main event scene again, when he won the Royal Rumble and defeated Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 28 – in that match.

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.