5 WWE Superstars whose careers failed to take off despite being crowned King of the Ring
The prestigious King of The Ring tournament has returned for the first time in four years, and will run on WWE RAW and SmackDown over the next month, with the tournament likely to culminate at Clash of Champions.
The tournament was held annually from 1985 to 2002, bar 1990 and 1992. Even as far back as the first tournament in 1985, it has always seemed like the tournament was to be used to help create new stars. We have seen many Superstars rise to stardom following being crowned king, including Bret Hart, Randy Savage, Steve Austin, Triple H, Kurt Angle, and Brock Lesnar, to name a few.
We have also seen the once prestigious tournament help reinvent careers, such as Booker T becoming King Booker in 2006. However, not everyone have been this lucky. We have seen Superstars win the tournament and be crowned king, only to fall to that level of a jester. I am not necessarily saying that any of these Superstars had bad careers following their win, but they certainly didn't rise to that main event level that WWE had planned on them being.
Whether it be applying the king gimmick to the wrong Superstar, or just WWE losing interest in pushing them, here are the 5 WWE Superstars whose careers failed to take off despite being crowned King of the Ring.
#5 William Regal - 2008
William Regal had been a seemingly pretty unusual choice for the King of the Ring at the time.
Although a former WWE Intercontinental Champion, European Champion, and Tag Team Champion, he had also been serving as the General Manager of WWE RAW at the time. Despite this, he entered the return tournament in 2008 and defeated the then favorite/expected winner in the final, CM Punk.
There had been some rumors shortly thereafter that Regal was to be an evil King GM who put everything in his favor as an active performer and maybe even become the World Heavyweight Champion. However, everything was scrapped when Regal failed a wellness violation the following month, and was removed from television. Following his return, he was no longer referred to as the King of the Ring.
William Regal didn't have the worst career following his royal victory. In fact, he defeated Santino Marella for the WWE Intercontinental Championship just a few months after his suspension. After losing it, he would join the WWE ECW roster and feud with Christian over the ECW Championship, but was unsuccessful in his pursuit. Regal wrestled sporadically from 2010-2013 before he retired. Today, he is a Director of Talent Development and Head of Global Recruiting for WWE and still appears on TV as General Manager of NXT.