The King Gimmick; Does It Help or Does it Hinder?

[FunKay the Inevitable]

So over the last few decades one gimmick that comes up on a regular basis is the king gimmick. Most people will identify the gimmick best with Jerry Lawler who has been 'The King' since the 1970's, carrying it through the NWA, AWA and of course the WWF/E. He's stuck with it and it's worked out very well for him. Then there are guys who haven't had so much success with the title of King. Take for example Mabel. Mabel was a 400 pound plus guy who won the 1995 King of the Ring tournament, becoming King Mabel and after a short lived main event push, found himself lurking at the bottom of the card for the remainder of his career, even as Viscera or Big Daddy V, Mabel never really amounted to anything.

King of the Ring, of course is the most notable use of the king title, with some of the winners taking the title of king and running with it, while others didn't. Guys like Bret Hart, Steve Austin & Kurt Angle all won the tournament and outside of winning the tournament and their coronation ceremonies, where never really referred to as 'King' ever again. They didn't take the title and went on to have spectacular success. Then you look at someone like Booker T who won King of the Ring, and adopted the gimmick of a king. He even changed the way he spoke to suit his regal attire. But did Booker really need the gimmick? He was an already over heel and while he captured the World Heavyweight Championship whilst in the gimmick, he probably would've done so without it.

Then there's the most recent winner of the tournament; Sheamus. Going into the tournament, Sheamus had had a spectacular year, winning two WWE Championships and putting Triple H out with a storyline injury. He then won King of the Ring and went on a long losing streak. He didn't win a single match until his victory over the United States Champion; Daniel Bryan. It was even refered to as the 'King of the Ring Curse' on air multiple times. It was yet another example of the king gimmick not really doing anything for a character. So personally I don't think the king gimmick has really worked outside of Jerry Lawler and I think it's even hindered some people's careers.

However, that's just my opinion, what's yours?

 

[Nate DaMac]

I have to disagree on your assessment of King Booker. His heel act had gotten rather stale over time and he was struggling to get out of the mid card. Sure he was over as a heel before the turn, but it wasn't until he took on the King gimmick that he became a top heel on Smackdown. He was just your average cookie cutter heel prior to that and I highly doubt he would have won the World Title if he were to stay the route he was on.

But as far as the rest of it goes, I have to agree. King Sheamus really didn't work on any level. His attire was atrocious and other than calling himself King Sheamus, he didn't really add any other mannerisms to his character like Booker did. So yeah, the majority of the time, the "King" gimmick hinders.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I was kicking around making a thread similar to this for a while now, so I'm glad that it's a fellow ICE member who took the initiative. Nice work, FunKay!

Anyway, I can only ever recall the King gimmick being done long term and successfully by Jerry Lawler, only in all fairness, when was the last time he did anything you could relate to the monarchy? His outfit has "evolved" to where he wears those poor man's Ed Hardy t-shirts now, he carries the crown and sets it on the table, no longer carries the cape or the scepter - he's an announcer and the King is more a bit of nostalgic familiarity than an actual gimmick. His gimmick is being the best wrestler-turned-announcer in the history of the business. A damn fine gimmick.

Now let's look at King of the Ring. The past winners, in order:

Don Muraco '85
Harley Race '86
Randy Savage '87
Ted DiBiase '88
Tito Santana '89
Bret Hart '91
Bret Hart '93
Owen Hart '94
Mabel '95
Steve Austin '96
Triple H '97
Ken Shamrock '98
Billy Gunn '99
Kurt angle '00
Edge '01
Brock Lesnar '02
Booker T '06
William Regal '08

Harley Race used the King of the Ring to repackage himself as "The King of Wrestling." Needless to say, it failed pretty bad and Race never recaptured an ounce of what he'd had in the NWA. Macho King Randy Savage had staying power, but there was very little different about him from "Macho Man" to "Macho King." He wore a crowd and carried a scepter - the scepter he used to cost Ultimate Warrior the WWF Title, mind you. It bears mentioning that Savage did not annoint himself "King" after he won his lone KOTR in '87, but rather, in '89 after his heel turn, he defeated King Jim Duggan, whom had just defeated King Haku. Two more failed King gimmicks.

So Bret Hart then wins KOTR '93, only to be interrupted and attacked by Jerry Lawler. Owen Hart wins KOTR '94, and becomes The King of Harts. You know, looking back on it, Owen may have done more with the King gimmick than anybody not named Lawler. Yes, let's put him in 2nd place.

The following year, Men on a Mission split and Mabel rolled his way to become King Mabel which resulted in a nationwide shortage of shiny purple fabric. He did fairly little, though he did get a World Title match at a PPV.

Steve Austin wanted nothing to do with being a King, instead adopting the Stone Cold name. Could you imagine if Vince McMahin had said "no, Steve, you are going to have to deal with being King Austin." We may be watching WCW right now...

Triple H, Ken Shamrock, Billy Gunn - nobody dropped their character to become royalty, though Triple H did incorporate it a little bit. Booker T used it, and though it was cute for a while as King Book-ah! it really was an angle based around how annoying his wife was. Regal, like Triple H, used it simply as a footnote to an already similar chatacter.

The King Gimmick, much like the Cowboy Gimmick or the Indian Gimmick, has been used too much and to far too little success. It's generic, and when it's slapped on somebody we already know that has no ties to royalty (King S(h)eamus, anyone?) it's just plain silly and a waste of time.

Lawler, Owen Hart, and that's about it. There are your effective King Gimmicks in a nut shell. Take the rest and leave them where you found them.

 

[Mustang Sally]

His heel act had gotten rather stale over time and he was struggling to get out of the mid card.

I agree. The gimmick was interesting for a while, but they carried it way too long and it became entwined with Booker's ring identity; it seemed as if he was more interested in being the King than in chasing "real" titles.....and having Sharmell at his side, acting simultaneously as a handmaiden and a haughty Queen, grew tiresome very quickly.

The point made about Sheamus is valid, too. The title didn't fit him; he's a pure wrestler who needs no gimmicks. He needs only a pair of wrestling trunks and his nasty personality to get over. The King gimmick inhibited him and took away from his persona as a roughneck. It's good that the company let him abandon it, unlike Booker.

Jerry Lawler, on the other hand, wears the King mantle well. He didn't win an annual tournament to get the title; it's been part of his make-up since dinosaurs walked the Earth. The persona doesn't get in his way; instead, it helps define him.

Essentially, that's the deal with King of the Ring; it's an effective diversion for a short time but the gimmick shouldn't enslave the winner for an entire year. Keep it short, sweet and regal.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I think that "The King" gimmick is very good if you are looking for short term gains. Yes, it can rejuvinate your fledging career like it did for Booker T, but pray, how long did Booker actually last after he used this gimmick?

I don't claim to be an expert on old school but one thing that I know is that people saw a lot less of the wrestlers than they see today. That helped them remain fresh as once a particular wrestler left a particular territory, it would be some time before he came back. Because of this the crowd did not get tired of watching someone. That is something that must have worked for Jerry Lawler.

The fact is that this is a very gimmicky gimmick. You can have one gimmicky feud, maybe 2 but you cannot make a career on gimmicky feuds. Once you remove the "over the top" part of the gimmick the character becomes that of an arrogant heel; something which is as common to wrestling as suplexes.

So I would say that while the gimmick is good, it definately has a shelf life beyond which it should be discontinued.

