A king and queen of WWE have been crowned.
The next set of royalty in wrestling was determined Saturday with the 2024 King and Queen of the Ring. The premium live event in Saudi Arabia was where the finals of each tournament took place with Randy Orton vs. Gunther on the men's side and Nia Jax against Lyra Valkyria on the women's side.
King and Queen won’t be the titles up for grabs either as four championships − the Undisputed WWE Championship, Women's World Championship, Intercontinental Championship and Women's Tag Team Championship − were put on the line, and one major title switched hands.
Here are the results and top highlights from King and Queen of the Ring 2024:
Logan Paul continued to impress when he had control in the early stages of the match, but once Rhodes got momentum and took the action outside of the ring, Paul was able to get the brass knuckles that were barred from this match. He delivered a shot to Rhodes' midsection and looked to be headed to another win until he got distracted by the words of Michael Cole. It gave Rhodes enough time to recover and launch himself outside and the ring and inflict damage.
Rhodes was first to hit a finisher with a Cody cutter, it just wasn't enough to get the pin. He tried to continue the onslaught, but Paul countered with his own Cross Rhodes. The champion would kick out of the pin. Paul would try to send Rhodes through the announcer's table, only to have Rhodes counter it with a Cody cutter.
With Paul down outside the ring, Rhodes looked to win on a count out. Once the referee got to nine, Rhodes stopped the referee and insisted he win clean. It wasn't a bright idea; Paul landed a blow to Rhodes, and then he hit another wild frogsplash from the turnbuckle through the announcer's table. He landed another frogsplash in the ring for the win, and in somewhat surprising fashion, Rhodes kicked out.
The referee got accidentally taken out by Paul, and with the referee down, Paul delivered a low blow and brought the brass knuckles out again. The guest ring announcer stepped in and stopped Paul from delivering a blow, and Rhodes got up to deliver three Cross Rhodes, the finishing touches on retaining his title and taking down the United States Champion.
Rhodes' second title defense was another solid match, and Paul continues to get credibility as a solidified WWE superstar. Paul said a victory would make him the leader of the "Triple H" era, but it still remains under the leadership of "The American Nightmare."
When WWE returns to Drew McIntyre's home country, he will be competing for gold.
WWE chief content officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque announced Drew McIntyre has been medically cleared to compete, and since he has his rematch clause from when he lost the World Heavyweight Championship minutes after winning it at WrestleMania 40, it'll be official at Clash of the Castle.
McIntyre will face current champion Damian Priest on June 15 in Glasgow.
The aura inside Jeddah SuperDome was immaculate for what people knew would be a fantastic match between a future WWE Hall of Famer and one of the top performers in the business.
Randy Orton and Gunther spent much time feeling the match out as the crowd made it known it was backing Orton. The speed picked up when Orton appeared to hurt his leg and then add damage to that reconstructed back when he failed to execute an RKO. From there, Gunther went to town, landing shots at-will.
Gunther went for the win with a frogsplash, but Orton surprisingly kicked out. Gunther went for another, only this time Orton dodged it and then hit a signature RKO. Gunther rolled out of the ring to avoid the pin, so Orton decided to punish "The Ring General" by throwing him on the announcer's table multiple times. Once things got back in the ring, Gunther went back to attacking Orton's knee and back in punishing fashion.
Orton has been known to quickly change the match with an RKO, and he did just that and looked to be headed for a win. Gunther somehow kicked out, and when he did, Orton took more damage to the left knee. With him in pain, Gunther rolled him up on his shoulders and he got the pin to win the match. Now, "The Ring General" is King of the Ring.
"What happened today is the 'Apex Predator' became the prey to 'The Ring General,'" Gunther said.
It was billed as the top seed vs. the Cinderella story, but it's the irresistible force that's your new queen.
Lyra Valkyria faced a tall task to win Queen of the Ring since Jax is such a dominant force and her experience is far greater than the new main roster addition. Valkyria got some shots in early, but it didn't take long for Jax to take control of the match. Despite never having a true advantage, Valkyria got some solid moves in, including a dropkick and tornado DDT.
