Welcome to Gaia! ::

Did I like the King of the Ring tournament and believe it should have been brought back? The answers to both parts of that question are a resounding "yes".

But I can tell you that I was rather disappointed with the way WWE did revive it. One week’s worth of hype! Having it all take place on a weekly televised show. It was all so underwhelming and whirlwind that it immediately didn't seem to have the importance of past events that (at least partially) took place on pay-per-views. Having said that, I guess its existence was better than nothing, so I won't labor the point.

Who should have won the tournament. Well, WWE and I were in agreement on one factor; The winner should be a heel. Just with the way things were carried out, I didn't see how the win would significantly benefit any of the faces that were likely to take their place in the tournament. I am certain someone could make a decent case for Finlay, Jericho and/or CM Punk, but I don't think any of them would be strong ones.

So I basically looked back to the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania 24. The man who I predicted to win the match; Mr.Kennedy. And the man I wanted to win the match; MVP. With Kennedy not competing in the King of the Ring tournament, my choice as to who should win was definitively MVP. While I wouldn't have wanted him to make too much of the gimmick (if anything, his character needs to be refined down), I do feel that he would have been able to work it in rather effectively & beneficially to result in him moving up the card steadily.

But no, the tournament occurs and we have William Regal become our latest King of the Ring! Now I am neither the hugest detractor nor fan of Regal's work. I know he has his fans, but I really do not see the long-term usefulness of this decision as compared to giving the crown to a younger up & comer. I say this even knowing that it is quite clear that Regal will now wrestle more often and be given some kind of push. But I have always had an issue with Regal's wrestling style and how awkward it is for his opponents to adapt to him. So while I can see this angle possibly having some short-term benefits that is about it.

Then there is the question of whether or not Regal will now hand over the General Manager role of Raw to someone else. No matter what WWE have planned for the new king, I would suggest not. This is simply because he plays that role rather well, whether it is as a heel, face or impartial administrator. So even with him in the ring more often, I believe it best to keep up his GM role, even if it is only for a month or two to further the storyline. It will probably mean that his heel character will have to be more sharply defined, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I suppose that my conclusion out of all this is that I really hope that the creative department of WWE has a good medium-term plan with where they are heading with this 'King Regal' angle. I have no idea where they are going with it myself and if their plan is sketchy, I can see quite a lot of time being taken up on Raw for no good reason. Maybe there is more behind this decision than meets the eye. Maybe Mr.Regal's backstage alliances have forced WWE's hands here! Or maybe something else is at the heart of the decision.