WWE broke away from their yearly tradition of having a King of the Ring tournament after Brock Lesnar won the tournament in June of 2002. Since then, the King of the Ring tournament has only taken place three times — in 2006 with Booker T winning, in 2008 with William Regal winning, and in 2010 with Sheamus winning. Also, since Brock Lesnar won it in 2002, the tournament hasn’t meant much for the winner, and has only given them a temporary gimmick.
After a five-year hiatus, the King of the Ring tournament could be making a return at some point this year, as WWE.com writers are predicting that WWE will resurrect the tournament and have Cesaro emerge as the 2015 King of the Ring.
Many people, including WWE legend “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, feel that WWE has, up to this point, dropped the ball on Cesaro. In Vince McMahon’s opinion, Cesaro just “can’t connect” with WWE fans. In a promo on RAW several weeks ago, Cesaro addressed this and flubbed one of his lines, and due to the flubbed line, WWE believes that their assessment of Cesaro is true, and that he cannot connect with the audience no matter how many opportunities they give him.
Former WWE play-by-play announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross believes that Cesaro shouldn’t be a heel, and that he is perfectly suited to be a top babyface. Early last year, WWE teased a Cesaro babyface turn, but decided to have him join Paul Heyman and remain a heel.
Past winners of the King of the Ring tournament have typically been heels, or have turned heel after they have won. So, if WWE brings back the King of the Ring tournament and Cesaro wins it, history says that he will remain a heel until WWE decides to drop the “King Cesaro” gimmick.
There are people who believe that the King of the Ring tournament should have the same stipulation as the Royal Rumble match does. Everybody knows the winner of the Royal Rumble gets a WWE title shot at WrestleMania , and since WWE likes to think of SummerSlam as their second biggest pay-per-view of the year, the winner of the King of the Ring tournament would get a shot at the WWE championship at SummerSlam , like Brock Lesnar did in 2002, when he won the King of the Ring in June, and defeated The Rock for the WWE championship at SummerSlam in August.
If WWE resurrects the King of the Ring tournament and has Cesaro win it, then maybe Cesaro will finally get the push that many WWE fans feel he’s long overdue for.
[Image via WWE ]
