By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE revealed the brackets for the King of the Ring tournament and the following first-round matches.
Raw Side of the Bracket
-Cesaro vs. Samoa Joe
-Ricochet vs. Drew McIntyre
-Cedric Alexandr vs. Sami Zayn
-The Miz vs. Baron Corbin
Smackdown Side of the Bracket
-Kevin Owens vs. Elias
-Ali vs. Buddy Murphy
-Chad Gable vs. Shelton Benjamin
-Apollo Crews vs. Andrade
Powell’s POV: The winner of the Cesaro vs. Joe match will face the winner of the Ricochet vs. McIntyre and then so on down the list. The tournament will start on Monday’s Raw and will continue to air on Raw and Smackdown until the finals play out at the Clash of Champions pay-per-view on September 15.
The 2019 #KingOfTheRing kicks off on Monday’s #RAW, and we now have the FULL BRACKET for the prestigious tournament. #WWENow pic.twitter.com/Gb9gLYXQRu
— WWE (@WWE) August 16, 2019
You have to wonder if Chad Gable vs. Shelton Benjamin will be joined in progress with no entrances. Just seems like an odd match up of arguably the two least likely winners of the tourney.
I have a final four of Drew v Miz and KO v Andrade. I’m fairly confident on the SD side, but Raw could go Ricochet v Corbin as well.
Either way, I think Andrade walks away as KOTR.
Looking at that it will come down to Ricochet vs Corbin on the raw side.
Definitely Owens vs Andrade on SD side.
Owens vs Corbin final. Shane O costs Owens the final for King Corbin. Or his interference fails for King Owens. Either way I am convinced this is your final.
corbin’s boring character and generic promos are already like he was a king of the ring winner so it wouldn’t be much of a character change or career suicide like it was for bad news barrett
Murphy wins the KOTR.