How WWE's King of the Ring Can Be Relevant Again

The idea of bringing the King of the Ring tournament back to pay-per-view has been a popular opinion among fans, and it has only gained steam with WWE announcing that they've scrapped the Money in the Bank event, leaving a mid-June opening in their PPV schedule.

For 10 years, King of the Ring reigned supreme in that mid-June slot, giving rise to Superstars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar along the way.

The stars could not have aligned more perfectly for WWE to bring back this once great event. With many fans consistently clamoring for the days of old, breathing life into a PPV event that hasn't been relevant for almost 10 years is the perfect way for WWE to push up-and-coming mid-card talent into the stratosphere.

If the WWE is going to do this, however, they've got to think bigger. We've been forced to endure decidedly forgettable KotR tournaments bi-annually since 2006. It can't be the same tired format as before. The idea is solid, but it could be made better for its triumphant return to pay-per-view.

Under the current format, 16 competitors are placed in a single-elimination tournament, and a series of 15 matches occur, usually over the course of the week or two leading up to the event and at the event itself.

WWE.com lists somewhere in the ballpark of 50 Superstars, most of them languishing in their current roles and eager for a shot at glory. Let them have their moment. Expand the tournament. Sixteen competitors? Ha! Child's play. Stretch it out to 32 entrants. Double the number of matches. Double the chance for surprise and intrigue.

King of the Ring needs to have a real tournament feel; something akin to March Madness. We're led to believe that, like the NCAA Tournament, "anything can happen" in the WWE. What usually happens, however, is the same Superstars end up in the same matches week in and week out, often with the same outcome.

King of the Ring offers a chance for the underdog to truly shine. That's why people watch March Madness. They know that a major team like Duke or UConn will probably win, but along the way the Butlers and the George Masons of the world come out of obscurity to shock the world.

For the first time since its inception, the WWE needs to seed the tournament. Actual numbers next to a Superstar's name, with the big guns like Randy Orton or Dolph Ziggler getting the high seeds. It clues the fans in to who is probably going to win, and makes it much more shocking and satisfying when they don't. Fans love to cheer for the underdog and expect every year that at least one team will bust the bracket with an upset. WWE needs to capitalize on that.

Out of curiosity, I put together a mock bracket consisting of 13 mostly mid-card competitors apiece from RAW and SmackDown, as well as six competitors who are primarily featured on Superstars. Some call them underdogs, others call them sacrificial lambs. I call it entertainment. It allows for matches we might never have seen otherwise, and it gets perpetually overlooked Superstars some recognition. At its heart, King of the Ring has always been about pushing under-utilized talent to the next level.

Split the field into four sub-groups of eight Superstars each, similar to the NCAA's regional brackets, and watch the carnage and chaos unfold. Will the likes of Tyson Kidd or Trent Baretta pull off a stunning upset? Will former Broskis Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins end up facing each other at some point in the tournament? Will the #heel Dolph Ziggler show off all the way to the finals? Will serial loser Drew McIntyre finally get hot at exactly the right time and make a deep run?

These are the kinds of questions that WWE needs fans to ask themselves. WWE needs the fans to believe that anything can happen. They need fans to believe that on any given night the cards can fall right and a jobber from Superstars can take an established Superstar to the limit. The WWE needs a King of the Ring.

Many thanks to Bleacher Report correspondent Travis Smith for his recent article about reviving King of the Ring.