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This year's King of the Ring tournament is going full throttle, with a tremendously high quality of wrestling. This just illustrates the insane amount of talent within the WWE roster, alongside the other major storylines currently ongoing as we head into Clash of Champions. A barrage of previously underutilized Superstars has finally been given a platform to shine, proving that they are capable of filling the higher spots on the card.
However, the tournament has not been a straightforward affair at all. Lots of tournament favorites were eliminated in the first round, including the likes of Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre, and Buddy Murphy. The quarter-finals were equally surprising, further busting the bracket. We saw a double pinfall between Samoa Joe and Ricochet on Raw and two unexpected upsets on SmackDown Live, making this possibly the most unpredictable King of the Ring tournament of all time.
Five competitors remain in the tournament, with Raw's semi-final being a triple threat, and here are the chances of each of them ranked from least to most likely.
#5 Elias
Elias has been SmackDown's party spoiler during the King of the Ring tournament, beating two fan favorites in Kevin Owens and Ali. His first-round victory over Owens was all thanks to Shane McMahon, but this week's quarter-final with the former 205 Live Superstar was pretty great. It may even go down as the best match that Elias has had in WWE. His victory was particularly surprising since Ali defeated Buddy Murphy in the first round.
WWE's resident guitarist is out to prove the critics wrong and with a semi-final match against Chad Gable on the horizon, it's anybody's semi-final to win. However, his story might not be the one that WWE decides to tell and his heat-seeking counterpart from Raw would honestly be more favored if they do go in this direction. Also, expect some vengeance from KO after his controversial defeat two weeks ago.
#4 Samoa Joe
It seems like the only reason that Samoa Joe and Ricochet both advanced to the King of the Ring semi-finals was so that Joe would not be decisively pinned again. He has suffered multiple clean defeats recently, including against Ricochet himself at the WWE Stomping Grounds pay-per-view. This is likely a way to eliminate the former United States Champion while protecting him at the same time. This is pretty smart from WWE, an innovative way to avoid having Joe suffer another potentially damaging loss.
He will face Ricochet and Baron Corbin at Madison Square Garden on next week's Raw to see who will advance to the final, with both of his opponents being hot favorites to win the entire thing. Both Ricochet and Corbin would be better off eating a pin than Samoa Joe, making him a possible third wheel in this match. This is not such a bad thing for Joe, whose last major storyline involvement was teasing a face turn after getting medical help for Roman Reigns.
Whether or not good guy Joe does come to light, this does not seem like his tournament to win. However, at the end of the day, it must be said that he would make for a phenomenal King of the Ring.
#3 Baron Corbin
Contrary to what the "smart" internet fans think, Baron Corbin is actually very good in his role as the universally hated troll who crushes the hopes and dreams of the WWE Universe. It was hard to see that when he was the focal point of Raw and main eventing pay-per-views, but WWE has finally found the perfect position on the card for him. Corbin is one of the best villains that are currently on the main roster and is perfect in his current upper mid-card role.
The dread that the fans possess of him winning the entire King of the Ring tournament is incredible to see and after wins against The Miz and Cedric Alexander, he is one step closer to nuclear heat. Corbin has an extremely unpredictable semi-final to get through now. The SmackDown semi-final is slightly more clear now and a Baron Corbin victory on Raw would pose an incredibly dynamic for the Clash of Champions PPV. However, he did sit on the throne and wear the crown.
By WWE's logic, doing something like this guarantees that Corbin will not emerge victorious as the King. Rejoice, WWE Universe. Or should you?
#2 Chad Gable
If anybody would have told you two weeks ago, that the King of the Ring semi-final on the SmackDown side would be contested between Elias and Chad Gable, you would have laughed it off and proceeded to speculate over the likes of Andrade or Buddy Murphy. But here we are, three episodes and multiple shockers later, 'Shorty' is standing tall. After defeating former tag team partner Shelton Benjamin last week, Gable stunned everybody by eliminating hot favorite, Andrade from the tournament.
He had hardly been on WWE TV since moving over to the blue brand during the Superstar Shakeup and even had a couple of bangers on 205 Live. However, it looks like WWE has finally realized the massive potential that Chad Gable has. The former Olympian has impressed massively during the tournament and he should be able to defeat Elias at Madison Square Garden next week to rise even further above the height jokes he was subjected to. Gable also possesses the qualities that made Kurt Angle one of the greatest of all time.
And like the Olympic gold medalist, he also could begin his ascent by becoming the King of the Ring.
#1 Ricochet
Out of the top four or five picks to win the King of the Ring tournament beforehand, Ricochet is the only one still in the tournament. He was reportedly in line for a big push under Paul Heyman and after a huge victory over Drew McIntyre in the first round, looks set to conquer the rest of the tournament. Of course, he and Samoa Joe pinned each other on Raw, but that seemed more of a plan to protect Joe. Ricochet will face him and Baron Corbin in a triple threat semi-final match next week.
Realistically, it will boil down to Ricochet and Corbin for the primed final spot. While Corbin vs Chad Gable would make for a very interesting final, one shouldn't look past the One and Only to emerge victoriously. The Lone Wolf's crown-wearing shenanigans will come back to bite him, possibly giving us a potential classic at Clash of Champions between Ricochet and Gable. But after all is said and done, the pre-tournament favorite will prevail among the chaos.
If there is one thing that WWE should learn from the 2019 King of the Ring tournament, it is that they are just a few opportunities away from creating multiple new stars. And over the past month, there have been some.
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