King of the Ring is back, but who will take the crown? The tournament has recently seen the last of the first round bouts and it has already given us a few good matches in the process. It has allowed for a few lesser appearing matchups and will inevitably allow for more in the near future. With the final at Clash of Champions still a while away, let’s have a look at what has happened in round one as well as what is to come as the tournament progresses. You can see my first round predictions here.
Round One Results
Winners in bold.
Raw
Samoa Joe vs Cesaro
Ricochet vs Drew McIntyre
Cedric Alexander vs Sami Zayn
Baron Corbin vs The Miz
Smackdown
Elias vs Kevin Owens
Ali vs Buddy Murphy
Chad Gable vs Shelton Benjamin
Andrade vs Apollo Crews
With the first round from the King of the Ring tournament now in the rear-view mirror, it is worth looking back to see how each match played into the overarching story. Samoa Joe and Cesaro opened the tournament on last week’s episode of Raw to an unfortunately muted crowd. The match was as good as a Raw match could be, but without the reaction from the crowd it fell a bit flat.
Cedric Alexander’s victory over Sami Zayn followed, with the former 205 Live man on a seemingly big push. Unfortunately, someone had to take the fall, it appears Zayn is still considered surplus to requirements on the stacked Monday Night Raw roster.
The proceeding Smackdown saw Elias vs Kevin Owens and Andrade vs Apollo Crews. Shane O’Mac shocked nobody by inserting himself in the KO match and fast-counted Elias to victory. As with the tournament opener on Raw, the match fell flat, with the crowd actively bored throughout. Andrade vs Apollo was a well worked bout; both participants are extremely talented and put on a good performance, even if the result was inevitable.
This week’s Raw had Baron Corbin vs The Miz, in which Corbin won and put on a great heel display in the process, soaking up the hatred of the fans and prematurely sitting on the throne while berating the audience, excellent. The most anticipated match of the first round had to be the unexpectedly early clash between Drew McIntyre and Ricochet, which was probably the best match of the first round in terms of both crowd reaction and in-ring work.
The final two matches followed on Smackdown with Chad Gable predictably beating Shelton Benjamin with a lovely finishing sequence, which was very smooth and worth a watch. Ali defeated Buddy Murphy in a match that was always going to be good — the two have wonderful chemistry as they’ve proved in previous meetings.
Where do we go from here?
The next round is as follows.
Raw
Samoa Joe vs Ricochet
Cedric Alexander vs Baron Corbin
Smackdown
Elias vs Ali
Chad Gable vs Andrade
Takeaways From The First Round
It seems WWE can’t resist a face vs heel match.
Shane McMahon is the constant thorn in the side of us all, his heel run has become unbearable and has surpassed its welcome. Just like the Baron Corbin as Raw General Manager days, it has overstayed its welcome and has gone from heel heat to “go-away heat.” The gimmick needs to end and for Shane to leave for a while, giving us time to miss him again. Remember how good the original return was in 2016?
Buddy Murphy, hopefully, keeps his place on the Raw card. The recent display against Roman Reigns highlighted his suitability for the big leagues.
Sami Zayn looks to have moved into the Intercontinental Title picture with his partnership with Shinsuke Nakamura. Let’s hope it leads to a push for the newly paired duo, who desperately need it for themselves and to give the title its legitimacy back.
Push Cesaro.
Predictions
I’m going off my initial predictions from which 7/8 of the first round matches were correct. I still believe Ricochet will win overall, the brackets look to have a full run of heels for Ricochet to vanquish if my original predictions come to fruition.
Raw
Samoa Joe vs Ricochet
I’m sure Samoa Joe will get sneakily rolled up in the same way he does for all his high-profile matches. Ricochet looks on track for the final, and with the backing of Paul Heyman, you can see him going all the way.
Winner: Ricochet
Cedric Alexander vs Baron Corbin
An excellent heel showing from Corbin in the opening round will give Ricochet an extra boost in the following round when he puts Corbin away. Cedric looks set for a push on his own outside of the tournament so a loss wouldn’t be too damaging.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Smackdown
Elias vs Ali
We may be in for a repeat of the first round with Shane McMahon’s constant, unbearable threat of interference. I don’t believe that Ali will be the one to conquer the two-headed demon that is Shane and Elias.
Winner: Elias
Chad Gable vs Andrade
Similar to how Andrade vs Apollo from round one had a predictable outcome, you just can’t see Gable winning this one. But it could be the best match of this round. Let’s hope it’s given time.
Winner: Andrade
The second round of the King of the Ring tournament is set to begin on the September 2nd episode of Monday Night Raw. Each match of the round looks to have good potential for quality, if they’re given time. But with Clash of Champions closing in and a lot of title matches to build, the question is: will they have time to do it right?
Let me know in the comments who you think will win the 2019 King of the Ring tournament.
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