New holders of the King and Queen of the Ring crown will be determined on Saturday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
In the King of the Ring finals, Raw’s Gunther will battle SmackDown’s Randy Orton. For the Queen of the Ring, SmackDown’s Nia Jax will face Raw brand newcomer Lyra Valkyria. The winners of both matches will receive title matches that will take place at SummerSlam on August 3 in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Undisputed WWE Championship will be on the line when Cody Rhodes defends against United States Champion Logan Paul. Although it was initially billed as a title for title match, Paul successfully managed to get Rhodes to sign a contract where only the WWE Championship would be on the line.
Other matches will have Becky Lynch defend the Women’s World Championship against Liv Morgan and Sami Zayn defending the Intercontinental title in a triple threat against Chad Gable and Bronson Reed. In the pre-show kickoff, Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill will defend the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles against Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell.
Join us for live coverage starting at 11 am ET.
After 90 minutes of King of the Ring history with the occasional propaganda, we are finally getting to the first match. Two hour pre-shows are bad enough for WrestleMania. Doing it on a FIVE MATCH SHOW is simply ludicrous.
Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair defeated Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles
This was fine, a basic match that the crowd got really into.
Cargill started the match, quickly giving LeRae a fallaway slam. Belair did a cartwheel and walked up to Cargill, who slammed Belair on top of LeRae. Belair was still selling her leg and that ended up playing a part of LeRae escaping and tagging in Hartwell, who took over for heat.
Hartwell and LeRae took turns working on Belair until she tagged in Cargill for the hot tag. Cargill gave LeRae and Hartwell stinger splashes in the corner. Cargill hit a powerbomb on Hartwell but LeRae broke up the pin.
LeRae and Hartwell hit an assisted moonsault spot, but Hartwell only got two. The champions then rallied back and ended up getting the win with a wheelbarrow DDT into a German suplex combination.
Liv Morgan defeated Becky Lynch to win the Women’s World Championship
I was surprised by the title change but there’s clearly a story here between Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley whenever she returns, so that seems to be the key story in the division going forward. Maybe we’ll see Morgan/Ripley at SummerSlam. Match itself was very good, the crowd heat for today’s show was strong.
The two ended up outside early. Morgan cut off Lynch by dropping her from the middle rope. Morgan got heat for a good while until Lynch cut her off and started to make a comeback, hitting a top rope legdrop.
Lynch attempted for the disarmher but Morgan hit a codebreaker for a nearfall.Lynch recovered and went to the top rope but Morgan rolled away and connected with a dropkick. Morgan tried Oblivion, but Lynch cut her off and hit a reverse DDT for a nearfall. Lynch went for the manhandle slam but Morgan countered with a rollup but Lynch kicked out. The two traded punches as Morgan attempted a springboard arm drag but Lynch countered into the disarmher. Morgan countered with the Rings of Saturn but Lynch countered with the disarmher again.
Dominik Mysterio then appeared at ringside. Lynch, distracted, walked into a codebreaker. Morgan went to the top rope but Lynch met her there and landed a superplex. Mysterio introduced a steel chair into the ring as he distracted the referee. Morgan hit a DDT into the chair then hit Oblivion for the win.
The announcers painted Mysterio as an idiot for letting Morgan win the title.
Sami Zayn defeated Bronson Reed and Chad Gable to retain the Intercontinental title
Another very good match. Zayn was super over and Gable’s act got a lot of heat.
Crowd was SUPER into Zayn, who went after Gable after the bell until Reed cut him off. Reed managed to catch both Zayn and Gable and managed to slam both to the ground at the same time. Zayn threw Gable to the floor and Reed soon joined him as Zayn hit a huge tope con hilo to the floor.
Reed attempted to gain control by taking Zayn to the top rope, but Zayn took down Reed for a nearfall. He tried the blue thunder bomb, but couldn’t lift Big Bronson. Gable came back and attempted a superplex but Reed recovered and hit a tower of doom spot. Reed attempted a moonsault on Zayn, but Zayn escaped right as Gable hit one of his own, landing on Reed.
Zayn connected with a springboard DDT on Reed but Gable fought back with an ankle lock. Reed recovered but Gable took him down with the ankle lock. Zayn hit Reed with a blue thunder bomb in an impressive spot.
All three wound up on the outside, with Reed taking out both men as he went to the top rope. Zayn took him out, but when Gable arrived the two traded German suplexes. The three did a double German suplex spot that looked really cool. Gable recovered and told Otis on the outside that it was now time as he took out Reed, but hesitated when he was told to attack Zayn.
Gable lifted up Zayn and told Otis to pull the trigger, but he refused as Gable berated him, slapping Otis, who went into position. However, Zayn dodged the clothesline and Otis struck Gable instead to a big pop. Zayn then entered the ring and connected with the helluva kick on Reed for the win.
Byron Saxton asked Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill if there is a secret to their team. Belair said that there wasn’t a secret. Ok.
Nia Jax defeated Lyra Valkyria to become Queen of the Ring
This was fine, I thought Jax looked better here than in many of her other matches, but considering she took like 90% of the match she didn’t have to sell. The result was ordained as soon as Valkyria won her semifinal match and it’s very clear that Bayley vs. Jax is the SummerSlam match. Can’t wait.
