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2015 WWE King of the Ring Tournament

by Scrooge McSuck

- WWE quite literally sprung this on their paying audience during Extreme Rules, hyping a King of the Ring Tournament, along with other “specials” to fill out the week including the new series “Too Hot for TV” (hosted by Jerry “Is Is Still the 90’s” Springer), Talk is Jericho with Stephanie McMahon, Cheap Pops with Mick Foley, and a look back at the Money vs. the Giant from WrestleMania 24. Most speculate the King of the Ring concept being dusted off so that they had something new for every day of the week. I can see this being true.

- 1st Round Matches are courtesy of the (thankfully) abbreviated version of Raw on Hulu-Plus (held in Green Bay, WI), and the rest of the Tournament is courtesy of the WWE Network “Special” that is taking the place of the taping of Main Event… from somewhere I don’t even bother to check.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Bad News Barrett:

It’s like the competition between two guys who have been spinning their wheels the longest in the midcard. Barrett did a job to Neville on the Extreme Rules Kickoff Show and Ziggler was victorious over Sheamus, so expect Barrett to go over with their odd-ball booking choices. Ziggler attacks with rights until Barrett kicks him down. Whip to the ropes and Barrett with a hard elbow for a one count. Ziggler surprises Barrett with a dropkick, knocking him to the floor as we take a break. We return, with Barrett in control of a chinlock. During the commercial, Bad News introduced Ziggler to his foot. Back to live footage, Ziggler avoids a corner charge, causing Barrett to ram his own shoulder to the post. Ziggler with a clothesline and splash in the corner. Bad News goes for the Winds of Change, but Ziggler counters with a cradle for two. Wasteland is countered with a DDT for another two count. Barrett blocks a Super-Kick and slingshots Ziggler into the buckle. Wasteland connects, but it only gets two. Barrett sets up for the Bull Hammer, but Ziggler ducks and connects with the Super-Kick for two! Suddenly, Sheamus comes out to create a distraction by showing images of Ziggler kissing his arse at Extreme Rules. Barrett from out of nowhere with the Bull Hammer, and it’s good for the three count at 4:25 (minus a commercial break). **1/2 Fine action until the lame finish. This feud MUST CONTINUE!

R-Truth vs. Stardust:

Now we have the match between the two least likely to win this Tournament. Seriously, Stardust and R-Truth? Either go all in with geeks, or fill the entire tournament with equal level talent. Truth with a quick roll up for two. He sweeps the legs and rolls over for another two count. Stardust with a cheap shot, followed by a running bulldog for a pair of two counts. Commentary is beyond brutal, with Booker T completely flubbing his lines about “Muhammad Ali turning his name to Cassius Clay.” I’m offended by that level of a blown line, and NOT being corrected. Must’ve been Vince feeding the lines. Stardust with the uppercut from his knees for two. Stardust with a goofy chinlock as the crowd collectively sits on their hands. Stardust with his best cartwheel impression and some mouthing off to (former King) Booker. Whip to the corner, Stardust meets elbow on a charge. Truth with clotheslines, but a scissor kick misses. Stardust with a roll up for two. Truth with a jumping heel kick for two. Stardust with a Russian leg sweep, but Truth cradles him going for a cover. Stardust goes for the Disaster Kick, but Truth counters with a face-buster for three at 3:49. *1/2 This was alright, but the crowd didn’t give much of a crap.

Dean Ambrose vs. Sheamus:

