King of the Ring is back.
On tonight's episode of WWE Raw it was announced that the King of the Ring tournament would return for next week's Raw.
"The king has returned." --
— WWE (@WWE) August 13, 2019
The #KingOfTheRing tournament RETURNS NEXT MONDAY on #RAW! pic.twitter.com/48WKyuyfyV
WWE announced the following competitors:
RAW: Baron Corbin, Cesaro, Cedric Alexander, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, The Miz
SmackDown: Ali, Andrade, Apollo Crews, Buddy Murphy, Chad Gable, Elias, Kevin Owens, Shelton Benjamin
The tournament will begin next week on Raw and continue for multiple weeks. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that the finals will be held at WWE Clash of Champions on Sept. 15.
The King of the Ring tournament began in 1985 with Don Muraco being crowned as the first-ever King. Subsequent winners included Harley Race, Randy Savage, Ted Dibiase, Tito Santana, and Bret Hart. In 1993, the tournament was turned into a pay-per-view and once again won by Bret Hart. The pay-per-view ran until 2002 and helped launched the careers of Steve Austin, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Edge, and Brock Lesnar.
After a four year hiatus, the tournament returned in 2006 and was won by Booker T, kicking off his famous King Bookah gimmick. William Regal, Sheamus, and Wade Barrett would go on to win future versions of King of the Ring. The tournament has not been held since 2015.
Keep up with everything happening on tonight's Raw with Fightful's ongoing coverage.
