Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
In just a few days, a new King of the Ring will be crowned (and a new Queen of the Ring, of course). There have been over 25 Superstars who have worn the crown to varying degrees of success, as well as varying degrees of wanting to embrace the gimmick. Someone like Gunther from 2024 never bothered with the crown and instead of being The King General, just was his regular self. Before him, King Xavier Woods enthusiastically went with the character shift and had fun with it.
My question for you today is “Who is the best King of the Ring of all time?” By that, I don’t mean “Stone Cold Steve Austin is the best because he’s a multi-time champion and the most popular star ever and had a great promo that night.” I mean who was the best to embrace the gimmick and really be King of the Ring and not just “the winner of the King of the Ring tournament who went on to do great things.”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
If I think of the King of the Ring tournament, I tend to think of King Booker T immediately more than anyone else. He fully embraced the gimmick, changed up his character, revitalized himself, won a world title, was silly as well, had his own followers, and checked off nearly all the boxes that I could have asked for.
I feel like there could have been a lot more mileage to King William Regal if all that hadn’t gotten screwed up. He had a presence to him with that throne and his smug attitude.
To me, that’s far better than someone like King Sheamus just wearing a crown and being his normal self, or King Corbin doing…whatever he was doing…and I say that as a Corbin fan who tends to defend him more than most people.
This is part of the reason why I’m disappointed with this year’s tournament, as I feel like there is absolutely no chance Randy Orton or Cody Rhodes continues to have that crown. They might not even put it on the very night they win it, but even if they do, they’re just going to abandon it immediately, rendering this basically the same as just winning a regular No. 1 contender’s tournament and nothing special.
At the very least, I’m hoping Asuka or Jade Cargill will be wearing their Queen of the Ring crown and tweaking their aesthetic a little to fit that for a while. Nia Jax had the right presentation idea of doing that until she had won the title and transitioning into the belt being the focal point.
Give me a proper King of the Ring and I’ll almost always prefer that over even a better winner who tosses it aside. As in, I’d rather have King Rusev or King Carmelo Hayes and isn’t immediately positioned as the next No. 1 contender challenging for SummerSlam than to give the win to Cody Rhodes, who effectively says “Thanks. Anyway, for SummerSlam…”
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!
