Report: WWE Introducing New Version of King of the Ring Tournament This Year

WWE has not held a King of the Ring tournament since Baron Corbin won the crown back in 2019. But, […]

July 22, 2021, 2:37pm

WWE has not held a King of the Ring tournament since Baron Corbin won the crown back in 2019. But, according to Wrestling Inc., a new version of the tournament is on the way. The site reported on Thursday that the first-ever Queen of the Ring tournament will take place as a special one-night WWE Network/Peacock event, though the date and location have not been ironed out. From 1993-2002 the single-elimination tournament took place over the span of one night as an annual pay-per-view, but later installments (except for 2015) would take place over the span of several weeks on Raw and SmackDown.

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This show could, theoretically, be the first all-women pay-per-view since the 2018 Evolution event. Wrestlers have openly campaigned for a second Evolution ever since, but nothing has ever materialized.

As for the King of the Ring tournament, reports popped up earlier this year that WWE was looking to bring back more themed episodes of Raw and SmackDown, potentially including KOTR. Corbin recently lost the ownership of his crown and title to Shinsuke Nakamura, while Xavier Woods has been energetically campaigning for the tournament’s return for years.

Last night I beat the @wwe champion. Normally normally that means I’m owed a championship match. I’d like to exchange that for a one night King of The Ring tournament at the companies earliest convince. And I’d like Riddle on the opposite end of the bracket. I owe him one… pic.twitter.com/2Y7S4VxQa4
— Austin #Creed4KOTR – Future King of The Ring (@AustinCreedWins) July 13, 2021

“I think everyone has had their eye on it, just like people do with a Championship title. They want an opportunity, they want a chance, they want to own it and they want to earn it,” Corbin said when he still had the crown while on The Bump. “That’s what the crown does to people. Then you have people who are cowards like Shinsuke who want to steal it. But at least Xavier Woods wants to earn an opportunity to wear the crown. It’s important to him, to his career. I’m happy to make it a disappointment and a regret in his long career that he will have, that he came up short in something he really wanted. A tournament is what’s necessary to wear that crown and I won it. If you want a shot, talk to somebody, cry to people, and try to get it another tournament up. Xavier Woods, I would love to face him in the tournament. His dream will be cut short, but I’m happy to do it and defend it in the right circumstances.”