I miss tournaments.
 

I really do miss having tournaments, I think that they're very easy ways of creating interest for a championship and can create feuds in the early stages.
The intercontinental and US title aren't in any meaningful feuds and I think that they should do 8 man tournaments to decide a number 1 contender leading into a title shot at a PPV.

On top of this I think that they should bring back the King Of The Ring with the King being given a shot at either the WWE or World title, it could be elevated and treated with the same kind of value as winning the MITB case.

Discuss.

Yeah, first PPV I ever saw was Survivor Series: Deadly Games and if it wasn't for the enjoyment I got out of that I probably wouldn't have carried on watching wrestling. Big fan of tournaments.

I was there. I had nosebleed seats with my dad. The whole PPV seemed better than most because you knew you were going to get a new champion.

Plus, it was the debut of the Real Man's Man Stephen Regal.

http://www.lordofrings.gr/userfiles/...l_Mans_Man.jpg

Don't think you can have both KOTR and MITB, they kinda serve the same purpose.

Can't make everyone a main eventer.

Doesn't have to be a main eventer. Could elevate guys from the bottom to the mid-card for the US or IC titles. Wouldn't even have to win. Could see someone capturing interest by being involved in some high quality matches.

the prince of the ring tournament

exactly :)

That tag team tournament that they did recently was pretty sweet. Put a lot of focus on teams. Of course, they can't ever keep that focus there when it comes to tag teams, but it was a good effort.

Tourney for IC champ could be lots of undercard type guys who need some in-ring cred. Big E, Hunico, Tyson Kidd, Titus O'Niel, Slater, Gabriel, Bo Dallas, Ted Dibiase.

Can you imagine the IWC reaction if Bo Dallas were to beat Tyson Kidd? That would be worth it right there.

Best booked tourney ever

I wasn't watching rassling at the time. Can someone explain what it was and why it was so good?

It just gives extra meaning to otherwise pointless matches between guys that ain't got anything going on.

Hell you could have a Star of Superstars kind of tournament just for all the lower midcarders who only get to wrestle on Superstars.

It was the first time you knew that a new champion was going to be crowned for a long time, it had some great talent involved and a number of different storylines running, (Austin trying to get his title back against the corporation, Mankind being Vince's chosen one, The Rock taking his first step as a babyface).

Plus it had some great matches, I remember watching it on the Monday after school with my mate and cheering for the Rock against Shamrock.

Just a great time to be had by all.

I loved the King of the Ring, I would look past the gap/s that we have between the tournaments. A bunch of new faces are on the roster and would help one of them out, or give it to a veteran.

Exactly, I see no downside for bringing KOTR back.

I can't pinpoint a certain event, but when a belt is vacated, I always look forward to a tournament of some sorts to crown a new champ

I think part of it (IMHO) is because for whatever reason it's not done very often.

They should bring KotR back, but not as it's own PPV. Have the tournament take place over the span of a month with bouts on Raw and Smackdown weekly. 16 guys total and the final match should be at the current month's PPV. The eventual King should get a title shot against their choice of champion at the very next PPV.

This would be a good set up, doing it for the second tier titles would make them mean a little bit more.

Nothing will make the mid-card titles "mean more" because A. there are two "world titles" and B. because we're not little kids anymore.

The best singular night of booking in the history of wrestling.

The Deadly Games was a phenomenal show. The birth of the Corporation.

Every single match played a part in the overall story of the ppv, even the seemingly throw away Regal v X-Pac match going to the limit and leaving Austin with a bye in the next round.

Also the huge debut of Gillberg

We just had the finals of a tournament last week.

And then the double turn at the end of the show.

NXT doesn't count

but KOTF does

Corrupt of the Forum*

Seems rather arbitrary.

At risk of overexposing oneself to tournaments, you could watch youtube videos of WCW circa spring 2000 because they had a tournament every other month or so.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9suaCiPixpI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Since they rarely do elimination matches at Survivor Series now, they could hold the KotR tournament there. Maybe give them the "prize" of having a WWE title shot at the Royal Rumble, giving them a good shot of making it to the Wrestlemania main event.

Wait, what?

Card used to be full of them, now there's usually just one.

