How would you have brought back King of the Ring?

[LODemolition]

So let me first say that I'm happy they've brought back King of the Ring. But the way they brought it back just leaves me scratching my head. They had no hype whatsoever leading up to the return of something that a ton of fans have wanted to see brought back for as long as I can remember. To my knowledge, it wasn't announced until during Extreme Rules this past Sunday. That was the first I had heard about it anyhow. So not only do we find out about it the day before the tournament starts, but it also only lasts 2 days? First round on Monday, semis and finals on Tuesday. What?

I would have scrapped Battleground in favor of King of the Ring. No question about it. I'd also have made it a 16-man tournament instead of only 8. Here's when I would have booked each round, and who I would have crowned the 2015 KOTR.

First Round

2 matches June 29th Raw, 2 matches June 30th Smackdown, 2 matches July 6th Raw, and 2 matches July 7th Smackdown

Winners are in bold type:

Dolph Ziggler over Tyson Kidd
Cesaro over R-Truth
Neville over Bo Dallas
Sheamus over Mark Henry
Bad News Barrett over Damien Sandow
Dean Ambrose over The Miz
Ryback over Stardust
Luke Harper over Erick Rowan

Second Round

2 matches July 13th Raw, 2 matches July 14th Smackdown:

Dolph Ziggler over Cesaro
Sheamus over Neville
Bad News Barrett over Dean Ambrose
Ryback over Luke Harper

Semifinals & Finals

July 19th King of the Ring ppv:

Sheamus over Dolph Ziggler
Ryback over Bad News Barrett

Sheamus over Ryback


I really like how they've tweaked Sheamus's character and look since his return as a heel the night after Mania. Even though Sheamus has won KOTR before, I think he's the perfect guy to give the crown to again. I think he's going to really do well as one of the top heels in the company and will be in line for a big push, feuding with the likes of Cena, Orton, Reigns, and even Lesnar if he comes back as a face. My very close runner-up for winner would be Bad News Barrett, but the reason I didn't give it to him is because I would have him winning Money in the Bank this year.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Simple.

Qualifiers on Raw, Supestars, Main Event, and Smackdown, then have it as a PPV like it was done before.

To me, doing this makes it feel more special than having it done as a segment on Raw, and it's another event for the WWE Network to promote. To me, as far as winners go, either Ambrose or Neville should win it, because they need something to get them up to that next tier. Barrett's been a multi-time IC champion, Sheamus' has already won KOTR, Ziggler doesn't need it, and neither does Ryback.

But I like it as a seperate event as opposed to simply being part of another show.

 

[ASKane]

I would have brought it back as a One-Night only special like TNA's series of cards. WWE sets a date during one of the longer gaps between PPV's and does it the week after a PPV with 16 Superstars in the first round who have the 8 matches spread across Raw, ME and SD with the 4 on Raw, 3 on SD and 1 on ME and then on the Sunday night have the quarters, semi's and final before a crowning ceremony. For me aswell KOTR should be one of those big tournaments and not a way to keep the mid card interesting for a few night so my bracket would have worked like this, winners in bold

Round of 16
Reigns v Ziggler
Neville v Barrett
Rusev v Ryback
Cena v Ambrose
Sheamus v Cesaro
Wyatt v Kidd
Orton v Kane
Rollins v Noble - Noble lays down for him

Quarter Final
Reigns v Neville
Cena v Rusev
Wyatt v Sheamus
Rollins v Orton

Semi Final
Reigns v Cena
Rollins v Wyatt (Authority interference prompting Wyatt to target them post KOTR)

Final
Rollins v Reigns - I think it would really help the character develop/annoying factor of Rollins if he could call himself King plus the clean wins over Reigns and Orton along the way would give him the legitimacy he desperately needs

 

[chicagokmc]

My rollout plan would have been

1. Replace MITB with King of the Ring. We've been MITB'd to death over the years. Give that concept some time off, especially after treating us to the most creative cash in its ever had. You can always bring it back (see KOTR...)

2. Make it a big deal by making it worth a title shot. Nothing against last night but it seems like a rushed tournament full of mid carders that is just going to result in someone walking around with a crown and a cape. I would have made it a big deal like it used to be...16 person tournament starting on Raw, continuing on Smackdown and finishing up with the final four at the PPV.

3. This popped up at the last minute and was poorly promoted. I would have used WWE Network and the Raw/Smackdown announcers to promote, in advance, what KOTR used to be. Use the network footage to show us what a big deal it was. They could have specifically replayed some KOTR PPV's as build up, as well as have the announcers talk about all of the past winners.

