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411’s WWE King & Queen of the Ring Preview
Image Credit: WWE
Hello 411 guys, gals, enbies, and everyone else! Welcome to 411’s WWE King and Queen of the Ring preview! I’m Jeremy Thomas and today WWE is in Saudi Arabia for Saudi Blood Money 11 its latest PPV in the country. Today’s show will see the crowning of a new King and Queen of the Ring, who will then go on to challenge for a World Championship at SummerSlam. Wildly, at the time of this writing (about 3 PM ET Friday afternoon) we only have three other matches beyond those and it seems very unlikely that will be the finalized card, so we will probably be getting at least one more match announced tonight on Smackdown from Jeddah. But we work with what we’ve got, and all of these matches have the potential to deliver so let’s get into them, shall we?
King of the Ring Tournament Finals
Gunther vs. Randy Orton OR Tama Tonga
At the time of this writing, we don’t have the full matches for the King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring tournament finals as the last competitors will be determined at WWE Smackdown. In the matter of the King of the Ring, I’m not entirely sure that matters. Gunther is a guy that can easily work against both Randy Orton and Tama Tonga in a finals match; sure, he’s a heel but he’s one that would have little problem being cheered against Tonga because he’s that respected of a performer. And against Orton, he can obviously play the heel. That said, I think it’s not hard to guess that Orton is moving onto the finals; Tonga is still very new to WWE and his run to the semifinals has already done him plenty of good (while losing to someone like Orton doesn’t hurt him one bit).
That puts us at Gunther vs. Orton, and again I don’t think it matters who is on the Smackdown side because this is the Imperium leader’s match to lose. WWE got a loud response from the fans when Cody Rhodes and Gunther faced off as the final two in the 2023 Royal Rumble, and it feels like they’ve been itching to push Gunther to World Title level ever since. Gunther is easily well established enough to battle for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam, and that’s a match that they can build to nicely. Orton and Gunther will no doubt turn it on at this show, and fans have every reason to be excited for that matchup. In the end, I don’t see Orton as the guy to stop Gunther’s ascension to the main event scene.
WINNER: Gunther
Queen of the Ring Tournament Finals
Lyra Valkyria vs. Nia Jax OR Bianca Belair
Again, we’re missing half of the known competitors for this match as of this writing due to the last semifinal taking place on Smackdown. We do know that Lyra Valkyria is fighting on the Raw side, which is a huge feather in Valkyria’s cap. Since arriving on the main roster, the former NXT Women’s Champion has had a very strong run. As someone who was a big fan of hers in NXT, it’s something I’ve been very happy to see. Meanwhile, unlike the King of the Ring I think this match result very much on who moves onto the finals on the Smackdown side. Bianca Belair and Nia Jax have both been treated as potent enough on the Smackdown roster to be considered potential winners here, so I could potentially see either of them move on to face Valkyria.
Depending on who wins, I can see this going either way for Lyra. A Belair semifinals win to me would indicate putting Valkyria over for a couple of reasons. For one, Belair is busy with the Women’s Tag Team Titles and they’ll want those defended at SummerSlam. Even if Belair and Jade Cargill lose them, they have a better match in Cargill vs. Belair if that’s the route they go. And a win over Belair would solidify Valkyria as an important competitor in the women’s division.
On the other hand, if Jax beats Belair than I think she is likely moving on. Yes, there is a story in Lyra vs. Becky Lynch as Lyra beat Lynch for the NXT Women’s Championship. But Jax winning gives Bayley an opponent for SummerSlam, one that is moderately fresh for Bayley.
I can see arguments for both sides here. Babyface Bianca vs. babyface Lyra won’t do Lyra a ton of favors; on the other hand, Belair is a bigger star than Jax and WWE tries to put their biggest names on the Saudi shows. In the end, my KOTR pick makes the deciding factor here; WWE has a tendency to want to portray the brands as equal and they split the 2021 KOTR and QOTR wins between the brands. I’m going to bet that they do the same here, with Jax beating Bianca and then getting a hard-fought win over Valkyria to punch her ticket to SummerSlam.