This would work well, gives the "King" plenty of time to build up to having his title shot at the Rumble.

I kinda want the King of the Ring AND Survivor Series gimmicks to come back completely. The roster is huge. You could expand the KOTR tournament to 32 (maybe even 64) guys with the final 8 on the PPV and do 4 or 5 Survivor Series style matches plus a major titles match or two.

Not only are tourneys awesome but so was Wargames. They need to bring that back.

A Survivor Series elimination-style 16 team King of the War Games tournament.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx...d18mo1_250.gif

That would rule almost as much as a reverse lumberjack match.

I too miss tournaments, especially King of the Ring. They definitely have enough talented guys on the roster who are floundering and have nothing better to do that could be in the tourney and put on some good matches.

Am I crazy or did KOTR winners for a few years or a few times in the 90's, also earn a title shot at Summerslam or the next PPV?

Lesnar did. I feel like that may have been the only time though.

At least as a prize. Other guys have won the KOTR and then gone on to challenge for the title at SummerSlam but I think it was coincidental.

And that's a shame. That was pretty much the whole damned PPV. Almost as much fun as when they used to announce 5 Royal Rumble entrants at a time per week. I still kind of wish they would do that... only leave like 10 people unanounced for one-offs and surprise returns.

Ah, I remembered it happening but wasn't sure if it was something they actually pushed as another award at one point or not. I feel like it would be a cool way to help build up title feuds/matches for Summerslam like the Rumble does (or used to) for Mania. Although with MITB it may be overkill at this point. Even if it did work, they'd probably find some way to screw it up.

Feel like there should have been a tournament to determine Del Rio's opponent for summerslam would have meant more instead of a random triple threat

Nothing to do with tournaments, but when was the last time there was a number 1 contenders match on a PPV?

I've said it in another thread but KOTR is one of the reasons I miss the brand split, both shows having their own bracket so you get an inter brand final and a fresh match up and it fills up tv time for a few weeks prior. I remember them putting over all the former winners who went on to become World champions so giving a title shot as a reward makes sense, it was usually in June so either have a two month build or give the shot at MITB, either way it sets up an angle weeks in advance.

Same with Survivor Series, giving the winning teams a reward, surviving members get a spot in the Rumble or something, maybe even do a gold rush tournament on tv with the winning team to determine the #1 contender for TLC.

ADR vs Swagger I Quit Match at Extreme Rules.

From '96 through '99, it was for the IC title at the pre-SummerSlam PPV such as Vengeance. See Austin, HHH, Shamrock, and Mr. Ass, especially Billy Gunn because as SummerSlam he lost to The Rock in a Kiss My Ass Match while Austin was WWE Champ.

I don't think any of those guys challenged for the IC title at the pre-SummerSlam PPV or SummerSlam.

TNA has a good thing with the Bound For Glory Series - though not a traditional tourney. It means for 2 months they can fill TV with random matches that actually mean something.

When is WWE's traditional "down period"? They could run a massive tournament during that time that might get some interest. Or build it towards/at Survivor Series as it ties-in with the survivor theme. Either book towards it with the winner getting a WWE Title shot at the PPV or have the semi-finals on the show, the eventual winner would have competed twice before their match which would put them in an interesting underdog situation.

Then you have a number of angles spin-off from the tournament matches giving you something to work with towards Christmas/before Rumble Season kicks in.

From Summerslam to the Rumble its pretty much dead so something like that would make perfect sense, you've still got 3 PPVs until the Rumble build up starts and that's an ideal focal point to use on TV to give the casual audience something to relate it too and give the Rumble match itself some stories that make sense.

I think Mabel got the shot too for winning and maybe Booker T did aswell? I am not sure about that though.

What I meant to say is the current year's KOTR winner would typically win the IC title the following SummerSlam:
Austin won IC at SS '97.
HHH won IC at SS '98.
Mr. Ass was derailed by a feud over the rights to the DX name (lost to Road Dogg and X-Pac) and then didn't challenge for the IC title until 2001, never challenging for the WWE title.
Angle won KOTR '00 and challenged unsuccessfully for the WWE title at SS '00 against champ Rock and co-challenger HHH in a triangle match.

