Booking King of the Ring for the years WWE didn't have it

[tg11]

Basically I’m booking a King of the Ring winner every year WWE didn’t have King of the Ring.

All of my King of the Ring events will take place in June.

2003: John Cena wins King of the Ring

In 2003, John Cena was finding his stride as a heel having a WWE Title match against Brock Lesnar and facing The Undertaker on PPV, he was becoming a big star. John Cena (Smackdown) would cheat to beat fan favorite Booker T (RAW) in the finals to become King of the Ring and the rap verses he could’ve cut about all of it would have made it even more better.

2004: Randy Orton (RAW) wins King of the Ring

Randy Orton was in the middle of a long IC Title reign and along with Evolution went over two legends at WrestleMania and was being groomed to be the youngest world champion in WWE history. John Cena now a babyface and US Champion on Smackdown would look to become a 2 time King of the Ring winner and repeat but he would make it to the finals and lose in a First Time Ever match to the WWE Intercontinental Champion and Evolution's Randy Orton from RAW.

2005: Christian wins King of the Ring

Now I know WWE wouldn’t have done this, I know they didn’t see Christian as anything more than a mid card guy but around this time he was white hot around this time and a King of the Ring win could propel him to the main event. Christian (RAW) would beat Chris Benoit (Smackdown) after interference from his problem solver Tomko and set up a WWE Title match against John Cena at Summerslam which Christian wins.

2007: Bobby Lashley wins King of the Ring

I would have gone with Mr. Kennedy but he got injured around this time and was later suspended, so why not go with Bobby Lashley on the condition that he turns heel because he proved in TNA he’s a very good heel. We’re in the finals with Lashley vs King Booker, last year's winner. Lashley is going in as a babyface and Booker as a heel but we have a double turn when Queen Sharmell turns on Booker helping Lashley win and aligning with him.

2009: The Miz wins King of the Ring

The Miz was starting to make his way into the upper mid card as the US Champion and a King of the Ring win in 2009 could’ve better prepared him for his eventual WWE Title win in late 2010. Miz would defeat ex tag team partner John Morrison in the finals.

2011: CM Punk wins King of the Ring

This event would replace Capital Punishment with Punk defeating Mysterio in the finals. This added momentum would make him even hotter after his pipebomb promo and his WWE Title win over John Cena at Money in the Bank, all that much better.

2012: Cody Rhodes wins King of the Ring

Cody Rhodes has just come off of a great Intercontinental Title reign but his moment halted because he dropped the belt to The Big Show of all people. Rhodes defeats Christian in the finals to regain his momentum back and hopefully face Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Title.

2013: Dean Ambrose of The Shield wins King of the Ring

Dean Ambrose was US Champion and considered the leader of The Shield. He would go on to defeat Daniel Bryan in the finals with the help of Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns getting a lot of heat since Bryan was white hot around this time.

2014: Cesaro wins King of the Ring

Again I know WWE wouldn’t have gone for this but this would’ve have been the right move since Cesaro was super over at the time. In my booking Cesaro has just won the Intercontinental Title and qualifies for King of the Ring. He would go on to defeat ex tag team partner Jack Swagger in the finals to win King of the Ring.

2016: AJ Styles wins King of the Ring

In 2016, Styles debuted in the WWE and had a great debut year and at this point was only a few months from winning his first WWE Championship. I would have AJ and Cena make it to the finals and have their very first one on one encounter and here is where I’d have AJ turn heel when The Club (Gallows & Anderson) interfere and costs Cena the match giving AJ the win.

2017: Braun Strowman wins King of the Ring

Braun was white hot as a monster heel around this time just wrecking anything and everything in his path. Braun would wreck Roman Reigns in the finals to win King of the Ring and go on to win the Universal Title from Brock Lesnar probably at No Mercy.

2018: Shinsuke Nakamura wins King of the Ring

In 2018, Nakamura won the Royal Rumble then faced AJ Styles for the WWE Championship and then turned heel on AJ after failing to win the title making his character more interesting but also killing his momentum because he lost all the time. Then he had a 5 month reign as US Champion which he only defended once on PPV. Nakamura would defeat Roman Reigns in the finals after a low blow and a Kinsasha. After the match, we have Corey Graves say Nakamura is not only the king of strong style but now has become the King of the Ring. Nakamura would go on to defeat Jeff Hardy for the US Title and hopefully have a much better run with it.

[Kill Em' All]

Really cool read I like a lot of the 00's and early 10's picks. Especially thinking Cena and Orton first doing battle as rookies in 2004 would of been tight.

[👑🇵🇭⭐️]

Here's a post I found from another board that I typed up in 2010.

👑🇵🇭⭐️ said:

As we all know, the King Of The Ring took a break in 1990, 1992, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, and so far this year, 2010. Anyone can go anywhere and look up who wore the WWE Crown in the years the Tournament took place, but my question to you, fellow WZers, is who would you have wanted to see crowned as the WWE King Of The Ring in the years there wasn't a King??

