WWE King and Queen of the Ring

WWE King and Queen of the Ring

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - May 2024

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the WWE Universal Champion was Cody Rhodes, the World Heavyweight Champion was Damien Priest, the RAW Women's Champion was Becky Lynch, the SmackDown Women's Champion was Bayley, the Intercontinental Champion was Sami Zayn, Logan Paul was the US Champion, the RAW Tag Team Champions were The Miz and R-Truth, the SmackDown Tag Team Champions were Austin Theory and Grayson Waller, and the Women's Tag Team Champions were Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill (who retained in the pre-show). 

The first King and Queen of the Ring show began with Becky Lynch defending her WWE Women's Championship against Liv Morgan. I wasn't super into this. It wasn't that it was bad, but it was lacking some oomph. I understand why they decided to turn Liv Morgan heel, but she's just not nearly as good in the role as she was as a plucky underdog babyface. They got plenty of time, but they didn't tell any kind of story that I picked up on. If Morgan is a heel, she should be trying to cheat more. If Becky is the cocky, cool champion, she should be rubbing Morgan's face in the dirt a little bit more to me. It was a back-and-forth match between two wrestlers that aren't particularly great technicians or high-flyers or even brawlers but have gotten over on their characters. Unfortunately, I didn't see enough of that character clash shine through and felt like this match really only picked up once Dom Mysterio showed up (and, even then, I thought the execution of the finishing sequence was wobbly and telegraphed). (2/5)

The Intercontinental Champion, Sami Zayn, defended his title against Chad Gable and Bronson Reed in a triple threat in the next bout. Some really good stuff here, especially seeing Gable hit a double German Suplex on both Reed and Zayn at one point, plus an intriguing finish that saw Otis accidentally clobber Gable with a clothesline. The Gable/Otis storyline is over, but still feels a bit too comedy-based for me. For all the Gable/Angle comparisons, I can't fully get over Gable's whiny voice and the fact that he's my height (and I'm not a tall man). The folks over at Cagematch loved this, which is to be expected because it was non-stop action from beginning to end, but I went into it with 100% confidence that Zayn would retain and never really questioned that outcome. Each guy gave a good performance, but I'd like to see Zayn pushed away from the Gable/Otis stuff and given his own fresh storyline to sink his teeth into. Bronson is a monster who doesn't get to have enough dominant monster victories for me to take him seriously as a major threat. A good match, but nothing I'd go out of the way to watch. I also didn't necessarily love the logic - or lack thereof - with Gable not having Otis interfere more frequently and earlier in the match as it was a no DQ match. Why wait till the end? Also, Otis didn't seem conflicted in attacking Bronson Reed when the internal conflict of interfering was the sole reason Otis wouldn't have interfered earlier. Whatever. (3/5)

The Queen of the Ring Finals was next - Nia Jax vs. Lyra Valkyria. Lyra was basically an unknown coming into this, at least to me and most fans who don't follow NXT. I liked her Raven get-up. Nia was the favorite and showed off her power throughout the match. Lyra had to bring the energy here as Nia is and has always been a slow-moving "monster" worker with a limited moveset. We get the obligatory "My hole!/"That hurt!"" spot from Jax. The fact that those have become perfunctory in every one of her matches is grating. The match was fine, but the finish was EXCELLENT as Jax absolutely crushed Valkyria with her Annihilator/Bonzai Drop in the corner as Lyra was attempting a powerbomb. Triple H showed up for the coronation, though it wasn't mentioned that he was a former King of the Ring winner himself. (2.5/5)