Valkyria swung for the fences when she tried a power bomb off the turnbuckle, but Jax wouldn't go down. Instead, she landed her brutal annihilator that completely took Valkyria out. Jax got the pin, and WWE chief content officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque was there to put the crown on the new queen in what was an emotional moment for Jax.
It's always a feel-good moment seeing Sami Zayn perform in Saudi Arabia, and the crowd was amped to see the champion in the ring in what felt like a semblance of the Backlash France crowd. Zayn isn't from the country, but he had the home-field advantage that was going wild with everything he did, including launching himself over the top rope onto the challengers.
The first threat of Zayn losing was when Gable got an ankle lock on the champion, but when he shifted the focus to Reed, Zayn recovered and not only did his own ankle lock, he picked up Reed for a wild blue thunder power bomb.
Gable brought out Otis to be a disrupter, but he couldn't pull off an attack on Zayn. Gable belittled him for not doing it, and when Otis actually went for it, Zayn moved and the Alpha Academy member clotheslined his leader. While Otis realized his mistake, Zayn got in the ring, delivered a helluva kick to Reed and got the pin. The Intercontinental title stays with the champion, and even more questions are raised for Alpha Academy.
The Liv Morgan revenge tour is raging on.
The two stars traded blows in the first half of the match, and despite the minor botches in some moves, they each kept the pace of the match flowing. It was pretty much a shootout with a plethora of pin attempts happening within seconds of each other from Lynch and Morgan. Lynch was the first one to get a finisher in with a dis-arm-her, but Morgan got out of it and sequence of roll ups ensued.
Things took a turn when Dominik Mysterio, who swore he'd make sure Morgan didn't win the title, appeared ringside. However, it distracted Lynch more than the challenger and Morgan got enough time to recover to land a codebreaker. But it wouldn't secure the win.
Mysterio tried to give a chair to Lynch, but Morgan capitalized by executing a DDT on Lynch on the chair while the referee was distracted. Morgan got the champion frazzled, and she landed an obLIVion to get the pin and complete the next step in her revenge tour. It was not only was her first singles victory over Lynch, she now the new Women's World Champion, and somewhere out there, Rhea Ripley cannot be happy with what her "Dom Dom" did.
On paper, this shouldn't have been much of a contest for the champions, but a change in direction from Hartwell and LeRae was not only needed, it made it a competitive match.
LeRae had taken pride in the damage she put on Belair's left knee and it was a heavy emphasis of the challengers' attack, and Hartwell's taunts of "The EST" added heat. Belair was eventually able to get the hot tag to Cargill and she displayed the power with a hard-hitting powerbomb on Hartwell.
Belair would then get her revenge. Cargill got Belair in on the tag, and the champion had a great sequence where Belair delivered a DDT to LeRae before Cargill launched her with an ocean cyclone suplex. Belair got the pin to secure the win.
It was hard to imagine the tag titles changing given the dominance Belair and Cargill are showing in the division, but LeRae and Hartwell displayed a solid performance that prevented it from being a squash.
The 2024 King and Queen of the Ring is Saturday, May 25 at 1 p.m. ET. The event will take place at 8 p.m. local time in Jeddah.
The 2024 King and Queen of the Ring will be at Jeddah SuperDome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The event can be streamed on Peacock, but you must have their premium or premium-plus subscription to watch. Internationally, it will be available on WWE Network.
Matches not in order
Winning the King or Queen of the Ring tournament has been a career-defying achievement for several stars in the past, like being the springboard for championships.
Now, the winners of each tournament will be guaranteed a championship opportunity. WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque said on Thursday the winners of the two matches will get a championship match at SummerSlam on Aug. 3.
First Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Finals
First round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Finals
The 23rd King of the Ring will be crowned Saturday, as the tournament first took place in 1985. Here are all the stars that won King of the Ring:
This is the second Queen of the Ring tournament after it debuted in 2021. Zelina Vega won the first ever Queen of the Ring.
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