Thursday Morning Backlash: Sheamus’ Place in WWE King of the Ring History

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Jake Ziegler’s Thursday:

Officially the King of the Ring began in 1985, but since the tournament wasn’t on TV or pay-per-view until 1993 and wasn’t really made a big deal out of until then, I thought that this week I would take a look back at previous reigns and see how new King Sheamus stacks up.

Bret Hart won the first tournament in 1993, defeating Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect, and Bam Bam Bigelow on his way to the crown. Bret had already been a two-time World Tag Team Champion, two-time Intercontinental Champion, the 1991 King of the Ring, and the WWE Champion. After winning the crown he went on to a semi-main event feud with Jerry Lawler (that didn’t get to reach conclusion due to Lawler’s legal problems), and then went on to win the WWE Title a second time (from Yokozuna) and have great matches with his brother Owen and Diesel, among others.

Speaking of Owen Hart, he became the new King in 1994 after going through Tatanka, the 1-2-3 Kid, and Razor Ramon. While he couldn’t quite equal the success of his older brother, he did feud with him over the WWE Title, and later on would win the World Tag Team Titles with his partner Yokozuna.

The following year remains rather infamous, due to the introduction of the phrase “King Mabel.” The rotund Man on a Mission beat Undertaker, got a bye in the semifinals, and then squeaked out a victory over Savio Vega. This was back in the day where the winner got an automatic title shot, which Mabel secured for SummerSlam, one of the biggest shows of the year. He fell to Diesel, and then moved on to a brief feud with the Undertaker before disappearing altogether.

Austin 3:16 began in 1996, after Austin beat Marc Mero and Jake Roberts to capture the crown. This would turn out to be the most historic King of the Ring tournament, as Austin would go on to feud with Bret Hart, win the Royal Rumble, and get a couple of shots at the WWE Title along the way. Not long after his reign as King was over, Austin became the most successful superstar of all time.

The next year was another big one, as Triple H got his overdue push by defeating Ahmed Johnson and Mankind. The feud with mankind would carry on into the fall and spawn the debut of Cactus Jack. Soon after that Triple H joined up with real life buddy Shawn Michaels to form D-Generation X, and the rest is history.

Ken Shamrock joined the ranks in 1998 with victories over Jeff Jarrett and The Rock, whom he had been feuding with previously. Shamrock was quite over at this point, and would go on to win the Intercontinental Title and the World Tag Team Title with the Big Boss Man, as part of Vince McMahon’s Corporation stable. He also feuded with the Undertaker and fought him in the semi-main event of Backlash ‘99.

The new millennium ushered in Kurt Angle as the new King. Angle defeated Chris Jericho, Crash Holly, and Rikishi. The Olympic Gold Medalist followed up with a super hot feud with Triple H over Stephanie McMahon (with a sadly underwhelming ending), and then transitioned into a feud with The Rock, winning the WWE Title from him at No Mercy ‘00. He made successful defenses against the Undertaker, Stone Cold, Triple H, and others before dropping the title back to the Rock at No Way Out ‘01. He then moved on to have great pay-per-view matches with Chris Benoit and Shane McMahon.

The aforementioned match with Shane McMahon took place at King of the Ring ‘01, where Angle made it all the way to the finals for the second straight year, only to lose to Edge, who had defeated Rhino earlier in the night. Edge became a much bigger star after his win, capturing the Intercontinental Title three times (from Lance Storm, Christian, and Test) before dropping it to William Regal. He was drafted to Smackdown in the inaugural draft and become one of the vaunted “Smackdown Six.”

The final King of the Ring on pay-per-view would be Brock Lesnar. The Next Big Thing beat Test and Rob Van Dam, and two months later used his title shot to dethrone The Rock at SummerSlam. Lesnar was massively pushed at this point, earning a victory over Undertaker in an impressive Hell in a Cell match at No Mercy ‘02 before dropping the belt to Big Show at the Survivor Series. He recovered by winning the Royal Rumble, and then recapturing the gold from Kurt Angle at WrestleMania XIX.

The King of the Ring took a four-year hiatus, returning to Smackdown in 2006. Booker T beat Matt Hardy on April 21 and snuck by Kurt Angle in the semifinals via forfeit on May 12. Meanwhile Bobby Lashley beat Mark Henry on April 28 and beat Finlay on May 12 to get to the finals. Booker then went on to defeat Lashley at Judgment Day, and the King Booker gimmick was born. Booker captured the World Heavyweight Championship from Rey Mysterio two months later at The Great American Bash, and defended it against Lashley, Finlay, and others before dropping it to Batista at the Survivor Series. He had other non-factor feuds with Kane and Triple H before leaving WWE to go to TNA.

Monday Night Raw hosted the tournament for the first time in 2008. William Regal shone on this night, defeating Hornswoggle and Finlay in the opening rounds before toppling CM Punk in the finals. He had a brief feud with Mr. Kennedy, losing a loser gets fired match to him, which was a way to get him off TV due to a Wellness violation. He came back and took on Layla as a manager, and defeated Santino Marella in Manchester, England to win his second Intercontinental Title. He would lost the title to CM Punk, and a few months later was drafted to ECW, where he started the Ruthless Roundtable with Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson.

King Sheamus is already a two-time WWE Champion, and right now it seems likely that his feud with John Morrison (whom he defeated in the finals) will continue. How will Sheamus compare to other Kings? His prior resume was already amongst the strongest of the group, and it’s likely that his star will continue to shine on Monday Night Raw.

Glazer is a former senior editor at Pulse Wrestling and editor and reviewer at The Comics Nexus.