Will Sheamus become a 2-time King of the Ring winner? Poor Ambrose. We all know he’s jobbing here, but lets hope he doesn’t go down like a total goof. You can almost smell interference from Dolph Ziggler, especially after Sheamus cost him his match against Bad News Barrett. Lockup into the corner, and they shove each other off. Sheamus grabs a front facelock, but is forced to break in the corner. Ambrose with a side headlock takeover, but Sheamus counters. Whip to the ropes and Sheamus with a shoulder tackle. Ambrose goes for the leg and wrestles Sheamus down. Into the corner again, and Sheamus finally stiffs Ambrose to take control. Mild “Foghorn Leghorn” chant. I still personally go with “Red Rooster”, and just as I type that, someone does a Rooster call. Ambrose with a diving forearm, knocking Sheamus to the floor. He teases a suicide dive, but Sheamus wisely moves. We return from commercial with Ambrose countering White Noise with a roll up for two. Sheamus counters Dirty Deeds and hooks the Cloverleaf, but Ambrose makes it to the ropes. Sheamus goes for the clubbing forearms, but Ambrose fights free and comes off the top with his crazy elbow drop for two. Ambrose follows Sheamus to the floor and gets slammed onto the announcers table. He fights Sheamus back and dives off with a clothesline. Ambrose sends Sheamus to the post, and Sheamus comes right back with the Brogue Kick. Suddenly, Dolph Ziggler runs down and attacks Sheamus, DQ’ing Ambrose in the process at 5:43 (excluding one commercial break). ** Another “just fine” match that could’ve used more time and a better finish. Ambrose, post-match, screams “for once in my life, I didn’t do it!” in response to his Disqualification.

Neville vs. Luke Harper:

Final match of the 1st Round, winner faces Sheamus, and obviously the other Semi-Finals Match will be Bad News Barrett against R-Truth. I think I just gave away the result of the upcoming match. Harper with a quick pick-up, but Neville uses his speed to avoid him and send him to the floor following a spinning head scissors and dropkick. Harper tosses him back in the ring, but Neville comes right back with a spinning hurricanrana. Back in the ring, Neville springs off the top rope and gets leveled with a big boot. We return from commercial, with Harper in control with a chinlock. Neville side-steps a charge, sending Harper to the floor, and follows with a top rope Asai Moonsault! Back in the ring, Neville with a missile dropkick and standing SSP for two! Harper surprises Neville with a Super-Kick and takes him down with a half-nelson suplex for two. Neville avoids the Powerbomb and takes Harper down with a belly-to-belly suplex. Neville with an enziguri, but a hurricanrana is countered with a sit-out powerbomb for a two count. Harper continues to pound away and sets Neville up across the top turnbuckle. Neville fights him off and connects with a sunset flip Powerbomb. He goes back to the top rope, and the Red Arrow finishes at 6:53 (excluding one commercial break). *** Best match of the opening round, with good back-and-forth action and some great spots, particularly from Neville.

- Semi-Finals Matches… but first, Jerry “The King” Lawler is introduced to the crowd, crown in hand, to kick-off the “Award Winning WWE Network” “Special” (formerly the WWE Main Event taping before the taping of Thursday Night SmackDown). Since we’re already taking a break in between matches, at least WWE had the decency to aknowledge the recent passing of wrestling legend (and WWE Hall of Famer) Verne Gagne (that’s pronounced Gone-yah, not Gag-knee, for younger fans).

Neville vs. Sheamus:

In Sheamus’ defense… Neville does kind of look like a dwarf. You’d think this would go second based on how the brackets are set up and how the first round matches all come in succession based on placement in the bracket. I guess we should be thankful Sheamus is acknowledged as a former King of the Ring, and he would be the 2nd man to win it twice if he were to do so “tonight” (the other being Bret Hart, in 1991 and 1993). Lockup into the corner, with Sheamus dicking around with him. Neville fires back with rights and kicks. Whip to the corner, Neville avoids a charge but gets caught off the ropes with a back breaker. Neville nearly shoves Sheamus on his ass, pissing Sheamus off more. He charges into the corner and connects with another back breaker. Sheamus with a running knee lift and a bearhug as Michael Cole lists all the previous King of the Ring winners, including the non-televised ones from the late 80’s (but doesn’t mention names like Mabel, Ken Shamrock, and Billy Gunn). Sheamus goes for the forearms, but calls an audible and shoves Neville off the apron, onto the announcer’s table. Neville rolls back in to avoid the count-out and gets a punt to the face for it. Sheamus with a hip throw and trash talk. White Noise connects, but he doesn’t cover. Suddenly, Dolph Ziggler shows up for some payback. Neville avoids the Brogue Kick and knocks Sheamus silly with an enziguri. Neville to the top rope, and the Red Arrow finishes at 5:45. I am SHOCKED he was given any kind of a pinfall victory over Sheamus. I would’ve put money on a DQ or Count-Out. ** Sheamus dominated too much of the match, considering it was only 5-minutes long, but it was a watchable 5-minutes. I think the next match has quite an obvious result. Sheamus and Ziggler do a post-match pull apart, with Sheamus sporting a bloody eye, probably above the eye-brow.

