TheKing of the Ring tournament is a men'sprofessional wrestlingsingle-elimination tournament held periodically byWWE, aConnecticut-basedprofessional wrestling promotion. Established in 1985, the winner of the inaugural tournament wasDon Muraco. Originally, the prize for winning the tournament was simply being crowned the "King of the Ring", but in 2002 and since 2024, the winner also receives aworld championship match atSummerSlam. Some wrestlers have incorporated the "King of the Ring" title into their character, such as adorning king's attire and acting and speaking with a regal attitude. The tournament is also notable for beginning"Stone Cold" Steve Austin's rise to stardom after he won the1996 tournament. The most recent2025 tournament was won byCody Rhodes.
The tournament was established when the promotion was still called the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, renamed to WWE in 2002). It was held annually from 1985 to 2002, with the exception of 1990 and 1992. The tournaments from 1985 to 1989 and in 1991 were held as special non-televisedhouse shows. Apay-per-view (PPV) event titledKing of the Ring then began airing as the annual June PPV from 1993 until the final PPV in 2002; these titular PPVs featured the final few matches of that year's tournament as well as other matches not part of the tournament. After a four-year hiatus, the tournament returned in 2006 and has since been held periodically. These tournaments' matches aired across episodes ofRaw andSmackDown with the finals occurring at a different PPV, such asJudgment Day for 2006, or on an episode ofRaw. The semifinals and final of the2015 tournament aired exclusively as aWWE Network event. The PPV event returned in 2024, rebranded asKing and Queen of the Ring, incorporating theQueen of the Ring tournament, a women's version that was established in 2021 and originally called Queen's Crown. The respective tournaments returned the following year but with the finals occurring atNight of Champions.
WWE introduced thebrand extension in early 2002 and the tournament that year was held for wrestlers from both theRaw andSmackDown brands. When the tournament returned in 2006, it was held exclusively for wrestlers from SmackDown. The tournaments in 2008 and 2010 were held as interbrand tournaments, with the one in 2008 also featuring wrestlers from Raw andECW, while the one in 2010 just featured those from Raw and SmackDown after ECW was disbanded earlier that same year. The 2015 tournament occurred when the brand split was not in effect. The brand split was reinstated in 2016, and tournaments from then until 2024 since had featured two brackets, one each for Raw and SmackDown, with the bracket winners then facing each other in the tournament final. In 2025, there were again two brackets, but mixed between the brands, which resulted in the final being between two wrestlers from the same brand.
Thefirst King of the Ring tournament was held by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) on July 8, 1985, at theSullivan Stadium inFoxborough, Massachusetts. The inaugural tournament was won byDon Muraco, who defeatedThe Iron Sheik in the final. In addition to the tournament, there was only one other match during the night, in whichHulk Hogan defeatedNikolai Volkoff to retain theWWF World Heavyweight Championship.[1] Further King of the Ring tournaments were held from 1986 to 1989 and in 1991.[2] These early tournaments were held as special non-televisedhouse shows in an effort to boost attendance at these events. The reward for winning the tournament was the title "King of the Ring", although1986 winnerHarley Race was the only one to carry this gimmick onto television during these early years of the tournament.[3]
In 1993, the WWF began to produce an annual Junepay-per-view (PPV) titledKing of the Ring. Theinaugural King of the Ring PPV took place on June 13, 1993, at theNutter Center inDayton, Ohio. Unlike the previous non-televised events, the PPV did not feature all of the tournament's matches. Instead, several of the qualifying matches preceded the event with the final few matches then taking place at the pay-per-view. There were also other matches that took place at the event as it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view.[4] The King of the Ring pay-per-view was considered one of the promotion's "Big Five" PPVs of the year, along with theRoyal Rumble,WrestleMania,SummerSlam, andSurvivor Series, up until its disestablishment as a PPV event after the2002 event—the 2002 tournament was the first tournament (and the only until 2024) to award the winner a reward other than the title of "King of the Ring"; winnerBrock Lesnar received a match for theWWE Undisputed Championship at that year'sSummerSlam.[5] Also in early 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE),[6] and the promotion introduced thebrand extension, in which the roster was divided between brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform.[7] The 2002 tournament was in turn held for wrestlers from both brands.[5]
