The Kings of Wrestling were a Professional Wrestling Tag Team/Power Stable that started in CHIKARA in 2005 and which found success there, in Ring of Honor, CZW and elsewhere for some five years. It started when Chris Hero turned heel on Mike Quackenbush during the SuperFriends-Claudio Castagnoli/Arik Cannon final at CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2005 Night III, February 20, 2005. A year later, Hero and Castagnoli won the 2006 TWGP and became the inaugural CHIKARA Campeones de Parejas
. Over the course of the group's existence, Hero and Castagnoli would win the ROH World Tag Team Titles twice, the CZW World Tag Team Titles twice, the JCW (Juggalo Championship Wrestling) Tag Team Titles once, and KOW members Maxime Boyer and Chuck Taylor would both hold the CHIKARA Young Lions Cup, and, in 2010, The Wrestling Observer Newsletter named Hero and Castagnoli "Tag Team of the Year."
"Tropes Reign Supreme":
- '80s Hair: Arik Cannon's Mohawk.
- Arch-Enemy: Eddie Kingston, Mike Quackenbush, Reckless Youth, Generation Next, the Briscoes (Jay and Mark)...
- The Bad Guy Wins: Their trademark is having heels win the championship. Hero and Claudio were the inaugural Campeones de Parejas, and the KOW won three straight Torneo Ciberneticos (2005-2007.)
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Claudio dressed this way.
- Bald of Evil: Claudio and Gran Akuma
- Big Bad: Chris Hero, from the formation until he left CHIKARA at the end of 2007. The Kings were THE most dominant rudo group in CHIKARA, and everything revolved around them.
- Bragging Theme Tune: (In ROH): Cody B. Ware's "K.O.W. (Kings)".
- Viro the Virus' "Chris Is Awesome" qualifies as well.
- Viro the Virus' "Chris Is Awesome"
- Celebrity Resemblance: Arik Cannon, to the Kool-Aid Man.
- Cool Crown: At CHIKARA Remain in Light, March 18, 2005, Hero, Castagnoli and Cannon walked down to the ring carrying crowns, officially declaring themselves the Kings of Wrestling.
- "K.O.W. (Kings)" includes the line, "We have got the crowns."
- Cool Shades: "Sweet 'N' Sour" Larry Sweeney, Mitch Ryder, Shayne Hawke
- Even Evil Has Standards: The Briscoe Brothers gave Sara Del Rey the J-Driller after interrupting the KOW-Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) ROH World Tag Team Title match at ROH Supercard of Honor V, May 8, 2010. Claudio did NOT take it well.
- Evil Duo: Hero and Castagnoli
- Evil Genius: "Sweet 'n' Sour" Larry Sweeney, of the ROH version.
- Foreign Wrestling Heel: Claudio, from Switzerland
- Fun with Acronyms/Shout-Out: One of Hero and Claudio's moves was called the KRS-One ("Kings Reign Supreme Over Nearly Everyone").
- Heel–Face Turn: At CHIKARA Brick on November 17, 2006, F.I.S.T. (Icarus and Gran Akuma) d. Hero and Claudio for the CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas. (Claudio was supposed to go to WWE, though he didn't get there until 2011.) Hero told Claudio that he had brought him into CHIKARA and it was time to take him out. Hero and F.I.S.T. all attacked Claudio. At Cibernetico and Robin on September 22, 2007, the Kings of Wrestling insisted that they all get something they want in exchange for signing new contracts. Claudio didn't say what he wanted. After the Kings won the match, via Claudio pinning Mitch Ryder (the entire other team had been eliminated, but the Torneo Cibernetico rules insist There Can Be Only One, and thus Claudio had to defeat Hero and Ryder to win the match), Claudio said that what he wanted was freedom from the Kings. This led to Claudio eventually defeating Hero at Stephen Colbert > Bill O'Reilly on December 9th (a special, free show due to how the intended Season Finale Chapter 11 on November 18th had ended early because of Lince Dorado's injury in his match with Ryder.)
- He's Back!: Hero and Claudio reformed the team in ROH at Final Battle 2009, December 19th, 2009, adding Sara as "The Queen of Wrestling". (Less than a month after the formation of the BDK in CHIKARA).
- Knight of Cerebus: Hero's turn shaped the future of CHIKARA ever since.
- Lightning Bruiser: Hero, Claudio, Sara Del Rey are all tall, strong, fast and could do basically anything in the ring.
- Loophole Abuse/Exact Words: In the SuperFriends' promos at TWGP 2005, Hero insisted that he and Quack would be going to the finals. He never said that they were going to win, just that they would be going to the finals, leading to a Motive Rant. Immediately after Castagnoli and Cannon won the match, Hero cut a promo about his history with Quack, dating back to before CHIKARA debuted, how Quack had defeated him on Night I of the IWA Mid-South Ted Petty Invitational 2004, how Quack had always wanted to make it to the finals of a tournament, and how Hero took it all away from him.
- Multinational Team: Claudio is Swiss, Max Boyer and Shayne Hawke are Canadian, and everyone else was born in the U.S., even if they weren't billed from there.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: In ROH, the Giant Swing/Dropkick combo was called the Helicopter Crash.
- Parts Unknown:
- Chris Hero, from "Metropolis"
- Icarus, from "Mount Olympus"
- Gran Akuma, from "Afar, PA"
- Power Stable: In CHIKARA, they encompassed Hero, Castagnoli, Arik Cannon, Larry Sweeney, Icarus, Gran Akuma, Chuck Taylor, Mitch Ryder, Shayne Hawke and Max Boyer.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Hero is Red, Claudio is Blue.
- Rock–Paper–Scissors: On the July 26, 2010 (taped May 22nd) episode of ROH on HDNet, Hero, Claudio and Shane Hagadorn made their way out to the ring with Hagadorn announcing that he had picked three teams for the Kings to showcase their skills against. They Squashed Ice Jackson and Josh Emanuel in the first match, and Adam Cole and Nick Westgate in the second. (The Briscoes defeated them in the third match.) Before each of the first two matches, Hero and Claudio used this method to decide who would start.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: That something in this case being winning. A lot.
- Sara Del Rey suplexes her opponents out of a butterfly position.
- The Sixth Ranger: Super Dragon in PWG.
-
Spiritual Successor: Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes, who were the most dominant rudos since the KOW. - Tagalong Kid: Shane Hagadorn, in ROH.
- Tournament Arc: As noted, Hero and Claudio won the CHIKARA 2006 Tag World Grand Prix. They won ROH Tag Wars 2010 on August 28th by defeating the Briscoes in an Ultimate Endurance Match that also involved the All-Night Express (Rhett Titus and Kenny King) defeating the Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis and Kory Chavis) in a Scramble Match and the Briscoes eliminating the ANX in a Texas Tornado Match.
- The X of Y: Obviously
