BreakingDown King and Queen of the Ring 2024

BreakingDown King of the Ring 2024

Author: Danny Albers 

 

WWE's second international pay-per-view was held in Saudi Arabia, and it closed out one of the most exciting tournaments in a long time. WWE took the King and Queen of the Ring seriously, and it was elevated when Triple H announced that the winners would challenge for the championship of their choice in the main event at SummerSlam. The insane travel schedule will continue as the new pay-per-view is Clash at the Castle in Scotland. The main event has been teased to be Drew and Damian, so we'll likely see some of the stars featured on this show getting a weekend off to prevent burnout. Let's get into the breakdown of the five matches featured on this show.

Women’s World Heavyweight Title: © Becky Lynch VS Liv Morgan

Liv Morgan is the new champion, but she has a long way to go when it comes to wrestling on the big stage with elevated talent. The storyline they're building, keeping Rhea relevant, and teasing Dom dropping his "Mami" is a fun filler while Rhea heals from her injury. It's kind of crazy to think that Becky was a legitimate champion/contender despite losing to open the last two pay-per-views she's been on. It speaks to her star power and her overall body of work. Although Liv has been champion before, she held that belt from cashing on Rhonda Rousey when fans kind of wanted Rousey gone. This is definitely the biggest win of her 10-year career. Becky said backstage she's using her rematch clause to challenge for the title on Raw. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Intercontinental Championship: © Sami Zayn VS Bronson Reed VS Sami Zayn 

Sami Zayn is the perfect guy to hold the belt after Gunther because he's always the underdog in his matches. The crowd reaction to him almost makes you misty eyed knowing the cultural significance of him wrestling in Saudi Arabia. But Sami and the Saudi's weren't the primary angle here. It was Chad Gable and him losing the Alpha Academy. Gable came down to the ring and yelled in Otis’s face to “stick to the plan.” Otis did just that, taking out Bronson Reed after a match full of chaotic exchanges. But when Sami dropped to the outside of the ring, things would become interesting. Otis began to reject Gable’s instructions, dealing with an internal and moral struggle. After taking a while to decide to help Gable, and getting smacked in the face, Otis would rush Sami, missing and taking out Gable. Sami would capitalize on this mistake, and roll back and hit Reed with a Helluva kick to win this match. The match was a really good midcard match, and it will be interesting to see who’s next for Sami. Jey Uso would make for a really great story given their history.

Queen of the Ring Final: Nia Jax VS Lyra Valkyria 

Nia and Lyra faced each other in a physical match to decide the Queen of the Ring. Despite an incredible effort by Lyra, Nia would win this match clean by pinfall. Both women will come out of this match over. Lyra fought hard against Nia, and had spots in this match where the crowd thought she might win. That was the fund of this match, as there really wasn’t an obvious bet on who could win this match. Both women made sense, which made every turn of momentum exciting. The technical ability of Lyra made this match flow really nicely and made Nia look incredible. This entire Queen of the ring tournament had incredible booking. Nia is the perfect woman to win this tournament. Since returning to the company, they’ve been slowly pushing her but struggling to fit her into any storylines. So she’s been playing the powerhouse heel role. But this tournament format is a really good segue into pushing someone into a title picture. I love the choice of having the winner of this tournament face the champion of their choosing at Summerslam. That gives WWE nearly two months to build something with Nia with either Bayley or Liv. It definitely appears that Bayley is the obvious choice, as there really is nothing going for her right now after an emotional win at WrestleMania, and Bayley and Nia have a ton of history. This was a great finish to what was a great tournament.

King of the Ring Final: Randy Orton VS Gunther

Jim Cornette is probably salivating at the chance to rate this match on his podcast. If you're looking for a classic, technical match for the ages, this King of the Ring final match was it. This took me back to the old times of watching wrestling as they slowed the pace down and beat the shit out of each other. Not to mention the job that Orton did in putting Gunther, the younger competitor, over. He does himself a service though, as Gunther has been unbeatable the last 3-4 years, so the fact that Orton took him to the edge is an impressive feat. Gunther easily has the best chop in the game, and the crowd was behind both wrestlers. It seems like France has started a trend of singing Orton’s theme as he walks to the ring, which who would've thought that his theme being vocalized by hundreds of thousand people would sound so epic. Now that Gunther has a title shot at SummerSlam, they can take their time and build him with whoever they want him to work with. A Cody VS Gunther match would be absolutely wild, and the history is there, but they could really benefit from Gunther going after Priest and being the face of RAW. There are a lot of fun options there. 

WWE Universal Championship: © Cody Rhodes VS Logan Paul 

The WWE Universe got a pretty exciting finish to the show. Although many were expecting the debut of Bo Dallas and Uncle Howdy, I like a clean victory for Cody instead. It gave time for Cody and Logan to put on a masterclass. With Logan getting a dive through the announce table captured on drone footage for some of the craziest footage I’ve seen in professional wrestling, the two tore the house down. Logan is more than capable when wrestling in the ring, and Cody alluded to that over the course of multiple promos. That incredible work for Cody as he put his opponent over, silencing a lot of the criticism Logan faces. There are a lot of acrobatics and smoke and mirrors in a Logan Paul match, but one thing is for certain, the guy is exciting to watch. Cody eventually would use Logan’s high flying ability against him. One example was a crazy Cody cutter of a spring board. Some would say that the US champion losing at the main show damages the legitimacy of the title, but not when the US champion was moments from winning the WWE Universal Title and beating Cody Rhodes. This was an excellent finish to a great International Pay Per View.