Last 5 King of the Ring winners and where they are now
Once considered one of the highest honours for WWE Superstars, the King of the Ring has returned, for the first time since 2015.
The 16-man, one-on-one single-elimination tournament made the careers of several huge Superstars like Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, and Brock Lesnar.
Samoa Joe, Cedric Alexander, Elias and Andrade have already progressed to the next round of this year's tournament, after winning their respective matches on RAW and SmackDown Live. There are several favourites to win the tournament this time, but we should gear ourselves up for a surprise winner at Clash of Champions on September 15 as well.
Over the years, several major Superstars have donned the crown and robe of the King. We look at the last five winners, and where they are now.
#1 Bad News Barrett (2015)
In an all-English final, Bad News Barrett from Preston beat Neville from Newcastle to claim the title of King Of The Ring.
This iteration of the tournament was held over two nights, with the finals being a WWE Network special only, which reduced some of the viewership. Nevertheless, Barrett's way to the top was very impressive and was well paved by WWE. The final against Neville was a great contest, with the match ending when Neville missed the Red Arrow and Barret brought him down with the Bull Hammer.
But after that, his gleam in the WWE seemed to wane away, and the five-time Intercontinental Champion soon left the company in 2016.
He negotiated an early release from his contract to get into the acting industry. Barrett revealed he wanted to try different things after it didn't work out for him as he had wanted in WWE. Between 2017 to 2018 he appeared in What Culture Pro Wrestling and World of Sport in the UK, and then later he became a part of ITV's World of Sport show.