In the 1985 Classic, he overcame Steve Duggan, Dean Reynolds, John Spencer and Jimmy White to reach the quarter-finals, losing there 1–5 to Joe Johnson.

In the 1986 Australian Professional Championship, King defeated Charlton in the semi-finals and John Campbell 10–3 in the final to record his first tournament win.

After a solid season, he qualified for the 1987 World Championship, defeating David Roe, Ken Owers and Charlton all 10–4, but was again drawn to face Steve Davis.

He otherwise performed poorly in the ranking events, but qualified for a third time for the World Championship, notably overcoming Spencer in the final round.

Entering at the last-96 stage, he defeated Mario Morra 5–3, Terry Griffiths 5–1, Charlton 5–2, John Virgo 5–1, Steve Newbury 5–3 and Silvino Francisco 6–5 – having trailed 3–5 – to reach a ranking event final for the first time in his career.

In 1991, the professional game was 'opened' to anybody who could pay a small fee; now in competition against several hundred more players on the main tour, King began to fade, his only last-32 result coming in the Dubai Classic, where Francisco's nephew Peter beat him 5–4.