Last night's Raw had a lot of energy and one of the things that generated a lot of energy and chatter on social media was the announcement of the return of the King of the Ring tournament. There are a total of 16 competitors, 8 from Raw and 8 from SmackDown, and they're listed as follows:

Raw:
Baron Corbin
Cesaro
Cedric Alexander
Drew McInyre
Ricochet
Sami Zayn
Samoa Joe
The Miz

SmackDown:
Ali
Andrade
Apollo Crews
Chad Gable
Elias
Buddy Murphy
Shelton Benjamin
Kevin Owens

It's an interesting mix of veterans, fresh faces, established stars and up & comers. I haven't been all that interested in the KOTR the last few times it's returned as it just didn't feel...well...interesting. It felt like it was simply something to ultimately fill up some airtime. However, you can feel and see that Paul Heyman's influence is growing and that, along with some of the names mentioned here, gives me hope that this could not only be an overall entertaining tournament but also an opportunity for some guys to deliver some stand out performances and for being KOTR to actually mean something for the career of the winner. Cedric Alexander looked great against Drew McIntyre last night; fans were sitting on their hands at the beginning and were then on the edge of their seats by the time it was over. I'm hoping for a similar performance from Buddy Murphy tonight against Roman Reigns on SmackDown tonight. Even though Heyman isn't part of the blue brand's creative process, I'm hoping his influence will still be felt and enough of an impact will be made that Vince will realize there's more merit in having Murphy look like a star against Roman Reigns rather than simply being fed to him.

As for the layout of the tournament, personally, I don't think they should rush through it. Don't try to get through the whole thing within a few nights; maybe have the first round matches happen for each brand next week, the second round the next week, etc.., have some interaction between the final four competitors and have the tournament final take place during Clash of Champions. Maybe instead of the hokey crown, scepter and cloak bit, or at least in addition to that, maybe the winner could also earn an opportunity at a championship of his choosing, which feels more tangible and grounded in reality rather than the abstract, and frankly outdated, notion of a "king of wrestling."