R-Truth vs. Bad News Barrett:

I don’t think R-Truth has much of a shot at advancing, but you never know with WWE. R-Truth is all about his fear of Spiders and promises a declaration of getting rid of all Spiders, which segues into some nonsensical rambling about a castle and a draw bridge and a moat. Who knew 15-years later, K-Kwik would still have a career in WWE? I miss Barrett’s jacket with a rose in the lapel. Lockup and Truth with a quick roll-up for two. Barrett runs into an elbow and Truth with another roll up. Barrett quickly recovers and connects with a big boot. Barrett with a flurry of knees, sending Truth to the floor. Back inside, a cover only gets a one count. Truth fights out of a chinlock and connects with a pair of clotheslines. Truth with a front suplex for two. Barrett avoids the Scissors Kick, but Truth connects with the jumping heel kick for another two count. Whip to the ropes and Truth with corkscrew body press for two. Truth goes for his face-buster, but Barrett shrugs him off and hits the Winds of Change for a near fall. Barrett misses a charge and the Truth face-buster connects, but Barrett has his foot on the ropes at two. Barrett rolls to the floor, thumbs Truth in the eyes, and charges back in with the Bull Hammer for three at 4:41. **1/4 Competitive match and fun to watch, regardless of the outcome never really being in doubt.

- Career retrospective on Verne Gagne, who passed away on Monday, April 27th at the age of 89. WWE almost always hits a home run on these kinds of videos, and this was another well done effort.

King of the Ring Finals: Neville vs. Bad News Barrett:

This is why I found the placement of the last two matches odd… wouldn’t it be a better story for the babyface to have to come back and wrestle almost immediately after his last match? Neville went over at Extreme Rules, so we should expect Barrett to win tonight. Neville is still selling from the beating he received from Sheamus. Barrett immediately stalls on the floor after the bell. He returns to the ring, going after the ribs. He misses a charge and gets taken over with a spinning head scissors. Neville with a jumping heel kick, but Barrett quickly comes back with a clothesline, sending him to the floor. Barrett follows him out and plants him with a slam. Back in the ring, Barrett pounds away with rights and a punt to the midsection for a two count. Springboard back breaker gets two. Barrett hooks a modified bow-and-arrow. Neville counters the springboard attempt and unloads with kicks. He comes off the ropes and this time he sends Barrett to the floor. He quickly follows with the Asai Moonsault. Back in the ring, Neville with a missile dropkick. Neville with more kicks and a running boot to the side of the head. German suplex gets two. Neville comes off the ropes and gets planted with Winds of Change for a near fall. Barrett with Wasteland for another two count. He sets up for the Bull Hammer, but Neville ducks under and rolls him up for two! Enziguri connects. Neville to the top rope, but Barrett rolls out of the way. Neville tries a diving splash into the corner, eats Bull Hammer instead, and Bad News Barrett is the King of the Ring at 7:08. I almost thought they were going to give it to Neville. *** Solid match to finish off the Tournament, I just wish all of the matches had a little bit more time, especially the Semi’s and Finals, to push them to the next level.

- We finish things off with the coronation of the King, complete with robe, crown and goofy looking scepter. He will rule the kingdom with “an iron fist and a bull hammer.” Two days later and Barrett will begin a new Losing Streak, because WWE makes zero sense these days with how they book things from week to week.

Final Thoughts: Nothing more than filler for the week. You could smell “thrown together at the last minute” a mile away. While most of the matches were alright, I just feel like to fully use the concept of a tournament, the entire 3 round system has to be done in one night, and the babyface leading into the Finals should have more difficult of a path. Give a heel a bye and make the face work a grueling 15-20 minute Semi and force him into the Finals 10 minutes later with the exhaustion factor to give the heel a cheap win, even if it’s clean.

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