10 Wrestlers Who Crowned Themselves King

source// wwe.com

Being a King is a bloody wonderful existence. You get to do what you want when you want to, and run other people’s lives the way you see fit.

Just look at the way I run my WhatCulture Kingdom, for example. I allow Pacitti Club and BX to battle it out purely for my entertainment. When I get sick of their childish squabbles I’ll make sure they leave for pastures new.

There’s certainly no other way I’d want to live my life.

Being a king is so appealing that many wrestling Superstars have tried to pass it off as a gimmick of their own. Whether it be via a monumental King of the Ring win that they decide to make a full time part of their makeup, or something about their character that makes them the king of a specialist subject area, being the king is important in the world of wrestling.

Of course, being a king automatically means you’re better than your run of the mill Superstar – unless you’re King Barrett of course but that’s another story.

Here are 10 wrestling superstars who crowned themselves king. I’d just like to clarify that I’m better than each of the following men, as the fans of WhatCulture crowned me as their king, rather than my ego forcing a homemade crown upon my head.

Honourable Mentions – King Of The Ring Winners

Here we have those modern day King of the Ring winners who decided to keep the royal schtick as part of their gimmick.

The likes of William Regal, Sheamus and latterly King Barrett have all won the prestigious tournament and carried on calling themselves king for weeks and months after.

Of course, judging by Barrett’s current plight which will see him leave WWE in the summer, and by how you probably didn’t remember Regal and Sheamus classed themselves as royalty for a period of time, they were all really bad kings.

Then of course we have King Mabel, who won the 1995 tournament before carrying the gimmick forward with his manager, Sir Mo.

Mabel even had a one-off King of the Ring belt designed for him which was never seen on television.

King Mabel was arguably the most successful King ever to come out of KOTR, going onto main event with the likes of Diesel before losing his place in WWE for being just too damn dangerous in the ring.

Finally, we have King BookAHH, who was SmackDown’s World Heavyweight Champion as well as being King of the Ring in 2006.

The moral of this story is to never win King of the Ring in the modern day – only bad things come of it.

10. King Harley Race

Since Harley was the first to win the King of the Ring and carry the royalty on into his own gimmick, it’s only right that he gets his own entry on this countdown.

Harley was a huge name in the wrestling fraternity when he joined WWE in 1986. Since WWE didn’t, and still don’t recognise any other company outside of their own, the powers that be were keen to give him a new look. First, they bleached his hair blonde and called him ‘Handsome’ Harley Race, before he won he ’86 King of the Ring tournament.

He would come to the ring in a cape and crown that look very similar to mind, and would make his opponents bow and kneel before him – much like I do every time I defeat Jack The Jobber on FIFA and the like.

9. King Haku

After King Harley was struck down with a legitimate stomach injury in a match against Hulk Hogan, there was a crown without an owner in the world of the then WWF.

Step forward Haku, who was crowned king by Bobby Heenan while Race recovered from a hernia. Haku and his tag team partner Tama were added to the Heenan Family slightly beforehand.

Race later returned which set up a friendly match at Royal Rumble 89 with the crown on the line – a match that Haku won to keep the cape and crown.

This would start an ongoing  in WWE, where being King of the Ring meant more than just winning a one-off tournament.

8. King Duggan

King Haku was placed in a feud with Hacksaw Jim Duggan after winning the crown – a feud that ended with Duggan winning the crown in a match on an edition of Superstars in May, 1989.

Duggan was now “King of the WWF,” and arguably the most unlikely king in the history of WWE. He was your common blue collar guy who suddenly had royalty thrust upon him thanks to one win.

Nevertheless, Hacksaw embraced the crown and held it with some distinction, producing arguably the best work of his career against the next entry in this list.

7. Macho King

The next Superstar who fancied crowning themselves King was Macho Man Randy Savage. He and King Duggan embarked on a programme of matches that produced some of Jim’s best work, which culminated in a match for the crown.

Macho Man became Macho King with a win over Duggan in September 1989 and would go on to use it for the next couple of years. He would be crowned by his brother Lanny, and was given a sceptre as a present from Ted DiBiase – his weapon of choice during this run.

After a brief feud with Hulk Hogan, Macho King would go on to battle the likes of Ultimate Warrior and Dusty Rhodes, with his feud against Warrior leading to a career ending match at WrestleMania VII. Savage lost this match, although, he did continue to wrestle afterwards with Warrior kayfabe giving him permission to do so.

After a brief break from television, Savage returned as a commentator under the Macho Man name, with THAT wedding the Miss Elizabeth happening a few months later.

6. Owen Hart – King Of Harts

A story of a little brother trying to outdo his big brother. How great was the Owen vs. Bret feud back in the day?

