Post by mizerable on Nov 3, 2014 11:13:18 GMT -5
1989: Tito Santana - Did you know Tito was KotR? Me neither.
To be fair, this was in the same vein as the Rumble at the time. Guys like Duggan and Studd were also given meaningless one off titles.
1994: Owen Hart - He really made the King of Harts stuff work but the push that came after his win had more to do with the fact that he was already feuding with his brother and WWF Champion Bret Hart than being King of the Ring. As you'll notice, as soon as Bret moved on to other challenegers, Owen's main event run ended.
1994 truly was the year of Owen. I think it had less to do with the tournament win, but it gave him extra merit when it came time for Bret to put the title on the line. I don't think it did him any harm, but they were never going to give the title to Owen. In fact, I can't think of anyone else who could have won it who would have benefited at the time. Diesel? Razor? HBK? Honestly, it was a good decision. The issue I always had was after Survivor Series when Bret easily puts Owen away for good.
1995: Mabel - Haha, seriously?
I can't make any excuses for this one...but really, the Mabel character was stuck in 1992. The character could have been so much darker, at a time when you have gangsta rap picking up...and they keep Mabel in the purple jumpsuits. Just based on his attire, no one is going to take that guy seriously. I still like the idea of almost a Biggie Smalls gimmick for him (I know this wouldn't have happened in '95, but eventually). So as a performer, I think Mabel could have worked, but instead they went with the most cliched, tired means of moving forward.
1998: Ken Shamrock - Feuded with Owen Hart after winning, I don't think he ever even got a title shot.
This one was really disappointing. I always thought Shamrock could have been a great champion for a few months. He should have definitely been pushed to the moon.
1999: Billy Gunn - In 2000, the joke was that Kane and Billy Gunn were the only two people that could have a bad match with Chris Benoit. Well in 1999, Billy Gunn was having not awesome matches with everyone and coming out the loser (by a long shot) in a short feud with the Rock before a New Age Outlaws reunion buried his chances of being a main eventer.
This is the stand alone worst decision they made when selecting a winner. I don't even hate Billy, but goddamn...really? I wouldn't have actually minded if they gave it to an established guy, hell even Rock winning it wouldn't have been an issue to me.
2010: Sheamus - He was a flop. A goddamn flop. This was so bad that he was less over after winning King of the Ring than before. How does that even happen?
Again, they went with the most cliched way to push Sheamus. Why? Why must the King of the Ring winner become a king? Does that make Vince giddy or something? Are we writing a show for preschoolers? Hell, while I don't have a major issue with Sheamus winning, I have to wonder in a gimmick match such as KOTR, why oh WHY is it always a heel that wins? That doesn't make any sense, when I would think that giving a babyface a series of 4 or 5 matches and overcoming the odds is a great achievement. But instead, everytime they've revived it, it's been a heel to win, usually fairly cleanly. I don't get it, since both the Rumble and MITB are better examples of heelish wins. Morrison should have won that year. Hell, even Morrison's awkward delivery of proclaiming himself the 'king would have fit with his shaman of sexy stuff.
So out of all the winners, less than half really benefitted from winning. If it was booked well, sure, bring it back but if it's just gonna be a Billy Gunn or Sheamus year, f*** off, we don't need it.
I have to agree that they sometimes do a terrible job of picking a winner, but the tournament itself is a great idea. Imagine if Bryan won the KOTR last year and rode that momentum into Summerslam instead of say...Cena handpicking his opponent. Ugh. Or maybe someone like Kofi Kingston wins but comes up short during his title match leading to a heel turn. Or Rusev wins it and becomes Czar of the Squar...and then is booked like a monster into Summerslam. It could work.