In March 2023, it was announced that the tournament would return to having its own PPV and livestreaming event, but rebranded as "King and Queen of the Ring" to also incorporate the Queen's Crown tournament, and it would be held inSaudi Arabia as part of WWE's partnership with the country.[8] However, on April 13, it was announced that these plans were scrapped, with WWE opting to instead holdNight of Champions.[9] According to Mike Johnson ofPWInsider, the decision to change the event to Night of Champions was a creative choice to revive and bring that event to an international market.[10]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 show.[11] In April 2024, WWE announced that they would hold theKing and Queen of the Ring event in Saudi Arabia in May 2024, with the Queen's Crown renamed as Queen of the Ring. Tournament matches began on the May 6 episode ofRaw, and were held across episodes ofRaw,SmackDown, and atWWE Live events.[12] On May 23, WWE Chief Content OfficerTriple H awarded aworld championship match of their respective brand to the winner of the 2024 King of the Ring tournament, marking only the second time that the King of the Ring winner would receive an award other than the title of "King of the Ring".[13] The 2024 tournament was won by Raw'sGunther, who defeated SmackDown'sRandy Orton with Gunther receiving a match for theWorld Heavyweight Championship.[14]
After a four-year hiatus, the tournamentreturned in 2006 and was held exclusively for wrestlers from the SmackDown! brand. Unlike the previous years, however, there was not an associated pay-per-view. Instead, tournament matches took place across episodes ofSmackDown!. The final of the 2006 tournament did occur at a PPV, but it was atJudgment Day whereBooker T defeatedBobby Lashley in the tournament final.[15] The tournament thenreturned in 2008, and was held as a special episode ofRaw on April 21. This tournament was held for wrestlers from all three of WWE's brands at the time—Raw, SmackDown, andECW, the latter of which was established as a third brand in 2006. The 2008 tournament was won by Raw'sWilliam Regal, who defeated ECW'sCM Punk in the final.[16] The2010 tournament was then held in November that year. Qualifying matches occurred on the November 22 episode ofRaw with the tournament itself being held on the November 29 episode. The 2010 tournament only featured wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown, as ECW had been disbanded in February that year. It was won by Raw'sSheamus, who defeatedJohn Morrison, also from Raw, in the final.[17]
After a five-year hiatus, the tournamentreturned in 2015. Quarterfinal matches were held on the April 27 episode ofRaw, with the semifinals and final airing the following night exclusively as an event on WWE's online streaming service, theWWE Network, which launched in February 2014.Bad News Barrett defeatedNeville in the final. At this time, the brand split was not in effect as the brand extension had been dissolved in August 2011; also in April 2011, the promotion ceased using its full name with "WWE" becoming anorphaned initialism.[18] After another four-year hiatus and after the brand extension had been reinstated in 2016, the tournamentreturned in 2019 and featured wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown. In this tournament, there was a Raw bracket and a SmackDown bracket and the winners of each faced off in the King of the Ring tournament final, becoming the standard for future tournaments. Tournament matches began on the August 19 episode ofRaw and were held across episodes ofRaw andSmackDown over the next month.[19] The final was originally scheduled to occur at that year'sClash of Champions event, but was rescheduled to occur on the following night's episode ofRaw on September 16.[20] The tournament was won by Raw'sBaron Corbin, who defeated SmackDown'sChad Gable in the final.[21]
The tournamentreturned in 2021 and was again between wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown. It began on the October 8 episode ofSmackDown and continued across episodes ofRaw andSmackDown, with the final held at theCrown Jewel event on October 21, 2021. Additionally, a women's version of the tournament was introduced, calledQueen's Crown, and was held simultaneously alongside the men's tournament.[22][23][24][25] Raw'sXavier Woods defeated SmackDown'sFinn Bálor to win the 2021 tournament.[26]
During the June 6, 2025, episode ofSmackDown, the24th King of the Ring tournament, along with thethird Queen 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.[27] The final was between two SmackDown wrestlers, whereCody Rhodes defeated Randy Orton to earn a match for the Undisputed WWE Championship.[28]
In 1986, the second King of the Ring winner, Harley Race, parlayed his victory into an arrogant King of Wrestlinggimmick, featuring a regal cape and crown. This gimmick led to several notable feuds for Race withJunkyard Dog, Hulk Hogan,"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, and others, even after new winners had been crowned in the annual tournament. In 1988, Race suffered an abdominal injury and during his absence, his managerBobby "The Brain" Heenan awarded the crown toHaku in July, rechristening him King Haku, even thoughRandy Savage had won the tournament by that point andTed DiBiase would also win the tournament during this storyline. Race eventually returned from his injury and briefly feuded with King Haku, but was unable to regain the crown at the1989 Royal Rumble. King Haku then lost the crown to "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan in May 1989.[29] "King Hacksaw" then lost it on August 30, 1989, to "Macho Man" Randy Savage, who rebranded himself "Macho King".[30] Savage abandoned the "Macho King" gimmick upon his loss in a "Career ending match" toThe Ultimate Warrior atWrestleMania VII in 1991, declaring afterwards that "the Kingdom of the Madness has been cracked in half". Following this, only wrestlers who had won the most recent tournament, as well asJerry Lawler (who had used a King of Wrestling image regionally in the Memphis area since the early 1970s), would use the gimmick.
