WWE King of The Ring is a single elimination tournament hosted by WWE. The King of the Ring tournament was first held in 1985 and was an annual WWE tournament till 2002, with the exception of 1990 and 1992. From 1993 to 2002, the KOTR tournament was produced as a pay-per-view event. However, in 2003, the KOTR PPV slot was replaced by the newly inaugurated Bad Blood.
After a four-year hiatus, the KOTR tournament made its return in 2006 as an exclusive event of the SmackDown brand. The tournament eventually made its return as an inter-brand event for both WWE brands, that is, RAW and SmackDown in 2008, 2010, and 2015.
King of the Ring was considered as one of WWE's "Big Five" PPV events (The others being Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series). Among these five pay-per-views, the King of the Ring is also the only pay-per-view among the big five never to be hosted at least once at the iconic Madison Square Garden.
| Year | Winner | Times won | Runner-up |
| 1985 | Don Muraco | 1 | The Iron Sheik |
| 1986 | Harley Race | 1 | Pedro Morales |
| 1987 | Randy Savage | 1 | King Kong Bundy |
| 1988 | Ted DiBiase | 1 | Randy Savage |
| 1989 | Tito Santana | 1 | Rick Martel |
| 1991 | Bret Hart | 1 | Irwin R. Schyster |
| 1993 | Bret Hart | 2 | Bam Bam Bigelow |
| 1994 | Owen Hart | 1 | Razor Ramon |
| 1995 | Mabel | 1 | Savio Vega |
| 1996 | ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin | 1 | Jake Roberts |
| 1997 | Hunter Hearst Helmsley | 1 | Mankind |
| 1998 | Ken Shamrock | 1 | The Rock |
| 1999 | Billy Gunn | 1 | X-Pac |
| 2000 | Kurt Angle | 1 | Rikishi |
| 2001 | Edge | 1 | Kurt Angle |
| 2002 | Brock Lesnar | 1 | Rob Van Dam |
| 2006 | Booker T | 1 | Bobby Lashley |
| 2008 | William Regal | 1 | CM Punk |
| 2010 | Sheamus | 1 | John Morrison |
| 2015 | Bad News Barrett | 1 | Neville |
