TJRWrestling WWE King And Queen Of The Ring 2024 Preview
It’s WWE King and Queen of the Ring where we crown two wrestlers and some big title matches are set to take place as well.
The King of the Ring PLE is back sort of because they are using that name while calling it the King And Queen of the Ring as we see the conclusion of two tournaments that have taken place on Raw and Smackdown over the last month. I think the men’s tournament has been great while some of the women’s matches have certainly delivered.
On Thursday, it was announced by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque that the winners of King and Queen of the Ring will receive WWE or World Title shots at SummerSlam depending on what brand they are on. I think that’s a great idea and a wonderful thing because you are telling your audience what these wrestlers are competing for. If it was me, I would have announced it at the start of the tournament, but it’s fine to do it now.
If you are reading this before watching Smackdown then some of the lineup below will be spoiled for you. My WWE Smackdown review for May 24th is here. Let’s get to it.
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WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill (c) vs. Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell (Pre-Show)
This is a pre-show match that was added during Smackdown. It should be an easy win for the champions Belair & Cargill. I assume they’ll go 8-10 minutes by having Candice & Indi work over Belair’s left knee injury and then build up to Jade getting the hot tag. After that, it should lead to a dominant performance from Jade leading to the win.
Winners: Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill
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Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Chad Gable vs. Bronson Reed
This should be a good match with the champion Zayn facing off against two different kinds of opponents. Gable has done well since the heel turn as the crafty technical wrestler who is more aggressive now. Reed is an athletic big man who certainly could be an IC Champion some day just like Gable. I don’t see a title change happening here. Zayn isn’t going to hold this title for nearly two years like GUNTHER, but I think his title reign is going to continue.
What we saw this past Monday on Raw was WWE really pushing the story of Otis possibly turning on Gable, who has been a jerk to his best friend. I think there will be a spot in this match where Gable wants Otis to interfere (no DQ’s in a triple threat match) and instead, Otis will refuse. Maybe Otis strikes back at Gable, which would elicit a big response from the crowd. I don’t know if Otis should fully turn face on Gable at this show or if they should keep building to it.
As for the finish, I think what we’ll see here is Reed taking the pin from Zayn in this match. They could have Zayn pin Gable if Otis costs Gable the match, but I think Zayn beating Reed is most likely. They’ll probably get 15+ minutes or so for this match.
Winner: Sami Zayn
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Queen of the Ring Tournament Finals: Lyra Valkyria vs. Nia Jax
It has been good to see Lyra Valkyria receiving a push since being drafted to the Raw brand a month ago. Lyra doesn’t have a big personality necessarily, but she’s very talented in the ring and having her associate with Becky Lynch will help Lyra in terms of getting a connection with the fans. When it comes to in-ring performance, I know Lyra can deliver since I covered her entire NXT run. In terms of character, she’ll have to keep growing.
When the tournament was announced I figured it would be Nia Jax on the Smackdown side. It just felt like a way to give her a big win without putting a title on her. Then if you think about the winner getting a Women’s Title match at SummerSlam, it certainly makes a lot of sense to have the heel Jax challenging the babyface WWE Women’s Champion Bayley.
As for who wins, I think Queen Nia Jax makes a lot of sense. They can probably have a decent match with Lyra putting up a fight as the smaller babyface with a lot of heart, but I don’t see her getting by Jax in this match. To Jax’s credit, she’s had some good matches since coming back last year. She has improved as a performer, so kudos to her for that.
Winner: Nia Jax
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King of the Ring Tournament Finals: GUNTHER vs. Randy Orton
I think GUNTHER has been the unquestioned star of the King of the Ring tournament with the best matches so far. That’s not a surprise because the talented big man is so skilled in the ring and always gets time to have a quality match. I think following his record-long 666-day Intercontinental Championship reign, it makes sense for Gunther to get into the World Title picture soon. If he wins King of the Ring then he gets that World Title match at SummerSlam, which sounds like a great idea to me.
