WWE's Queen's Crown Tournament Has Been Alarmingly Short
WWE announced back at the start of October that, for the first time in company history, a women's version of the prolific King of the Ring tournament would take place. Now known as the Queen's Crown tournament, the finals of the eight-woman bracket will be held at Crown Jewel this coming Thursday when Zelina Vega takes on Doudrop for the crown. Unfortunately, the tournament has been met with heavy criticism from fans online, though none of the frustration has been directed at the wrestlers themselves. Rather, fans are upset at just how little time has been dedicated to the tournament with each match being noticeably short.
But just how bad has it been? Let's take a look at the numbers (all match times recorded by CageMatch):
- Zelina Vega vs. Toni Storm — 2 minutes, 10 seconds
- Liv Morgan vs. Carmella — 1 minute, 40 seconds
- Shayna Baszler vs. Dana Brooke — 1 minute, 20 seconds
- Doudrop vs. Natalya — 3 minutes
- Zelina Vega vs. Carmella — 2 minutes, 40 seconds
- Doudrop vs. Shayna Baszler — 2 minutes, 45 seconds
Adding those numbers up equals 13 minutes and 35 seconds across six matches, an average of roughly two minutes and 15 seconds per match. In contrast, none of the six King of the Ring tournament matches have been shorter than eight minutes. The booking pattern doesn't even extend to the rest of the Women's Division, as this week's Raw Women's Championship match between Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair went nearly 22 minutes before ending in disqualification.
The FINALS of the inaugural #QueensCrown Tournament take place THIS THURSDAY at #WWECrownJewel when @DoudropWWE goes one-on-one with #ZelinaVega!@TheaTrinidad https://t.co/XkzX5LLjNj
— WWE (@WWE) October 19, 2021
You can see some of the negative reactions to how the tournament has been handled below:
Queen’s Crown could have been something special. Feels like a missed opportunity when you think of how the Mae Young Classic was presented. This felt rushed with no time to get fans truly invested. Sad. #WWERaw
— Scott Fishman (@smFISHMAN) October 19, 2021
The Queen’s Crown tournament has been a mess, especially when it comes to these tragically short match times. But the match we got for the finals, Zelina Vega vs. Piper Niven? I like that. They put on one fantastic match with each other before. Hope this one delivers too. #WWERaw
— nick-or-treat live (@FearlessRiOT) October 19, 2021
These guys are booking the Queen’s Crown Tournament pic.twitter.com/wRGg0tXkfg
— Ross W Berman IV (@RossWBermanIV) October 12, 2021
UPDATED: Queen's Crown Tournament Times:
— Denise Salcedo (@_denisesalcedo) October 19, 2021
Smackdown:
Zelina Vega/ Toni Storm (2:13)
Carmella/ Liv Morgan (1:33)
Raw:
Shayna/Dana Brooke (1:22)
Nattie/ Doudrop (2:59)
SD Semi Finals Carmella/Zelina (2:41)
RAW Semi Finals doudrop/shayna (2:46)
Don't shoot the messenger.
Why do you think WWE has decided to go this route with the tournament? Will Vega vs. Doudrop be able to break the trend during Thursday's Crown Jewel pay-per-view? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments and check out the finalized lineup for Crown Jewel below:
- WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar
- WWE Championship: Big E vs. Drew McIntyre
- SmackDown Women's Championship: Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks
- Raw Tag Team Championships: RK-Bro vs. AJ Styles & Omos
- Goldberg vs. Big E (No Holds Barred)
- Edge vs. Seth Rollins (Hell in a Cell)
- King of the Ring Final (Finn Balor vs. Xavier Woods)
- Queen's Crown Final (Zelina Vega vs. Doudrop)
- Mansoor vs. Mustafa Ali