It's been awhile since I've posted but since it's June, this got me into thinking about a past PPV event that WWE used to hold once a year. Before Money in the Bank took over that mantle, the King of the Ring event was named after a tournament comprising of multiple superstars competing in an elimination bracket to determine that year's winner. From 1993 to 2002, the PPV saw 10 competitors competing and winning the KOTR tournament. In some cases, the winner would qualify for a World Title shot at Summerslam (i.e. Owen Hart in 1994, Mabel in 1995, and Brock Lesnar in 2002). With the brand extension in full effect, poor buy rates, not to mention the inclusion of brand exclusive PPVs, WWE made a decision to retire the King of the Ring event from their yearly calendar. Although they would bring the tournament back every few years since, it has since been largely discontinued. It got me pondering what if the King of the Ring continued as an annual tradition?
Over on Re-Edit, I posted a series of tournament brackets using superstars that were on the active roster based on the timeline. This will mainly cover the years in which a KOTR did not take place (though I made an exception by rebooking 2006 including Raw superstars). It will start from 2003 and onto present day (as of this posting here in 2023). I will provide the links down below for the full brackets including the winners of their respective years. Enjoy:
2003: John Cena
2004: JBL
2005: Eddie Guerrero
2006*: Shelton Benjamin
2007: CM Punk
2009: The Miz
2011: R-Truth
2012: Dolph Ziggler
2013: Daniel Bryan
2014: Seth Rollins
2016: AJ Styles
2017: Samoa Joe
2018: Bobby Lashley
2020: Cesaro
2022: Finn Balor
2023: Dominik Mysterio
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