WWE Rumors: Daniel Bryan Right To Want King Of The Ring To Return
By Nicholas A. Marsico
@nickmarsico
Getty Images
In a recent interview, Daniel Bryan stated that he has expressed interest to WWE management about the prospect of bringing the King of the Ring tournament out from the back of the closet, dusting it off and making it a centerpiece of SmackDown. Bryan has said that he wishes to become the face of SmackDown and believes that it can be as popular as RAW if he gets the opportunity to lead it. SmackDown, he says, can be destination TV and his ideas can help.
The last King of the Ring tournament happened almost four years ago and was won by Sheamus, who was dubbed “King Sheamus” upon his victory. He paraded around in a stupid cape and crown for a little while before they dropped the King Sheamus moniker and acted like it never happened, which was the only smart thing to do.
The 2006 King of the Ring tournament was the first since Brock Lesnar’s rise to stardom in 2002 and saw Booker T win the whole thing and become King Booker. Unlike Sheamus’ woeful time as the king, Booker T successfully rejuvenated his career by taking on a completely different character, played in an over-the-top fashion complete with a cape, crowd, scepter, pinky out and a really bad British accent.
People speculate every year that the WWE is going to bring back the King of the Ring tournament, and it has been reported a couple of times that the WWE considered it, but never seriously. If they run it over the course of a few weeks on SmackDown, it would be a great hook to get people to tune in every week and rebuild the show after years of being relegated to the darkest corner of TV purgatory, Friday nights.
To make it even more special, and to make Thursday night the home of must-see TV again, the WWE can give the winner of the King of the Ring tournament a match for the WWE World Heavyweight Title on SmackDown.
Bryan wants big things for SmackDown in 2015, and shaking things up is never a bad thing. King of the Ring’s return is one shakeup I don’t think anybody will disagree with.
Nicholas A. Marsico is a pro wrestling writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter!
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