WINNER: Nia Jax
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Sami Zayn vs. Chad Gable vs. Bronson Reed
Sami Zayn has been WWE Intercontinental Champion for just over a month, having put an end to Gunther’s legendary title run at WrestleMania 40. Now, Zayn has the hardest fight of that young reign as he has to defend it against Chad Gable and Bronson Reed, who have both been laser focused on capturing his belt. Triple threat matches are often tricky to predict in favor of the champion, because losing the title without being pinned is a way to put it on someone new without hurting the person losing it. That is definitely something that could happen here, as both Reed and the newly-heeled Gable would be elevated by a title win.
That said, I don’t see it for this one. Zayn is in a more direct feud with Gable than with Reed, and it does feel as if there’s more room for the rivalry to grow. Unfortunately for Reed, that makes him kind of the also-ran in this match and the most likely to take the pin. While a win would really solidify Gable’s heel turn, a loss would allow the Alpha Academy storyline to advance in a number of potential ways. The most obvious direction is Zayn dumping the rest of Alpha Academy and recruiting the Creed Brothers to join him as a more serious heel group — which could lead to Zayn getting backup in the form of Otis and Akira Tozawa. However it works out, WWE loves getting big pops from the Saudi Arabia crowd and Zayn winning would do just that so he does seem to be the odds-on favorite to win what should be a very fun match.
WINNER: Sami Zayn (STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion)
Women’s World Championship Match
Becky Lynch vs. Liv Morgan
The Women’s World Championship is perhaps the most intriguing match on Saturday’s show in terms of matchup. Liv Morgan’s revenge tour against Rhea Ripley led to her turning heel, a role that went into overdrive when her quest to win Ripley’s vacated title was thwarted by Becky Lynch. Combined that with some tension between the two over Morgan interfering in Lynch’s matches leading up to WrestleMania and you have a surprisingly personal feud between these two. Lynch winning the title always felt like a bit of a placeholder reign until the company had a chance to get to Morgan vs. Ripley somehow.
This bout gives them a chance to do that match, albeit in a different way. Morgan’s storyline with Ripley is far from over, and in the meantime she has been rising up to become one of Raw’s top heels on the women’s side. A win over Lynch would cement that status and give her a bit of time with the title before Ripley eventually returns to reclaim what’s hers. The match should be very good between these two, as they’ve always clicked well in the ring. While there is a strong argument for Lynch winning the title and she is arguably the favorite (something the betting oddds support), I’m going out on a limb here and predicting that Morgan beats Lynch via nefarious tactics to claim the title.
WINNER: Liv Morgan (NEW Women’s World Champion)
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Match
Cody Rhodes vs. Logan Paul
There isn’t a ton of mystery around the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match. All due respect to Logan Paul, but no one believes that he is going to win the Universal Championship from Cody Rhodes in a match that was thrown together for this PPV. If that wasn’t clear before last week’s Smackdown, it certainly became clear once it was announced that Paul’s US Championship wouldn’t be on the line. And that’s perfectly fine; not every match needs to be a “who will get the win?” nailbiter. Instead, we’re going to get two talented guys going out to the ring to just put on an entertaining show, and I’m okay with that.
These kinds of matches are the proper way to use Paul, who is never going to be a weekly star for WWE but continues to be more than a part-time celebrity performer. We know he can deliver in the ring, and his crowd-pleasing performances work well in these one-off feuds. Cody’s run as Univeral Champion is still in the early stages and he’s building his way up to his next big feud. To strengthen himself for that next rivalry, he needs to get high-profile wins like this. Expect Paul to pull out a big stunt and look surprisingly competitive against Cody the way he did against Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel 2022, but in the end Rhodes is clearly walking away with his title reign intact.
WINNER: Cody Rhodes (STILL Undisputed WWE Universal Champion)
And that’s all we have for WWE King & Queen of the Ring! It’s still obviously a small card so I do expect something more to be added, or perhaps a big surprise segment or match. Thank you as always for reading and remember that we will have live coverage of the show courtesy of Kevin Pantoja, right here on 411mania.com. I’ll catch you later, but hey…with all the extra time that’s surely going to be in play, maybe we’ll get a big debut/”return” of some kind…
