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00:00 - Start
01:50 - 6 Worst
02:35 - 6 Best
03:20 - 5 Worst
04:14 - 5 Best
05:11 - 4 Worst
06:00 - 4 Best
07:06 - 3 Worst
07:58 - 3 Best
08:51 - 2 Worst
09:47 - 2 Best
10:37 - 1 Worst
11:27 - 1 Best
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00:00 - Start
01:50 - 6 Worst
02:35 - 6 Best
03:20 - 5 Worst
04:14 - 5 Best
05:11 - 4 Worst
06:00 - 4 Best
07:06 - 3 Worst
07:58 - 3 Best
08:51 - 2 Worst
09:47 - 2 Best
10:37 - 1 Worst
11:27 - 1 Best
SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/
Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/
Unlock the secrets to working in professional wrestling, sign up to https://www.wrestlingmasterclass.com/
Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/
Youtube Channel Comments Policy
We appreciate the comments and opinions our viewers provide. Do note that all comments are subject to YouTube auto-moderation and manual moderation review. We encourage opinions and discussion, but harassment, hate speech, bullying and other abusive posts will not be tolerated. Decisions on comment removal are made by the Community Manager. Please email us at support@wrestletalk.com with any questions or concerns.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hear ye, hear ye, the time for royal revelry hath arrived.
00:04 Long live the King of the Ring tournament and all its plastic crown glory.
00:08 Yes, indeed, it has come time for another edition of WWE's oldest and most polarizing tournament.
00:14 Who shall be the one to wear the crown in this new era in which we live?
00:18 And will it carry with it glory, prestige and title shots,
00:22 or will it bring forth a curse of awful booking like so many before?
00:26 Triple H is getting a lot of praise these days, but will the King of Kings nail the King of Rings?
00:31 We will have to wait and see.
00:32 In the meantime, I'm Tempest hailing from partsFUNknown,
00:36 and these are the six best and six worst King of the Ring winners in WWE history.
00:40 Hey, Luke, have you got any ideas for the Surfshark ad?
00:46 Surfshark ad?
00:47 Yeah, I'm writing the ad for Surfshark this month, but I mean, I don't know what to say.
00:50 I feel like everyone knows about Surfshark at this point, right?
00:54 What's a Surfshark?
00:55 It's a VPN.
00:57 What's a VPN?
00:59 A virtual private network.
01:01 Oh, so I'll be able to protect my data and watch content from overseas and protect me from cybercrime?
01:07 Yes, Luke, and our audience will be able to secure their privacy online by using code JAMTHATJAM
01:11 to get three months extra for free using the link below.
01:14 I don't know. I'm all out of ideas, I'll be honest with you.
01:18 I mean, maybe you could come in as a cowboy and horse ride your way through the VPN world.
01:24 Well, howdy-do, y'all heard about Surfshark VPN?
01:30 Luke, I think I'm just going to write out the conversation we had for the ad.
01:35 That'd be ridiculous, P. I mean, how would you end the video?
01:38 Well, I don't know.
01:40 Number six worst William Regal.
01:52 The real King's King, William Regal slots into the bottom of this list,
01:56 not because he was an undeserving winner, but because of what followed.
01:59 Reigning as the general manager of RAW at the time,
02:02 Regal inserted himself into the 2008 King of the Ring tournament with a particularly easy path to the final,
02:07 resulting in the Englishman winning the greatest accolade of his career.
02:11 It seemed as if this would finally be the start of something huge for the man
02:14 who had often been considered one of WWE's most underrated performers.
02:18 But just over a month later, Regal was suspended for violating WWE's wellness policy,
02:23 and any potential plans for the King's royal push were dropped.
02:26 He would return and win the Intercontinental title,
02:28 but by then, the King of the Ring win was merely a large bullet point on his mini-tron.
02:33 I wish it had been more.
02:34 Number six best Steve Austin.
02:37 This may seem low to some, but while there may be no man who has benefited from winning King of the Ring more,
02:42 others simply embrace the cape and crown a bit more, and that is being taken into consideration.
02:47 That's not to say I'm mad that Stone Cold Steve Austin wasn't parading around with a big mid-90s poofy crown,
02:52 but then again, I would be curious to see what the King of the Ring master would look like.
02:56 In all seriousness, without the very specific circumstances of Steve Austin
03:00 beating Bible-thumping Jake Roberts in the King of the Ring final,
03:03 we would have never gotten Austin 3-16.
03:05 And while I'm sure Austin would have found another avenue to the top,
03:08 he would have done so without the greatest wrestling t-shirt of all time.
03:13 It's one of the most iconic promos ever, and by extension, that makes Austin one of the most iconic King of the Rings as well.
03:20 Number five worst Ken Shamrock.
03:22 On paper, making the world's most dangerous man your King of the Ring
03:26 and the next man in line for the WWF Championship is a very good idea.
03:29 However, when you tear up that paper with only half the idea getting done, it falls a little short.
03:34 Such was the case with Ken Shamrock in 1998.
03:37 Things start pretty well for Shamrock, beating The Rock to win the crown,
03:41 but then does this lead to Shamrock getting a title shot in the summer?
