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What's Working, What Isn't - King of the Ring Breakdown

Nov 29, 2010 - 2:37:32 PM by Allen Craig

The King of the Ring is tonight on the special three hour addition of RAW. I'm looking forward to the show tonight as a fan of in-ring wrestling and hoping the matches, especially the final, get the right amount of time. I hope they are the only matches on the show, although the ridiculousness that is "Juan Cena" is supposed to have his debut match. But hopefully that will be it. Take away commercial time, promo time, Miss USA being there and whatever they have planned for her, and there is still plenty of time to give each match a sense of importance and allow the Final match to tell a story and crown a new King.

While I always hope for good matches, longer than the 3-5 minute meaningless throw-aways, I'm holding out hope for tonight. If you watched Smackdown you saw a 17 minute match between Kofi and Jack Swagger. It wasn't a classic but it was a damn good match. About as good as we'll get for a free-tv match nowadays. And did I mention it was given 17 minutes? 17!

Being realistic, there will be more matches. But I'm hoping the tournament is the focus. Give me 5 to 10 minute matches and then a 15 minute final match with no interference and I'll be happy. Here are the participants...

Daniel Bryan: I'd be pleased but also shocked if he won this tournament. He's the US Champ. I don't think WWE will also make him the KOTR. There's no storyline set up following it, unless it's created tonight.

John Morrison: I'd like him to finally get the push we've been expecting for years now. And he might get it. Still, I just don't see it for him tonight.

Alberto Del Rio: My pick. They have pushed him to the moon since his debut. He might lose if Rey Mysterio shows up and interferes.

Sheamus: He would have been my pick but WWE 101 tells us that if they mention it on TV you can bet the opposite is going to happen. Still, with Triple H coming back, the King of Kings vs. the King of the Ring would be nice, especially with their built in history. Maybe HHH returns and screws Sheamus in the Final. If it’s not Del Rio, then Sheamus is my pick.

Cody Rhodes: Doubtful. I like Rhodes a lot and he's been putting in quality matches and he's one the guys that can give us the match of the night. Maybe an opener of him vs. Bryan? Give them 12 minutes and it could be gold! Gold I tell you! Gold!

Kofi Kingston: He's pushed, he's not, he's pushed, he's not. What gives? I doubt he wins it but he sure could use the push again.

Drew McIntyre: See above. He was heavily pushed and has since settled back into mid-card hell. He has an outside shot at winning but I'm thinking that it won't happen.

Big Zeke: My dark horse pick. I'm going Del Rio as my pick but I think Zeke will be given a chance soon and this is a perfect opportunity. I think he gets to the Final. And he might win the thing. But Del Rio and Sheamus can talk, and he just doesn't. In WWE, you need mic skills. And the winner, I’m sure, will be interviewed at the end. Zeke needs to be portrayed as an indestructible heel. After this, my idea would be to have the cowardly heel Champion, the Miz, hire Zeke as his personal bodyguard.

That's the field. If you can appreciate good wrestling, every one of these guys (with the exception of Zeke) can put on a good match. My expectations are high.

Allen Craig