Defying expectations set by the kingless years of 2003, 2004 and 2005, this year brought forward the first King of the Ring in nearly half a decade. Though a new king emerged in 2006, the King of the Ring event itself was not brought back as this year’s winner, King Booker won the honor at 2006’s WWE Judgment Day.
This move by the WWE sets forth the question of just how stable the returning King of the Ring tournament will be. As 2006 draws to a close it remains unknown whether it will be the last year that the contest will occur or a year of rebirth. In order to determine the answer to this question several factors must be analyzed. These aspects include, how the 2006 tournament compares to past tournaments, how successful this year’s king was following his victory and ultimately how the King of the Ring can benefit the WWE overall.
As the WWE Brand Extension had just begun when the last King of the Ring event was held in 2002, the tournament had not had the opportunity to be made brand exclusive. By making the 2006 King of Ring exclusive to the Smackdown! brand, this contest was set apart from all past incarnations.
Being brand exclusive, the King of the Ring, only has two hours of television time each week for qualifying and tournament matches. This makes the contest have the ability to either increase or decrease in importance.
Looking at the situation optimistically, with only so much television time available, the King of the Ring would have to be the center of attention for the brand it appears on. Such was the case this year to a certain extent as Rey Mysterio’s reign as World Heavyweight Champion proved to be a far cry from impressive. If qualifying matches are reintroduced or if the tournament is increased in size from this year’s eight men to a larger number such as sixteen or thirty-two, more matches will mean more tournament television time. As a result more buildup can be given to the eventual victor in his quest to become king.
There is of course a flipside to this optimism. Being brand exclusive means that for the hours of programming being taken up by the other brands each week, little or more likely no mention will be made of the tournament. If the contest continues, WWE could counter this by making the series an inter-brand tournament, but this would undercut the concept of each show existing as a separate entity, possibly to previously unseen proportions. While John Cena participating in the main event of another brand’s pay-per-view is one thing, having wrestlers from one brand regularly compete on the television shows of other brands is a whole new ball game.
King Booker is all the proof needed to show that the concept of the King of the Ring can still work in the wrestling industry today. Like Owen Hart, another past winner of the tournament, Booker trumpeted his victory for all it was worth. Along with Queen Sharmell, William Regal and Fit Finlay, Booker entertainingly exaggerated his persona to a degree not seen since King Harley Race and the “Macho King” Randy Savage. This ultimately gave audiences one of the most credible heels of the year in mainstream American wrestling. Subsequently Booker had a decent four month reign as World Heavyweight Champion.
For all the effort Booker put into his character however, the accomplishment itself was a fragment of what was earned by past King of the Ring winners. After all, all Booker actually did on the day he won his throne was defeat another wrestler at the 2006 installment of WWE Judgment Day. The same can be said of Gregory Helms only he did not gloat over his victory for the rest of the year.
While this accomplishment being bragged about, despite not being all that impressive, may work for a heel, if the contest is to promote faces it will fall flat.
When Bret Hart was crowned at the first pay-per-view version of the King of the Ring in 1993, the crown, the scepter and the robe he was awarded all seemed somewhat tacky. The Attitude Era was still years away, but the then WWF was beginning to change. Instead of striking poses on his new throne, shortly after winning his seat, he was confronted and attacked by Jerry “The King” Lawler.
Though his coronation was interrupted, fans may have very well went home happy as the glamour of being king was only a part of what the event was about. A much bigger piece to the event at the time was the journey that a king needed to take to earn his crown. While audiences may have been robbed of some brief camera opportunities, they were not robbed of the three great matches Hart participated in that night. Included in these bouts was Hart’s second round encounter with Curt Hennig, which has since been labeled among both men’s best matches of their respective careers.
In order to truly have prestige, the match that earns the 2007 King of the Ring his thrown must be unique in some way rather than being a standard match. While having the bulk of the tournament in one night has proven to be successful in the past, this is not necessarily the only way to go. For instance the Money in the Bank matches held in 2005 and 2006, both offered wrestlers a similar reward, but were not gained by a tournament victory.
Ultimately what will decide if the King of the Ring will continue to be a presence in the WWE is how the tournament can benefit the WWE, specifically in financial terms. From the time that the King of the Ring was announced to the last show before WWE’s 2006 Judgment Day, the ratings of Smackdown! fluctuated from a 2.7 to a 1.9. The fact that the 1.9 was received just before the pay-per-view, which crowned a new King of the Ring, indicates that the contests overall was not all that beneficial to the WWE this year. Even the pay-per-view buyrate of 0.58, despite beating out other pay-per-view buyrates such as WWE No Way Out and WWE Backlash, was nothing to write home about.
That is not to say that future presentations of the contest could not be more successful. Past King of the Ring pay-per-view events with the lone exception of 1997 all drew higher buyrates than this year’s WWE Judgment Day. The highest buyrate the event ever garnered, which was in 2000, more than doubled that of the 2006 WWE Judgment Day event, gaining a buyrate of 1.19.
Unlike American wrestling, Japanese wrestling is much more dependent on tournaments. With such events as the G-1 Climax, New Japan Cup and Super J Cup either happening every year or every few years, these contests act as measurements of endurance and grant prestige to their victors. With the King of the Ring being the only regular tournament held in the WWE in recent history, it would be a shame to let the tournament die.
For instance in order to garner interests for the tournament new elements could be added to the King of the Ring, previously never before seen in the contest. For instance, while initially gaining successful ratings, the reformed ECW looks to be running out of steam. In order to kill two birds with one stone, an extreme King of the Ring may be the way to go. However as 2006’s ECW December to Dismember proved, simply adding the word extreme to a happening such as the elimination chamber is not always successful.
Another path that could be taken is to have the King of the Ring be an online exclusive tournament. In this way inter-brand matches could still occur while giving the appearance that the television shows of the different brands were still separate entitles. Additional the prospect of inter-brand matches could help lure viewers to take renewed interest in WWE’s online content. This idea is not without its share of flaws as appealing matches being shown online would take away from their ability to draw television ratings or pay-per-view buyrates. Furthermore many fans may not have Internet access so that the victor of this tournament may be more of the King of the Internet than the King of the Ring.
There are countless modifications that can be made to the tournament while keeping its core values alive. Confining the tournament to cruiserweights, featuring talent outside of the WWE or having strict time limits are just a few more ideas in addition to what has already been mentioned. Ultimately, fan interest may very well determine if King Booker is the first in a series of new kings or if the closest 2007 will see to a King of the Ring is Jerry Lawler.
Copyright © 2005; TheWrestlingVoice.com & Douglas Nunnally.
All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer & Privacy Statement
| What Did You Think About WWE Backlash 2008? |
|
|