WWE: Ali is the King of the Ring that all of us need

We still have some quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals to look forward to for WWE’s King of the Ring, but there is still only one option for a winner: Ali.

Heading into this week, WWE will be continuing with its ongoing revival of the King of the Ring tournament. Tonight’s Raw will see Cedric Alexander take on Baron Corbin while Samoa Joe takes on Ricochet in quarterfinals action. The next night, SmackDown Live’s quarterfinals will feature Andrade vs. Chad Gable and Elias vs. Ali. Speaking of Ali, that is exactly the man who needs to win this tournament.

I wish I could put on my best Paul E. Dangerously voice and tell you “That’s not a prediction, it’s a spoiler,” but I’m not the head booker of WWE (allegedly). No, I am merely a fan with a platform to scream words into the online universe. With such at my disposal, I’ve come to the conclusion that if WWE really want to highlight that they’re taking steps towards kindling a “New Era,” then the crown is best suited for Ali.

I don’t say this with any disdain towards any of the other participants – I wouldn’t hate seeing any of the remaining tourney participants win the tournament to be honest – nor is it said with specific preference towards Ali. Okay, maybe a little bit of preference and bias. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the guy, but trust me, that’s beside the point. Ali being best suited for the crown has less to do with Ali himself and more to do with the New Era we’re in.

No, not the New Era that WWE promised we were “The Authority” of months ago. That didn’t quite work out how a lot of us hoped. I’m talking about the New Era as it stands under Paul Heyman as a booker. I would add Eric Bischoff to that sentence, but reportedly, he has yet to start his position, or at least has done very little in the role.

Anyway, the fact that WWE hired Heyman and Bischoff as new Executive Directors shows they want to implement some change to either keep their audience or bring in a new one. What fans want right now is something new and the proposition of King Ali presents the proposition of something fresh that we’ve rarely seen come out of the tournament: a babyface King of the Ring.

My colleague Ashly Nagrant said it best when speculating the potential of a King Ali in her own piece:

“Ali has already given us an idea of what King Ali would be like, with promos on his Twitter. Ali’s entire gimmick seems primed for kingship, he is about responsible use of power, defending what is right and of course “being the light.” “King Ali” feels like a chance to spin a King Arthur-like character for the young man who went by “Prince Mustafa Ali” in the indies…but hopefully without the tragic ending.”

King Ali would not only freshen up the concept of King of the Ring without going the predictable route of “snobby and cocky heel becomes snobby and cocky king heel,” but also freshen up the Ali character as well. Ali is a character who has shown promise since arriving to the blue brand, but those running said brand haven’t been 100% sure on how to use him consistently. A feud with Shinsuke Nakamura was teased for SummerSlam, but it dissolved before the match could take place.

Rechristening Ali as a literal embodiment of The Light as King Ali offers a new direction for the character. A direction that WWE has struggled to find for some time.

A babyface King of the Ring using his kingship to actually shine light on others and produce change in the democracy that is WWE is something that we haven’t seen in the history of the tournament yet. It’d be a nice change of pace. It offers something new for the concept whilst also offering fans a new face to the forefront of their TV screens that they so desperately desire. It’s a win-win.

We’ll have to wait and see if Ali wins his quarterfinal match on Tuesday, but hopefully in two weeks time, he makes it to the finals at Clash of Champions and we start calling him King Ali going forward.