WWE King & Queen of The Ring: Liv Morgan Captures Gold & Cody Rhodes Wins

This was a great match, and it far exceeded the rushed nature of its promotion. Logan Paul raised his game with Cody Rhodes as his guide. As good as Cody was, we know he’s the best in the business right now, but Logan used psychology. facials, and told the story with his eyes.

Paul, who promised not to use the brass knucks in this match—his foreign object of choice since feuding with Kevin Owens earlier this year—ultimately ended up using them behind the referee’s back and onto the previously injured ribs of Cody. This led to Cole criticizing Logan for going back on his word. Paul overheard Cole and threatened to ‘take his head off,’ but Graves intervened long enough for Cody Rhodes to dive from the inside of the ring to Paul waiting on the outside.

After some work inside the ring, the match was once again taken to the commentators’ desk, where Logan Paul attempted to land a pedigree on Cody through the table, but Cody was able to reverse into a Cody Cutter. Paul was left motionless on the outside, and Cody returned to the ring as the referee counted down Paul. That is when Cody demanded the ref stop the count, saying that Logan ‘needed to learn’ a lesson by being defeated in the center in the ring. It was admirable, but it backfired on Cody. Paul gained the upper hand and landed a frog splash from the top turnbuckle onto Cody and through the commentator’s desk.

Paul took the momentum fully, and just as he attempted to use the brass knucks once again, and possibly for good, the guest ring announcer from Saudi, Al Hajjaj, grabbed Paul’s leg to prevent the cheap win. Hajjaj was then shoved for his effort, but the mission was accomplished as Cody regained control and put Paul down with three Cross Rhodes to make his second successful defense since winning the title from Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.

King of The Ring: Gunther vs Randy Orton

For everything lacking from the women’s side of the tourney finals, the KOTR finals felt worthy of deciding a king and awarding a crown. The crowd was as hot as it gets, and the two briefly stood still as Saudi made every attempt to blow the steel cross beams holding the Jeddah Superdome together.

The two locked up, and the dream match began. The crowd was reacting to every piece of offense Orton displayed. For Orton, the crown represents a piece of history that has yet to be absorbed by his first-ballot Hall of Fame legacy. On the other hand, Gunther is attempting to achieve a title in WWE for the first time since the end of his historic intercontinental title reign. These were real stakes.

Still, with the finals being the only match taking place at the actual event, it felt silly seeing these guys sell injuries that stress the Ironman nature of the KOTR—but neither man was forced to compete more than once in a night to make it to these finals. Randy was playing the hits, and the crowd ate it up, but his knee injury slowed him down and left an opening for Gunther.

Gunther eventually locked in a single-leg Boston Crab, but Orton could not stop the instincts of his opponent to find the hurt and exploit it, even when Orton managed to escape. After Orton’s desperation led to ruthlessness, the fight was taken to the outside. However, even after gaining control of the match, he still favored the knee that nearly gave out when he reversed an attempted powerbomb into a back-body drop on the outside. Then, ‘outta nowhere,’ Orton hit the RKO and went for the pin. Gunther attacked Orton on his injured knee to break up the pin, and as he was writhing in pain, Orton was caught unaware as Gunther rolled him up for the pinfall victory.

Trips came out to crown Gunther like he did Nia (they should’ve had an official ceremony as they used to for Bret Hart, Owen Hart, and Steve Austin), followed by a brief post-fight interview with Byran Saxton. That said, this might not be the end of this feud.

When Orton was rolled up, it was noticeable that he was caught in a weird angle, and it did not look like his shoulders were flush on the mat, and the only mention of it was a brief (ungranted) request from Corey Graves to get another look at Orton’s shoulders. RAW will almost certainly bring this up, and I’m all for this feud continuing.

Queen of The Ring: Lyra Valkyria vs Nia Jax

Jax won the Queen of the Ring, and she was the favorite to do so, but despite the loss, you could argue that the tournament did more for Valkyria. She became the tournament darling and gave off some NCAA Cinderella vibes. Valkyria came out with some awesome raven wings, and Cole gave context to it on commentary. She left it all in the ring, but in the end, Nia Jax banzai dropped her way to the crown.

There has always been a level of criticism when it comes to Jax, but after her lackluster performance against Rhea Ripley on the big stage back in February, Jax has felt like her ceiling was set and a crown is wasted on a superstar who is more Giant Gonzalez and less Bull Nakano.

The crown would’ve fit better on almost any other superstar in the tourney, but this is less about who was booked to win and more about the perceived importance of QOTR from within the company.

Sami Zayne (C) vs Chad Gable vs ‘Big’ Bronson Reed (Intercontinental Championship)

This match’s storyline began before WrestleMania, and if you include Gable’s amazing arch, you could say the seeds that sprouted this feud’s plotline were planted as far back as a year ago—and it has been great. But bringing in Bronson Reed felt like overbooking and unnecessary, but it certainly added to the drama of Zayn’s title defense. While Zayn and Gable have deeply rooted issues in this, Reed felt thrown in because they needed some beef.

However, as good as Reed is, Otis was the best beef in this match. After weeks of Alpha Academy’s leader verbally abusing his faction, things boiled over on RAW last week. Zayn and Gable faced off in a singles match, and Otis, conflicted about interfering in the match, eventually helped Gable secure the victory. Otis later apologized to Zayn, who confronted Otis backstage to let him know he expected more of him.

The match was booked well and had some big spots, including a double-stack German suplex initiated by Gable onto Reed who had ahold of Zayn. But when it came time for Otis to aid Gable once again, he appeared just as conflicted as he did on RAW. After taking a moment to consider the repercussions of his decision, Otis attempted to clothesline Zayn but instead caught Gable flush, presumably on accident.

Zayn would go on to retain, but this feud feels like it still has some leg.

Becky Lynch (C) vs Liv Morgan (WWE Women’s World Title)

While this match has been well-built and has plenty of history attached, it felt like this was a quick move to throw it on the King and Queen of the Ring. Still, these two can go, and the expectations are always there. Before the match, Dom Mysterio made it clear that he came all the way to Saudi to ensure that Liv did not leave with Mami’s belt.

In the match’s third act, Dom was out at ringside to keep his word. However, by the time he made it ringside, Becky had Liv in the ‘disarmor’ but let it go once she noticed Dom. Confused by Dom’s presence, Becky spent far too much time obsessed with Mami’s boy toy. By the time Dom finally got involved and distracted the ref, his plan backfired (or did it?) as Liv was able to take advantage and pull off the win. Becky was devastated as she tried to comprehend what had just happened.

When Becky realizes she is just as responsible for her loss as anyone at ringside, she might also discover that Dom’s plan may have gone accordingly—keep an eye on Dom and Liv in the coming weeks.

Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair vs Candic LeRae & Indi Hartwell (WWE Women’s Tag-Team Title)

Cargill and Belair retain on the preshow.