The 2024 King and Queen of the Ring tournaments will be a launching pad to the main event of this year’s SummerSlam. WWE chief content officer Paul Levesque, known better as Triple H, announced on Thursday the tournament winners will earn world championship matches at the Aug. 3 pay-per-view in Cleveland.
“It was such an honor to be in that tournament and to win that tournament on your own. To have it launch you to another place,” Levesque said in Jeddah on Thursday. “I wanted that tournament to stand on its own and I didn’t want to announce this part of it until we got here.
“I’ll let all of you know tonight that the winner of the King of the Ring tournament and the winner of the Queen of the Ring tournament will both go on to receive championship matches for the title of their respective brands. They will both get world title shots — either WWE or world title — at SummerSlam.”
The King of the Ring tournament was held annually from 1985 to 2002, excluding a gap in 1992. Nearly half of the tournament winners during that time would go on to become world champions — including “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Bret Hart, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Triple H. The tournament has been booked infrequently since 2006 with a downgraded reputation, particularly in the last 15 years.
Queen of the Ring is a relatively new tournament with the first event occurring in 2021. Zelina Vega defeated Doudrop in the finals to become the inaugural Queen of the Ring.
The all-star participants in this year’s King and Queen of the Ring have already improved the tournaments’ reputations. Record-setting intercontinental champion Gunther has qualified for the men’s finals and is widely expected to face 14-time world champion Randy Orton. Multi-time women’s champ Bianca Belair is a favorite to win the tournament should she advance past the semifinals to meet Lyra Valkyrie.
WWE King and Queen of the Ring takes place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Saturday. SummerSlam is scheduled for Aug.3 in Cleveland.