Assuming the King Of The Ring Tournaments would have taken place in either June or July of the respective years, my picks are:

1990 - Dusty Rhodes - Already in a feud with the then current "King" Macho King, Randy Savage, this could have put the feud up to the next level. New King (via tournament) vs. Old King (via beating Hacksaw)

1992 - Shawn Michaels - HBK did not win his first singles Title till October of 92. He was in a feud with then Intercontinental Champion, the British Bulldog after Davey's SummerSlam victory over the Hitman. Though history shows that Shawn didn't need the Crown, it could have made for a better storyline with America's Heart Break King vs. Britain's IC Champ.

2003 - Goldberg - Coming fresh from a debut feud against the Rock, right before his feud with Jericho, crowning Goldberg King Of The Ring would have made the feud with Jericho just that much more exciting. It could have been the perfect time for it. Goldberg, at the time, was already "above" the Intercontinental Title, but with Triple H feuding with the Kliq, a World Title match wasn't in the picture for Bill until what would have been 2 months from the KOTR PPV, SummerSlam August 2003.

2004 - Batista - Orton was already IC Champ at this point, and was making a Face turn and gunning for a World Title run. This could have been Batista's opportunity to finally go from "Pony Boy" to "Horsemen".

2005 - Rey Mysterio - This was pretty much the Cena / Batista year coming off of WM 21. With Rey feuding with Eddie at the time, adding the Crown would have been an extra treat.

2007 - C. M. Punk - The original "Internet Darling" could have added a King Of The Ring Crown to his list of accomplishments. His feud with Elijah Burke could have been the final match of the Tournament that year. He could even have tried to become the first Superstar to win Back to Back K. O. T. R. tournaments in 2007 and 2008.

2009 - The Miz - Around this time in 2009, the Miz was just "racking up wins" against Cena only to get a just under 6 minute loss at the Bash. Instead of this, Cena and Miz should have been kept apart with the Miz just trash talking Cena from a distance. Imagine what a crown would have done for the Miz in 09.

2010 - Chris Jericho - The Best in the World at what He does. He's on his way out. He's done it all except for win the Royal Rumble, King Of The Ring, and Money In The Bank. In a match against Evan Bourne, everyone would have thought "Air" would walk away as King, but with the help from "my" 2009 K. O. T. R., the Miz, Jericho could have walked out with the Crown and Bourne could have been looking for revenge afterwards (staying relevant and on TV).

So there are my picks. Who would you have picked for the years there was no King??

I'll try and think of Kings I would have liked to see from 2011 to 2019, except for 2015.

[wolvenbear]

Never been a fan of Stroman or Rhodes. Thought they were both ridiculously overhyped for how little they brought to the table.

Overal interesting choices. But has any previous King of the Ring winner ever reentered the competition? You have it happen like 5 times. I thought that was against their rules or something. I especially love the choices of Christian, Lashley and Cesaro, as they are some of the most talented and underutilized men the company has ever produced.

PH's choices of Goldberg and Rey Mysterio also would've been quite exciting.

Edit: I figured I'd do a little research and choose replacements for the characters I disagreed with...

2009: MVP. He was coming off of a significant losing streak, which he had ended by defeating Big Show in a massive Last Man Standing Match, relegitimizing him as a serious competitor. Soon after he was traded to Raw. It would have been the next logical step to have him win King of The Ring, preferably in a rematch with Big Show. 

2012: R-Truth. Ron the Truth Killings had just gotten done with a feud with Triple H, which had elevated him, and was a serious contender for the United States title. While his "Little Jimmy" gimmick was someone stale, a win in the Rumble could have transformed that gimmick into a full blown mania. Truth could've been the King of his own imaginary world, and played off a darker, more demented version of the somewhat goofy King Booker character from years before.

2017: There is no clear and obvious answer from this year for me, so I will offer three possibilities.

1) Austin Aries. Austin had been a huge force in TNA. This would have given WWE the chance to show that they are actually able to utilize, instead of bury, big name stars from other promotions (AJ Styles and Rey Mysterio being the exceptions.) His highly entertaining feud with Neville could have taken center stage at KoR, offering new life to 205, and giving it the showcase it deserves. Aries could then straddle the weight class fence like he did in TNA. 

2) Boogeyman. With the increasingly diminishing roles of Kane and Undertaker in WWE, this would have been the perfect chance to make Boogeyman the new supernatural character to fear. Lose the eating worm gimmick, hype up his ability to "Voodoo Up" like an evil Hulk Hogan, and make him a serious bad guy. 

3) Samoa Joe. Another horribly underutilized TNA star, WWE could have made him the next monster, and pushed him instead of Stroman...as he has much much more talent. 

[ICW]

I definitely do not have any qualms with your picks, @ tg11! They all make sense to me and I would've loved it had Christian won in 2005. Good stuff.

[cage]

My tournament 2003:
Round 1:

William Regal vs. Mr. McMahon
Triple H vs. Tommy Dreamer
The Undertaker vs. The Rock
The Hurricane vs. Test
Tazz vs. Tajiri
Sylvain Grenier vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
Spike Dudley vs. Shelton Benjamin
Shawn Michaels vs. Shane McMahon