King of the Ring

Last updated
King and Queen of the Ring
WWE King & Queen of the Ring Logo.png
WWE King and Queen of the Ring logo as of 2024
Promotions WWE
Brands Raw (2002, 2024)
SmackDown (2002, 2024)
First event 1993

King and Queen of the Ring, formerly and still commonly known as King of the Ring, is a professional wrestling event produced by WWE, a Connecticut-based professional wrestling promotion. The event was established in 1993 and centers on the men's King of the Ring tournament, which had been established in 1985, and beginning in 2024, the women's Queen of the Ring tournament, which was established in 2021 and originally known as the Queen's Crown tournament.

Contents

The King of the Ring event was originally established in 1993 and was held annually in June as a pay-per-view (PPV) event. During the event's original run as a PPV, it was considered one of the promotion's five biggest events of the year, along with the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, dubbed the "Big Five". The 2002 event was the final King of the Ring produced as a PPV. To coincide with the brand extension introduced earlier that same year, the 2002 event featured wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. In 2003, the event's PPV slot was replaced by Bad Blood.

The tournament endured a four-year hiatus until its return in 2006 as an exclusive tournament for wrestlers of the SmackDown brand. Instead of a dedicated PPV, however, this tournament concluded at that year's Judgment Day. While subsequent tournaments were periodically held as a non-PPV event and included WWE's other brands, the conclusion to the 2015 tournament was livestreamed exclusively as an event on the WWE Network and also occurred when a brand extension was not in effect; the brand split was then reintroduced in 2016. While the tournaments continued to be held periodically, the event itself was to be revived in May 2023 and rebranded as "King and Queen of the Ring" to incorporate the women's tournament; however, these plans were scrapped as WWE instead held a revived Night of Champions. The rebranded "King and Queen of the Ring" event that was intended for 2023 was rescheduled for May 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This will be the first King of the Ring event since 2015, the first to air on traditional PPV since 2002, the first held outside of the United States, as well as the first dedicated event for the women's tournament, which was renamed to Queen of the Ring for its 2024 return.

History

The King of the Ring tournament is a men's single-elimination tournament in which the winner is crowned the "King of the Ring". The tournament was established in 1985 by the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and was held annually until 1991, with the exception of 1990. These early tournaments were held as special non-televised house shows in an effort to boost attendance at these events. [1]

In 1993, the WWF began to produce an annual June pay-per-view (PPV) event titled King of the Ring. The inaugural PPV took place on June 13, 1993, at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. Unlike the previous non-televised events, the PPV did not feature all of the tournament's matches. Instead, several of the qualifying matches preceded the event with the final few matches then taking place at the pay-per-view. There were also other matches that took place at the event as it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view. [2] The King of the Ring event was considered one of the promotion's "Big Five" PPVs of the year, along with the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, up until its disestablishment after the 2002 event [3] —it was the only event of the five to never be hosted at least once at Madison Square Garden. In 2003, the event's PPV slot was replaced by Bad Blood. [4]

In early 2002, the WWF was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) [5] following a lawsuit from the World Wildlife Fund over the "WWF" initialism. [6] Also around this time, the promotion introduced the brand extension, in which the roster was divided between the Raw and SmackDown! brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform. [7] The 2002 tournament and PPV was in turn held for wrestlers from both brands. [4]

After a four-year hiatus, the tournament returned in 2006 and was held exclusively for wrestlers from the SmackDown! brand. Unlike the previous years, however, there was not an associated pay-per-view. Instead, tournament matches took place across episodes of SmackDown! with the finale being held at Judgment Day. [8] While WWE continued to periodically hold the tournament across their other programs, the semifinals and final of the 2015 tournament aired exclusively as an event on WWE's online streaming service, the WWE Network, which launched in February 2014. This 2015 tournament also occurred when the brand extension was not in effect; the brand split was reinstated in 2016. [9]

In October 2022, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that WWE was planning to resurrect the King of the Ring event in 2023 to replace the Hell in a Cell event. [10] [11] This was officially confirmed by WWE on March 6, 2023, with the company announcing that the event would be rebranded as "King and Queen of the Ring" to incorporate the women's Queen's Crown tournament that was established in 2021. This would have seen the event's return to PPV, in addition to airing on WWE's livestreaming platforms. It was scheduled for May 27, 2023, and would have been the ninth event that WWE held in Saudi Arabia in support of Saudi Vision 2030. [12] [13] However, on April 13, it was revealed that WWE decided to scrap the revival and would instead hold Night of Champions, thus reviving the Night of Champions event. [14] According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider , the decision to change the event to Night of Champions was a creative choice to revive and bring that event to an international market. [15] Fightful later reported that WWE did not have plans to reschedule King and Queen of the Ring for later that year, but the event could possibly be used for a future Saudi show. [16] In April 2024, WWE announced that they would hold the King and Queen of the Ring event in Saudi Arabia in May 2024, thus being the 11th event in the Saudi Arabian partnership. The women's tournament was also renamed as Queen of the Ring, with this also being the first dedicated event for the women's tournament. [17]

