Becky Lynch (c) vs. Liv Morgan – Women’s World Championship match

Background: On the April 22 episode of Raw, Becky Lynch won a 14-woman Battle Royal by last eliminating Liv Morgan to win the vacant Women’s World Championship. The following week, as Lynch was celebrating her victory, she was interrupted by Morgan and Nia Jax—the latter’s last night as part of the Raw roster as she was drafted to SmackDown in the 2024 WWE Draft. A match between Morgan and Jax was then scheduled for later that night, where Morgan won, prompting Lynch to give Morgan a title match. The title match was subsequently scheduled for King and Queen of the Ring.

Previous PLE matches: These two have only met once on a PLE, Becky Lynch beat Liv Morgan at Day One 2022.

Match: Becky Lynch has cool Peaky Blinders themed gear. Becky dominates the opening stages but Liv Morgan soon takes control. Lynch is too obvious when she’s talking in the ring. The two girls go down with simultaneous clothesline and Becky fires up. Liv counters disarm-her attempts a couple of times and hits a codebreaker for a two count. Lynch counters oblivion and hits a slop drop for a two count. The pace quickens and Morgan counters a manhandle slam, hitting a running knee for a near fall. Becky applies an armbar but Liv nicely counters into the rings of Saturn. Becky counters into disarm her and out walks Dominik Mysterio! This distracts Becky and Liv hits her with a codebreaker. Becky hits a superplex and as Liv distracts the referee, Mysterio slides a chair into the ring. Dominik distracts the referee and Liv DDT’s Becky on the chair before hitting her with oblivion for the win!

Result: Liv Morgan wins the Women’s World Championship by pinfall.

Review: This was a decent match to kick things off. It was pretty back and forth but the way Liv won is going to be the talking part. Did Dominik mean to help Liv? I think he did. Morgan has been good as a heel as of late and I like this new direction for her. Eagle eyed viewers have seen Liv in the background of interviews walking out of the same locker rooms and cars as Judgment Day so there’s far more to this story than meets the eye. 

Rating: 6/10

Sami Zayn (c) vs. Bronson Reed vs. Chad Gable – Triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship

Background: On the March 11 episode of Raw, Sami Zayn won a gauntlet match by last eliminating Chad Gable to become the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania XL. In the weeks leading up to event, Gable trained Zayn for his championship match, which he won. Because of Gable’s help, Zayn gave him a title match. Before the match, however, Bronson Reed warned that he would go after the winner. Zayn defeated Gable to retain the title, but after the match, Gable attacked Zayn while celebrating with his family, turning heel in the process. Later, Gable explained that the reason he attacked Zayn was because he felt disrespected by Zayn after he brought the title to him while he was down in the corner of the ring, and also after seeing Zayn celebrating his win with his family, something that Gable was not able to do after he lost an Intercontinental Championship match back in September 2023. After being attacked by Reed, Zayn defended his title against him on the April 29 episode, which Zayn won by disqualification after Gable attacked him. The following week, Zayn attacked Gable during his match with Reed, causing another disqualification. Later that night, Zayn announced that he would defend his title against Gable and Reed in a triple threat match at King and Queen of the Ring, which was later made official.

Previous PLE matches: This is a first time triple threat match between these three men.

Match: Chad Gable walks out with Maxxine and Otis but send Maxxine to the back. All three men got to showcase themselves in this match. There were some good spots, especially from Bronson Reed, he hit a suicide dive at one point. Chad Gable also impressive, hitting a German suplex on both opponents at the same time. In the end it was all down to the psychology surrounding Otis. He clotheslined Bronson Reed on the outside before Gable demanded he do the same to Sami Zayn. Otis hesitated before accidentally nailing Chad Gable. Sami would then hit the helluva kick on Reed for the victory. 

Result: Sami Zayn retains the Intercontinental Championship by pinfall.

Review: A decent enough triple threat match. The crowd were hot for it and really in the corner of Sami Zayn. Zayn was the right winner, I’m not sure who he’ll feud with next. A good triple threat match tonight. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Lyra Valkyria vs. Nia Jax – Queen Of The Ring final to earn a world title match at Summerslam

Background: Lyra beat Dakota Kai, Zoey Stark and Iyo Sky in the Raw side of the bracket and Nia Jax defeated Naomi, Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair on the Smackdown side. On May 23 during an appearance at the WWE Experience attraction in Saudi Arabia, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque announced that the winners of both tournaments would receive a match for the world championship of their respective brand at SummerSlam.