Jax quickly took over after she rammed Valkyria on the outside after he hit a dive. Valkyria attempted to fight back but Jax kept pounding away. Jax put in a sleeper. Valkyria attempted to fight back with some elbows but Jax spun her around and slammed Valkyria to the floor, then connected with a Samoan drop.
Jax went to the corner for the Annihilator but landed on her butt on the outside as Valkyria went for a running dropkick. Jax attempted to counter, but Valkyria instead hit a bulldog on the floor. She took Jax back to the ring and hit a missile dropkick and connected with a tornado DDT for a nearfall.
Valkyria went to the top rope but Jax threw her off and tried for the annihilator again. Valkyria fought back and hit a legdrop off the top rope for a nearfall. Valkyria attempted for her nightwing finish but Jax was too big. Jax lifted her up and went to the top rope but Valkyria attempted for a sunset flip powerbomb. However, Jax countered by squashing Valkyria with the Annihilator for the win.
Triple H presented Jax with the crown. Jax cut off Kayla Braxton and said she knew no one was happy for her, but she was happy for herself because she will become the new WWE Women’s Champion at SummerSlam.
Saxton interviewed Becky Lynch, who said she doesn’t know what happened out there between Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan but she has a rematch clause, and is going to invoke it Monday on Raw.
Gunther defeated Randy Orton to become King of the Ring
I thought this was pretty good. It was much more methodical and worked at a less intense pace than normal top notch Gunther matches but I thought they told a good story here.
The two start off slow, with Gunther grabbing an arm. Orton reverses as the two go to the ropes. Orton puts Gunther in a side headlock and holds on to it. Gunther took Orton to a corner and when the referee called for a break, started to chop Orton. Gunther attempted a powerbomb, but Orton escaped and dodged an RKO, honing in on Orton’s shoulder.
Gunther continued to chop down Orton, working over the shoulder as well. Orton finally hit a suplex that put him in control. Gunther dodged a powerslam attempt by Orton, who injured his knee in the process. Gunther hit some punches, but still walked into a powerslam. Orton followed with the draping DDT.
Orton tried for the RKO but Gunther followed with a slam and a flying headbutt. Gunther went to the top rope again but missed, allowing Orton to hit an RKO. Both ended up on the outside where Gunther was slammed into the table twice, neither time breaking. After getting slammed on it for a third time, the two ended up back in the ring where Gunther started to target Orton’s leg, putting Orton in a half crab.
Orton escaped and hit the RKO, but Gunther kicked out. Orton favored his leg as Gunther pinned Orton with a crucifix for the win.
After the match, he told the crowd that what he deserves is none of their business. The apex predator became prey for the Ring General. gunther said he would become the World Heavyweight Champion at SummerSlam.
Kayla Braxton interviewed Triple H, who had breaking news. Drew McIntyre has been cleared medically and Damian Priest has agreed to defend the World Heavyweight title against him at Clash at the Castle on June 15.
Cody Rhodes defeated Logan Paul to retain the Undisputed WWE Championship
I thought this was the best match of the night. Paul is super athletic and does everything very well, never looking lost. Rhodes works a very good main event style match and the two managed to deliver.
The two started off tentatively. Rhodes attempted to do Goldust’s uppercut spot, but Paul grabbed the hand and slammed it to the mat. Rhodes fired back with a gourdbuster. He attempted a flying crossbody but missed and bailed to the floor, allowing Paul to hit a crossbody to the floor.
Back in the ring, Paul gained control with an abdominal stretch. Rhodes fired back with a disaster kick as Paul was on the apron, sending him to the floor. The two got near Logan Paul’s friends, who gave Paul brass knuckles, allowing him to hit Rhodes in the ribs with the knucks. Paul argued with Paul over using the knucks as Rhodes connected with a suicide dive. Rhodes missed another disaster kick but connected with Dusty Rhodes’ punches.
Rhodes put Paul in the figure four. Paul went for the buckshot lariat but missed, allowing Rhodes to hit the Cody cutter for a nearfall. Paul fired back with a crossrhodes. Rhodes took out Paul with a suplex. Paul cut him off and took him to the outside, where he cleared off the announcers table. However, Rhodes fired back and hit the Cody cutter with the help of the barricade. The referee attempted to count out Paul, but Rhodes told the referee to stop, so he did. I guess that’s how it works.
Rhodes cleared off the Arabic announce table but Paul made his comeback, put Rhodes on the announce table and hit a big frog splash to the outside. Paul put Rhodes back in the ring and hit another frog splash for a nearfall. Ref bump as Rhodes actually hit his vertebreaker for the first time in who knows how long. Rhodes attempted to get the referee to recover, distracting him long enough for Paul to low blow Rhodes.
Paul took the brass knuckles out of his gear and went to strike Rhodes but Ibrahim Al Hajjaj, the special guest ring announcer for the night, grabbed his leg. The distraction allowed Rhodes to hit the crossrhodes three times, securing the win.
