Predicting the eight first-round matches of the King of the Ring tournament
The King Of The Ring tournament will be coming back to WWE next week on Monday Night Raw. Top WWE superstars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, Booker T, Edge, Kurt Angle, Triple H, Randy Savage, and Sheamus have won this tournament in the past. This can be instrumental in making a future star who can become a mainstay in the main event picture.
There will be eight participants from Monday Night Raw and eight participants from SmackDown Live. The sixteen superstars in this tournament were posted on WWE.com. They are as follows - Baron Corbin, Cedric Alexander, Cesaro, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, and The Miz from Monday Night Raw; and Ali, Andrade, Apollo Crews, Buddy Murphy, Chad Gable, Elias, Kevin Owens, and Shelton Benjamin from SmackDown Live.
As the tournament starts next week, we will likely see several first-round matches on Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live. This tournament will likely continue until the finals take place at Clash of Champions.
It can be assumed that King Of The Ring will feature all of the participants from Monday Night Raw on one half of the tournament bracket, and all of the participants from SmackDown Live on the other half of the bracket, resulting in a Raw vs. SmackDown final match-up.
The four first-round matches involving Monday Night Raw superstars will include three faces in Ricochet, The Miz, and Cedric Alexander, and five heels in Drew McIntyre, Cesaro, Baron Corbin, Samoa Joe, and Sami Zayn. The heel vs. heel match of the tournament will likely be between Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn as the two superstars already have animosity with each other due to their altercation on Raw. Ricochet vs. Baron Corbin seems like a probable match too since they have good chemistry in the ring. Corbin, having not featured heavily on WWE programming, will most likely not go too far in this tournament. Drew McIntyre vs. The Miz would be the third match, with McIntyre being touted as one of the favorites to win KOTR. Miz can put over McIntyre without hurting his own character too much. Hence, Cesaro vs. Cedric Alexander seem primed to lock horns in the fourth encounter which is sure to be a good match, considering the talent involved.
The four first-round matches involving SmackDown Live superstars features four faces in Ali, Apollo Crews, Chad Gable, and Kevin Owens, and four heels in Andrade, Buddy Murphy, Elias, and Shelton Benjamin. Kevin Owens and Elias still have unfinished business with each other, so they will likely face off in the first round. The match between Buddy Murphy and Apollo Crews on the SummerSlam Kickoff Show never reached a decisive finish, so it is only fair that they get a chance to face off in the first round of this tournament. The remaining four superstars are Andrade, Ali, Chad Gable, and Shelton Benjamin. Since Ali and Andrade are more likely to move on to the second round, they shouldn't face off with each other; so, it will likely be Ali vs. Shelton Benjamin and Andrade vs. Chad Gable.
The concept of King Of The Ring is sure to generate a lot of interest from fans and performers alike. It remains to be seen who emerges as the winner from this group of talented superstars.