I was wondering if they even intended on having King come out. For the first 45 minutes or so, it was just Saxton, and he was like duuuuhhhhhhhh. He reminded me of when Monte took over for Harry Doyle in Major League 2 ("fly ball. Caught.") So I could see Vince being all like "get dressed and get the hell out there"
The days of shock turns ended when WWE became a publicly traded company. They can't afford to turn the kid cash cow, which is a shame, because it could rival Hogans. Instead, we get Big Show and Sheamus turning 1000 times.
Because he lives in the main event and his character is marketed towards kids.
There are additional reasons: a) people don't being told who to like (see Batista last year, Reigns this year). b) people have gravitated more recently to smaller, athletic guys who can wrestle. That's not him, its punk, Bryan, ziggler, etc. c) The underdog narrative might be the biggest reason. It worked for about 3-4 years, but when a guy main events with or without a title, he is no longer an underdog. Quite the opposite, he routinely beats 2 or 3 guts at a time. d) relatedly, "SuperCena". Young guts invariably get put in with him, and he invariably always wins. So people think Vince "buries" young talent just to put over his cash cow. There is a degree of truth to all those, but not as much as some think.