Previous PLE matches: This is actually a first ever main roster PLE match for Lyra.

Match: This was a pretty back and forth match but you always had the feeling that Nia was going to squash Lyra at some point. Nia threw Lyra around for much of the match but in the end Valkyria made the mistake of attempting a powerbomb off the middle rope and Jax just sat down on her to win the match. 

Result: Nia Jax becomes queen of the ring by pinfall. 

Review: This match was ok. It seemed like an inevitability that Nia would win. Some of Lyra’s offence looked comical to be honest. Not a lot of chemistry between there two girls and a bit of a predictable one. 

Rating: 5.75/10

Gunther vs. Randy Orton – King Of The Ring final to earn a world title match at Summerslam

Background: On the April 22 episode of Raw, Gunther announced he would take part in the King of the Ring tournament, making him the first official participant. Gunther would go on to defeat Sheamus, Kofi Kingston and Jey Uso to win the Raw side of the bracket whilst Randy Orton beat AJ Styles, Carmelo Hayes and Tama tonga wo win the Smackdown bracket. On May 23 during an appearance at the WWE Experience attraction in Saudi Arabia, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque announced that the winners of both tournaments would receive a match for the world championship of their respective brand at SummerSlam.

Previous PLE matches: This is a first ever match between these two men.

Match: The crowd are really hot for this one. It’s a cagey start to the match as both men look to get the upper hand early. The match starts to break down and Orton hits strokes and uppercuts with Gunther matching him blow for blow. Gunther avoids an RKO and then takes control with some big chops. Orton hits his trademark powerslam and hangman’s DDT before Gunther counters an RKO attempt. Gunther hits a top rope splash for a near fall and then attempts a second but Randy avoids it and hits an RKO! Gunther rolls out of the ring. Randy drops Gunther on the announce desk three times. Back in the ring and Gunther applied a half crab. Randy hits an RKO out of nowhere but Gunther kicks out. Gunther then rolls Orton up and gets the win! Ortons shoulder did not look down. 

Result: Gunther wins by pinfall.

Review: This was a good match between these two men. It was a slow pace which is what you’d expect from these two. Gunther wins which is fine, he’ll go on to Summerslam where I’d like to see him become champion. 

Rating: 7.75/10

Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Logan Paul – Undisputed WWE Championship match

Background: After successfully defending the Undisputed WWE Championship at Backlash France, Cody Rhodes appeared on the following SmackDown. After being introduced by SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis, he announced that Rhodes’ next opponent would be United States Champion Logan Paul, and a Champion vs. Champion match was scheduled for King and Queen of the Ring. On the following episode, during the contract signing for the match, the contract stated that both Rhodes’ and Paul’s titles would be on the line at the event. However, when Paul was about to sign the contract, he tore it up, before bringing out his own contract, which stated that only Rhodes’ title would be on the line. After being mocked by Paul, Rhodes signed the contract, confirming that he would defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against Paul at the event.

Previous PLE matches: This is a first ever match between these two men.

Match:
It’s a back and forth start to the match with Logan Paul getting in some impressive counters. Logan takes control control with lefts and rights. Cody hits a top rope arm drag to switch the momentum. The fight goes to the outside where Logan Paul obtains some brass knucks from his mate at ringside and nails Cody with them. Michael Cole calls Logan a loser so Paul gets in his face but Corey Graves gets between them. Rhodes hits a suicide dive and then fires up in the ring. Cody hits his trademark jabs and then applies a figure four but Paul gets to the ropes. Cody avoids a springboard lariat and hits a Cody cutter for a near fall. Paul counters a vertebreaker and hits cross-Rhodes for a near fall. Logan Paul counters Cody’s cross-Rhodes attempt and then looks for a pedigree on the announce desk but Cody counters with a Cody cutter.

Cody Rhodes nearly wins by count out but he stops the referee from counting the ten. Logan hits a big right hand, lays Cody on the announce desk, heads to the top (drinks some Prime and spits it out) before hitting Cody with a frog splash through the announce desk. Logan hits a frog splash in the ring for a near fall. Cody and Logan accidentally lay out the referee and Rhodes hits a vertebreaker. Logan Paul hits a low blow and then puts on the brass knucks but Ibrahim Al Hajjaj grabs his foot! Cody hits cross-Rhodes three times and that’s all she wrote. 

Result: Cody Rhodes retains the WWE Championship by pinfall. 

Review: This was a really good match. Logan Paul continue to impress but there’s just no stopping Cody Rhodes. A really solid main event tonight. 

Rating: 8/10