Events

#EventDateCityVenueMain EventRef.
1 King of the Ring (1993) June 13, 1993 Dayton, Ohio Nutter Center Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow in the 1993 King of the Ring tournament final [18] [19]
2 King of the Ring (1994) June 19, 1994 Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore Arena Jerry Lawler vs. Roddy Piper [20] [21]
3 King of the Ring (1995) June 25, 1995 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Spectrum Sycho Sid and Tatanka vs. Diesel and Bam Bam Bigelow [22]
4 King of the Ring (1996) June 23, 1996 Milwaukee, Wisconsin MECCA Arena Shawn Michaels (c) vs. The British Bulldog for the WWF Championship with Mr. Perfect as the special guest enforcer [23]
5 King of the Ring (1997) June 8, 1997 Providence, Rhode Island Providence Civic Center The Undertaker (c) vs. Faarooq for the WWF Championship [24]
6 King of the Ring (1998) June 28, 1998 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Civic Arena "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (c) vs. Kane in a First Blood match for the WWF Championship [25]
7 King of the Ring (1999) June 27, 1999 Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Coliseum Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a 2-on-1 Handicap Ladder match for control of the World Wrestling Federation [26] [27]
8 King of the Ring (2000) June 25, 2000 Boston, Massachusetts Fleet Center The McMahon-Helmsley Faction (Triple H (c), Shane McMahon, and Vince McMahon) vs. The Rock, Kane, and The Undertaker for the WWF Championship where if Triple H, Shane, or Vince was pinned or submitted, Triple H would lose his title to whoever scored the fall [28]
9 King of the Ring (2001) June 24, 2001 East Rutherford, New Jersey Continental Airlines Arena "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (c) vs. Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit in a triple threat match for the WWF Championship [29]
10 King of the Ring (2002) June 23, 2002 Columbus, Ohio Nationwide Arena The Undertaker (c) vs. Triple H for the WWE Undisputed Championship [30]
11 King of the Ring (2015) April 28, 2015 Moline, Illinois iWireless Center Bad News Barrett vs. Neville in the 2015 King of the Ring tournament final [9]
12 King and Queen of the Ring (2024) May 25, 2024 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Jeddah Super Dome Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Logan Paul for the Undisputed WWE Championship [17]
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

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The King of the Ring tournament is a men's professional wrestling single-elimination tournament held periodically by WWE, a Connecticut-based professional wrestling promotion. Established in 1985, the winner of the inaugural tournament was Don Muraco. The prize for winning the tournament is being crowned the "King of the Ring"; some wrestlers have incorporated this into their character, such as adorning king's attire and acting and speaking with a regal attitude. On two occasions, the tournament has awarded an additional reward, that being for a world championship match at that year’s SummerSlam. The 1995 winner did also receive a world championship match at SummerSlam, though this wasn’t a pre-match stipulation. The tournament is also notable for beginning "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's rise to stardom after he won the 1996 tournament.

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The 2021 King of the Ring was the 22nd edition of the King of the Ring tournament produced by WWE. It was held between wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. Tournament matches began on the October 8, 2021 episode of SmackDown and continued to be held across episodes of Raw and SmackDown. The tournament concluded at the Crown Jewel pay-per-view and livestreaming event on October 21. It was the first King of the Ring tournament since 2019. WWE also introduced a female counterpart called the Queen's Crown tournament, which was held simultaneously with the 2021 King of the Ring tournament. Raw's Xavier Woods defeated SmackDown's Finn Bálor to win the 2021 tournament and subsequently became known as King Woods.

The Queen of the Ring tournament, originally known as the Queen's Crown, is a women's professional wrestling single-elimination tournament held periodically by WWE, a Connecticut-based professional wrestling promotion. Established in 2021, the winner of the inaugural tournament was Zelina Vega. The prize for winning the tournament is being crowned the "Queen of the Ring", and beginning in 2024, a match for a women's world championship. It is the female version of WWE's long-standing King of the Ring tournament for male wrestlers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King and Queen of the Ring (2024)</span> WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event

The 2024 King and Queen of the Ring is an ongoing professional wrestling event produced by the American company WWE. It is the 12th King of the Ring event, but under a new name, and is taking place on Saturday, May 25, 2024, at the Jeddah Super Dome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is airing via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming and features wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event is hosting the finals of both the 23rd King of the Ring tournament and the second Queen of the Ring tournament, with the last tournaments for each held in 2021.

References

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