NoDQ.com > Columns > In the Front Row: All Hail the King Posted by Thorias on 05/10/2008 at 03:31 PM
Today I’m going to be talking about the KOTR tournament. I was planning to do a column like this before the KOTR even happened, but I couldn’t figure out just what I wanted to say.
Today’s Topic: King of the Ring
First off I want to say that I really wish they’d bring the KOTR PPV back, I always thought it was a great PPV, and I’m a huge sucker for tournaments, which is why I especially enjoyed the KOTR, as it has proven the past couple of weeks, it can really create some interesting matches, such as that of Matt Hardy and CM Punk, MVP & Jericho, and so on. If they brought back the KOTR PPV, and let the midcard goto work on it, it would come out as a fantastic PPV year in and year out. It’s also a GREAT way to push a midcarder into the main event.
Another thing about it is that Tournaments really give off a legitimacy that is missing most of the time from WWE TV, it actually makes it look like an actual sport, and I applaud that, so in all I think if they ever brought back the PPV, it’d be a great idea, but hey even if they don’t, it’s still awesome that they are bringing it back every few years, as they have this year and back in 2006. It has given us some great matches over time, and has pushed stars like Stone Cold, HHH and Kurt Angle into the main event. Heck, you can add Brock Lesnar and Booker T to that list if you wanted, as well.
Just look at what it has done to Regal. It’s made him look like an actual wrestler, again. As well as brought in an awesome attitude, as a Heel GM that isn’t seen so much these days. Regal has had so much more talent than he has ever been given credit for, and I think he’s finally getting that credit, especially if the reports that he is going to get a feud with HHH over the title are true, personally I’d love to see it. If they didn’t have the KOTR, they wouldn’t have had any other way to really push Regal into the spot that wanted him from what they did have him. They treated him as a joke for too long, and he lost so much credibility, but thanks to the KOTR, he seems so much more credible now because of it. If they tried all of a sudden just pushing him without any crutch like the KOTR, the crowd wouldn’t have believed it, and his push wouldn’t have gone as well. This is the importance of KOTR.
So think about it, if they brought back the KOTR PPV every year, and didn’t treat it as a joke, we’d get some SPECTACULAR midcard matches, they’d easily be able to push someone else into the main event whenever they needed it, while looking like a legitament sport, and just so much more. I doubt they would bring it back, but I certainly would be all for it if they did. A lot of people just don’t realize just what all the KOTR has done for us every year it was around. My biggest example of this is when Stone Cold won. He instantly became a credible main eventer, and that speech that he made after his win was fantastic, and was one of the things that launched the Attitude Era. And even after that every year it did so much for everyone who won (except Mr.Ass, that was totally useless.) In fact, the time Mr.Ass won is one of the moments where they screwed up, and instead of pushing a midcarder who needed that extra push, they gave it to Mr.Ass and didn’t do anything with it much afterwards, it was just kinda forgotten over time. That’s the exact opposite of what they needed to use it for. Not to mention no one cared when he did win it, as well.
But even with a few bad KOTR’s, the majority of them have been good and have been very good for business, there is just so much more benefit from it than most people realize, and it has done a lot more to impact the shape of wrestling more than people realize as well. I really wish they’d get rid of One Night Stand or something and replace it with a new and improved KOTR, but that’s just my opinion.
For feedback, e-mail me or send me a message on myspace at www.myspace.com/furioku I also have a last.fm at http://www.last.fm/user/Furioku/ as well as a StumbleUpon account: http://furioku.stumbleupon.com/ and a music myspace: www.myspace.com/thorias66 so send me a message to whichever you have.
‘Til next time.
-Thorias
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