Watch the Throne: Ranking Every King of the Ring Winner

#6 Hunter Hearst Helmsley, 1997 King of the Ring

The push was appreciated, but Helmsley notoriously detested his royal regalia

The 1997 crowning of Hunter Hearst Helmsley as King of the Ring was actually a year overdue; Helmsley was set to win the 1996 tournament until the infamous Madison Square Garden "Curtain Call" fiasco. When Helmsley, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, and Razor Ramon embraced and linked arms to bid goodbye to The Bad Guy and Big Daddy Cool, the two departing stars couldn't be punished for obvious reasons, and Shawn Michaels was carrying the company, and its title, through the summer, so Helmsley had to be the man to suffer.

The bulk of the 1997 tournament occurred on Monday Night RAW, and only the semifinals and finals took place at the tournament's eponymous pay-per-view event. The semis saw Jerry Lawler practice outdated 1970s heel schtick (like palming a mysterious hidden "foreign object" that he took out of his tights to batter The Deranged One) in a loss to Mankind, while Helmsley took advantage of a Chyna distraction to pedigree Ahmed Johnson for a championship berth.

One of the first hardcore moments in a feud which would come to define Paul Levesque's career

The Ninth Wonder of the World made her presence known again in that final round match, the first high-profile encounter between Helmsley and Mick Foley; the match featured an announce table Pedigree to foreshadow the hardcore future of one of WWE's defining feuds, and another in the ring immediately afterward to seal the win.

Not satisfied with simply beating Mankind, Helmsley proceeded to continue the attack after the bell, using his scepter and crown to smash Foley into oblivion; reportedly, Helmsley detested the King of the Ring costume pieces in real life, and this was the first of many efforts to destroy every bit of royal regalia throughout the summer of 1997, until the company opted to stop replacing the crowns and no longer required the Connecticut Blueblood to wear them.

His Career After King of the Ring

Each successive time, these two men just brought it harder and harder, becoming megastars in the process

Immediately after King of the Ring, Helmsley's summer of 1997 was spent locked in a blood feud with Mankind, and the pair literally brawled throughout Calgary's Saddledome throughout the July In Your House event, interrupting several segments to continue attacking one another in increasingly dangerous locations.

Their SummerSlam cage match, and Helmsley's Madison Square Garden street fight with Foley's Cactus Jack persona helped build Foley's legend, and built the backstory for a feud which, in 2000, would turn Triple H from unproven new champion to battle-hardened ring general.

It's a career which has included 14 world titles, two Royal Rumble wins, a Grand Slam, a surefire Hall of Fame bid, and a decent side gig running the creative direction of the entire company. While the King of the Ring crown might not have played a significant role in that, the feud Helmsley's King of the Ring win jump-started is the one which made a guy with a good look and decent in-ring talent into a bona fide superstar.