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TheQueen of the Ring tournament, originally known as theQueen's Crown, is a women'sprofessional wrestlingsingle-elimination tournament held periodically byWWE. Established in 2021, the winner of the inaugural tournament wasZelina Vega. The prize for winning the tournament is being crowned the "Queen of the Ring" (originally simply "Queen"), and beginning in 2024, awomen's world championship match atSummerSlam. It is the female version of WWE's long-standingKing of the Ring tournament for male wrestlers. The most recent2025 tournament was won byJade Cargill.
Like the King of the Ring tournament, female wrestlers from theRaw andSmackDownbrand divisions participate. There were originally two tournament brackets, one for each brand, and the bracket winners faced off in the final. In 2025, there were again two tournament brackets, but the brackets were mixed, which created the possibility that two wrestlers from the same brand could face each other in the final, although this did not happen.
The inaugural tournament was held in October 2021 and culminated at theCrown Jewelpay-per-view andlivestreaming event. A dedicated event was to be held in 2023 in conjunction with the men's tournament, but it was cancelled; however, it was rescheduled for 2024 titledKing and Queen of the Ring. Along with the tournament's return in 2024, it was renamed as "Queen of the Ring" with the winner earning that moniker to bring it in line with the men's tournament. Both the men's and women's tournaments were scheduled again for the following year, but with the finals occurring atNight of Champions.
In 1985, the Americanprofessional wrestling promotionWWE, at that time known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), established theKing of the Ring tournament as a men'ssingle-elimination tournament, the winner of which is crowned the "King of the Ring". In 2016, the "Women's Evolution" began in WWE, where the promotion began to treat their female wrestlers on an equal level as the men. In the years following this, WWE introduced female versions of matches that were originally only contested by male wrestlers—such as theRoyal Rumble match andMoney in the Bank ladder match. In October 2021, WWE established a female counterpart to the King of the Ring tournament, called the Queen's Crown tournament, held between wrestlers from theRaw andSmackDownbrand divisions. The inaugural tournament was announced to be held simultaneously with the2021 King of the Ring tournament.[1][2][3] The tournament began in October 2021, held across episodes ofRaw andSmackDown, and culminated at theCrown Jewelpay-per-view andlivestreaming event inSaudi Arabia. It was won by SmackDown'sZelina Vega, who defeated Raw'sDoudrop.[4]
In March 2023, WWE scheduled an event titled King and Queen of the Ring, which would have been a dedicated event for both the men's and women's tournaments, but on April 13, it was revealed that these plans were scrapped.[5]Fightful later reported that WWE did not have plans to reschedule King and Queen of the Ring for later that year, but the event could possibly be used for a futureSaudi Arabian show.[6] In April 2024, WWE announced that they would hold theKing and Queen of the Ring event in Saudi Arabia in May 2024. Tournament matches began on the May 6 episode ofRaw, and were held across episodes ofRaw,SmackDown, and atWWE Live events.[7] Along with its return in 2024, the women's tournament and prize were both renamed as "Queen of the Ring".[8] On May 23, WWE Chief Content OfficerTriple H announced that the winner of the 2024 Queen of the Ring tournament would receive awomen's world championship match of their respective brand atSummerSlam.[9] The 2024 tournament was won by SmackDown'sNia Jax, who defeated Raw'sLyra Valkyria, with Jax receiving a match for theWWE Women's Championship.[10]
During the June 6, 2025, episode ofSmackDown, the thirdQueen of the Ring tournament, along with the 24thKing of the Ring tournament, was announced to be held that month, culminating at theNight of Champions PPV and livestreaming event on June 28. Like with the 2024 tournament, the winner received a match for the world championship of their respective brand atSummerSlam.[11] The 2025 tournament was won by SmackDown'sJade Cargill, who defeated Raw'sAsuka, thus earning a match for the WWE Women's Championship.[12]
Similar to the King of the Ring tournament, the prize for winning the Queen of the Ring tournament is earning the title of "Queen of the Ring"; it was originally simply "Queen" in 2021 when the tournament that year was called Queen's Crown. As several King of the Ring winners took on a king's gimmick with varying degrees of indulgence, inaugural women's winner Zelina Vega adopted a queen's gimmick and began to refer to herself as Queen Zelina. She began wearing a crown, a cape, and carrying a scepter, while speaking and acting in a regal manner, though acting more like a tyrannical queen due to Vega portraying aheel.[13] After taking a brief hiatus in mid-2022, Vega returned in October and dropped the queen gimmick.[14]
.jpg) The inaugural winnerZelina Vega, who became Queen Zelina | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Professional wrestling |
| Location | |
| Dates | October 8, 2021–October 21, 2021 |
Tournament format | Single elimination tournament |
| Participants | 8 |
| Final positions | |
| Champion | Zelina Vega |
| Runner-up | Doudrop |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 7 |
← First 2024 → | |
The 2021 Queen's Crown was the inaugural edition of the Queen of the Ring tournament, and the only version to be called Queen's Crown. Consisting of eight female wrestlers, four each from the Raw and SmackDown brands, the tournament was divided into two brackets, one for each brand, and the winners of each bracket faced each other in the final. The inaugural tournament began on the October 8 episode ofSmackDown and continued to be held across episodes ofRaw andSmackDown. It concluded at the Crown Jewel pay-per-view and livestreaming event on October 21, 2021. In the final, SmackDown's Zelina Vega defeated Raw's Doudrop to become the inaugural winner.[15][4]
| Quarterfinals SmackDown (October 8)[16] Raw (October 11)[17] | Semifinals SmackDown (October 15)[18] Raw (October 18)[19] | Final Crown Jewel (October 21)[4] | ||||||||||||
| Zelina Vega | Pin[16] | |||||||||||||
| Toni Storm | 2:10 | |||||||||||||
| Zelina Vega | Pin[18] | |||||||||||||
| SmackDown | ||||||||||||||
| Carmella | 2:40 | |||||||||||||
| Liv Morgan | 1:40 | |||||||||||||
| Carmella | Pin[16] | |||||||||||||
| Zelina Vega | Pin[4] | |||||||||||||
| Doudrop | 5:55 | |||||||||||||
| Dana Brooke | 1:25 | |||||||||||||
| Shayna Baszler | Pin[17] | |||||||||||||
| Shayna Baszler | 2:45 | |||||||||||||
| Raw | ||||||||||||||
| Doudrop | Pin[19] | |||||||||||||
| Doudrop | Pin[17] | |||||||||||||
| Natalya | 3:00 | |||||||||||||
A women's world championship match atSummerSlam would become an additional permanent prize beginning in 2024, with the winner specifically earning a match for the women's world championship of their respective brand at the event.
| † | Winner fromRaw brand | ‡ | Winner fromSmackDown brand |
| # | Year | Winner | Runner-up | Finals date | Finals location | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021 | Zelina Vega | Doudrop | October 21, 2021 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | [4] |
| 2 | 2024 | Nia Jax | Lyra Valkyria | May 25, 2024 | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | [10] |
| 3 | 2025 | Jade Cargill | Asuka | June 28, 2025 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | [12] |
| Winner | Event | Year | Championship match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nia Jax | SummerSlam | 2024 | Jax defeatedBayley to win theWWE Women's Championship. |
| 2 | Jade Cargill | SummerSlam | 2025 | Cargill lost toWWE Women's ChampionTiffany Stratton. |
The original 2021 Queen's Crown tournament was heavily criticized by fans for not being on equal ground with the men's tournament that year. The length of the tournament's first six matches were a combined 13 minutes and 40 seconds, equaling an average of roughly two minutes and 15 seconds per match. This was in stark contrast to the first six matches of the 2021 King of the Ring tournament, where none were shorter than eight minutes.[20]
