Aside from championship wins, the WWE has always provided opportunities for wrestlers to push themselves up the card, mainly in the way of tournaments. The most well-established tournament which began in 1989 is the King of the Ring tournament, where wrestlers work to defeat other qualifiers in order to be crowned as King.
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Over the years, many wrestlers have used this tournament in order to catapult themselves into the main event, including Bret Hart, Steve Austin and Triple H. Initially, a tournament win would most likely mean that the winner would become WWE Champion. Unfortunately, there are usually some "duds" who win the tournament who do not amount to much following their win. Looking back at the last 10 winners, who can call themselves the real king of kings?
10 1999 - Billy Gunn
If there is one wrestler who did little to nothing with their King of the Ring win, it is Billy Gunn. Despite having the size, athleticism, and charisma to be a top star, Gunn was never able to find his footing as a singles competitor. As a part of the New Age Outlaws, Gunn was a top-tier tag team competitor. However, his singles career left much to be desired. Combine this with The Rock cutting a scathing promo on him following his win, and Gunn didn't stand a chance of reaching the main event level.
9 2015 - Bad News Barrett
Much has been written about how Bad News Barrett was overlooked during his time in WWE, but fans rejoiced when he won the King of The Ring tournament.
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Given how there are so many wrestlers who benefited from winning the tournament, Barrett supporters thought that this meant he was finally going to get his due. Unfortunately, it only spelled further disaster for his WWE career, and he would leave in a year following his win.
8 1998 - Ken Shamrock
WWE had big plans for Ken Shamrock during his WWE tenure, and gave him all the tools to move from the mid-card through to the main event. However, things seemed to go backwards for Shamrock, who only challenged for the WWE Championship one time, and it was before his King of the Ring win. Following his tournament win, other than a short run as Intercontinental and World Tag Team Champion, he accomplished very little in WWE.
7 2010 - Sheamus
Being a King did not necessarily help Sheamus' career since he was already at the main event level. While some use the tournament as a means of springboarding themselves up the card, by 2010 the tournament had lost much of it's luster so there was no guaranteed championship shot. Despite this, Sheamus was still able to procure multiple World Championship wins following his KOTR coronation, but it was not necessarily because he became King.
6 2008 - William Regal
Regal's tournament win did not amount to much at the time, but looking back on it he was one of the most unique winners in the 2000s. Regal took his duties as king seriously, but not in a cartoonish way like King Mabel or King Haku. Instead, he showed signs of madness, and tried to take over Raw by shutting of the power during the show.
Unfortunately, fans were left to think about what could have been as Regal wound up suspended due to wellness policy violation.
5 2019 - Baron Corbin
As the most recent King of the Ring, the tournament win has done little but further how polarizing a character that Baron Corbin is to the WWE Universe. As someone fans currently love to hate, Corbin has taken the moniker of king and ran with it. While he has yet to win the big one, the status of King has kept him in the upper-mid card of WWE, and added something fresh to his gimmick that was not there before.
4 2001 - Edge
In one of the best examples of moving up each area of the card, Edge took advantage of every opportunity he was given in order to make it to the main event level.
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Edge was able to progress from being a Tag Team Champion and Intercontinental Champion to an eventual Hall of Famer and multiple time WWE Champion, with his 2001 King of the Ring win being what catapulted him to superstardom. Following that, he was on the top of his game, and never left the main event scene.
3 2002 - Brock Lesnar
Some call Brock Lensar's first year in WWE the best rookie year of any wrestler in history. In what would culminate with him becoming the youngest WWE Champion in history, it began with a King of the Ring tournament win. The tournament would take a long hiatus after Lesnar's win, but it certainly helped propel him into what would eventually be one of the biggest wrestling stars of all time.
2 2000 - Kurt Angle
Speaking of fantastic rookie years, Kurt Angle was able to accomplish this feat before Brock Lesnar. In his first year in WWE, Angle was able to become a European and Intercontinental Champion, and would cap it off with a WWE Championship run. Between that, he also solidified himself as "King Kurt" (complete with a gigantic crown) when he became King of the Ring.
1 2006 - Booker T
Prior to becoming King of the Ring, Booker T was already a highly established star in wrestling, with multiple WCW World Championships to his record. However, he had always remained the same character through his career, until he won the tournament in 2006. Booker T would turn into King Booker, and his over-the-top performance made him incredibly popular, and got him his final run as World Heavyweight Champion. All hail King Bookah!
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