The historic King and Queen of the Ring tournament is back, but with a recent twist. On Friday's episode of "WWE SmackDown," Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce announced the revival of the famed King and Queen of the Ring bracket, with the promise each of the bracket's respective winners would be given a world title opportunity at WWE's upcoming, first-ever two-night SummerSlam event.
The first round of both the men and women's tournament will see a total of sixteen participants clash in four brand-specific Fatal Fourway matches: two for "WWE Raw" and two for "SmackDown." The winners of those initial matches will represent their brand in tournament semifinals. Tournament finals will conclude at Night of Champions, which will be aired live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on June 28. After tournament winners are crowned King and Queen of the Ring, they will be awarded a title shot against their brand's respective world champion at SummerSlam, which will be hosted from New Jersey's MetLife Stadium from August 2 to August 3.
As of writing, no King and Queen of the Ring participants have been officially named. However, matches are expected to take off on the upcoming June 9 and June 13 episodes of "Raw" and "SmackDown" respectively. Whether the tournament winners' title matches will occur on the first or second night of SummerSlam is currently unknown.
The King and Queen of the Ring tournaments are quickly rising in notoriety within WWE. 2024's Queen of the Ring Nia Jax went on to dethrone Bayley for the WWE Women's Championship at SummerSlam 2024, and 2024's King of the Ring GUNTHER defeated Damian Priest for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the same event. Even in loss, tournament finalists have seen great success, as 2024 Queen of the Ring finalist Lyra Valkyria has gone on to become the inaugural Women's Intercontinental Champion.