Owen stood by Bret’s side during The Hitman’s feud with Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, which started after Bret’s second King of the Ring win at the first KOTR pay per view in 1993. Jerry, naturally, claimed that he was the only king in WWE, and Bret disagreed.

The seeds for this sibling rivalry were sewn at Survivor Series 1993, when a collision between Bret and Owen cost the younger Hart his place in a multiple man tag match. This prompted Owen to turn heel and start dressing like his brother – although, they did have a shot at the tag team championships after this where The Rocket confirmed his heel status by attacking an injured Bret.

Owen would enter the 1994 King of the Ring tournament with the sole aim of trumping his brother’s achievements. He did so, beating Razor Ramon in the final and proclaiming himself the King of Harts.

5. Cesaro – King Of Swing

Cesaro performs a big swing, makes sure that he’s the only one on the main roster to do so, so becomes the King of Swing.

It’s only natural in the WWE Universe. And it rhymes, which is a bonus…

The nickname was given to the Swiss Superman by his then manager Paul Heyman. T-shirts were printed and everything. This could have been the gimmick that the ‘charisma-less’ Cesaro needed to get over in the eyes of Vince McMahon et al.

However, he was started to get cheered when he was supposed to be a heel, which forced WWE to pull the plug on the idea.

Why didn’t they just call an audible and run with Cesaro as a face, like they’ve done with The New Day in recent times. It’s hard to comprehend that those three started as faces before their monumental heel run.

4. Daniel Bryan – King Of The Indies

Have you ever wondered how Ring Of Honor was born? It’s off the back of the King of the Indies tournament from 2001. Promoters though that they could build a promotion off the back of this pure bell to bell wrestling schtick, so formed a new brand.

All Pro Wrestling held the 2nd “King of the Indies” tournament, which showcased premiere independent wrestlers from across the United States including the likes of AJ Styles, Doug Williams, Brian Kendrick, Christopher Daniels, Low Ki, Kazarian, Samoa Joe, and Bryan Danielson.

The then American Dragon defeated Low Ki in the final, crowning himself King of the Indies – a tag that stuck with him till his WWE debut in 2010.

3. Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler

“You know Fargo, I’ll admit, you’ve been the king of Memphis Wrestling for a long, long time. But unfortunately, you’re looking at the kid that’s going to knock you off your throne.”

The promo that started Jerry Lawler’s ascension to the throne of wrestling in Memphis, and beyond.

Despite spending the majority of his early in-ring career as a jobber, Jerry Jarrett was looking for the next star of Memphis Wresting and saw Lawler as THE guy. Jerry was anointed as the man for Jackie Fargo to pass the Memphis torch to.

While feuding with his mentor, Lawler’s ‘King promo’ had stuck in the minds of fans at the time, who openly acknowledged this former jobber as ‘The King’ without prompt. After overcoming Fargo and becoming the undisputed king of Memphis Wrestling, Jerry ran with the gimmick and became ‘The King’ of professional wrestling period.

And even thought the likes of Bret Hart have tried to knock him off his throne, he has survived and remains the undisputed king of wrestling.

Although I’d just like to add that he’s blocked me on Twitter, so obviously sees King Ross as a serious threat to his throne.

King Ross > Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler.

2. Shinsuke Nakamura – King Of Strong Style

Nakamura hits and kicks really hard, so he’s known as the King of Strong Style. It’s quite the title to have over in Japan where everyone is so stiff.

Under the tutelage of Antonio Inoki, Nakamura’s early career was centered around MMA. He placed an emphasis on technique, strike speed and submission holds over the theatricality aspect of wrestling.

Nakamura ticks all of the boxes for a superstar in the Far East with a realistic offence, strong submission, genuine toughness, ‘fighting spirit’ (Toukon), and plenty of kicks.

In fact, it was during this early part of his career that he also competed in actual MMA matches and finished with a 3-1-1 record.

He carried this over to professional wrestling, and married it with his undeniable charisma as an entertainer.

He’s a rock star who will legitimately kick your head off, so he’s destined to completely dominate the WWE Universe when he debuts at NXT TakeOver:Dallas.

1. Triple H – King Of Kings

Bow down to the, bow down to the king… There’s only one man that I could have at number one on this list, isn’t there?

Triple H crowned himself the King of Kings after climbing the mountain in WWE – he even had Motörhead perform theme calling him as such which he still uses to this day.

He sees himself as the biggest name in the history of wrestling. And even though we all know he’s wrong, there are a few bigger names than his ever will be, he’s certainly in the conversation at least.

Despite hugging himself out of a King of the Ring win in 1996 in the Curtain Call incident with his fellow Kliq brethren, Hunter ate the required amount of sh*t before clawing his way back into the main event picture in WWE.

His record of 14 World Titles speaks for itself, he really is one of the best of all time – even if his name will always have an asterisk next to it after his marriage to Vince McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie.