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The King of the Ring tournament has made many a star in WWE, with the winners often going on to bigger and better things. Perhaps the most prominent example of this is Stone Cold Steve Austin's King of the Ring win in 1996 which truly catapulted him to superstardom.
The winners are often well-remembered, and have their names added to quite a lucrative list of Superstars. Sadly, the runners-up are often forgotten, even though they were just one more win away from being winners themselves.
In fact, there are several instances throughout WWE history where you could argue that the wrong person won the King of the Ring tournament and that WWE should have gone with the runners up instead.
Here are five instances where I believe that WWE made a mistake with their King of the Ring winners and that the runner ups should have won instead.
#5. Chad Gable should have won King of the Ring 2019, not Baron Corbin
The feud between Chad Gable and Baron Corbin looked like it was intended to get Chad Gable over as a mid-card, if not top, babyface. Especially since Corbin already had plenty of main event level storylines and moments, like the time he was RAW General Manager.
We move forward then to the 2019 King of the Ring tournament that was centered around these two men. Baron Corbin as the slimy heel and Chad Gable as the extremely talented underdog building momentum and popularity. So what does WWE do? In true WWE fashion they have the bad guy defeating the plucky underdog.
This wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world if they had handled the rest of the storyline well. But they would go on to have the newly crowned King Corbin humiliate Chad Gable on a regular basis which eventually led to the now infamous name change for Gable to Shorty G.
Chad Gable was winning people over with his fantastic in-ring ability, his underdog aura and his likability. WWE all but buried it when they had Baron Corbin and not Gable win the 2019 King of the Ring tournament.
#4. John Morrison and not Sheamus should have won the King of the Ring tournament in 2010
You may start noticing a trend in these entries because WWE seems to have a thing for putting the bigger, meaner, bully-like bad guy over the brave, underdog hero in King of the Ring tournaments. 2010 was certainly no exception.
Sheamus was acting like a bully and John Morrison was the one to confront him. Eventually, the babyface Morrison would find himself facing Sheamus in the finals of the King of the Ring and to make matters worse, Sheamus had received a bye so had wrestled one less match than him.
The classic underdog overcoming the insurmountable odds story was right there but Sheamus ended up winning. To make matters worse, WWE would then put Sheamus on a losing streak, utterly demolishing any shine Sheamus may have gotten from winning the tournament.
Even though Morrison would eventually get revenge against Sheamus, the damage had already been done. Morrison wasn't able to make the transition from mid-card to main event and Sheamus started plummeting from main event status to mid-card. So ultimately nobody benefitted from that decision, which is why Morrison should've won.
#3. CM Punk should've won the King of the Ring tournament in 2008 instead of William Regal
This one's difficult to say because had William Regal not been suspended from WWE after winning the King of the Ring tournament in 2008 he likely would've gone on to have a memorable run as King Regal. Had this happened, we might've all been saying what a great decision it was.
In hindsight, though, WWE's decision to have William Regal defeat a white-hot CM Punk in the finals of the King of the Ring would prove to be a wasted opportunity. Regal's suspension rendered the entire tournament, and CM Punk's first ever submission loss in WWE, pointless.
Plus, it's yet another example of WWE having the heel win the tournament rather than the babyface who has had a much harder run to the finals.
Regal's matches were against Hornswoggle and Finlay and he used underhanded tactics to get there. Whereas Punk had to overcome Chris Jericho and Jeff Hardy to make it to the finals.
Had CM Punk won that tournament, he would've been in a stronger position as a top babyface on RAW to feud with William Regal as the heel Raw General Manager. It also might've helped Punk reach new heights. Although we may never have gotten the infamous Pipebomb promo if things had been different.
#2. Neville should never have lost to Bad News Barrett in 2015's King of the Ring Tournament
In the battle of the Brits, Bad News Barrett became King of the Ring after triumphing over the smaller, high-flying babyface Neville. It was a story you've seen before in this article three times already. But Neville should have won.
Firstly, Neville should have won King of the Ring because it would have preserved Wade Barrett's Bad News Barrett character. He was starting to gain some traction with the WWE audience. I'd wager that Barrett's post-Nexus WWE career would've been much better had he not been forced to drop the Bad News Barrett to become King Barrett after winning the tournament.
Then there's the fact that Neville had just overcome Luke Harper and Sheamus to make it to the final and the crowd were firmly behind him, chanting 'Neville' throughout the match and cheering his near-falls. The place would've erupted had he won the match and perhaps Neville would've become a main event player in the company.
Instead, Neville remained firmly in the mid-card and Wade Barrett ended up leaving the company because he hated the creative direction of his character. So once again, the 2015 King of the Ring tournament achieved nothing.
#1. The Rock should have beaten Ken Shamrock to win the King of the Ring tournament in 1998
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is someone who unbelievably never won a King of the Ring tournament in his storied WWE career. While he still could as rumors of a return loom, it's extremely unlikely.
However, The Brahma Bull absolutely should have won the 1998 King of the Ring tournament which he lost in the finals to Ken Shamrock. At the time, The Rock was the fastest rising star in the company but WWE clearly wanted to have their cake and eat it with Shamrock winning.
However, Shamrock's reign as King of the Ring winner ultimately amounted to nothing, whereas The Rock would go on to become WWE Champion at Survivor Series later that year.
If the plan was always to crown Rock as the top star in the company, I don't understand why you wouldn't also have him win the King of the Ring tournament to help to elevate him to that position and legitimize him when he gets there.
