For a period of time, the World Wrestling Federation used the King Of The Ring tournament as a surefire way to elevate one of their superstars to main event status. More often than not it was a formula that worked, whether it be Bret Hart, his brother Owen, Stone Cold Steve Austin or even Brock Lesnar. There were of course times that it simply did not work the way originally intended, as with someone like Ken Shamrock in 1998. Then there was the absolute disaster of the 1995 King Mabel choice. As is usually the case here on The Signature Spot, we like to look at what could have been with some change and different outcomes. The idea of changing history is always an alluring one and while we know we must live with what we were given, to think of an alternative is something we all fantasize about on a consistent basis. Think of it as a wrestling multiverse as we dive in to see what was, and what could have been.

Quick Rules:

• Even if I don’t want to, I must choose an alternative winner. Sorry, Bret.

• We’re only looking at King of the Ring tournaments from 1993 - 2002.
  
  
  
  

1993 King Of The Ring

Competitors: Bret Hart, Razor Ramon, Tito Santana, Mr. Perfect, Doink The Clown, Kamala, Mr. Hughes, Jim Duggan, Papa Shango, Bam Bam Bigelow, Typhoon, Bob Backlund, Lex Luger, Tatanka, Giant Gonzales

Winner: Bret Hart

The Alternative: Mr. Perfect. 

Let’s face it, Bret Hart was the one and only true choice for the win following the end of his title reign at WrestleMania IX. But if anyone else was to win, there was only one Perfect choice. Mr. Perfect had returned from injury and was back to his top-shelf performances. This could have been a great choice to finally elevate him from the midcard, even setting him up for a potential match for the WWF Title against Yokozuna. 

1994 King Of The Ring

Competitors: Kwang, Razor Ramon, Bam Bam Bigelow, Bob Holly, Irwin R. Schyster, Scott Steiner, Mabel, Pierre Ouellet, Doink The Clown, Owen Hart, Crush, Tatanka, The 1-2-3 Kid, Adam Bomb, Jeff Jarrett, Lex Luger

Winner: Owen Hart

The Alternative: Razor Ramon

Once again, the WWF made the right choice elevating Owen Hart to solidify him in his feud against Bret leading into one of the best steel cage matches in history at SummerSlam. But if there was any other talent that could have taken the tournament it would have to have been Razor Ramon. He was coming off his star-making performance in the ladder match at WrestleMania X and was a huge fan favorite. While he would have had to wait for his match with the WWF Champion Bret Hart until after SummerSlam when he finished up with Owen, the two could have had a great feud leading into Survivor Series. Whether or not he would have won the title given the plans to put the strap on Diesel immediately after is something to wonder about, as it could have put those two on a collision course, and as we all know, The Kliq liked to work together and dominate the top of the card.

1995 King Of The Ring

Competitors: Adam Bomb, Mabel, Jeff Jarrett, The Undertaker, Kama, Duke Droese King Kong Bundy, Shawn Michaels, Bob Holly, Mantaur, The Roadie, Doink The Clown, Lex Luger, Yokozuna, Razor Ramon, Jacob Blu

Winner: Mabel

The Alternative: Shawn Michaels.

The first misstep made by the WWF with the tournament is the much-maligned tournament in 1995. King Mabel was an almost immediate bust, with his match at SummerSlam ’95 against WWF Champion Diesel being arguably the worst main event in a year full of them. One of the few feats that the Heartbreak Kid never accomplished during his legendary career was to win the King Of The Ring. One could argue that he didn’t need it, but coming off his win in the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania WWF Title match, it could have solidified him as the babyface to beat as he headed into the following year. There is so much that he could have done for the rest of the year bouncing off of the win leading into 1996, the year he was solidified as one of the greatest talents to ever lace up a pair of boots.

1996 King Of The Ring

Competitors: Ahmed Johnson, Vader, Goldust, The Ultimate Warrior, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Jake Roberts, Justin Hawk Bradshaw, Henry O. Godwinn, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bob Holly, Marty Jannetty, Savio Vega, Marc Mero, Bodydonna Skip, Owen Hart, Yokozuna

Winner: Stone Cold Steve Austin

The Alternative: Vader

Welp, you absolutely cannot deny that the World Wrestling Federation got it right in 1996 when Stone Cold Steve Austin won the tournament and cut his iconic Austin 3:16 promo. Even thinking about an alternative seems silly, but if there was one man to do it in 1996, it would have been The Mastodon. Vader was already pencilled in to face WWF Champion Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam, so winning the King Of The Ring would have solidified him as the monster heel that WWF had hoped to have the previous year with Mabel. Except for this time, they would have someone who could work and put on believable and intense matches. One has to simply wonder if Vader had the momentum of the tournament win behind him if things would have gone down differently for him as he feuded with Michaels and maybe even took the strap, like originally planned before HBK had Sid subbed in Vader’s place at Survivor Series.

1997 King Of The Ring

Competitors: Ahmed Johnson, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Crush, Goldust, Jerry Lawler, Mankind, Savio Vega

Winner: Hunter Hearst Helmsley

The Alternative: Mankind

1997 was an interesting year for the tournament with far fewer competitors than prior years leading into the pay-per-view. Nearly everyone knows that Triple H was slotted to win the ’96 King Of The Ring but had it taken away as punishment for his role in the infamous “Curtain Call” incident. While most will think of either the Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart feud or even Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels feud when they think of 1997, the Helmsley and Mankind feud helped carry the midcard through the latter part of the year. Mankind had cut his famous interview segments with Jim Ross earlier in the year and was truly gaining momentum, so if there was anyone other than Hunter to win in ’97, Mankind is the choice. They could even run a future match for the title of King similar to the feuds between Harley Race and Haku or Randy Savage and Jim Duggan in the 80s, allowing Hunter to still get the rub to cap off their feud.

