What if the King of the Ring did come back?

[BenChillin]

The fact that you got HHH, Orton, and Batista in it is a bad idea.

This was used to elevate talent. In the end, it was last used to make "King Booker." Man that was annoying.

But make the IC title important again and use the King Of The Ring as a guaranteed IC Title shot.

 

[Dragon]

I think its a great idea......maybe have the winner of the Andre the Giant Battle Royal getting a World Heavyweight Championship match at the King of the Ring?!

 

[resignedknight]

The problem with guaranteed title matches is that you have to go so far out of your way in protecting them for that month or months that they lose a lot of steam. They put up with it for the Rumble because it's such a tradition and a great way to build legitimacy for the challenger at WM, but I wouldn't expect to see that expand to other PPVs.

I still wouldn't mind KotR coming back without a guaranteed title shots, but I happen to miss the hell out of tournaments.

 

[Van Dam]

Yes I would absolutely love KOTR to come back. It was always one of my favourite PPVs. I would like to to come back as it's own PPV and not just when they need a special 3 hour RAW. KOTR used to help catapult stars and something like that should come back.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

No guaranteed title matches ever... not for winning an event. Even the Rumble has worn its welcome as proven with this years debacle... It hamstrings booking too far in advance, winning the Rumble should be its own thing as should a returned KOTR. At least MITB is flexible.

I take the point about elavating talent but it's not strictly true. The idea of a King is that he is basically the best guy in the company who isn't the champion. This was the vein of the first 2 yeas until they tried to turn it into an elevation tool...

Mix the brackets, have some younger stars and former world champs... pick one you want to elevate as your losing finalist and the best guy to win.

For example:-

Round 1 -

Triple H v RVD
Cesaro v Swagger
Kofi v Rusev
ADR v Big Show

You have a top guy in each half of the bracket along with a mid card and one newbie in the form of Rusev who goes over both Kofi and Show on the way to defeat in the final to Triple H. Sure Trips ends up the KOTR in this example, but it would fit the gimmick of "King Of King's" and give the guys who face him in the year after something to go after. The win might not be clean, an opponent might attack Rusev for revenge etc or Trips might orchestrate it... but Rusev is elevated and you have a legit King.

The past way has been fill it with midcarders and have one win it to be elevated. That's not really a good method as we've seen.

 

[enviousdominous]

That's a pretty stacked KOTR bracket. I see that you have the obvious throwaways of Axel and Sandow, but from my memory they used to include more jobbers in the mix.

I would say, and I realize this in itself is as much of a long-shot as bringing back the KOTR, include a notable NXT talent for winning an NXT qualifying tournament. They've been gaining steam lately, it might help market the network to a few more undecided fans.

Maybe throw 3MB in there just to justify keeping them on the roster, and have Drew take on Heath in a qualifier. Needless to say, I feel bad for Drew.

I say Hell yes to bringing back the KOTR, but I don't want it to be a yearly thing like every other PPV. Make it something like the Olympics, it only happens about every four years and thus its popularity isn't diminished by the idea that in four years you can have four kings of the ring running around not even caring that they earned that accolade.

 

[TDFG]

I liked the original KOTR format with the 8 man x 1 night tournament.

It's hard to see it being brought back now, certainly not with a guaranteed title shot being the prize, Money In The Bank has taken over that mantle but as mentioned, it could be used to elevate mid-card talent for a IC/US Title shot.

 

[Hakushi]

I also liked the 1 night tournament. It (KOTR) did establish mid level stars trying to make the climb. The tournament only had a few misfires during it's run (Mabel,Tito, Shamrock, Billy Gunn). Otherwise, one could make the argument that it actually propelled mid carders to the next level (Not unlike the IC Title use to) Anyhow, I would keep the established upper level out. Make it 12 Wrestlers, one night.
My 12:
Dolph
Bray
Miz
Reigns
Ambrose
Rollins
Cessaro
Swagger
Big E
Cody
Barrett
Sandow

 

[Softcore Holly]

I also liked the 1 night tournament. It (KOTR) did establish mid level stars trying to make the climb. The tournament only had a few misfires during it's run (Mabel,Tito, Shamrock, Billy Gunn). Otherwise, one could make the argument that it actually propelled mid carders to the next level (Not unlike the IC Title use to) Anyhow, I would keep the established upper level out. Make it 12 Wrestlers, one night.
My 12:
Dolph
Bray
Miz
Reigns
Ambrose
Rollins
Cessaro
Swagger
Big E
Cody
Barrett
Sandow

Great list, but I would suggest you either add or cut 4 names from there. Mainly because a 8/16 man format ensures no byes close to the end since at 12 you would eventually end up with 3 guys, unless of course you want a heel to cheat his way into finals like Regal did, or just have KOF decided in a triple threat match which can work great as well.

I also don't think if you can squeeze a 12 man or higher in 1 night, not without a lot of squashes which with the level of talent in your list would be a pretty bad thing. A 12 man tournament would result in 10-11 matches, (6 in round 1, 3 in round 2, either 1 in round 3 and then 1 more in finals or just a triple threat in round 3) which is pretty crazy considering WM itself is probably only going to have 8. Like I see no harm in having Round 1 on the Raws leading up to the PPVs with the rest happening there.

 

[MMA Mark]

KOTR PPV (Replacing MITB)

KOTR Final:
Reigns>Cena

WWE Title Match:
Daniel Bryan vs Batista

KOTR Semifinals:
Reigns>Orton
Cena>Wyatt

Queen of the Ring Finals (rest of the tournament takes place on TV):
AJ Lee (if she isn't champion) or Summer Rae>Naomi

KOTR Quarterfinals:
Reigns>Sheamus
Orton>Rollins
Wyatt>Ambrose
Cena>Cesaro

Pre-Show:
Battle Royal for Alternate Spot

 

[jpooch21]

After reading through some of these posts, I firmly believe that if they were ever planning on bringing back King of the Ring then right now would be the time to do so. The roster is STACKED with upper mid card guys waiting to bust out, and the tournament, if booked correctly, could elevate several guys.

I see KOTR serving the same purpose as the Andre Battle Royale did. As much as I loved the result of Cesaro and the big push he seems to be on his way to getting, I can't help but think a KOTR victory would have been much cooler.