The recent King of the Ring tournament win of Xavier Woods provided more excitement than past events of the tournament. WWE giving up on the King of the Ring PPV after 2002 would see the concept becoming outdated and brought back every few years. Heels like Sheamus, Wade Barrett and Baron Corbin all flopped trying to make a king gimmick work after their tournaments.
Woods playing a face and having the lifelong dream of winning the tournament led to him pulling it off in a different manner. The audience connection and creative mindset have seen Woods providing a positive change to what the title has become in recent memory. WWE may have got it right with Xavier as the man to bring respect to the King of the Ring label.
Changing Course From Recent Failures
The last three King of the Ring winners before Xavier Woods all felt like they had the same story. Sheamus, Wade Barrett and Baron Corbin were three heels WWE viewed as potential main eventers who never completely fulfilled their potential. Each man won the King of the Ring tournament at different points to revamp their characters at the time.
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Sheamus wore a weird crown and cape meant to add the intimidation factor after his WWE Championship reigns flopped. The king gimmick just made him look even worse as his opponents of John Morrison and Daniel Bryan were more over than he was in their feuds. Wade becoming King Barrett had the same results and was less over than his future Bad News Barrett gimmick, which also failed to get him over the hump.
WWE went overboard with the same plan when Corbin won it. The King Corbin gimmick placed him in an extremely long feud with Roman Reigns when the latter was still a face. WWE even tried to get Corbin over by having him try to feed Reigns dog food in one of the worst segments in recent memory. All three wrestlers would be back at square one after the failed king gimmicks. Xavier Woods was the perfect change of pace to put the recent history of tournament winners in the past.
King Of The Ring Is Finally A Feel Good Story
Big E and Kofi Kingston each winning the WWE Championship felt like the career-defining moments for their singles career. New Day will see all three members remembered with fondness for their time together, but they each deserve some love for their abilities to contribute on the singles side of the wrestling world.
Xavier Woods is just as valuable, if not more, to the overall success of New Day, but his singles career was never treated with the same respect as Kofi or Big E. The individual dream of Woods in wrestling was to win the King of the Ring more so than winning a world title. Woods even introduced a king character known as “Da Kaaang” on UpUpDownDown when playing Uno with Cesaro, Tyler Breeze and Adam Cole.
WWE has been criticized for not having enough feel-good moments that pay off the diehard fans’ following of each wrestler’s story. Woods winning the King of the Ring was his longtime wrestling dream that fans are aware of. WWE not only had a good moment of a face winning, but Woods achieved a dream with the audience along for the ride.
King Of The Ring 2021 Made A New Singles Star
Xavier Woods is not a “new” name in the WWE landscape, but this is his first time receiving a push on his own. The accomplishments for Woods in WWE have almost exclusively all come as part of New Day. Woods was in a dead-end tag team with R-Truth as his only main roster experience before he moved into the New Day team with Kofi Kingston and Big E as per their own pitches.
WWE making Woods the new King of the Ring winner and placing him in bigger situations has been a fun part of the Smackdown brand. Roman Reigns working with Woods to sell the Big E feud has helped Xavier gain more credibility since winning the tournament. The DQ victory for Woods in a Smackdown match saw him become the first person to beat Roman in a singles match since he started the Tribal Chief gimmick.
Even the placement in the men’s Survivor Series elimination match portrayed Woods as one of the top faces on the Smackdown brand without Kofi Kingston at his side. WWE benefited from the short-term feel-good moment of Woods winning the tournament as a face. However, the fans are more into his king gimmick from the face side than most previous winners to have a higher ceiling.
