5 WWE Superstars whose careers failed to take off despite being crowned King of the Ring 

#3 Ken Shamrock - 1998

World's Most Dangerous King

There was a lot of hype surrounding Ken Shamrock as he made his WWE debut in 1997. Coming in fresh off of the UFC, Shamrock was a legitimate tough guy who could seemingly take down any WWE roster member in a real fight.

Shamrock occasionally challenged for the WWE Championship throughout 1997, before settling in the Intercontinental Championship ranks in 1998. It seemed like he was stuck here until he entered the King of The Ring tournament. It had widely been expected that WWE's fastest rising star, The Rock, would be taking home the crown, especially given finals came down to The Rock and Ken Shamrock.

In a surprising decision, it was Shamrock who toppled The Rock to become the 1998 King of The Ring. While it seemed like Shamrock would be returning to the main event scene after this, it just never happened. Shamrock remained in the IC Championship ranks, eventually winning the gold towards the end of the year, as well as the WWE Tag Team Championship with fellow Corporation member the Big Boss Man. Following the disbanding of the Corporation, Shamrock had various short feuds before leaving WWE in September 1999 to resume his MMA career.

Shamrock briefly returned to wrestling in 2002, where he won the NWA World Championship on the very first TNA Wrestling show, but left wrestling again a few months later.