1998 King Of The Ring

Competitors: Vader, The Rock, Triple H, X-Pac, Owen Hart, 2 Cold Scorpio, D’Lo Brown, Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock, Kama Mustafa, Mark Henry, Terry Punk, Jeff Jarrett, Faarooq, Marc Mero, Steve Blackman

Winner: Ken Shamrock

The Alternative: The Rock

This tournament always seems to be the forgotten one, surely due in part to the fact that this was the same event that featured the legendary Hell In A Cell match between The Undertaker and Mankind. Its foolish to think that anyone really remembers anything else from this show, but the choice of Ken Shamrock was not a bad choice at the time, it just simply didn’t work out in the end. For most of 1998, The Rock was becoming the second biggest star in the business behind only Stone Cold Steve Austin, and surely the WWF knew they were going to be putting those two on a collision course in the future, so having both of them having won a King Of The Ring tournament could have only added to the motives between them, not that it truly was needed. Of course, we could also talk about the fact that if wrestling was a shoot, Dan Severn would have killed every single person he faced.

1999 King Of The Ring

Competitors: Billy Gunn, Viscera, Ken Shamrock, Jeff Jarrett, Droz, Big Show, Test, Kane, Road Dogg, The Godfather, Chyna, Val Venis, Al Snow, Hardcore Holly, Big Boss Man, X-Pac

Winner: Billy Gunn

The Alternative: Kane

Besides the maligned King Mabel run, Billy Gunn’s tournament win is usually the next choice when choosing to ridicule the tournament. While Gunn had most of the attributes to be a big star, the choice to immediately put him up against the verbal tirades of The Rock left him dead in the water. While Kane was certainly not as hot as he had been a year prior (keep in mind that he became the WWF Champion at the prior year’s event) he was still a solid fan favorite. By simply switching the Semi-Final victory from Gunn to Kane, you would get a tournament final between Kane and X-Pac, a talent that could easily get a great match with Kane to help put him over and launch him back into a main event role and also solidify the relationship at the time between Kane and X-Pac.

2000 King Of The Ring

Competitors: Kurt Angle, Bradshaw, Bubba Ray Dudley, Big Boss Man, Chris Jericho, Test, Edge, Grandmaster Sexay, Crash Holly, Albert, Hardcore Holly, Faarooq, Bull Buchanan, Steve Blackman, Perry Saturn, D-Von Dudley, Rikishi, Shane McMahon, Scotty 2 Hotty, D’Lo Brown, Chris Benoit, Road Dogg, X-Pac, Dean Malenko, Val Venis, Al Snow, Jeff Hardy, Christian, Eddie Guerrero, Matt Hardy, Chyna, The Godfather

Winner: Kurt Angle

The Alternative: Eddie Guerrero

An absolutely bloated roster for the WWF led to such a huge tournament, which in turn helped solidify the WWF’s choice to have Kurt Angle be the man to win. And you will receive no argument here on that choice, but if an alternative would have to be made, who better than Latino Heat. At the time Eddie was getting over fast as this was around the beginning of his relationship with Chyna, something that many fans look back on fondly. Having Eddie win the tournament would have also shown that the WWF was behind Eddie and had plans for him. Unlike prior tournament winners (or even the actual winner Kurt Angle) it may not have elevated him to the top of the card right away, especially given how crammed the main event scene was at the time, but it would be another feather in the cap of one of the greatest to ever do it. An honourable mention could also go to either Chris Jericho or Chris Benoit as they were in similar positions and could have also used the rub at the time.

2001 King Of The Ring

Competitors: Kurt Angle, Hardcore Holly, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Christian, Kane, Big Show, Raven, Edge, Test, Steve Blackman, Perry Saturn, Crash Holly, Tajiri, Rhyno, Tazz

Winner: Edge

The Alternative: Kurt Angle

Returning to a normal-sized tournament, 2001 gave us another great tournament, from the quarterfinals on that is. Edge was another great choice, and a perfect example of a superstar who didn’t reap the immediate benefits of the win but kept chugging away, much like what I suggested would happen with Eddie Guerrero the previous year. Having Kurt Angle win the tournament in back-to-back years would have been historic. This is of course in addition to his brutal street fight with Shane McMahon at the same show, which has gone on to be legendary in its own right. And one can only imagine how good the promos from Angle would be about being the only two-time King in WWF history.

2002 King Of The Ring

Competitors: Brock Lesnar, Bubba Ray Dudley, Booker T, William Regal, Hardcore Holly, Tajiri, The Hurricane, Test, Chris Jericho, Edge, Christian, The Big Valbowski, X-Pac, Goldust, Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam

Winner: Brock Lesnar

The Alternative: Rob Van Dam

The final King Of The Ring PPV and they made the right choice once again. Brock Lesnar was tearing his way through the now-WWE roster at the time and there was little doubt of his victory. Looking at the tournament brackets, the only other viable options would be Chris Jericho (who was coming off of a WrestleMania main event as WWF Champion) or the pick for an alternative here, Rob Van Dam. Coming off of the ill-fated Invasion angle, the only person who really got themselves over to a heavy degree was Mr. Monday Night. With his unique offense, laidback attitude and overall level of just being cool, Rob Van Dam was on absolute fire coming out of 2001. Unfortunately, he ran into The Next Big Thing, but a tournament win here could have made him a 5-Star Main Event player years before it happened.

Now granted, all of these are just the pipe dreams of a lifelong wrestling fan. While some tournament brackets were much easier to pick an alternative, there were a few where several different choices could easily have taken the crown. Is there a specific tournament where you had picked or would pick a different winner? Sound off on The Signature Spot Facebook page or reach us on Twitter via The Signature Spot Twitter, or you can me Twitter.