WWE: Pledging loyalty to our possible Kings of the Ring

With the WWE King of the Ring tournament set to start this week, there’s naturally a lot of speculation on who will win.

I’m not above that at all, but rather than discuss athletic prowess, popularity or the smarky “who WWE seems primed to push,” I decided to look at the real factor here.

That is, if each competitor continues with a “King” character after winning the competition, what would they look like? And of course, along with that, what kind of crown should they be wearing going forward.

So here, in no particular order, are your potential 2019 Kings of the Ring.

Shelton Benjamin

It’s hard to judge quite what a “King Shelton” character would entail, but there’s an argument to be made that it would at least be a departure from whatever they’ve been doing with him for the past several weeks. I have no doubt Shelton could pull it off, and the back and forth between him and Mia Yim on Twitter would be entertaining, but I can’t really say what the gimmick would feature.

The crown: like the character, hard to say.  Likely just the default crown, whatever that ends up looking like this year.

Samoa Joe

“King Samoa Joe” is a mouthful. Frankly, I don’t think much changes if Joe wins the tournament, he doesn’t need to be informed he’s King of the Ring, he already knew it and has basically been telling the rest of us that fact since he arrived. I think Joe could do great things with the concept of being King of the Ring, but an actual “King” character feels out of place for him.

The crown: He never wore one before, why would he start now?

Cesaro

There’s reason to fear that a “King Cesaro” character could fall into stupid humor very easily, especially given how WWE has handled just regular Cesaro in the past. But there’s also an upside to the idea: during his indie days, Cesaro was in a team known as the Kings of Wrestling alongside Kassius Ohno. You could call back to it with just Cesaro calling himself the King of Wrestling or build to the duo reuniting as part of the WWE or NXT tag divisions.

The crown: no matter what it looks like, let’s agree we need Cesaro to recreate his brass ring photoshoot with the crown in place of the ring.

Cedric Alexander

We’re already living in the Age of Alexander. The Age of King Alexander would be a next step. The question is how that works without turning Cedric heel. Which is a challenge for just about all of the faces on this list. With very few exceptions, an ongoing “King of the Ring” gimmick works much better with a bad guy, and with Cedric just gaining momentum on the main roster a heel turn doesn’t seem necessary.

The crown: Given how Cedric has a tendency towards cosplay-inspired gear, I’d hope any custom crown made for him would be similarly comics or movie inspired. Even if it’s done subtly.

Sami Zayn

Imagine this: Sami Zayn is brought to the prop throne and they place the crown on his head. Then he stands up, throws the crown to the ground and destroys the set while the announcers lament “How could he do this to a proud WWE tradition?” Sami demands a mic and declares that he won’t be King over the toxic WWE Universe, he doesn’t want to rule an ungrateful mob. Maybe a shot at the concept of monarchy in general. He refuses to be called “King of the Ring” and actively gets angry if you mention it.

The crown: Sami Zayn doesn’t want to be your king and he sure as heck doesn’t want your crown.

The Miz

On last week’s Miz and Mrs. we almost seemed to get a preview of what “King Miz” would be when Mike and Maryse attended a Renaissance festival together. The Miz eagerly dressed up and cut what may essentially be his first promo as King Miz. Sadly, though, with Maryse on maternity leave, she won’t be around to be crowned at his side.

The crown: he already has one, and it’s, predictably, awesome.