 

[кαяℓ [zα¢к ρα¢к мємв]

I love the King Gimmick but it has to be the right sort of guy who is given it. Sheamus did not suit the gimmick and I think that was the reason WWE decided to take it off him. Booker was definitely great at it but it was the same stuff over and over.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Well, it doesn't really seem to help anyone if you ask me. It doesn't hinder anyone either though. Mabel would still have become Viscera and Big Daddy V, amounting the same level nothing that he did in the real scenario without winning King of the Ring. Gunn would still have sucked. Guys like Stone Cold or Trips would still have become legends without the King of the Ring wins. Booker was a former world champion, he did not need the king gimmick as his Booker T character was already successful. Sheamus was also a former world champion so he did not need the King of the Ring victory. I remember reading an article on how Sheamus' losing streak was due to him being arrogant backstage about his push, so winning King of the Ring was not a cursed victory. The exception is Regal, who got pushed further as a heel GM when he won King of the Ring and his might have amounted to something if he did not ruin it by getting suspended. So, other than Jerry Lawler the King gimmick has not really helped anybody or hindered them either because they all got pushed or lost pushes as a result of their own actions rather than the gimmick being a help or a hindrance.

 

[ShawnDiscipleSmith]

For those who don't know, Booker T owns the rights to his own character. The King Booker thing was so that WWE had full rights and all that technical garbage. Vince just wanted that extra little chunk of change.

 

[Trill Co$by]

First off, it seems that people are confusing King of the Ring winners with the King Gimmick. There's a big difference you know.

Anyway, I say it depends on the who gets the gimmick and what they do with it. Jerry Lawler, for example, was one of the biggest heels with the King gimmick and even had an anti-Chant for his gimmick (Burger King anyone?) which made him really over as a heel. If he hadn't been put on the table, I feel he actually would be at a nice 3-4 WWE title reign legacy right now.

However, with someone like Sheamus, the gimmick was more of a disaster than it was a lighting in the dark clouds. I honestly feel that Sheamus could have gotten over with the gimmick, but WWE just let it fail so horrid it wasn't even worth the 75 bucks they spent on the black and gold tights, which ironically are my favorite sheamus tights... or at least that's how much EZ tights has them for.

But yeah it all boils down to how you present yourself with the gimmick and what all you can do to keep it fresh over the course of its time... just like the rich boy snob gimmick.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

I have no problem with the tournament. How its used is a problem for me. I think the only performers who did good with it were Booker T and Owen Hart. Booker did the best he could with it and had some decent rivalries as KoR when he was on SD. The fact is, he didn't need it to make him relevant and the constant use of the accent was a little annoying. He could have been really good with it on Raw, if they hadn't screwed him over there and then released him and Sharmell.

Owen did really well ith it. It didn't hurt that he had a great rivalry against Bret during that time. He played the character extremely well with the arrogance of a truly despicable heel. Mabel wasn't bad but let's face it, he wasn't really much of a performer.

Sheamus winning it this last time made absolutely no sense to me at all. He'd already won the world title twice, then you give him KoR and the US title that was nonsense. Give it to Morrison, Truth, Kingston, Del Rio, Christian, Swagger, Bryan or some one who hasn't been world champ and help them ascend to that level not some guy who has been there twice already. I mean they don't anything really great like they do for HHH with his King of Kings moniker. The idea is okay by me, my only problem is the execution.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

King Booker is probably the most underrated heel champion (net to UnderBiker) ever. The guy was amazing because he was so committed to the gimmick. Heck, everyone around was.. His wife, Regal, Finlay, and even JBL had you wanting to bow down before the man. I think the biggest reason this worked is because it was down on SD.

SD's show has much more free range in characters because they aren't clogged with a bunch of 'big' stars that feel like they are apart of the show 'just 'cuz' they are big stars. I think if they would've thrown Sheamus to SD with that gimmick and pushed him instead of Del Rio, Sheamus would be unstoppable right now.

Shame about how they did Sheamus. Out of all the guys who could've really made that King gimmick work but didn't he was the one that could've made it work. The guy is a fucking beast in the ring to the point you really buy that he wants to rip someone's head off and shit down their throat. I don't the gimmick helped him because he didn't do anything with it.