WWE: King of the Ring tournament needs to stay permanently

By Trace Johnson | Aug 28, 2019

PARIS, FRANCE - MAY 19: Cedric Alexander (under) in action vs Mustafa Ali during WWE Live AccorHotels Arena Popb Paris Bercy on May 19, 2018 in Paris, France. (Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images) /

The Aug. 27 edition of WWE SmackDown was another impressive night for the recently-revived King of the Ring tournament, a concept that took the WWE by storm in the past, but hasn’t been around in recent years.

Last night’s WWE SmackDown saw the final two matches of the first round of the King of the Ring tournament take place to set the stage for the quarterfinal round where the bracket has gone down from 16 superstars to now eight in the quest to be crowned king.

Raw had Ricochet advance past Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin advance past The Miz on Monday night while last night’s blue brand battles started out with Ali vs. Buddy Murphy with the winner going on to face Elias in the quarterfinals. Given that these are two of the most talented performers in the entire company, the end result was not shocking, but oh so sweet in terms of match quality.

Ali and Murphy left it all in the ring and pulled out a wide variety of impressive moves throughout the course of this clinic. It almost didn’t feel like a WWE match it featured so much that is not typical for WWE-style matches, and that was a good thing. The match swayed back and forth for most of it, but after hitting probably the most unique move over the course of the entire match, Ali had Murphy down and ready for the 450 splash.

The splash would be perfectly executed and Ali got the win to advance to a quarterfinal round matchup with Elias after a highly impressive battle with Murphy. The second and final first-round match of the night came courtesy of former tag team partners when Shelton Benjamin took on Chad Gable in a mini-feud of sorts that resembles high school insults and short jokes at the expense of Gable.

Benjamin didn’t think Gable had a chance to beat him, but it’s the size of the fight in the dog that matters, not the size of the dog in the fight. Gable would prove this theory to be true when after a pretty good, yet short, match, he knocked off Benjamin to advance to the quarterfinals to battle Andrade in what should be a memorable match. With the first round of the King of the Ring tournament in the books, it’s safe to say this tournament needs to stick around moving forward.

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This is the first time since 2015 that the King of the Ring has been back and only the fourth time since the King of the Ring pay-per-view was taken away following the 2002 installment. It just makes sense to have this as an annual event for a multitude of reasons, starting with what a win could do for the winner. Stone Cold Steve Austin really became Stone Cold by winning the King of the Ring in 1996.

Brock Lesnar furthered his mantra of being “The Next Big Thing” by winning the 2002 King of the Ring. Kurt Angle would reach a world title level thanks, in part, to his King of the Ring win in 2000. Booker T had a career resurgence and transformation thanks to winning the King of the Ring in 2006. The evidence is there that if you win the King of the Ring, your career could be in for a breakthrough and the same could be said for whoever wins the 2019 version.

Not only the winner, but this tournament could help out several other superstars even if they don’t win it all. Another reason why the King of the Ring should remain every year is how it gives superstars in need of direction some type of direction. So many superstars just float around with no creative direction, but competing in this tournament gives certain superstars much-needed direction, even if it’s not for very long. That could lead to bigger things if they impress as well.

And if you want as many impressive matches as possible, the King of the Ring is a welcomed-addition. Just look at how many great matches have taken place already in only the first round of this year’s tournament. Samoa Joe vs. Cesaro was impressive, Andrade vs. Apollo Crews was very good, Ricochet vs. McIntyre was pay-per-view quality, The Miz vs. Corbin was surprisingly stellar, and Ali vs. Murphy was as action-packed of a match as you’ll see on free TV.

The superstars are bringing their A-game so far and clearly care about this tournament, so that trend should continue leaps and bounds as the quarterfinal round approaches. Not to mention, having a real sports-like format in place makes the King of the Ring feel like a bigger deal. In a bracket-style format that resembles the NCAA Tournament in college basketball, fans could fill out brackets and predict who they think can advance from round to round.

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There simply aren’t any cons to having the King of the Ring tournament and the pros are heavy, so it just makes sense that this tournament needs to remain a constant factor in the WWE annually.