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One of WWE SmackDown's more interesting storylines has been Baron Corbin's tussle with Shinsuke Nakamura over the King of the Ring crown that King Corbin has been wearing for some time now.
Nakamura, along with musical associate Rick Boogs, has been winding King Corbin up for weeks by stealing his crown. This has led to the last King of the Ring tournament winner stating that if someone wants the crown from him, he'd rather they win it fair and square.
This led to WWE onscreen official Adam Pearce hinting that he was going to host another King of the Ring tournament and other superstars, like Xavier Woods, indicating that they'd love to enter it.
More online rumors have stated that WWE is looking to bring back King of the Ring, along with Cyber Sunday, which means we could have a new King of the Ring winner to add to the illustrious list of previous winners.
So, with that in mind, let's take a look at five WWE Superstars you may have forgotten won the King of the Ring tournament.
#5. Billy Gunn won the King of the Ring tournament in 1999
Billy Gunn made his WWE pay-per-view debut at King of the Ring in 1993, back when WWE had a pay-per-view with the iconic tournament at its center and six years later he would win that tournament.
WWE were desperately in need of some more top stars so they decided to try and push the former member of D-Generation X and New Age Outlaw by having him win the King of the Ring tournament.
Gunn incredibly defeated Ken Shamrock and Kane to make it to the final of the tournament, where he had to defeat his former stablemate X-Pac and was successful in doing so.
Gunn wasn't able to capitalize on his King of the Ring run to sustain a main event run, but he did get a neat feud against The Rock heading into SummerSlam for his troubles.
#4. Sheamus won the King of the Ring tournament in 2010
The King of the Ring tournament used to be a fantastic way of building up a WWE Superstar to main even status, but in the case of Sheamus it was used as a joke and marked a several-month losing streak that humiliated the former WWE Champion, which is why you might not remember the reign of King Sheamus.
In fact, Sheamus winning King of the Ring was somewhat of a joke really, as he only wrestled two matches, beating Kofi Kingston and then John Morrison in the final, after receiving a bye.
Sheamus' run as King Sheamus saw the superstar plummet down the rankings in and it culminated in Triple H returning to Pedigree him through the announce table. Shortly after this Sheamus stopped being King Sheamus, announced that he was on a losing streak and challenged Daniel Bryan to a match for his United States title with the stipulation that he'd quit wrestling if he loses.
Thankfully, Sheamus was able to win that match and slowly rebuild his momentum towards the Royal Rumble, which he'd win. But he really shouldn't have needed to do so, given that WWE could have easily not booked him so badly during his reign as King Sheamus.
#3. Wade Barrett won the King of the Ring tournament in 2015
Sometimes the King of the Ring can be more of a detriment than anything, especially with recent winners. Remember when Wade Barrett had to transition from being the leader of the widely popular Nexus to the not-so-popular Corre and eventually found a hit with the Bad News Barrett gimmick, only for WWE to stifle his popularity growth by giving him a hammy King Barrett character instead.
Winning the King of the Ring is supposed to be a boost, but for Wade Barrett it removed a character that the fans loved and replaced it with one they... didn't, and that ended up harming him.
As King Barrett, he'd feud with R-Truth, who dubbed himself 'King What's Up' formed a weird partnership with Stardust called The Lords Of Darkness and lost to Neville and actor Stephen Amell.
This run was so unmemorable and bad that ultimately Barrett would go on to leave the company in the same year and has since been reported to have said 'I f***ing hate it here." to officials in WWE at the time.
#2. William Regal won the King of the Ring tournament in 2008
In 2008, William Regal shocked the WWE Universe by achieving the title "King of the Ring." Before he was the NXT General Manager William Regal was the RAW General Manager, but he was still actively competing in the ring. WWE had big plans for Regal and to start a 'power-hungry' RAW General Manager storyline, WWE had him win the King of the Ring tournament.
William Regal defeated Hornswoggle, Finlay and CM Punk to become King of the Ring in a special three-hour RAW. He defeated all three men via submission and was the first person in WWE to beat Punk via submission as well.
Regal's reign as King of the Ring was supposed to be a big storyline that would lead to him becoming World Champion. However, real-life issues led to Regal getting his second drug testing violation and he was suspended from the company.
William Regal absolutely should have had a better King of the Ring run, but it was cut short before it could really get going. That's why it isn't the most memorable King of the Ring reign.
#1. Ken Shamrock won the King of the Ring tournament in 1998
Ken Shamrock beat The Rock to win the King of the Ring tournament in 1998, but no one ever really thinks of that when they hear the name 'Ken Shamrock' which is a shame.
As well as beating The Rock, Shamrock defeated two more Nation of Domination members in Mark Henry and Kama, as well as Jeff Jarrett, to win the tournament. However, Shamrock didn't then start calling himself 'King Shamrock'.
Shamrock didn't really go on to achieve much as the reigning King of the Ring winner other than feuding with another former winner who was still calling themselves king, King Mabel.
Eventually, Shamrock just stopped being the reigning King of the Ring altogether and the title was officially dead when he joined Vince McMahon's new heel stable, The Corporation.
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