Fantasy Booking: King of the Ring 2019

While re-watching matches from the 2018 G1 Classic from New Japan Pro Wrestling, I began thinking about how putting a high stakes profile on a seemingly routine match would benefit both the wrestlers in the ring and the product as a whole. Simply putting a WWE/Universal Championship opportunity up for grabs makes a match important and relevant to the future of the product.

I decided to make this a SmackDown Live exclusive 8-man tournament, since RAW's upper mid-card didn't seem as competitively even. On SDL the eight wrestlers I have chosen all have a valid chance of winning the tournament and having an amazing championship match against Daniel Bryan, with a decent chance at the WWE Championship.

Right off the bat it should be cleared up that this will not be a Pay Per View event, rather a series of matches taking place on TV, with the championship match being on a PPV. The tournament will be announced the SmackDown after WrestleMania, with the finals taking place in the opening match at Money in the Bank, and the championship match against Daniel Bryan, who is still champion by the PPV, in the main event.

The first match is a qualifying match, also a United States Championship rematch between Rusev(c) and Shinsuke Nakamura. Rusev narrowly defeats Nakamura, in the main event of that nights SmackDown, finishing the match with a jumping side kick and the Accolade. The next week opens with Andrade challenging R-Truth for the second slot in the tournament, with Truth losing by count out after a Hammerlock DDT to the apron. Throughout the night matches are announced for future dates and a main event match of Mustafa Ali verses Rey Mysterio. In said bout, both men are shown to be good contenders with each showing off their areal skills in and outside the ring. Ali pins Mysterio to take the third spot after an 054 splash.

In the next few weeks several matches take place to fill out the rest of the tournament, The New Day has a triple threat with Big E coming out on top over Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, Tye Dillinger defeats Samoa Joe by disqualification when Randy Orton RKO's Dillinger to pay Joe back for eliminating him from the Elimination Chamber, and Randy Orton defeats Shelton Benjamin after a competitive match.

For the second to last spot a fatal-4 way elimination match was announced, with a mystery opponent joining AJ Styles, The Miz, and Jeff Hardy. The final entry, and the final entrance, is a returning Luke Harper, who eliminates Jeff Hardy and The Miz. Styles and Harper have a long encounter lasting nearly as long as the first half of the match. When Styles goes for a Phenomenal Forearm, Harper hits him with a huge discus clothesline, laying out Styles for the three count. A huge ovation ends the night with Styles saying farewell to the SmackDown fans and, the next week on RAW, shows up to challenge Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship.

With only one spot remaining, Shane McMahon books a massive battle royal with all of the competitors who haven't gotten a chance at a spot yet, explaining that those who lost have been given their chance already. Sanity, The Bar, the Club, Usos, Colons, Aiden English, Sin Cara, and Rowan are all in the match which comes down to a final four of The Usos and The Bar. Sheamus eliminates Jimmy, then nearly eliminating Jey when Cesaro dumps both men out of the ring simultaneously, taking the eighth spot in the tournament.

In the first round of the tournament, Rusev defeats Dillinger with the Accolade, Andrade and Ali have an amazing match with Andrade picking up a win after a draping Hammerlock DDT, Kingston and Woods help Big E, via distraction, to defeat Cesaro, and Harper gets some long awaited revenge on a former rival turn ally turn enemy, Randy Orton.

A battle of the heavyweights starts off the semi-finals with Rusev and Big E having an earth shacking encounter. Both New Day members were banned from ring side but Lana wasn't so, when Lana distracted Big E for a split second, Rusev was able to hit his signature and submit Big E. The final match on TV is Andrade verses Harper, a fast paced match up until Harper hits his first discus clothesline. Harper was in control for several minutes up until the final few seconds of the match when Andrade was able to catch him on the top rope, hitting a massive hammerlock DDT off the top turnbuckle.

At the Money in the Bank PPV, the final match sees Andrade finally get his first title shot on a PPV when he first takes down Rusev and wins the tournament. In the main event Bryan defended the WWE Championship against Andrade in a, potentially, 5 star match, hitting big moves and telling the story of Andrade's journey to this moment, his patently waiting for the right moments to strike and finally hitting his finishers on Bryan. In the end Bryan is able to take down the 2019 King of the Ring winner but Andrade receives massive respect from the WWE locker room and the WWE Universe.

That's how I would book a rebooted King of the Ring tournament. With enough hype and stellar matches it's guaranteed that this would be a success if given actual stakes involved: the WWE title shot for the winner. Keeping nearly every match on TV lets the every week fans get the most out of the tournament, showing off big matches for live audiences who should be rewarded for their dedication. A surprise return for Harper, a brand switch for Styles, The Bar showing signs of breaking, a potential singles run for Big E, a Samoa Joe verses Randy Orton feud, and Andrade most likely getting a title opportunity for the United States championship against Rusev, and winning, are all big story lines and even more reasons to have a tournament like this in a time where, creatively, WWE is struggling to produce good booking and stories.