King of the Ring Returns: The Good and the Bad with the Tournament

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During the Extreme Rules broadcast live on Sunday, the WWE released a schedule of new programming for this upcoming week on the Network. While the typical Attitude Era reruns and a Chris Jericho podcast are expected at this point, there was a surprise thrown in for this Tuesday night: the return of the King of the Ring Tournament. While many fans having been clamoring for the revival of this specific tournament, was it poorly done? Should the company have promoted this event for weeks, or did they do the right thing with the swift announcement? Lets take a look at the positives and negatives of the 2015 King of the Ring Tournament.

 The Positives

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Pleasing the Fans

For fans that have been watching the product for the last ten years or so, they simply don’t understand what the King of the Ring Tournament meant to the superstars and viewers alike. In what started out as a pay-per-view and turned into a television event, the tournament was done to not only give underutilized talents a chance to shine, but to also provide different matchups that you wouldn’t normally see on WWE television. Owen Hart defeated Razor Ramon in 1994 during one of their first encounters. Steve Austin faced Jake Roberts in 1996, which today would be seen as a dream matchup. This tournament succeeded in both the showing of various in ring talent, while providing the fans with quality wrestling-excuse me, entertainment.

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Elevating Talent

In what was once a staple of the WWE product, this tournament was viewed as a stepping-stone for future wrestlers to be catapulted into the main event scene. Bret Hart wrestled in three completely different yet great matches to capture the crown in 1993. The “Stone Cold” character of Steve Austin was born after his 1996 tournament victory. Booker T revitalized his career after his 2006 victories, becoming King Booker. Edge, Kurt Angle and even William Regal all gained significant recognition for their triumphs in the King of the Ring tournament. The 2015 version could yield similar results. After Raw concluded, the final matchup is shaping up to be Bad News Barrett vs. Neville. This would be the perfect stage for the newest NXT product to make a name for himself on the main roster.

The Negatives

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Announcement Was Rushed

As established above, fans have been yearning for the return of the King of the Ring for some time now. While it was certainly a great decision to bring the tournament back, was it in their best interest for the company to announce it just a day in advance? Anyone who watches the product today knows that the WWE creative team isn’t putting out the best television right now. Couple that with the fact that viewership is slightly down, and I believe it would have been in their best interest to give this a two or three week buildup. They could have had qualifying matches on both Raw and Smackdown and culminated the tournament at the upcoming Payback pay-per-view. Hell, they could have eliminated the Battleground event and brought it back as a special event. Better yet…

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KOTR Should Have Been a WWE Network Exclusive

Lets be real: if you aren’t subscribed to the WWE Network at this point, a Jerry Springer hosted show isn’t going to do the trick. Sure, the Network is a bargain, and I highly recommend it to any wrestling fan. But the fact remains that thousands of fans are still buying events on pay-per-view. One thing I loved was the Sheamus vs. Rusev United States championship match live on the WWE Network. When the title changed hands, it gave fans the opportunity to see that anything can happen on the Network. If the WWE brass really wanted to be different and bring in a new audience, they should have held the entire tournament on the WWE Network. What better way to get more subscribers than to give them an exclusive King of the Ring tournament? While the final match will be live on the Network, the company could have gained more by hosting the entire event on it instead.

While it was a good decision to bring the King of the Ring tournament back, the WWE could have benefitted more by either promoting it live in advance, or giving their WWE Network owners the exclusive viewing of the tournament. What do you think?

Dan Federico is a pro wrestling and sports writer for @PWMania, @SportBlogNYC and Split the Uprights. Follow on Twitter @DFBlogger and contact @ dfed023@gmail.com