2020 was a weird year for WWE, with weekly shows held in the empty WWE Performance Center before the ThunderDome was created. Now, as the company gears up to welcome fans back this July, it looks like we could see the return of the King of the Ring tournament.
King Corbin appeared on WWE's The Bump this morning and talked about putting his crown on the line against Shinsuke Nakamura on Friday's SmackDown. When host Kayla Braxton brought up Xavier Woods' repeated comments about wanting to become King of the Ring, Corbin shared his thoughts on possibly having to compete for that title all over again.
"I think that everybody’s kind of had their eye on it, just like people do with championship titles," Corbin said. "They want an opportunity at that, they want a chance, they want to earn it, they want to own it, and I think that’s what the crowd does to people, and then you have people that are cowards, like Shinsuke, that want to steal it, but at least Xavier Woods wants to earn an opportunity to wear the crown. I think that’s important to him, to his career, and I’m happy to make it a disappointment, a regret in his long career that he will have, that he came up short in a tournament that he cares so dearly about."
"But the tournament is what’s necessary to wear that crown, and I won it. If you want a shot, you talk to somebody, maybe cry to a few people, and try to get another tournament set up. Xavier Woods, I would love to face him in that tournament, absolutely. It could be in the finals, it could be first round. I mean, his dream will be cut short, but I’m happy to do it. I’m happy to defend it in the right circumstances."
On social media, both Woods and Adam Pearce have weighed in on the possibility of the King of the Ring tournament returning, and it feels a lot like WWE may have plans to make this happen.
While it doesn't mean as much as it once did, it's always fun to see these matches play out, and it would be no bad thing to bring it back and have the final bout take place at SummerSlam this August.