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The King of the Ring tournament is one of WWE's most historical concepts. Some famous winners include Randy Savage, Stone Cold Steve Austin.
There was a time when the King of the Ring winner received a shot at the WWE Championship. For instance, Brock Lesnar became King of the Ring in 2002 and defeated The Rock for the WWE title at SummerSlam the same year.
Although King of the Ring winners have often gone on to become future world champions, not everyone wins the big one afterwards. Here are five WWE King of the Ring winners who never won a world title.
#5. WWE King of the Ring winner Mabel
The WWE Universe negatively reacted to Mabel winning the King of the Ring tournament. Fans were hoping for one of their favorite stars to win, such as The Undertaker or Shawn Michaels.
Mabel received a massive boost in his character in the main event of that year's SummerSlam as he came up short against Diesel for the WWE Championship.
Mabel was also a former WWE Tag Team Champion and Hardcore Champion but was never a world champion.
Mabel also had character changes down the road, such as Viscera, a former member of the heel faction The Ministry of Darkness. Viscera also played a sexual character who had feelings for former RAW ring announcer Lillian Garcia.
The last change of character occurred when Viscera became Big Daddy V, where his manager, Matt Striker, pronounced him the most dominant WWE force.
#4. WWE King of the Ring winner Ken Shamrock
When Ken Shamrock made his debut in WWE at WrestleMania 13, the WWE Universe saw a lot of potential in him.
In the first half of 1998, Shamrock was a babyface in a rivalry with The Nation's leader, The Rock, for the Intercontinental Championship. Although Shamrock failed to win the title, he gained the upper hand at the 1998 King of the Ring. That night, Shamrock defeated The Rock to become that year's winner.
In addition to being a King of the Ring winner, Ken Shamrock won the Intercontinental and the Tag Team Championship later in his career, but never managed to claim a world title.
Shamrock received a push in late '98 when he became part of The Corporation led by Mr. McMahon, where he would feud with The Undertaker.
As Shamrock faded away from The Corporation and The Union, he would partake in his final feuds, which included fellow martial artist Steve Blackman and a rising Chris Jericho, who had just left WCW at the time and was making his start in the WWE.
#3. WWE King of the Ring winner Billy Gunn
Billy Gunn is another King of the Ring winner who would never win a World Championship during his career. But he's also one of the more surprising names to ever win the tournamentt.
Gunn surprised wrestling fans by winning the King of the Ring tournament in 1999. The legendary D-Generation X member would go on to face The Rock at that year's SummerSlam.
Gunn's match with The Rock was unfortunately the breaking point of his push as a main event star and the end of WWE's attempt to propel someone else into the main event spotlight. Afterward, Gunn very quickly reverted to mid-card status.
After winning the King of the Ring tournament it looked like Gunn was on his way to maybe becoming main event caliber, but instead, he reunited with fellow DX member Road Dogg to become Tag Team Champion once again and he mostly remained on that level for the rest of his WWE career.
#2. WWE King of the Ring winner Owen Hart
Owen Hart, a legendary member of WWE's popular stable The Hart Foundation, has also been a King of the Ring winner.
Besides winning the 1994 King of the Ring, Owen had so many accomplishments during his career in the WWE. Owen was a two-time Intercontinental Champion and a four-time Tag Team Champion with three different partners, including Yokozuna, The British Bulldog, and Jeff Jarrett.
One of Owen's most significant wins was at WrestleMania 10, where he defeated Bret in the opening bout. When Owen became King of the Ring, Owen took the moniker of 'King' to a whole other level when he coined himself "The King of Harts."
Owen would feud with his brother Bret Hart during that period while pursuing the WWE Championship, which he failed to claim. Although Owen never won the WWE Championship, he will always be considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers in history.
#1. WWE King of the Ring winner William Regal
2008 King of the Ring winner William Regal is undoubtedly one of the most underrated and incredibly talented technical wrestlers WWE has ever had.
Regal has wrestled all around the world, hoping to one day be World Champion. When Regal joined the WWE, he gained notoriety for his aggression, both as an authority figure and as a wrestler. Regal would always use his secret weapon, the brass knuckles, to help him pick up a victory.
Despite his regular heel tactics, Regal was still one of the most proficient wrestlers in the ring and extremely decorated as a result. Even though he never became WWE Champion. Regal is a former Intercontinental Champion, Tag Team Champion, and King of the Ring winner.
In the 2008 King of the Ring tournament, Regal shocked the WWE Universe by defeating fan favorite CM Punk, in which Punk would submit to Regal's submission move, "Regal Stretch."
At the time, William Regal was RAW General Manager and had become drunk with power, he even once infamously shut RAW off air early. He used his position to win the King Of The Ring and apparently there were plans for him to go on and become world champion, but they were cut short by outside factors.
To this day, Regal is still in the WWE in a non-wrestling role as he is currently the General Manager of one of WWE's top brands, NXT.
