King Barrett & Former King Sheamus

King of the Ring 2015 was indeed won by Wade Barrett. I still feel the WWE could have done more to make the tournament feel more important. I know they are trying to promote the WWE Network, but this felt like a "Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma'am" situation. In any case, it's done.

How will Barrett do with this gimmick? How far will the WWE go with him? Barrett usually plays his roles well. He was good as the leader of Nexus. The "Bad News" gimmick was great for him. Even when he is left as a generic heel, he still does that well. Winning King of the Ring sometimes leads to bigger pushes. Barrett has held the Intercontinental Championship a few times, but he can do better than that. The WWE Championship is currently held by a heel and the faces chasing after him are many. I do not imagine Barrett being pushed as a contender any time soon. On the other side of things, winning King of the Ring might have been only a gimmick change for him and he will remain in the same midcard position he was in prior to winning it. The least they could do is give him another midcard title run sometime this year. I think he can play the gimmick well, but the worst thing the WWE can do is have him job too much.

Sheamus is a former King of the Ring. He has been teaming with Barrett lately. The topic I want to talk about, does it feel like Sheamus has lost momentum since his return? When he returned, he seemed like a strong heel. He seemed to have reinvented himself. Yes, he looks stupid, but he was fresher than when he was last around. He has lost a few matches. I am not a fan of Sheamus, but I feel they dropped the ball. They could have developed him to be a true force. They could have then used him to put over Roman Reigns, feud with John Cena over the United States Championship, or work with some other worthy face that can use the rub. I am not saying he needed to win this year's King of the Ring. There are a lot of ways they could have had him lose his match. But it just seems like he has found his old, usual spot on the roster.

King Of The Ring 2015

I am glad they brought back King of the Ring. I like things like this. It can raise some interest in the midcard.

But there are a few criticisms. First, it would have been nice if they brought back the King of the Ring PPV. If not that, devote an entire episode of Raw to the tournament. Make it a special. Second, there are too few guys involved in this. I would have added in a few more names. I think they have enough guys to make it interesting, especially if they are utilizing some guys that are obviously lower-midcarders these days. A 16-man tournament would have been nice. Last thing, Chyna is the only woman to have been involved in this tournament.  That was over a decade ago. I know the WWE isn't going to go far with male-female action these days, but it would have made it fun if a diva was included somehow. This issue is obviously not huge, but the first two things I mentioned could have helped this seem more important.

Who wins? Barrett. Sheamus won it before. I cannot imagine R-Truth making it to the finals. If Barrett, a heel, makes it to the finals, it is unlikely Sheamus, another heel, also goes that far. He will probably lose in some cheap fashion to Neville. I know I said Neville should be pushed well in Daniel Bryan's absence, but he just debuted. He does not need to win this. He's not the next Brock Lesnar. That leaves Barrett. Why not? I like that.

King Sheamus

WWE really working on keeping Sheamus fresh. Triple H will be back, but seriously? Sheamus? He has been WWE Champion twice already. I am sure the WWE could have found some other way to keep Sheamus strong.

Morrison? Would have been nice if he won, but WWE seems to like heels winning King of the Ring. I would have liked Alberto Del Rio to win it, but WWE insists on still pushing that feud with Rey Mysterio. If that was not there, I would say it was a mistake not to give this man the credibility to be a top heel of Smackdown. Besides, he's entertaining.

I can go through the other names in the tournament, but those I already mentioned are the top ones I feel were worthy. I guess Sheamus was still on the list. In other news, this Morrison/Sheamus thing continues to remind me of Kofi/Orton.