03:44 Or a main event feud with another top star?
03:46 "Nuh-uh!"
03:47 Rather, Shamrock entered into a bizarre rivalry with Owen Hart,
03:51 where the first match took place in Owen's basement,
03:54 and the second match took place in the Lion's Den,
03:56 WWE's least iconic cage ever.
03:59 And by the time WWE held their Deadly Games tournament at Survivor Series for the vacant WWF Championship,
04:04 Shamrock didn't even make the semi-finals.
04:07 What was the point?
04:08 Again, a good idea with terrible execution doesn't do a king a bit of good.
04:13 Number 5 Best - Kurt Angle
04:15 There is a strong argument to be made that Kurt Angle had the best rookie year of any WWE star in history,
04:21 with accolades escalating from European Champion to IC Champion to the King of the Ring to eventually WWE Champion.
04:28 Angle's resume speaks for itself, but what truly set him aside from fellow rookies
04:32 is just how brilliantly he embraced being an entertainer,
04:35 which was maybe best seen during his illustrious reign as WWE's King.
04:40 There have been very few heels in WWE history who have done a better job of embracing the goofiness of being King of the Ring
04:47 than Kurt Angle, an Olympic gold medalist more than happy to show his ass and elevate the King gimmick to its heights.
04:54 An astoundingly low number of wrestlers during this era played up the King character,
04:58 and while I certainly don't think it would be a good idea for everyone who wins King of the Ring to adopt a comedic approach,
05:04 I do think it just goes to show that there may be no man more capable and more well-rounded than your Olympic King.
05:11 Number 4 Worst - Sheamus
05:13 From a King that served his people with an appropriate dose of comedy, to a King who was simply a joke.
05:18 From his coronation where the dollar store crown was placed upon his spiky red head by future Tough Enough dropout, Rima Fakih,
05:26 King Sheamus was doomed from the start.
05:28 It then doesn't help that Sheamus' updated cape and crown made him look more like a ruler of woodland creatures and elves,
05:34 and I say that as a man with a strong Irish background.
05:37 But if you thought looks could be deceiving, Sheamus then proceeded to lose every singles match he had for nearly four months
05:43 before threatening to quit if he didn't beat Daniel Bryan for the US title.
05:46 It is a common trend in WWE of old to give a guy an accolade like Money in the Bank or King of the Ring,
05:51 and then just beat him into powder, leaving everyone to wonder why they even bothered in the first place,
05:56 and I'll let you know right now.
05:57 This is not the last time that this will be brought up on this list.
06:00 Number four best, Randy Savage.
06:03 In the far off ancient times of the 1980s, before the days of the King of the Ring pay-per-view event,
06:08 the cape and crown were handed around a bit more liberally.
06:11 In the case of the macho King Randy Savage, a common misconception of his is that he got that moniker from winning the King of the Ring tournament,
06:19 when he in fact actually won the title of King from Hacksaw Jim Duggan in 1989,
06:23 who'd won it from King Haku, who'd had it passed to him by King Harley Race, who'd won the King of the Ring tournament in 1985,
06:30 but in the meantime, Savage did win the King of the Ring tournament in 1987 after WrestleMania III.
06:35 Everybody got that?
06:37 It is a particularly convoluted way to get the King gimmick, but I'll allow it.
06:41 Savage's run as the macho King was sensational.
06:45 Heh, because... it's Sherry.
06:47 Anyway, also because the title of King was finally given to someone with the poffin circumstance
06:52 that would allow the gimmick to reach its full potential.
06:55 Savage reigned as King until his retirement at Mania 7,
06:58 and is one of the most iconic holders of the King of the Ring crown WWE has ever had.
07:03 Ooooooh, yes indeed.
07:05 Number 3 worst, Billy Gunn.
07:07 I know you might not believe it, but I try to be as objective as possible on these very subjective lists,
07:12 but in the case of Billy Gunn, I can confidently say that as a singles wrestler, he was just sh*t.
07:18 I'll always remember him as one of the only wrestlers Chris Benoit could not get a good match out of,
07:23 and that is about as damning an indictment as you can get.
07:26 Back to the topic of King Ass himself,
07:28 Billy Gunn won the DX King of the Ring in 1999,
07:31 which, in addition to being a wretched f*cking pay-per-view,
07:34 crowned one of the worst King of the Rings there has ever been.
07:38 You talk about Ken Shamrock having no plans to be moved up to the main event scene,
07:41 they really didn't care to even try to make Billy Gunn look special.
07:46 You need look no further than Billy Gunn's conversation with God as per The Rock, and you'll get it.
07:52 Even God wasn't on board with King Ass.
07:54 99 WWF was f*cking tragic, man.
07:57 Number 3 best, Bret Hart.
07:59 The man crowned at the inaugural King of the Ring pay-per-view,
08:02 Bret "The Hitman" Hart needed some sort of consolation for getting absolutely f*cked at Wrestlemania 9,
08:09 and then doubly f*cked by Hulk Hogan refusing to lose to him at Summerslam.
08:12 "Usually you pay double for that kind of action, Cotton."
08:15 In response to this, Bret did what Bret did best,
08:18 and wrestled three completely different but all-great matches against Razor Ramon,
08:22 Mr. Perfect, and Bam Bam Bigelow to win the King of the Ring.
08:26 Now that cape and crown aren't going to make very many babyfaces look like super cool dudes,
08:30 but I must say, that is one handsome king.
08:32 Bret was able to transition this win into a multi-year rivalry with Jerry Lawler
08:37 that was very well received, even with the evil dentists and such,
08:40 and eventually a return to world title glory.
08:43 And it just goes to show that if you wanted to get a pay-per-view off the ground in the early 90s,
08:47 you put Bret on top, and it'll work out for ya.
08:50 Number 2 Worst - Wade Barrett
08:52 Man, if you want to talk about a "Why do they even f*cking bother King of the Ring?"
08:56 I'm afraid I've got some bad news for Wade Barrett.
08:59 Always a guy who seemed completely stapled to the WWE midcard,
09:03 some thought that the 2015 King of the Ring could finally be what would give Barrett the boost
09:09 to escape the midcard vortex.
09:10 Those people were absolute fools, however,
09:13 because not only could you count the amount of quality opponents King Barrett would beat
09:18 over the next year on one hand with fingers to spare,
09:21 but need I remind you all of the League of Nations.
09:24 The WWE's answer to the question of what was the sh*ttiest faction of all time
09:28 for about six weeks until the social outcasts showed up.
09:31 Barrett was deemed the worst member of this terrible group,
09:34 didn't get to compete alongside them at WrestleMania,
09:37 and then was kicked out of the group, left WWE, and never wrestled again.
09:42 How's that for a King's reign, eh?
09:44 Why did they f*cking bother?
09:47 Number 2 Best - Booker T
09:49 Throughout the decades-long existence of the King of the Ring,
09:52 there is only one man who has truly committed to the bit the best,
09:55 and that is King Booka.
09:57 To the point that there is probably a good amount of fans who remember his time
10:01 as an active competitor in WWE better as King Booker than as Booker T.
10:05 It probably had more highlights if we're being honest.
10:08 At the very least, he actually won the world title this time,
10:11 WrestleMania 19.
10:12 Since the continuation of the King of the Ring pay-per-view,
10:15 there has been very little reason to bring back the cape and crown and scepter,
10:19 with this one lone exception.
10:21 Booker T was the King.
10:24 He carried himself with just enough comedic timing to make himself entertaining
10:28 while still being a world champion level heel,
10:31 and that is something that none of the heel kings that have followed him can claim.
10:36 Number 1 Worst - Mabel
10:38 You've heard of the Mad King?
10:40 Well, here is the Fat King.
10:42 With steroids on the outs in WWE,
10:44 the company found the heaviest man, not named Yokozuna,
10:47 and said, "I mean, that's kind of the same thing,"
10:49 and gave him the crown and the Summerslam title shot that went with it,
10:53 and the less said about that, the better.
10:55 I mean, Jesus Christ, this time period is dire.
10:58 Shawn Michaels is in this tournament!
10:59 Could we not have had Shawn have a bounce back win after losing at WrestleMania,
11:04 and run back that match with Diesel at Summerslam?
11:06 The King of the Ring lineage would look an awful lot better
11:09 without this stain on it from 1995, I tell you that much.
11:12 Again, I'm sure Nelson Frazier was a nice man, but he was not a main event wrestler,
11:16 and the sooner WWE embraced that needing to shop in the big and tall section
11:20 was not a justified qualification for a main event push,
11:23 the sooner we all got to leave 1995 in our rear view mirror.
11:27 At number 1 - Owen Hart
11:29 Some in the WWF locker room say that if put to the test,
11:32 Owen Hart could outwrestle anyone in the Hart family, including Bret.
11:36 Who's to say whether or not that is the case, but at the very least, Owen was a better king.
11:41 The King of Harts, in addition to being a brilliant nickname,
11:45 did the absolute best job of making the King of the Ring
11:48 feel like the biggest possible deal of anyone to ever wear the crown.
11:53 Although he may not have won his subsequent WWF Championship cage match at Summerslam '94,
11:58 the King of the Ring elevated Owen to his career peak in '94,
12:02 and I only wish that he could have kept ascending rather than coming back down
12:06 for the sake of weird tag runs with Yokozuna.
12:08 Just like with the Slammy Awards, Owen is always one of the first names mentioned
12:12 when the King of the Ring is brought up, because to be the king, you should be one of the best,
12:16 and for the uninitiated, Owen Hart will always be one of the best.
12:21 Long may he reign.
12:23 And that's our list!
12:23 Make sure of course that you like this video, subscribe, and enable notifications to always
12:26 on so you never miss a list just like it, like last week's list, which you can see a clip from here.
12:31 I don't know if there has been a WWE staple with more misses than King of the Ring.
12:36 The cape and crown has had a rough go of things,
12:38 especially since the death of its titular pay-per-view in 2002,
12:42 and with the tournament making its bi-annual return, I think it is time to take a look
12:46 back on the lineage of kings and their coronations and throw ye olde tomatoes at them.