 

[Navi]

I would have put a bit more thought into it, and run it over several shows and maybe changed Payback to the King of the Ring PPV. Like I said on another thread, it wasn't hyped at all, viewership was down this week, and they could definitely have added more than the eight that were in it.

Most of the roster isn't utilized anyway, and it would have been nice to see more people given some TV time. With the amount of wrestler's they had it was very predictable and as soon as Barrett won the first match you knew who was winning the rest. Because you can't have a heel vs heel or face vs face can we? Not to mention Sheamus interfering pretty much assured us that Ziggler would interfere later on.

I wasn't blown away by it and it has kind of put me off. The winner also should have gotten a title shot at something, but it appears that all they will get is a cheap crown and cape.

 

[Dead-Angel]

I would run it 3 weeks on Raw with the winner getting shot at wwe world title
1 week 1/4 final
Randy Orton vs Bad news Barret
Dolph Ziggler vs Dean Ambrose
Nevile vs Bray Wyatt
Roman Reigns vs Sheamus

Week 2
1/2 final

Randy orton vs Dolph Zigler
Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt

Week 3
Final
Roman Reigns vs Randy orton Raw main event
Have them put a decent match and at the end Seth Rollins uses chair to Ko both of them and say something theres no winner so nobody gets a chance at the title but Kane sets triple threat for Payback however no winner of the tournament but at least it would be interesting story vise not like wwe did now but its wwe I'm not suprised until Vince retires forget about interesting storylines

 

[SoulTrain4]

It was fine the way it was, I think the matches could have benefitted from getting more time but I was fine with it being a theme of RAW. There are too many gimmick PPVs already, we don't really need another even though I LOVE the KOTR it's probably not going to become a yearly thing again...even though it should be.

 

[MartialHorror]

I think it needed to be promoted more. Maybe have the final round be on Payback. The way it went down just made it feel unimportant.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The reality this was a "quick fix" to distract from Bryan's injury.

I don't think they did a whole lot wrong, it certainly lived up to the old "Anything can happen in the WWE" moniker of the past. The only real error was not making it a major feature of Extreme Rules, announcing the tourney so late probably cost them some viewers.

They had a strong story through the tournament, which left it a little predictable but the color that Sheamus got really sold the animosity between he and Ziggler and how important the tourney was. It was a launchpad for Neville, he didn't win but no way did he "lose" and as for Barrett, this is his chance to do something different and show his stuff. Bryan's loss is his gain for a change.

 

[OYDK]

I don't think the KOTR needs to be brought back as its own separate PPV again, but I would like to see it occur as a yearly event around Summerslam time with a lot of build. KOTR is good TV, it always has been and it works wonders for the winners when executed right. Why WWE gives us a watered down version of one of their greatest concepts ever is beyond me.

I would have the tourney start the Raw after Battleground and limit the matches strictly to Raw. You want to build the KOTR as something important, you don't put matches on Main Event, Superstars, or Smackdown, you keep it on Raw and incorporate 3 or 4 high profile feuds into it.

16 people. First-round matches first two weeks. Quarter final matches the third week. Semis the last week, and the finals at Summerslam. I'd keep Barrett as the winner as I think he could really run with it.

 

[MWRedskins]

firstly, i would've eliminated Payback as the ppv and made King of the Ring a PPV and had a segment with the coronation of the King with crown, robe, scepter and finally a trophy.

Second, i would've had a 16 man tournament and have the final four at the ppv (like they used to have it) and i would've put Sandow, Ziggler, Ambrose, Barrett, Sheamus, Neville, Harper, Rowan, Bo Dallas, Stardust, R-Truth, Swagger, Ryback, Axel, Woods, Cesaro. eliminate the ones who have upcoming storylines (Ryback, Woods, Cesaro) early on....eliminate Sheamus and Ambrose later on, have the final four as Ambrose vs. Harper and Barrett vs. Neville and i would've ended it with Ambrose beating Barrett....that's how "I" would've booked it.

 

[Cub McCallister]

Wwe have ruined such a good ppv tbh they brought it back with no hype AT ALL over two days, this used to be such a big thing back in the day and for me it meant just as much as the Royal Rumble the way it was built up. I would happily replace MITB with KOTR because they've had that concept going for 10 years literally now, I would put the ppv in June as a normal ppv and have the winner go onto Summerslam and face the World Champion like the old days.

