King

Lore & Background

The first King was a brawling orphan who was later adopted by a respectful family. He became a masked wrestler and entered the tournament with the intention of building an orphanage to prevent other children from turning into the type of person he once was. In the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2, King I encountered fellow wrestler Armor King, who convinced him to return to wrestling and continue participating in tournaments to help the orphanage. King I was later killed by Armor King (though some sources suggest Ogre's involvement, the established canon is that Armor King killed him).

The second King was a street urchin brought up in the first King's orphanage. Until age 24, he worked hard with King until news broke of the first King's death. Seeing the orphanage would crumble, this man donned the mask of King and imitated his style. One day, a stranger with a black jaguar mask visited the new King, introducing himself as an old friend.

This man revealed himself to be Armor King, who was interested in finding out if the rumors of a new King were true. For four years, the two trained, and the new King learned quickly, maturing into a forceful wrestler with extreme power, known as King II. By age 28, he was a worthy heir to the throne, but longed to punish the one responsible for the original King's death.

Reader's Guide

King is known for his professional wrestling attacks and has an arsenal of huge amounts of moves on his command list. King holds the record for having the most moves in the Tekken series, notably in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Tekken 7. King has been able to perform the Sharpshooter since Tekken 2. Other moves he uses include the "Frankensteiner", while his "Muscle Buster" pays homage to Suguru Kinniku's "Kinniku Buster."

In Tekken 3, the King moveset got even more detailed with more chain throws, and King received additional new wrestling moves such as Rolling Death Cradle, Winding Nut, Stretch Buster, and many others. Benjamin Turner from GameSpy described King's chain throws in Tekken 5 as "ridiculously intricate." In Tekken 8, King gained some additional moves inspired by famous pro-wrestlers, such as Triple H's Pedigree and Randy Orton's RKO. The physical portrayal of King's movements was done by Japanese professional wrestler Minoru Suzuki, who lent his expertise to the character's motion capture sessions. King is seen to be mostly growling throughout the Tekken series.

Did You Know?

• In Tekken 7, King's move count is 186 according to game data, though this is not an official Guinness World Record.
• Tizoc, a character from The King of Fighters, takes inspiration from King and shares similarities with his appearance, though Tizoc wears an eagle mask as opposed to King's jaguar mask.