411’s WWE King of The Ring Countdown Report

-King of The Ring returns starting this Friday and this special aired on FOX this weekend to get us hyped for this year’s tournament. Would it kill them to release a bracket? I mean someone there has to know everyone loves brackets. Just look at March Madness!  Peacock has this show uploaded now, and I love me some countdown shows, so let’s get to it!

-Opening video package is full of all kinds of nostalgia which is always great.  Judging by the highlights they are counting the winners before the concept became a PPV in 1993.  Cool!  

-Corey Graves is our narrator and mentions the first King was Don Muraco and this is a countdown of the 10 Greatest Kings of All Time!  

10. Baron Corbin
-Well, that’s one way to start this one off as Corbin won the crown in 2019.  To his credit he ran with the gimmick and had like a Game of Thrones vibe going.  The best part of his reign was losing it to Nakamura and Corbin’s fall.  Great video package of Corbin’s life falling apart.  “Didn’t you wear the same shirt last week?”  Corbin begging Cena for money!  Bum Corbin is awesome!  Then Corbin hit it big in Vegas and now we have Happy Corbin.  I look forward to him losing it again as this is showing he hasn’t learned his lesson.

9. “Macho Man” Randy Savage
-OH YEAH!  PUT HIM HIGHER, but then again, Savage is my 2nd favorite wrestler of all time.  Graves tells us Savage was the 3rd ever King of The Ring. Funny that he won it in 1987, but didn’t start using the gimmick until after his WWF Title reign ended in 1989. Savage on Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous, Regis and Kathy Lee, Arsenio Hall!  Macho King wrestling buddy!  SLIM JIM COMMERCIALS!  This just brings a smile to my face.  Savage was finally inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015.  How can you not love this man?  Also props to Sherri for matching his intensity and craziness in her role as Queen Sherri.  

-Commercials!  

-Video package on Harley Race as he was the first King of The Ring winner to wear a crown and run with it as a gimmick.  

8. Sheamus
-Sheamus would probably feel weird being ranked above Savage.  I remember rumors winning the crown was a punishment for Sheamus as he had to wear the crown and carry around the scepter, but you know how it is with wrestling rumors.  Sheamus won the Crown in 2010 just after his initial run as WWE Champion that put him on the map, but they didn’t really do much with him.  From there Sheamus won The Royal Rumble and then beat Daniel Bryan in 18 seconds at WrestleMania.  They show Sheamus getting involved in movies and putting Mark Cuban through a table.  He also had the run in with Beaker when The Muppets hosted RAW.  That was great!  Sheamus low key has had a great run and continues to put on BANGERS today with the young guys.  

7. Kurt Angle
-Kurt won the crown in 2000 in one of the most loaded fields ever and yet, they kind of botched it with short matches and weird booking choices.  As a Western PA guy, it is also my duty to put over Kurt Angle and mention he is a proud grad of Mt Lebanon High School and Clarion University.  Angle was a different type of animal as he became one of the best ever and top guy in the WWE within a year.  He was a bad ass in the ring and had no problem making fun of himself out of the ring.  SEXY KURT!  PAIRING WITH AUSTIN!  Kurt used KOR as a launching point to beating Rock for The WWE Title.  Kurt found his spot in the Hall of Fame and celebrated with milk.  Orton and Cena put over Angle as a once in a generation talent and something special.  No kidding! 

-Commercials!

-Graves with the trivia as apparently Savage and Angle are the only two to win the crown and finish runner up.  Now I am sad we missed out on Angle vs Savage in 2001-02.  

6. Edge
-Way too high as Edge didn’t even get a crown and was given a trophy that was completely forgotten about.  Most people probably forget he even won The Tournament.  For those who did it was in 2001 and one of the few times the title went to a fan favorite.  You want to call Edge the greatest Money of the Bank winner ever? That’s fine, but I would put the other 4 guys on this list above him.  Now Edge is still awesome and his return at The Rumble (shown here) is still great as is the fan response.  Aw, I remember those days pre-Covid!  

-Edge is one of 10 Kings to also win The WWE Championship! Savage, Edge, Bret, HHH, Austin, Sheamus, Brock, Angle, and who am I missing? Booker won the World Title, so if you want to count that, it makes 9. Unless Bret winning it twice makes 10. I assume I am forgetting someone.