I would have a tournament of 16 wrestlers and then 8 wrestlers for the ppv after winning their respective matches in order to qualify, throw in a few mid-card matches and finish of the night with the KOTR finals match, it could be a decent pppv if done right.

 

[LODemolition]

The way they can fix this mistake of having KOTR take place without any hype and rushing it the way they did, is to make Barrett #1 contender for SummerSlam. If they wanna make the KOTR mean something, then this is what they should do. SummerSlam is the 2nd most important ppv of the year, so winning KOTR should give you an automatic title shot at SS the same way that winning the Royal Rumble gets you a title shot at Mania. It's not going to happen if Rollins is still champ by then, because god forbid they put a heel vs heel main event at a major ppv.

 

[Eyebrows]

I'm ok with it not being on a PPV, even though some of the old KotR PPVs were great.
The final should have been on PPV, though.

Let them get through the opening matches with about two weeks towards the event and then give it a proper sports-style build-up. Sit-down interviews, video-packages etc. Hype the hell out of the final and put it in the second to last match to make it mean something.

Have it last more than 7 minutes. Have the semi-finals last more than 5 minutes.

The way all the main sports shows are building up to Mayweather/Pacquiao. WWE could do the same.

I really hate the 'King' gimmick. It's played out. So I hope they actually do something with Barrett other than having him declare himself King Barrett and go on a losing streak like he has every time he's held a title.

 

[gers09]

Just like it used to be qualifiers on raw smackdown then it own ppv where we have quarter finals semis and the final

 

[mkw1962]

I thought it was rushed with no build up. I think they should change it with MITB and make it a yearly PPV. They need to add more participants, make it 12 or 16 also give the winner a Title shot. MITB is really like any other PPV accept it has the MITB match sometime during the PPV. Smackdowns ratings are down so give them the MITB match once a year or add the match to Summerslam. Raw is three hours and Smackdown is only two but for the MITB Smackdown make it a 3 hour show.
Wade should not have won, with Daniel hurt Wade should be your Intercontinental champ. It was very predictable and there should be a title shot for the winner.

 

[TDFG]

I would bring it back in a PPV format, the qualifiers on Raw & Smackdown & I would probably have the quarter-finals run in the weeks leading up to the PPV.

The semi-finals and finals take place at the PPV takes up three matches so that's almost half a PPV card in a unique PPV, with the winner getting a World Title shot at the next big PPV, whether it's SummerSlam or Survivor Series, it doesn't matter which one.

 

[HORRORHOLIC]

I think the matches should all take place in the same night like they used to. One of the things that made winning the King Of The Ring seem like a big deal was the fact that the winner had to wrestle 3 or 4 times in one night. Now it just seems like a bunch of random matches.

 

[SoulTrain4]

In theory, if I was doing it the tournament would be company wide and all champions would be in it.

A huge 32 man tournament with a 8-16 woman "Queen of the ring" accompaniment.

I never understood how someone can be the King and the champion is a bigger title to have.

I don't believe a title match is necessarily needed because there are already a lot of #1 contender gimmicks like the Royal Rumble and MITB but it can be used to build up to a SummerSlam main event and use the MITB to build up to a Survivor Series main event.

WWE fucks up by not making the tourny, however they choose to do it, ANNUAL.

People love traditions, they become attached to them. They love that "it's that time of year" feel. KOTR could have it just like the MITB and Rumble have it but that would require re-establishing it as a yearly event.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I would have brought it back as its own PPV, like it used to be. There's no purpose WHATSOEVER for keeping PPV brands like Battleground, Fast Lane, or even Payback. All three of these events are 100% interchangeable at the moment so why not get rid of one of them and replace it with King Of The Ring. The announcers would bring it up on Raw and Smackdown each week of the PPV cycle that it is in. This gets it the attention that it deserves. First round matches would get held on episodes of Raw leading up to it while the Semi-Final and the Final would take place at the PPV. The winner gets a Summerslam title shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. The event would take place in June before Money In The Bank's PPV and the card would look something like this:

King Of The Ring Semi-Final match #1
King Of The Ring Semi-Final match #2
Intercontinental or US Championship match
Random filler match
Divas Championship match
World Heavyweight Championship match
King Of The Ring Final Match (main event)

This would be a lot better than keeping useless events like Battleground on the calendar while holding a nearly entirely unadvertised King Of The Ring event. Make the fans care about the Network, having this as a PPV brand would be a step in the right direction. It brings back some older fans who recall the event and can generate interest from new fans too. This also gives WWE several weeks to build up an excellent Summerslam main event.