History Wrestling / KingOfTheRing

In 2023, it was announced that the event would return as a PLE under the moniker "King and Queen of the Ring" which would include WWE's female talents competing for the crown in addition to the men's tournament, but WWE scrapped that idea in April and opted to revive Night of Champions in its stead.

In 2023, it was announced that the event would return as a PLE under the moniker "King and Queen of the Ring" which would include WWE's female talents competing for the crown in addition to the men's tournament.

** Wrestling/MickFoley in the Wrestling/HellInACell match at ''King of the Ring'' 1998. He was thrown off of a sixteen-foot-tall steel chain link cell and through the Spanish announcers' table. The fall was so devastating that he sustained a concussion, spinal damage, a dislocated shoulder and internal bleeding. The [=EMT=]s squeezed in to put him on a stretcher and wheel him away, which seemed to signal the premature end of the match. Instead, Foley got up off the stretcher and climbed back up the cell (faster than before his fall!) to resume the match. After some more fighting, Undertaker performed his signature choke-slam, which sent Foley through the chain link cell to the ring below, a steel chair following close behind to smash his teeth out of his mouth, one of which lodged in his nose. Foley was completely knocked out, nearly died, and has no memory of the next few hours...but he got back up and resumed the match, finally ending it after taking two hard falls onto a large pile of thumbtacks. And then, simply because he refused to be stretchered out twice, he got up and walked back up the ramp to a standing ovation.[[note]]And ''then'', he came back out for an interference spot during the main event, a "First Blood" match between WWF Champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Kane, including taking a Stunner from Austin.[[/note]]

** Wrestling/MickFoley in the Wrestling/HellInACell match at ''King of the Ring'' 1998. He was thrown off of a sixteen-foot-tall steel chain link cell and through the Spanish announcers' table. The fall was so devastating that he sustained a concussion, spinal damage, a dislocated shoulder and internal bleeding. The [=EMT=]s squeezed in to put him on a stretcher and wheel him away, which seemed to signal the premature end of the match. Instead, Foley got up off the stretcher and climbed back up the cell (faster than before his fall!) to resume the match. After some more fighting, Undertaker performed his signature choke-slam, which sent Foley through the chain link cell to the ring below, a steel chair following close behind to smash his teeth out of his mouth, one of which lodged in his nose. Foley was completely knocked out, nearly died, and has no memory of the next few hours...but he got back up and resumed the match, finally ending it after taking two hard falls onto a large pile of thumbtacks. And then, simply because he refused to be stretchered out twice, he got up and walked back up the ramp to a standing ovation.

The event consists of a single-elimination tournament consisting of 16 wrestlers competing in a one-on-one single elimination bracket. When a wrestler wins, he advances to face the next opponent, who has won their match. The final few matches would take place at the PPV, and the winner is crowned the King of the Ring.

The tournament discontinued until its return in 2006 as an exclusive event of the ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackdown SmackDown]]'' brand. Tournaments also occurred in 2008, 2010, and 2015. In 2019, it returned as a dual brand event, and in 2021, a ''Queen's Crown'' tournament was established [[DistaffCounterpart as the equivalent for the women's division]].

** The eponymous crowned winners of the 1988, 1994-1997, 1999, 2000, and 2002-2019 tournaments are all {{Heel}}s.

* 2001: Wrestling/{{Edge}}

[[folder:King of the Ring Winners]]

* 2021: TBD

The tournament discontinued until its return in 2006 as an exclusive event of the ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackdown SmackDown]]'' brand. Tournaments also occurred in 2008, 2010, and 2015. In 2019, it returned as a dual brand event.

** Wrestlong/BookerT made his WWE debut by attacking Stone Cold and slamming him on the SpanishAnnouncersTable at the 2001 event, thus officially beginning Wrestling/TheInvasionAngle.

** Booker T made his WWE debut by attacking Stone Cold and slamming him on the SpanishAnnouncersTable, thus officially beginning the WCW invasion angle.

* TheGlovesComeOff: Inverted at the King of the Ring '01. Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage had been stalking Wrestling/TheUndertaker's wife, Sara, and The American Badass persona of The Undertaker ''[[DeclarationOfProtection did not play that shit.]]'' Before their "match" ([[{{Kayfabe}} [=WWE=] refused to sanction it]] because they didn't want to be legally responsible [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown for what Undertaker did to DDP]]) Undertaker made it a point to slowly walk to the ring during his entrance, as the impending ass-kicking was a ''long'' time coming. [[TranquilFury There was no motorcycle and there were no theatrics.]] Not even any ring gear; just his character-themed T-shirt and jeans. Right before he got to the ring, he stood in Page's view and slowly put his gloves on. Presumably, as Wrestling/JimRoss ascertained, Undertaker was "glovin' up" so he wouldn't break his hands on DDP's face.

** At ''King of the Ring'' 1993, Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}} was out for revenge after he lost the WWF Championship at ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}}'' IX to Wrestling/HulkHogan the same night he won it. This culminated in a match where Yokozuna won after a photographer [[spoiler:(who was actually Wrestling/HarveyWippleman in disguise)]] shot a fireball out of his camera at Hogan, allowing Yokozuna to use the atomic leg drop on Hogan for the win. After the match, Yokozuna used the Banzai Drop on Hogan. This turned out to be Hogan's last appearance in the WWF until 2002. "Hulkamania is dead" indeed.

* ChekhovsGunman: Wrestling/{{Matt|Hardy}} and Wrestling/JeffHardy were the "gatekeepers" in the 1995 event. Their faces can be seen when Savio Vega makes his entrance.

* {{Crossover}}: The grand finals of the 2006 event was held on the Wrestling/JudgmentDay PPV.

'''King of the Ring''' is a tournament that was created by Wrestling/{{WWE}} in 1985, and was held annually until 2002 [[note]](with the exception of 1990 and 1992)[[/note]]. From 1993 through 2002, the tournament was produced as the annual June pay-per-view event, which was one of the major WWE [=PPVs=] along with the ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'', ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'', ''Wrestling/SummerSlam'', and ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries''.

* DemotedToExtra: The Title became less prominent after 2002.

The tournament discontinued until its return in 2006 as an exclusive event of the ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackdown SmackDown]]'' brand. Tournaments also occurred in 2008, 2010, and 2015. It will make its return in 2019 for both brands.

!!King of the Ring contains examples of:

** The eponymous crowned winners of the 1988, 1994-1997, 1999, 2000, and 2002-2015 tournaments are all {{Heel}}s.