WWE Have Already Chosen King Of The Ring 2019 Winner?

WWE reportedly has an endgame in sight for the return of the KOTR tournament.

by Andrew Pollard
king ricochet
wiki

Hot on the heels of WWE revealing that the King of the Ring tournament is returning this month, now comes word from Dave Meltzer of the endgame of all of this.

Uncle Dave reports that the reason for WWE brass deciding to bring back the King of the Ring is with the ultimate aim of putting over a wrestler. Crazy concept, right?

Whilst Meltzer doesn’t know who they are, WWE has reportedly already decided who the two King of the Ring finalists will be.

Advertisement

So often over the years, the King of the Ring was used to elevate a talent or to position them as a top star. For instance, Bret Hart winning the 1993 edition was done as a way to reiterate Bret as still being a major deal despite Yokozuna and Hulk Hogan trading the WWF Championship. Then there’s the examples of Owen Hart, Steve Austin, Triple H, Brock Lesnar and Edge as just some names who were soon thrust towards the main event scene after winning the King of the Ring.

Many are already speculating that Baron Corbin could well have a strong King of the Ring showing, and the gimmick itself always tends to fit better to a heel. But still, let’s put that scenario out of our minds for now. Another school of thought, of course, is that Ricochet could win the tournament and reclaim the King Ricochet moniker that he used on the independent scene for so many years.

Advertisement

To commence on next week’s Raw, the 2019 King of the Ring will feature Corbin, Cesaro, Cedric Alexander, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Samoa Joe, Sami Zayn, The Miz, Andrade, Ali, Apollo Crews, Buddy Murphy, Elias, Chad Gable, Shelton Benjamin and Kevin Owens.

Advertisement

Looking at that list, there are so many great potential winners if WWE really is keen to go hard with their new King of the Ring and use the tournament to cement a true top-tier player.

Let’s just hope that whoever the winner is, they get treated like Bret, Owen, Austin, Hunter, etc, rather than like Mabel, Billy Gunn, Sheamus and Wade Barrett.

Currently, the final of the King of the Ring is set to take place at September 15th’s Clash of the Champions PPV.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.