Tag: king of the ring

WWE announces King of the Ring matches for Raw and SmackDown

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE has announced two King of the Ring first round matches for Monday’s Raw and two for Tuesday’s SmackDown.

Cesaro vs. Samoa Joe and Cedric Alexander vs. Sami Zayn are set for Raw, while Kevin Owens vs. Elias and Apollo Crews vs. Andrade will take place on SmackDown.

The bracket for King of the Ring was revealed yesterday. Ricochet vs. Drew McIntyre and The Miz vs. Baron Corbin are the other first round matches on the Raw side of the bracket. The winner of Cesaro vs. Joe will face the winner of Ricochet vs.  McIntyre in the second round. The winner of Alexander vs. Zayn will face the winner of Miz vs. Corbin.

Ali vs. Buddy Murphy and Chad Gable vs. Shelton Benjamin are the other first round matches on the SmackDown side. The winner of Owens vs. Elias will take on the winner of Ali vs. Murphy in the next round. The winner of Crews vs. Andrade will face the winner of Gable vs. Benjamin.

King of the Ring is a multi-week tournament that will culminate at Clash of Champions on September 15.

Monday’s Raw is taking place at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is hosting Tuesday’s SmackDown.

King of the Ring finals planned for WWE Clash of Champions

Posted on by F4W Staff

Further details have been revealed for this year’s King of the Ring tournament.

Dave Meltzer reports that King of the Ring will be a multi-week tournament on both Raw and SmackDown. The finals will take place at next month’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view.

Clash of Champions is being held at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 15.

The return of King of the Ring was announced last night. It will begin on next Monday’s episode of Raw, though WWE has yet to confirm any of the matchups for the tournament.

There will be 16 participants in King of the Ring. Eight wrestlers are from Raw, while the other eight are from SmackDown.

Here’s the full list of participants:

Raw —

  • The Miz
  • Ricochet
  • Cedric Alexander
  • Drew McIntyre
  • Cesaro
  • Baron Corbin
  • Sami Zayn
  • Samoa Joe

SmackDown —

  • Elias
  • Kevin Owens
  • Chad Gable
  • Andrade
  • Shelton Benjamin
  • Buddy Murphy
  • Ali
  • Apollo Crews

This is WWE’s first King of the Ring in over four years. Wade Barrett was the winner of the last tournament in 2015.

King of the Ring tournament to begin on WWE Raw next week

Posted on by Joseph Currier

For the first time in over four years, WWE is putting on a King of the Ring tournament.

It was announced tonight that this year’s King of the Ring will begin on Raw next week. There will be 16 wrestlers in the tournament. Eight participants will be from Raw, while the other eight will be from SmackDown.

Here’s the full list of participants:

Raw —

  • The Miz
  • Ricochet
  • Cedric Alexander
  • Drew McIntyre
  • Cesaro
  • Baron Corbin
  • Sami Zayn
  • Samoa Joe

SmackDown —

  • Elias
  • Kevin Owens
  • Chad Gable
  • Andrade
  • Shelton Benjamin
  • Buddy Murphy
  • Ali
  • Apollo Crews

Further details on the matchups for the tournament and the schedule for it have yet to be revealed.

This will be the first King of the Ring since 2015. Wade Barrett was the winner of that year’s tournament.

Don Muraco was crowned as the inaugural King of the Ring winner in 1985. The event was an annual pay-per-view from 1993-2002.

July 1, 2002 Observer Newsletter: WWF hires Vince Russo, King of the Ring review

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

In a year filled with surprises and some of the most questionable decision making by a major company owner in history, Vince McMahon surprised everyone on 6/20 when it was announced he had hired Vince Russo.

The ramifications of the move were huge, because Russo had little respect among the wrestlers, and was hated by many, and even more so by many front office employees for both personal and professional reasons. It was shocking because while the declining numbers indicate what they are doing isn’t working, it was a public acknowledgement by McMahon that he had no confidence this creative staff, which now is the creative staff he’s left with, is going to be able to turn it around. By the next day, things changed again, as after a meeting with the writing staff and Vince, Russo, originally scheduled to on paper report to Stephanie McMahon, but in reality be in control of creative, was taken off creative completely.

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July 2, 2001 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: King of the Ring review, Raw/WCW, more

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

With the business at a crossroads, Vince McMahon made the ultimate ballsy move. Starting in just a few weeks, unless plans change, and they do on a daily basis, Raw on TNN will be renamed “WCW Raw.”

TNN officially got the word on 6/22, although McMahon had the basic ideas formulated many weeks ago of having one existing prime time show be labeled with the WCW brand and the other be a WWF brand. McMahon’s feelings were that WWF vs. WCW will have to be promoted as both being equals to be able to create a separate entity and drive the same type of successful revenue streams when it comes to merchandising, licensing, ticket selling and PPV as the WWF. As negotiations fell through for the original 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. time slot on Saturday nights on TNN, McMahon said he felt that even if those negotiations hadn’t fallen through, that if WCW was given that time slot, it would immediately establish them as a secondary company.

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July 3, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF wins lawsuit to go to Viacom, King of the Ring review, more

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Delaware Chancery Court Judge William Chandler ruled in favor of the World Wrestling Federation and Viacom on 6/27 in the lawsuit filed by the USA Network, which will result, officially, in September, for all WWF cable programming moving to Viacom stations TNN and MTV.

Chandler ruled against USA Network’s claim that their right of first refusal in the contract, which expires in September, only pertains to the four wrestling shows on the network and not to an overall marketing deal between Viacom and the WWFE as a company. USA agreed to meet Viacom’s $26 million bid for Raw, Sunday Night Heat, Live Wire and Superstars in specific, but would not, and could not, meet the overall bid which included money to develop other non-wrestling related television shows as well as synergistic promotions including advertising on Viacom owned radio stations, promotions on company owned billboards and in theme parks as well as a book publishing deal with Viacom-owned Simon & Schuster.

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July 5, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF King of the Ring review, NJPW names new president, more

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

In its first PPV show since the ill-fated Over the Edge and the bevy of lawsuits filed since that time, there was some noticeable changes in the World Wrestling Federation for King of the Ring.

Whether they were good, bad or coincidental depends upon your points of view, but the show itself was well below the usual standard for a WWF, or for that matter a WCW or ECW PPV event. The biggest change was a much more careful in-ring style. There were a few big bumps, but not many, and all done more carefully. Some of this may be due to the fact Mick Foley wasn’t on the show after double knee surgery and he usually takes the lion’s share of that type of move. It seemed like everyone was wrestling under control, as even the best match from a wrestling standpoint with the Hardy Boyz vs. Gangrel & Christian was toned down from what you’d expect these same teams to do on a typical Raw show. In addition, for a nearly four hour show, with the exception of Chyna, who worked the show in the role of a male wrestler, there were no women on the card. 

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