Owen Hart ("King of Harts"),[31]Mabel ("King Mabel"),[32]Kurt Angle ("King Kurt"),Edge ("King Edge the Awesome"), Booker T ("King Booker"),[33] Sheamus ("King Sheamus"),[34][35] Bad News Barrett ("King Barrett"), Baron Corbin ("King Corbin"), and Xavier Woods ("King Woods") are all wrestlers that also took on "King" nicknames after winning King of the Ring tournaments, with varying amounts of indulgence in their respective gimmick. William Regal won the tournament while serving as General Manager of Raw[36] and began displayingKing Lear signs of tyranny and delusion.Triple H alluded to his King of the Ring victory as part of his integrated gimmick starting in 2006 as the "King of Kings".[37]
In addition to the King's crown, various female wrestlers were portrayed as Queen while they were aligned with Kings, including "Queen of the Ring"The Fabulous Moolah (aligned with King Harley Race atWrestleMania III),Sensational Queen Sherri (manager of "Macho King" Randy Savage),[38] andQueen Sharmell (manager of King Booker).[39]Mo, Mabel's tag team partner inMen on a Mission, was "knighted" as Sir Mo by his partner after the latter's 1995 victory.Finlay and Regal were "knighted" as Sir Finlay and Sir Regal when they were part ofKing Booker's Court. In December 2020, King Corbin started a faction with Steve Cutler andWesley Blake, knighting them as the "Knights of the Lone Wolf" (with lone wolf a reference to his previous nickname), although this would be short-lived as Cutler was released by WWE in February 2021.[40] Corbin's king gimmick ended in June 2021 after he lost his King of the Ring crown in a match toShinsuke Nakamura, who then took on a king persona, being called King Nakamura.[41] On October 8, 2021, just prior to the start of the 2021 tournament that night, Nakamura respectfully relinquished the crown.[42] After Xavier Woods won the 2021 tournament and became King Woods, he knighted hisNew Day tag team partnerKofi Kingston as "Sir Kofi Kingston", and appointed him the Hand of the King. After Woods took time off due to injury, his king gimmick was dropped upon his return.[43]
In 2002, in addition to being crowned "King of the Ring", the winner also earned a match for theWWE Undisputed Championship atSummerSlam. A world championship match at SummerSlam would become an additional permanent prize beginning in 2024, with the winner specifically earning a match for the world championship of their respective brand at the event.
| † | Winner fromRaw brand | ‡ | Winner fromSmackDown brand |
| Year | Winner | Brand | Event | Championship match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Owen Hart | — | SummerSlam | Lost toBret hart in asteel cage match for theWWF championship |
| 1995 | Mabel | — | SummerSlam | Lost toDiesel for theWWF championship |
| 2002 | Brock Lesnar | Raw | SummerSlam | DefeatedThe Rock to win theWWE Undisputed Championship |
| 2024 | Gunther | Raw | SummerSlam | DefeatedDamian Priest to win theWorld Heavyweight Championship |
| 2025 | Cody Rhodes | SmackDown | SummerSlam | DefeatedJohn Cena in aStreet Fight to win theUndisputed WWE Championship |
Viscera used to be known as Mabel. [...] He started as a friendly rapping giant Then Mabel shocks everyone by winning King of the Ring, loses the rapping and becomes KING Mabel.