If you weren’t paying attention, another WWE PLE just happened. King of the Ring returned after 3 years. It was named ‘King and Queen of the King’ this time and was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The tournament occurred during the last few RAW and Smackdowns, and finals were set with the stipulation that winners get a title shot down the line. It made the whole tournament more viable. Other than these, there were 4 title defenses, and overall, it was an excellent show. The Saudi crowd was great; they even popped for women’s matches. Let’s talk about the whole card:
Pre-show
Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill defended their WWE Women’s Tag Team titles against Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell. The challengers had no answer for the chemistry between Jade and Bianca, which resulted in an easy retain for the defending champions.
Women’s World Heavyweight Championship
During the pre-show, Dominic Mysterio made it clear to Liv Morgan that he flew to Saudi Arabia to ensure she did not walk out as the champion. The match itself was an excellent technical match. Becky Lynch was pulling out all the stops. Liv had some great counters as well. The Saudi crowd was actually into this and making a lot of noise for both women. At one point during the match, we had a top rope super-plex from Becky to Liv. The referee is checking in on her. Dominic Mysterio grabs a chair and slides it over to Becky, telling her to use it. Dominic distracts the ref, but Becky hesitates to the weapon and opens it up for Liv to hit her with a DDT on the chair and become the new world champion. This was a good decision, even if it might have been better served at a different show, but it doesn’t change the fact that it was delivered incredibly well here. We’re led to believe that Dominic did not help Liv on purpose. The storyline will take an exciting turn from here.
Triple Threat for Intercontinental Championship
The crowd helped this feel like a big match. The Saudi crowd has always been a big fan of Sami Zayn.
Chad Gable came out with the ‘You Suck!’ chants.
The match was brilliant, candidate for the match of the night. I love this type of Triple Threat where all three guys are part of the offense from the beginning. Bronson Reed stood out because he pulled out beautiful suicide dives and moonsaults. We had a moment where everyone was in an ankle lock. We had a fantastic sequence where everyone was delivering German suplexes, and at the end, Chad gave them to both of them.
It has great twists and turns in terms of the story, too. We had Otis, who was supposed to help Gable. He attacked Bronson, and then he went to attack Sami but hesitated. Gable screams in his face and slaps him. Otis goes for the attack but accidentally hits Gable. Sami capitalized by pinning Bronson after a Helluva Kick. It was a perfect way to get out of a predictable finish because everyone knew Bronson would eat the pin. But they found a creative way to do it.
Queen of the Ring Final: Nia Jax vs Lyra Valkyria
WWE’s bizarre decision was to put a relatively unknown wrestler like Lyra in the finale. But the crowd was deafening whether it was for booing purposes for Nia Jax. This is another women’s match that got a pretty solid reaction from the Saudi Arabian crowd. Lyra is the perfect profile fit for a good match with Nia, as she works incredibly well with much smaller, agile women. The finish looked nasty, where Lyra was trying to hit Nia Jax with a sunset powerbomb, only for Nia to counter in a banzai drop. Nia Jax becomes the Queen of the Ring.
King of the Ring Final: Randy Orton vs Gunther
Thanks to the French crowd, now even the Saudi crowd is singing Randy’s theme song. The match felt like a once-in-a-lifetime dream match. It was like two super geniuses battling wits about who could outsmart the other. We saw a lot of work on joints, European uppercuts, slaps, punches, and kicks, and of course, Gunther annihilating Randy’s chest with chops.
Halfway through the match, Randy hits an RKO, but Gunther rolls out of the ring, and the match continues for another 10-15 minutes.
Gunther won the match by rolling up to become the King of the Ring.
As Randy’s shoulders were not fully down, Triple H announced later that there would be a rematch once Randy was cleared, but it’s still unclear whether the ‘King of the Ring’ will be on the line. I liked that Gunther won because I don’t think Randy needs to be King of the Ring to earn himself a championship opportunity. Gunther couldn’t destroy Randy like his other opponents,, who also protected Randy. Another match of the night potential if you are a fan of technical wrestling.
WWE Championship
It was already a predictable match but became more predictable after the US title wasn’t on the line. But the match was exactly what we expected it to be. Cody Rhodes vs Logan Paul was so much fun. The moves in this match were insane. We had barricade to the table, Cody cutter, and frog Splash from the top to the rope through the table. Logan, who promised not to use brass knuckles, obviously used them. After Michael Cole called him out for this, it looked like Logan would get into a severe fight with him.
We had a ref-down moment, and then, eventually, Logan gave Cody a low blow. He was about to hit Cody with the brass knuckles, but Saudi Arabian Actor Ibrahim Al Hajjaj got involved and stopped Logan. It opened it up for Cody to hit three Cross Rhodes and retain the title. The finish wasn’t fitting for a match of such quality, but we have to understand the fan service here.
Overall, it was a very good show with just five matches. It felt like a big deal because there were four title matches, plus two tournament finals and a good crowd in Jeddah. Also, during the show, Triple H made Damian Priest vs Drew Mcintyre for the World Heavyweight Championship official for the upcoming Clash at the Castle. Let’s see if WWE can keep the fire alive for these international PLEs.