5. Brock Lesnar
-Again, another weird one as King of The Ring was just a stepping stone for Brock and obviously he wasn’t going to be wearing that crown and cape.  Now, he was a better winner than Edge as he was the young guy they were pushing to the moon and within months of his debut he captured KOR and then beat Rock for the WWE Championship.  Paul Heyman says it best as he mentions he knew Brock would be the next big thing the first time he laid eyes on him.  Hey, they throw in his MMA career and Dana White is here as a talking head.  He calls what Brock did winning the UFC Title impossible to do and yet, he did it.  Brock then returns to WWE and sadly they don’t show him kicking Cena’s hat.  Batista calls him Ivan Drago and of course we see Brock breaking The Streak.  Still jaw dropping and I often like to go back and find reactions from fans on YouTube.  WOO BEAT BOX BROCK WITH THE MONEY IN THE BANK BRIEFCASE! 

-Commercials!  

-Twelve Kings have been enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame! That is correct!

4. Triple H
-Well, I mean he has the moniker, King of Kings. They don’t touch on the fact HHH was set to win King of the Ring 96 before the Curtain Kill killed that. It was delayed a year, but HHH finally got his crown in 1997. This one is weird as the video package spends more time on his movie career and the mid life crisis DX. Steph calls HHH the baddest bad guy and coolest good guy. Rock, Taker and Batista all put him over with Batista comparing him to Michael Jordan.

3. Bret “Hitman” Hart
-The only two time winner and the winner of the first PPV edition of the Tournament. Bret being ranked a spot ahead of HHH is kind of funny knowing their history. Bret has apparently held 32 championships and is a 5 Time WWF Champion. They show the Bret/little kid commercial that was seared in my brain as a kid. Roman Reigns lets us know that he was a Bret Hart guy. BRET ON THE SIMPSONS! They enjoy showing off movie and TV appearances on this countdown. Austin calls him one of the greatest story tellers of all time.

-This Friday King of The Ring is back and for the first time, The Queen’s Crown!

2. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
-Yep, this is going to to be all about his famous Austin 3:16 promo. Again, great, famous promo, but the man was either left off PPVs, working dark match, or opening match until his run with Bret started 5 months later. It’s still a fun promo to hear, but Michael Hayes feeds the line that the promo immediately made Stone Cold the man. Again, took nearly 2 years before they even put the WWF Title on him. He was also the first KOR winner in the PPV era to not wear the crown which makes sense as that would have killed any bad ass appeal he had. Austin on Celebrity Death Match and making the rounds on the various talk shows. They show him giving Woods the Stunner at Mania which probably makes Woods happy to see that included. How different would things be though if HHH doesn’t get punished for The Curtain Call and wins KOR 96? I still think Austin happens as it seems Bret wanted the feud with him.

-Recap of the countdown! They point out there will be controversy and mention no Regal or Barrett on the list.

1. King Booker
-I mean really, who else? Nobody ever ran with the gimmick like Booker and it set him up for the World Title push he deserved. Queen Sharmell was also great and only added to the act. That accent from Booker is just something else. I mean, Booker got so over with the role they finally put a World Championship on him and it was the perfect time. THE PINKY FINGER! ALL HAIL KING BOOKER! I forgot all about Cena being forced to kiss Booker’s feet. They make sure to include the times Booker would get flustered and go back to his Houston roots. Booker wanted to make the role memorable and wanted people to think of him when they hear “King of The Ring.”

-Graves wraps things up and we get a final plug for the start of this year’s tournament on Friday.

-This was fine and really the glaring omission was Owen Hart, but I am assuming they just opted not to include him to avoid opening up any can of worms. Owen should and would easily be Top 5 and probably Top 3 just behind Booker as he also took the gimmick and ran with it. I would add Owen and take out Edge if this was my Top 10 list and a case can be made for Regal to be included, but again do you go by what they did after winning the crown or what they did to make being King memorable. After Brock and Booker’s push, the gimmick went away and only came back as a way to heat up a midcard heel or give life to a veteran stuck in the middle of the card. Booker may be the only one to win the a World while still in their reign as King of The Ring. I guess, Bret would have been towards the tail end of his reign when he won at Mania X. I think we can all agree that Billy Gunn was the worst and Rock’s promo talking to God killed that push dead. I mean, even Mabel got a PPV Main Event Title match out of his run. Shamrock didn’t do much with his win either though like Edge, it never really works for babyfaces. Nakamura is seemingly the exception, but again, fits him and he is embracing the role. He also didn’t win the tournament like everyone else on this list. No matter as this was just a fluff piece to remind everyone of the good times and hype up this year’s tournament. Thanks for reading!