The idea of Randy Orton facing GUNTHER in the King of the Ring finals is pretty solid. That feels like a PLE main event type of match, yet we’re getting it in a tournament finals. Orton is known for being slow-paced at times, but it’s because he is telling a story about having a physical match and he’s not the guy that is going to rush things. That’s perfect for a guy to go against Gunther. Orton’s performing at a high level, so it should be an interesting match.
I’m going with a Gunther victory in the King of the Ring finals. The thought of Randy Orton winning to set up a WWE Title match against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam sounds good too. I think Gunther is the better choice. I know I already picked a heel in the QOTR finals, but that doesn’t affect my choice here. It can certainly be two heels as the winners of these tournaments. This should be an outstanding match.
Winner: GUNTHER
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WWE Women’s World Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Liv Morgan
Becky Lynch has been the Women’s World Champion for less than a month. There have been numerous about her WWE contract status claiming that “The Man” has just a few weeks left on her deal. We know Lynch’s husband Seth Rollins agreed to a new WWE contract recently and I really doubt that Lynch is leaving this company. I think sometimes wrestlers agree to deals weeks before it is ever reported. I think sometimes they agree to deals that never get reported too. I’m just saying I think Lynch will be around for many more years and that I don’t think she’s going to lose this title because of her contract status.
Liv Morgan is doing a nice job as a bit of a heel who hasn’t fully gone into crazy heel mode, but perhaps a loss here will get here there. We know the story is that Morgan is on her “Revenge Tour” and as Lynch said on Raw, Morgan has never beaten Lynch, so that could lead to some spots in this match where Lynch tries to cheat to win.
I think they’ll have the kind of match where Morgan avoids Lynch’s finishers throughout the match and Morgan gets a number of nearfalls. The finish may be something where Lynch counters a move to get a crafty win rather than a decisive victory. Post match, I think Morgan should go fully heel by refusing a handshake from Lynch and she should attack. That could set up a rematch with Lynch wanting revenge for the attack.
Winner: Becky Lynch
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Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Logan Paul
I am picking Cody Rhodes in this match and I will probably pick Cody in every PLE title match he has until WrestleMania next year. This doesn’t seem like a short title reign to me. I think this match will be similar in a lot of ways to the AJ Styles match at Backlash although this crowd won’t be as good as that crowd. I’m just saying it will be an even matchup most of the way that ends with Cody picking up the clean win.
Logan Paul is a heel who is good in his role as somebody that is easy to hate. I saw the bit where Logan gave Michael Cole his brass knuckles while claiming he wouldn’t cheat to beat Cody. Just because a heel says something does not mean they are telling the truth. I fully expect Logan to cheat and come close with a nearfall, but I doubt he will win.
It should be excellent like most of Cody’s matches while Paul has certainly shown that he is very capable in the ring as well. It might be the match of the night, but I think there will be a few contenders for that. This will probably get around 20 minutes or more.
Winner: Cody Rhodes
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BONUS TOPICS!
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
Cody Rhodes vs. Logan Paul. The King of the Ring Finals is good too.
The Match I Care About The Least
Queen of the Ring finals. The tournament has been okay, but not great.
Longest Match
Cody Rhodes vs. Logan Paul about 23 minutes.
Shortest Match
Queen of the Ring finals.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
I’m around a 7.25. In this Triple H Era of running WWE I never go under a 7. I think back to Backlash and how impressed I was by the crowd. This crowd won’t be as good as that because that French crowd was all-time great, but when you only have a five-match card, it helps the match quality a lot. Everything is going to get time and the performers are so good that the matches almost always deliver in terms of being great. I don’t think there are many “hot” storylines right now, so that hurts the card. We’ll get those four-star matches and maybe a couple of them are even beyond that, but I hope story-wise there’s something captivating on the show. If not then it’s just another good wrestling show in an era where we get lots of good wrestling shows and it won’t stand out much at all.
I’ll be back with a review of WWE King And Queen of the Ring on TJRWrestling.net on Saturday, so check that out live or any time after it’s over. You can also tweet me on X/Twitter at @johnreport as well.
If you want to send an email, send it to me at mrjohncanton@gmail.com. Thanks for reading.