Welcome to the first spin-off of the Fantasy Booking segment, dubbed WWE CREATIVE LICENSE.
This segment opens up the fan fiction concept to more than just setting up an entire card and instead, revolves around generalized pitches for story ideas, ways to repackage characters, brainstorming brand new creative strategies and so on.
For this edition, I'll be focusing on something that randomly came into my mind after this past episode of SmackDown with the Matt Riddle and King Corbin feud: How should King Corbin end his run as King of the Ring?
At the moment, here's how I would go about writing that angle. I hope you enjoy the pitch!
Matt Riddle is The King of Bros. Baron Corbin is The King of the Ring. They're clearly still feuding with each other and since neither of them has a title to put up for grabs, something else should be on the line other than random wins and losses. Bragging points only get you so far.
Corbin should feel so insulted that Riddle calls himself the king of anything that he should try to force him to give up that moniker. In response, Riddle should set a stipulation that whoever wins their next match can no longer call themselves king.
Corbin's bravado will allow him to accept the challenge. After all, he's clearly going to win, right? And when he does that, he'll show everyone why he's the real king of WWE and why posers like Riddle should just shut their mouths and bow down.
Of course...he doesn't win, does he? He can't win or there's no point in this article existing.
I'd even go so far as to have it be a No Disqualification match that ends with Riddle breaking Corbin's scepter over his head to add insult to injury. Maybe make a prop one that can break more easily and let Corbin keep that and the crown as mementos for his career or file them away in the WWE warehouse.
Phase 2) Rub It In His Face
After this, announce that there will be a new King of the Ring tournament, now that the position has been left vacant.
This will make Corbin FURIOUS, because he still should be the rightful king and WWE has no right in doing this, nor does any superstar have the right in entering the tournament. It's blasphemy! It's lese-majeste! This is treason! Rabble rabble rabble!
Over the course of the next episode or two of SmackDown, anyone who tries to qualify for the King of the Ring tournament is met with Corbin either attempting to appeal to their heart by asking them not to enter, or he outright attacks them in the hopes that he can take out the competition. For you see, he plans to enter and win back his crown.
Corbin will get the opportunity to be one of those 16 superstars after he wins some qualifying match (against who doesn't matter. Maybe Shorty G, just to make it interesting, as he can no longer provide the king's ransom).
Phase 3) The Tournament
The 2020 King of the Ring Tournament is split up between Raw and SmackDown. Actually, if you want to make it even more interesting, you add more to the mix and make it an NXT affair, too, with the finals being a Triple Threat, but that's probably too ambitious for WWE and would be too fun, so let's just assume it's a standard main roster situation.
Eight men on Raw, eight men on SmackDown (and eight men on NXT if that's involved) compete over the next few weeks, giving fans something to track, with the conclusion taking place at Clash of Champions.
Week 1, guess what happens? Baron Corbin gets eliminated! Maybe it's Matt Riddle who does it, and Corbin can screw Riddle out of a future round by interfering. Then again, if we want to pivot away from the Riddle/Corbin story, maybe it's just someone else like Big E, Daniel Bryan, Drew Gulak, Jeff Hardy, Jey Uso, or Otis. It has to be a babyface, though, so they can get the boost.
The rest of the tournament plays out with Corbin seething at the idea that someone else is going to take his identity.
Phase 4) The Next Feud
Eventually, a new King of the Ring is crowned. Since Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt and others are top heels on SmackDown, there isn't much left for someone like Corbin to do there, so I'd move him over to Raw and have one of those guys win it.
Corbin would attack this person and start a feud with them over how upset he is that that guy is now King of the Ring.
King Ricochet was a thing before. Why not do that again? It would give him something new to his personality. If not him, there's Apollo Crews, Cedric Alexander, Dolph Ziggler, Keith Lee, Murphy, Mustafa Ali and even Andrade. A heel King of the Ring works better every single time, but a babyface would work better for this scenario, so let's go with Ricochet or Ali, most likely.
This person would feud with Corbin for a little while until WWE would be ready to move on to something else.
Then, the resolution to it, as babyface KOTR winners don't make much sense being all pompous, is that the babyface wins the feud but then stops outright calling himself king. You know why? Well, because it's an ego trip that only a loser like Baron Corbin would actually want to do. Ricochet/Ali isn't going to parade himself around like someone at a renaissance fair. Pfffft. Corbin, people have been laughing at you, bro. (Keep in mind, I'm actually a Baron Corbin fan. This is just what you do to a character like his.)
Phase 5) End of Days
Coming out of that realization and losing the crown, Corbin can shift his character around. He'll be on Raw now, so he can tap into the Raw Underground angle and get into his boxing roots. Remember, he's a former Golden Gloves winner, so he should fair well in that field.
This can allow for a change in his ring gear and his overall persona (to a certain extent). It may even open up an opportunity for him to turn babyface down the line if fans start digging this more vicious side.
Voila. You've taken the crown off Corbin, set up a new King of the Ring, had a tournament that takes up some time and builds to an important match at Clash of Champions, moved someone over to a new roster without taking up a draft pick, given Raw Underground a new character to play with, built up another midcarder to a higher level and given Corbin a refresh with his character all in one go.
What do you think?
Tell me your thoughts on my pitch as well as what you'd do if you were given Creative License and told to write a storyline with that goal in mind.
Drop a comment below and let me know!
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