Apparently MK3&4 were tourneys. Liu Kang's Tomb stage had a shrine komemorating his 4 Mortal Kombat victories.

Ka-Tra

What do you mean with mk champion?

Defeating the big boss?

Then whoever could be champion.

Winning the tournament?

In both timelines the winner of the Mk tournaments held on Earthrealm are : Shang Tsung, The Great Kung Lao Goro, Liu Kang.

The title of champion of MK is a title, one that should inspire fear and respect from your enemies, having the champion at yours side is like having golden age Michael Jordan or Cristiano Ronaldo in your team.

Interesting. I personally would not consider 3 and 4 tournaments soley based on the events of those two incidents being commemorated in Liu Kang's tomb, I would need a bit more to move those from non-tournament to tournament.

Who would you like to see be crowned the new champion?

Also, Liu Kang beating Goro won Mortal Kombat. He only fought Shang to get control of the tournament away from his corrupt influence, as is evident with his rigging matches in MK9.

Shang won at least 1 MK gaining access to skew things in Outworld's favor. Then the Great Kung Lao kept beating him to keep him from rigging matches in Outworld's favor, Shang brought Goro to beat Great Kung Lao, then Shang took his soul. Goro was the MK champion, Shang got access to preside over the tournament as a previous champion, but he didn't need to be fought. Maybe ceremoniously, maybe he angrily attacke Liu out of defiance/refusal.

Ka-Tra

It's unknown if 11 will feature a proper tournament or not, I would actually say that is a 50/50. Kronika being of Elder God power (I think) might envoke a tournament. Or it could be war. To be determined.

Who would you like to see emerge victorious in the ultimate battle? Who (if anybody) defeats Kronika? Or does she win?

@Tetra_Vega

Man I actually just thought of something. If you have seen Mortal Kombat: Conquest (the 1990s television show that lasted a season), I believe it is said that a Mortal Kombat champion can envoke Mortal Kombat (ie put his status on the line in a one-fight tournament battle) if he chooses to do so. Though I'm not sure how canon that show was, you see in one episode the Great Kung Lao envoke Mortal Kombat vs. his nemesis Shang Tsung. Lao wins, and is scolded by Raiden for putting his status on the line the way he did (he did it to save his friends, revenge on Tsung).

My point is, perhaps 3 could be considered a tournament if we say Kang put his status on the line vs. Shao Kahn. And 4, I don't know, I think we could probably say the same thing, Kang put his status on the line again vs. Shinnok.

I'm not sure, I need to research this a little bit.

The 1 on 1 Mortal Kombat match against Shao Kahn during his invasion then against Shinnok during his invasion stopped 2 attempts at merging with Earthrealm. Mortal Kombat isn't always a tournament. The invasions are less subtle than Shang's match rigging. More like intimidation, and subjecting potential rival kombatants to kahnvenient accidents. Like mafia or other shady business/sports practices, scaring jurors, carrying out hits n such. Merging realms requires a Mortal Kombat match. Travel between realms is a lot less restrictive. It's easier to merge a realm if noone is there to defend it.

Ka-Tra

You know what... I feel convinced, I'm going to change the OP now. 3 and 4, while not proper tournaments, became tournaments, I'm thinking now, because of Kang's participation.

Again this kind of hinges on the idea that a MK champion has the power to envoke tournament battle, which I'm getting from the Conquest TV show.

I hope Gilbob sees this, that guy seems pretty informed regarding lore, I wonder what he would say.

We digress. I want to know who you guys want to see become the new champion.

Personally?

I would love to see Kronika winning and rebalancing good and evil and causing Armageddon for real.

Most probably will be Raiden with the help of Cetrion or Cetrion herself.

Kinda like Annihilation's ending the Elder Gods held Shinnok from interfering while a 1 on 1 Mortal Kombat match would decide if Earth fully merged with Outworld or not.

In Shaolin Monks, the Elder Gods granted a tournament change when Raiden agreed to Shao Kahn changing the rules of 10 Tournament wins in a row to just 1 tournament win to merge realms. From MKII on has been the 1 tournament rule, so Earthrealm is constantly under threat instead of every 50 years, with mild interference once in a while.

Ka-Tra

Oh man. You're right on. Because it's like... even if it's not a tournament happening in these sitiuations, it is official Mortal Kombat championship competition. Kind of like defending a UFC belt, but instead of a belt, it's the fate of the realms at stake.

That was actually one of the few moments of that movie, Annihilation, I kind of liked - when Shinnok is stopped by the two Elder Gods, the girl one says "The fate of the realms will be decided as it should be" and then the male God with the deep voice adds "IN MORTAL KOMBAT!"

Reptile needs to be the new star after being shitted on over the years

Every year. When has that guy ever gotten a happy ending, and when he has, when has it ever stuck? Maybe he's sitting this one out because they'll make his MKX ending canon and he's off boning with Khameleon. Then when he returns in 2022 in MK12 he'll have a more human form and all pallet swap diehards can rejoice.

As for who the new champion will be, folks it's time to swallow that hard pill and accept, that Zebron is our lord and savior.

Zebron? Oh man.

Speaking of Reptile's hard luck made me think of his MK4 arcade ending where he literally gets on his knees and just asks Quan Chi to make good on restoring Zaterra (spelling?) [I guess he worked for Chi and Shinnok because Chi implied if they were successful they would restore Zaterra]...

Anyway rather than honor their agreement Shinnok pops in the room out of nowhere, chokes Reptile for asking for his due pay, and decapitates him. I always thought 'Man that ending was just absurd. Poor Reptile'.

Well really he kneels respectfully and when Quan Chi betrays their agreement he starts getting defensive.

I remember a thread taking place around the time MK9 was announced and people were going crazy in depth analyzing characters and that ending became a major topic of debate for at least two pages. Mainly on why Shinnok would do such a thing. .

But it's no secret that most of the MK4 endings are complete shite. Were it not for Armageddon and the last two games they would still be the worst. But Armageddon robbed them of that crown.

For sure, though to be honest, visually I liked the full motion videos MK4 offered, and a few of the endings (Scorpion's, Johnny Cage's) were quite good imo. I might be in the minority though haha

Absolutely Armageddon was the worst. I beat Armageddon with Mokap once. I think that ending may have been the stupidest thing in MK history.