King Of The Ring 2015 Field Set!

Happy Monday TJR Faithful! So the WWE just released the King Of The Ring bracket for this week. As announced on the Extreme Rules broadcast last night, the tournament will start on Raw tonight and conclude tomorrow during a King Of The Ring WWE Network Special. I thought I’d just share some quick thoughts on the the tourney and the field of competitors.

Firstly, let me say that I’m a bit disappointed by the size of the tourney. It’s a minor gripe but I was hoping that the field would be at least twice this big. The eight man format will likely be just fine, but a field of sixteen lends to more upsets, more craziness and quite frankly more fun. It would have been good to have guys like Big Show, Kane, Roman Reigns, Goldust and especially Jimmy Uso (who you don’t have to keep off TV just because he’s hurt) in the tournament. Throw in The New Day (who can switch out competitors each round), Kidd and Cesaro, and you have yourself a sweet field of sixteen. Makes the whole competition seem more daunting if more guys are in the initial bracket, and having Roman Reigns entered, even if he’s screwed out of winning at some point, adds prestige to the entire process of naming The King Of The Ring.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the competitors themselves. It is a solid group of guys, although we can knock R-Truth squarely out of contention for the ultimate prize. Of the remaining seven competitors, any of them could conceivably win and it would be good for them. Neville’s victory would be a cinderella story of youth overcoming experience, Luke Harper’s would be the unlikely brute besting several world class wrestlers, Barrett’s would be the rise of the arrogant Brit to WWE monarchy, and I personally would love to see King Stardust! It would be a weird, out there use of the character within the WWE narrative and gives Cody something to do, which we can all agree is never a bad thing given how he throws himself into all of his characters.

All that being said, the pool of most likely winners is really three guys. Sheamus, Dolph, and Ambrose all have a good shot at it, in that order. The way the brackets are set up make it seem obvious that we’re heading toward a Ziggler/Sheamus final, with Sheamus getting his win back tomorrow night on the Network. If either of these guys loses, they’ll likely cost the other their match, which leaves the path open for Ambrose to take the crown.

I prefer the former scenario given that the WWE likes to go all out when coronating their King Of The Ring. Ambrose doesn’t seem like the kind of character that would go for that kind of goofy faux royalty shtick, and I have no faith in the WWE not doing that for at least a little while, so him winning would mess with the character as much as any of his many losses has. It’s a shame, because Ambrose is still over despite weird booking over the last few months. Imagine how over he’d be if they’d booked him properly?

So it looks like we’re in store for a mostly predictable (downside of the eight man field), tourney culminating in Sheamus defeating Dolph Ziggler tomorrow night, to win his second King Of The Ring Tournament. It’s the most likely result… but also the most boring.

Tell me what you guys think! Who would you like to see win the tourney? Who will win the crown? Would it be better with an expanded field of sixteen? Are there any names you’d rather see in the bracket? If so who and whom would you have removed from the current bracket to get them in the tournament?

I’m Matty J. Douglas saying let the battle for the coveted crown commence! Enjoy Raw tonight!