The Let’s Watch Some Wrestling "King of Kings of the Ring" Tournament

 

Good Morning!

With the King and Queen of the Ring finals coming up this weekend – I maintain that it’s gonna be Gunther and Nia Jax winning, now that recent bad internet decisions by Tiffany Stratton changed what I thought was a sure bet – I figured I should get started on our tournament that I announced last week. I didn’t write much the last few days because it’s been really nice in Colorado and my wife wanted to make some progress in changing our weed garden back into a flower garden. Now that that’s mostly set, I’m back on my usual bullshit. Which, in this case means…

The Let’s Watch Some Wrestling King of Kings of the Ring Tournament!

With King and Queen of the Ring (aka Sweet Saudi Blood Money 14) coming up on Saturday, we’re going to have to get this party started ASAP. I’ll be simming on the Xbox for the first rounds, and watching the finals for each bracket. By the end of this, we’ll have three winners, and we’ll name the King of Kings of the Ring on Friday in our regularly scheduled blog post. So let’s get into it!

Golden Division

The first round in our Golden Division had some great matchups. Two-thirds of our “King Gimmick” kings moved on, and the guy who could buy a title (and, indeed, bought his own Million Dollar belt) was left lying in the last match of the first round. King Haku was a terrifying menace, and while I’m sure Santana fought valiantly, in the end we always bet on Samoans around here. 

Hart and Savage would have been a barn burner, and one we only got as a singles match in real life four times – Savage over Hart on Saturday Night’s Main Event in 1987, Hart over Savage in house shows in South Bend, Indiana and Yokohama, Japan in ‘90 and ‘94, respectively, and Hart by DQ at WCW/NWO Slamboree in 1998, where Rowdy Roddy Piper served as special guest referee. I know I’ve seen that one, but I’m gonna have to look that up later just to refresh.

Hitman fought valiantly to overcome King Haku, and Race dominated Don Muraco, leading to a bloody final between those two. 

Hitman had the advantage early, opening Harley up with a hard Irish Whip into the turnbuckle that Race exposed almost immediately after the bell rang. Hart kept going for submissions, but Race’s power and size ended up making the difference, and winning him the first of three spots in the King of Kings of the Ring final.

New Gen/Attitude Division

You want dream matches? This bracket has them in spades. Bret Hart vs Triple H and Owen Hart vs Kurt Angle in the first round! I was hoping this bracket would end up with a Hart vs Hart final, but it was not to be. Triple H, already known as the King of Kings (non-Jesus edition) wanted to cement his spot as King of Kings of the Ring, and knocked out Bret in his second entry in our tournament. Owen took out Angle and steamrolled Mr. Ass, and while Triple H had some trouble with Mabel’s size, he eventually overcame the big man, leading to another dream match in this bracket – Triple H versus Owen Hart.

Lots of rope running and reversals started the match, with the first pinfall attempt not coming from either man until well after the five minute mark. That was immediately followed by a boo/yay punches exchange, although I think both guys got more boos than yays. Trips got Owen outside and landed a ton of offense, but a Pedigree attempt was reversed and it was all Hart from then on. Triple H tried a desperation Pedigree that got turned into a lariat, and while he was able to wriggle free from Owen’s Sharpshooter, Hart immediately followed up with a piledriver and got the one-two-three.

Ruthless Aggression/Modern Division

Three of the four most recent Kings of the Ring were knocked out in the first round, leading to SmackDown stalwarts Brock “I’ve been pulled from this game for a good reason” Lesnar facing off against Edge and King Bookah vs Sheamus. Clenching up and pressing X didn’t help my worries, as Brock overtook Cope and sent him to another promotion entirely, and NXT’s announcer/yelling aficionado got one over on Sheamus.

Now while I’m watching these entrances, I’d like to make something clear. Brock is in here because every King of the Ring is, but I’m totally rooting for Booker here. Sure, he’s weird and his podcast is annoying and sometimes he DoorDashes rather than calling NXT matches. But he was also absolutely screwed out of a title by Triple H’s politicking and deserved better. Also, Brock might be gross and we don’t support gross here. 

This is shockingly violent early, with both guys going for some big moves early. After some violence outside the ring, Booker hit his heel kick, but he went for a second and it was reversed. Brock went for a big moonsault, but missed and busted himself open in the process. He still dominated after, although Booker got some good offense in on missed attacks by Lesnar, and after kicking out of an F5 Booker got HOT. I legit popped for a BookEnd, but he only got a two count on it! 

Unfortunately, a missed Harlem Hangover spelled doom for Booker T, and Brock took over from there. A second moonsault from the Beast Incarnate connected, and that was all she wrote.

So that’s our match for Friday! A King of Kings of the Ring triple threat between Brock Lesnar, The King of Harts – Owen Hart, and the original King of the Ring, Harley Race. 

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! We’ll be back Friday to preview King and Queen of the Ring, and to recap the match for King of Kings of the Ring. I’ll also be putting together an AEW Double or Nothing preview after tonight’s Dynamite. If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.

Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next time, dear reader. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!