Watch the Throne: Ranking Every King of the Ring Winner

#10 William Regal, 2008 King of the Ring

I would 100% buy this both as a professional wrestling gimmick and as a Guy Ritchie villain

It makes a great deal of sense for Regal to earn the crown, with the prim and proper Englishman always using a great deal of royal imagery in his gimmick, from his name to his mannerisms.

Regal in 2008 was on the back nine of a legendary globe-spanning career, and had been an on-and-off authority figure with WWE since the beginning of the decade; he was instrumental in keeping Ric Flair's win streak alive, preserving The Nature Boy's career until his fateful loss to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania.

On the April 21, 2008 edition of RAW, the three-hour broadcast was a one-night, self-contained King of the Ring tournament; Regal bested Hornswoggle and Finlay in the quarterfinals and semifinals before handing CM Punk his first submission loss in the finals.

His Career After King of the Ring

Only Joffrey Baratheon could exceed this level of ostentatious fanciness AND

punchability

Being named royalty (as opposed to just nobility) afforded Regal the opportunity to add more pomp and flair to his attire and ring robes; sadly, he would take a sixty-day suspension for wellness violations within a month of his coronation, but would return to take the Intercontinental Championship from Santino Marella, which Regal would lose in a feud with Punk.

Regal would float between kayfabe authority roles, the lower card, and ECW, then become heavily involved in the NXT brand and Florida Championship Wrestling (the latter, eventually, becoming NXT itself); as NXT established itself in its early run, Regal squared off against a who's who of current stars owing their success to the yellow brand, including Cesaro, Adrian Neville, Corey Graves, and Bray Wyatt.

Two former Kings of the Ring help showcase a new generation of royalty

Upon his official retirement, Regal moved into permanent office positions both onscreen and off, becoming the kayfabe NXT General Manager and the real-life Director of Talent Development and Global Recruiting; it was Regal who brought men like Kevin Owens and Johnny Gargano to NXT, having scouted their work on the independent scene.