WWE Reveals Three Superstars for King of the Ring on SmackDown

WWE reveals that Carmelo Hayes, LA Knight, and Santos Escobar are entering the King of the Ring match

By Matthew Aguilar

WWE will hold the King and Queen of the Ring premium live event later this month, and while we don't know the full list of contenders just yet, we did get a few new additions revealed during tonight's SmackDown. In one of the first segments of the night, Carmelo Hayes met with SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis and declared he would be entering the match, which was followed by an interesting confrontation with Bobby Lashley. Later in the night, two more men would throw their hats into the ring, as LA Knight and Santos Escobar both announced they would be competing for the mantle of King of the Ring.

Knight's announcement came after a match against Legado Del Fantasma, and after the match, Knight took the microphone and declared he was entering the match. "All around the world, it's the same song. Another SmackDown, another dummy dropped on his head. Another hard way. Yeah! If I wanted to be cliche, I'd say this is my ring. Instead of me saying this is my ring, nah nah. I'm going to make this my ring. I'm now officially entered into the King of the Ring."

Escobar then came up and took issue with Knight's announcement, though he had one of his own to make as well. "Whoa whoa whoa, it's impressive. Impressive how you keep talking and talking and talking. You keep running your mouth on and on. It's a King of the Ring, while you're busy running your mouth, I'll be busy winning," Escobar said.

With the three new additions, the match currently includes Escobar, Knight, Hayes, Drew McIntyre, Gunther, and Xavier Woods. Woods is the winner of the last King of the Ring match in 2021, while Zelina Vega was the winner of the Queen of the Ring match that year.

It is likely that we'll get an announcement of the brackets for both the men's and women's matches soon, and that could happen as soon as this weekend during Backlash. The event was supposed to happen last year, but WWE ended up switching plans and going with Night of Champions instead. This year the event will make its return in Saudi Arabia. First up though is Backlash, and you can find the full card below.

WWE Backlash:

  • Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (C) vs. AJ Styles
  • World Heavyweight Championship: Damian Priest (C) vs. Jey Uso
  • WWE Women's Championship Triple Threat: Bayley (C) vs. Naomi vs. Tiffany Stratton
  • WWE Women's Tag Team Championships: The Kabuki Warriors (C) vs. Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill
  • Randy Orton & Kevin Owens vs. Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga

Are you excited for Backlash? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

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