Next up - The Men's King of the Ring final: GUNTHER vs. Randy Orton. The stakes for this were high as the winner would be given a World Championship match at SummerSlam (though it was unclear whether that meant they'd be challenging Cody Rhodes or Damien Priest). Orton got an extended entrance, the crowd singing along to every word of his theme. Great old school start with a collar-and-elbow tie-up, the crowd hotter for this than any match before it. The pacing and simplicity of the early minutes was terrific and the crowd was popping for the most basic of moves - headlock takedowns, shoulder tackles, chest chops. Note too how much fight Gunther put into escaping the headlock and how tight Orton's side headlock was - this was not a resthold, this was a struggle. After both attempting their finishers, Gunther took control with some big strikes to the kidneys and lower back. After wearing him down with a abdombinal stretch, Gunther hit a backbreaker for 2 and then a bodyslam, taking his time to dissect his opponent. Gunther went for a vertical suplex, but Orton countered with one of his own and then hit a big clothesline, but Gunther regained control and attacked Orton's knee (which Orton had been subtly selling for the previous few minutes). Orton hit a powerslam but didn't get all of it and Gunther rolled to the ropes. Orton hit the draping DDT but couldn't capitalize, selling damage to the lower back. The Viper called for the RKO, but Gunther shoved him away and hit a bodyslam and then a sloppy-but-still-decent splash off the ropes. Gunther went for another, but this time, Orton rolled out of the way and hit the RKO! Orton couldn't make the cover, though, and Gunther got to the floor. Orton hit his trademark sideslam on the announce table and then did it again before breaking the count (though I'm not sure how a match like this could end on a double countout). Gunther ate a back body drop on the floor and then hit a third sideslam on the table! Orton rolled Gunther into the ring but struggled to get into the ring himself. As he was climbing back through the ropes, Gunther hit him with a big boot to the knee and then applied a half-crab. Orton kicked him off but Gunther stomped on his knee and re-applied it. Orton was able to kick him off and hit the RKO, but Gunther struck him in his bad knee and rolled him up for 3! Talk about "outta nowhere" - I was not expecting that finish one bit. The replay showed that one of Orton's shoulders wasn't necessarily down - it'll be interesting to see if they use that as an "out" to lead to another match. This wasn't a Match of the Year contender, necessarily, but it was very, very good and, hopefully, means that we will see these two tear it up again because they have excellent chemistry. Terrific match. (4/5)

Main event time - "The Maverick" (and reigning US Champion) Logan Paul challenging Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Paul and Rhodes started things off with some old school wrestling - not dissimilar to what occurred in the previous match (as Graves noted on commentary). Rhodes delivered a gourdbuster that didn't make much sense at that point in the match and was barely sold before Paul hit a crossbody to the outside and then drove Cody into the steps. After hitting Cody with some body shots in the corner, Paul hit what he calls an "Overbomb" (a reverse powerbomb) and then a gut wrench slam for 2. Rhodes got some offense in with a Disaster Kick and then took the fight to the floor. This proved costly as Logan Paul was handed a pair of brass knucks and caught Cody Rhodes in the stomach when he attempted a splash off the steps. Michael Cole called Paul out on it and this distracted Paul long enough for Cody to recover and take over the match, delivering a splash, a powerslam out of the corner, the Bionic Elbow, and applying a figure four. Cody got 2 off the Cody Cutter but had his attempt at a Vertebreaker reversed into a Cross Rhodes. Paul got 2 and then went to the top rope to attempt a frog splash. Cody was on his feet early, though, and Paul hopped down to eat a twisting suplex. Paul regained control, though, and dumped Rhodes to the floor. After slamming Rhodes onto the announce table a couple times, Paul set him up for a pedigree on top of the announce table only for Rhodes to hit him with a Cody Cutter on - but not through - the table. Cody had the match won by countout but stopped the ref's count. Logan Paul recovered as Rhodes went to clear off the second announce table and hit Cody with a huge right hand on the floor. Rhodes sold it like a baseball bat to the head and Paul posed on the top rope. Paul hit a HUGE splash through the Arabic announce table that looked incredible. Paul hit a Frog Splash back in the ring...but Rhodes kicked out at 2! We got a ref bump before Cody hit the Vertebreaker and got the visual pin. Logan Paul hit Cody with a low blow and then put the knucks back on, but got stopped by the guest ring announcer, a famous Saudi Arabian comedian. Rhodes hit THREE Cross Rhodes and got the W to end the match. Not an all-time great finish and not an all-time great match either, but above-average. The finish was never really in doubt despite all the little swerves and false finishes and, though it could be because I don't follow the weekly TV, I didn't really get the "big fight feel" or personal animosity. (3.5/5)

With a strong 3-out-of-5 Kwang Score, this show was solid from beginning-to-end, featured at least one could-be Top 10 WWE Matches of the Year, and also had offered a nice surprise finish in the opener. Valkyria/Jax was the weakest match on the card but even that one didn't overstay its welcome. "Mileage may vary" on the main event depending on how you rate Logan Paul - I thought this was actually one of his less entertaining/interesting performances - but the King of the Ring finals was incredible.

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand