Gunther and Nia Jax are on their way to world championship opportunities at SummerSlam after winning the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments on Saturday in Saudi Arabia. Gunther outlasted Randy Orton to win the men’s tournament while Jax scraped through thanks to a courageous effort from Lyra Valkyria.
There was plenty more action at King and Queen of the Ring, including four championship matches. Only one title changed hands at the event, with Liv Morgan continuing her “revenge tour” using a steel chair before finishing off Becky Lynch to win the Women’s World Championship.
The main event of the evening saw another entertaining outing from American champion Logan Paul. Paul suffered a loss to undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes in a champion vs. champion match with only Rhodes’ title on the line.
CBS Sports was with you throughout the event with live updates, highlights and notes as the action unfolded.
WWE King and Queen of the Ring Results:
Women’s Tag Team Championship – Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill (c) vs. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell (kickoff match): Cargill’s power allowed him to take down Hartwell to start the match, but the tide turned when Belair’s knee started giving him problems again. LeRae took advantage with a chop block to the knee as Hartwell engaged Belair. The challengers continued to isolate Belair and work on Belair’s knee with various strikes and holds. Hartwell also took a low blow on Cargill to keep Belair away from the hot tag, but Belair made the tag moments later, allowing Cargill to blitz both opponents. A scary moment occurred when Hartwell had Cargill hanging on the ropes and LeRae attempted a moonsault but landed mostly on his head, although LeRae was apparently fine. Belair came back shortly after, attacked LeRae’s knee and a DDT into an ocean cyclone suplex on LeRae won for Belair and Cargill. Result: Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill def. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell will retain the titles
Women’s World Championship – Becky Lynch (c) vs. Liv Morgan: Liv got a cheap first shot during a referee break. A bit of brawling around the ring ensued before Morgan was able to sweep Lynch off the middle rope. Morgan kept some momentum, throwing a few kicks into the corner and a big clothesline. Liv attempted several pins during this sequence, keeping pressure on Lynch as much as she could before grounding her with an armlock. As Lynch appeared to fight her way back into the match, both women hit clotheslines simultaneously. Lynch finally got rolling, knocking Morgan out of the ring and hitting a diving clothesline before a diving dropkick from the middle rope for a near fall. A code breaker from Morgan also led to a near fall. Lynch missed a diving attempt on Morgan from the top rope, allowing Morgan to hit his own dropkick and almost put the match away, but Lynch countered Oblivion. Some scrambling led to Lynch locking in an armbar, but Morgan countered into the Rings of Saturn. After a struggle, Lynch managed to escape and lock away the Dis-Arm-Her. Dominik Mysterio then made his way to ringside, distracting Lynch long enough for Morgan to counter the Manhandle Slam with another code breaker. Mysterio slipped a chair for Lynch to use, which she didn’t do, but Mysterio distracted the referee, leading to Morgan hitting a DDT on the chair and then Oblivioning to win the title . A somewhat sloppy performance from both – especially Lynch – at times but generally a good match. Result: Liv Morgan def. Becky Lynch via pinfall to win the title. Category B-
Intercontinental Championship – Sami Zayn (c) vs. Chad Gable vs. Bronson Reed: Reed got off to a fast start, heading straight at both men before the action spread to the outside and Zayn dove on Reed. Zayn continued his throw by taking the fight to Gable, culminating with a standing elbow from the middle rope. Reed came back into the match, dropping Zayn on Gable in a reverse uranage/DDT combination. Momentum continued to swing between the three men. Zayn dove over the top rope onto both men and reversed a Reed Samoan drop into a powerbomb from the middle rope. Reed interfered with Zayn and Gable on the ropes, leading to him powerbombing Zayn and Gable into a superplex. Gable put Zayn in an ankle lock, switched to the same hold on Reed, then Zayn caught Gable in an ankle lock. Zayn released the hold as Reed charged, allowing Zayn to hit the blue bomb on Reed for a near fall. Reed placed both men on his shoulders for a Samoan drop, then performed a suicide dive on both.
Gable hit Zayn with a few German suplexes as Zayn went to deliver a Helluva Kick on Reed, Zayn then reversed and hit Gable with the same before Reed tried to German suplex both men simultaneously. But it was Gable who accomplished the feat seconds later. Outside the ring, Otis double-crossed Reed at Gable’s insistence. Gable then threw Zayn out of the ring and asked Otis to do the same. Otis refused and Gable began to berate him, pushing and slapping him. Gable backed Zayn up again and Otis tried to deliver the clothesline but Zayn dodged and Otis hit Gable. With Gable down, Zayn entered the ring, hit a Helluva Kick on Reed and won the match. An important match that kept moving forward, which was the real focus other than Otis costing Gable the match to move this story forward. Result: Sami Zayn def. Chad Gable and Bronson Reed via pinfall to retain the title. Category B
Queen of the Ring Finale – Lyra Valkyria vs. Nia Jax: Jax easily fended off a rollup attempt from Valkyria, as well as a drop foot hold. Valkyria tried to use her speed and avoid Jax’s power, sending Jax through the ropes and diving, although Jax didn’t leave her feet and crushed Valkyria against the ring apron. Jax finally slowed things down and dropped an elbow for a two count. Jax continued to crush Valkyria methodically, but Valkyria briefly came back with a series of strikes that pushed Jax to his knees. Jax was able to recover and hit a Samoan drop. Valkyria moved out of the way of an attempt by Jax to hit the Annihilator on the ring apron, then hit Jax with a bulldog on the floor. Back in the ring, Valkyria hit a tornado DDT for a near fall. Jax hit a Samoan drop again and went for an Annihilator, but was knocked off the ropes into a double stomp from Valkyria followed by a back leg drop for another near fall. Valkyria attempted to powerbomb Jax from the second rope, but in the struggle, Jax managed to land on her with a modified Annihilator for the victory. It was the right decision for Queen of the Ring, given that Valkyria needs to connect more with fans and Jax gets to run around with the crown as a key part of his character. Additionally, it was a good performance for both women, allowing Valkyria to show more fire and get more out of it than her other matches in the tournament. Result: Nia Jax def. Lyra Valkyria via pinfall to become Queen of the Ring. Category B
King of the Ring Finals – Gunther vs. Randy Orton: A prolonged struggle into a collar and elbow showed that the match would likely proceed at Orton’s preferred pace. Another collar and elbow struggle followed. The two men took turns working the arm. Orton locked in a side headlock, dropped Gunther with a shoulder tackle and locked in a side headlock on the floor, which he held despite Gunther’s multiple attempts to escape. As the referee broke the hold along the ropes, Gunther threw a punch before a second landed, then a third. Orton caught the fourth jab attempt and fired a right hand before an exchange of European uppercuts ended with Gunther giving up. Gunther went for a powerbomb but Orton nearly hit an RKO off the counter. Gunther started working the back, driving his forearms into Orton’s spine.
Gunther interrupted Orton’s comeback attempts by continuing to focus on the back, including a big body slam. Both men struggled to suplex each other before Orton was able to make the move and try to get back into the bach, only to take a forearm to the back and a hard shot to the chest. Gunther grabbed the ropes to avoid a powerslam after Orton started throwing strikes and clotheslines and again took control of the match until Orton hit the powerslam on the second attempt. Orton hit the hanging DDT and shot up to hit the RKO. Gunther pushed Orton away before the RKO and landed another body slam and splash from the top rope for a near fall. Gunther attempted a second splash but Orton moved out of the way and hit an RKO. Before Orton could attempt a pinfall, Gunther rolled out of the ring. Orton followed Gunther outside and dropped him on the commentary desk twice, his body escaping from a powerbomb attempt before slamming Gunther into the desk for a third time. Gunther cut off Orton’s charge by kicking him in the knee as Orton attempted to re-enter the ring. A few more shots to the knee allowed Gunther to lock in a half crab. After a second-half crab from Gunther, Orton exploded into an RKO. Gunther was kicked out at two, attacking Orton’s knee in the process. Gunther then locked in a crucifix pin to get the victory even though one of Orton’s shoulders was nowhere near the mat. The ending was a little shaky with Orton’s shoulder visibly raised throughout the pin (to the point where the commentary team couldn’t ignore it) but otherwise it was a fantastic match to cap off a tournament filled with great action. Result: Gunther def. Randy Orton via pinfall to become king of the ring. Grade: A-
Undisputed WWE Championship – Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Logan Paul: A bit of chain wrestling got things going early, with Rhodes trying to show he could just outwork Paul, although Paul held his own with a few knockdowns. After some shoving, both men started shooting in front of a front suplex from Rhodes. Paul got into a split to hide under a cross-body from Rhodes, then took Rhodes to ringside where he led him into the ring steps. Back in the ring, Paul punched Rhodes’ body before an overbomb…
Gn entert
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