I felt like this recently too. With Christian seemingly just getting a random World Title shot, they could have booked him into the role with some big wins over a few weeks in the form of a returning King of the Ring tournament (a move Vickie Guerrero makes to look like an amazing GM).

First Round:

* The former King of the Ring, Sheamus, "defends" his crown against Kane. It doesn't really matter who wins this match, but I'd go with Kane, just because he seems to have more going on at SummerSlam, and putting him over Sheamus would give him a bit of a credibility boost heading into that show. Sheamus can use the leg as an excuse to go out in the first round and take some time off.

* Randy Orton defeats Damien Sandow in a Money in the Bank Winner vs. Money in the Bank Winner round with the RKO.

* Rob Van Dam defeats Antonio Cesaro with the Five Star Frog Splash after getting stretched out and uppercutted a lot.

* Christian defeats former World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger with The Killswitch, using his experience and skill to outsmart the head-strong young hoss.

(Two of these matches happened on SmackDown over the past few weeks anyway.)

Semi-Finals:

* Randy Orton defeats Kane when he counters a Chokeslam into an RKO. The Wyatt Family then attack Kane and tell him to follow the buzzards.

* Christian defeats RVD when he uses his own Frog Splash on RVD. Respect is shown between Christian and RVD after the match.

Finals:

* Christian defeats Orton with The Killswitch when he counters an RKO attempt to become the 2013 King of the Ring. They then have something to hype Christian as when he goes to battle Del Rio at SummerSlam. They can talk about how the career launched Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Edge, Brock Lesnar, Booker T and Sheamus to higher stratospheres. If you have Christian win the World Title at SummerSlam, all of a sudden it makes the tournament mean something again, and they can use it in an entirely different context next year.

Time for a WWE title tournament?!

I found a few of non-WWE tournaments that were pretty cool. Like the King of Europe Cup that took place in Britian that featured Rhyno and Davey Richards. In Japan the 1995 WAR J-Cup that had an early Jericho vs. Benoit match. The Super J Cup in 1994 which Beniot won and had Eddie Guerrero wrestling as Black Tiger.

Part of the reason I love Japanese wrestling is cause they have a ton of different tournaments.

G-1 Climax almost always delivers.

:drool:

Big Show and Orton make it to the finals with the understanding that Orton will do the "Fingerpoke of Doom" on Show for the title, but Show refuses once the bell has rung and pins Orton after a five-minute match to become WWE Champion.

Would love a WWE Championship tournament. 16 participants, 8 matches, 3 hours, 2 finalists, 1 WWE Champion. Do this for RAW.

You might want to check your working out for those numbers there.

What, 4 fatal fourways, then two semifinals, a final, then another final. Eight matches.

Owen fought Bret in the cage at Summerslam '94 after winning KotR as well. Dont think that was directly because of the KotR win tho...

Survivor Series NEEDS to come back. The biggest benefit from bringing traditional surivor series matches and KotR back is just what everyone said, give the guys doing jack shit at least a CHANCE to be involved in something...anything!

Hows this? 20 years after the Foreign Fanatics took on the All Americans at Survivor Series '93 from Boston they decide to do it again, with Survivor Series once again in Boston. Only this time the All Americans are the heels (Real Americans captains) and the Foreign Fanatics are the faces captained by Santino!

The thought of Santino recruiting kayfabe foreigners without taking no for an answer is hillarious to me. Think about Santino getting Tons of Funk, from "Planet Funk" and "Japan" and Kofi from "Jamaica" to team with him to take on the All Real Americans with Swagger, Cesaro, Big E. and Damien Sandow. Great story that would give Santino something funny and actually important to do that would be comedic gold for someone with his skills. The Real Americans doing a sit down interigation style interview process to find the perfect fit for their team would be pretty great to watch too. Colter screaming at Sandow and intimidating him into saying yes also makes me happy to think about.

I saw that Bret/Owen match and it was an awesome cat/mouse match with barely a guy getting the upper hand. Also that idea with Santino sounds pretty awesome.

That tournament they did for the WWE title when CM Punk "left the company" was pretty sweet. Some great matches there. OK, cya later.

As booked by TNA.