Sheamus battles Gunther as the King and Queen of the Ring Tournaments begin

The first round of the King of the Ring Tournament begins as Sheamus battles Gunther in an epic rematch from WWE Clash at The Castle. After losing the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania XL, Gunther declared for the King of the Ring Tournament with the intention of taking the title of “King” to new heights. Sheamus is looking to join Bret Hart as the only multiple-time King of the Ring winner after "Hit Man" won consecutive tournaments 1991 and 1993. Who will come out on top in this King of the Ring opening-round match?




– We kickoff the show with a highlight video package looking back at key moments from the WWE Backlash: France premium live event from this past Saturday afternoon.

– We shoot inside the XL Center in Hartford, CT. and Michael Cole and Pat McAfee welcome us to the show. We hear the familiar sounds of The Judgment Day's theme music. Out comes the entire group, led by WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest. Priest starts off by acknowledging the chants for "Main Event" Jey Uso and talks about his popularity. He says that didn't help him in France, because Priest is still the champ, "so all rise ..."

He then brings up what happened after the match with JD McDonagh and Finn Balor. He apologizes and then tells Finn he's his brother. They hug it out. Dom-Dom joins in on the hug as the fans loudly boo. Priest says that's enough of that and now it's back to business. He says he's still the champ, they're still the most dominant force in this business, and Finn Balor is your next King of the Ring. Balor then hops on the mic.

Balor says guess who gets a first-round pass in the King of the Ring tourney due to Drew McIntyre being pulled from their opening round bout tonight. As he continues to gloat, we hear Raw General Manager Adam Pearce saying "Hold on, hold on, hold on," off-camera. He emerges from the entrance area and says McIntyre is out of tonight's opener, but Balor isn't. He tells The Judgment Day to clear out of the ring because Balor's KOTR match is next and it's against "Main Event" Jey Uso.

King of the Ring First Round Match: Jey Uso vs. Finn Bálor

With that said, the theme for "Main Event" Jey Uso hits and out comes the wildly popular WWE Superstar, with McAfee as always, marking out on top of the commentary desk. McAfee leads the sea of fans in the background, who copy France and use their cell phone flash lights for the big Uso wave for the entertaining ring entrance of "Main Event" Jey. As Uso settles in the ring and soaks up the love from the Hartford crowd, we head to a pre-match commercial break.

As we settle back in from the break, the bell sounds and we officially start the 23rd King of the Ring tournament, with Uso vs. Balor in first round action. Michael Cole notes on commentary that the first KOTR was held in 1985 and was won by Don "The Rock" Muraco. Meanwhile, in the ring, Balor grabs a side head lock on Uso, who backs him into the ropes. Balor comes off the ropes and knocks Uso down with a shoulder tackle. He goes for the cover, but Uso kicks out.

Balor takes Uso to the corner and stomps him down into the turnbuckles. Finn misses a right hand, Jey with rights of his own in the corner. Jey hops over Finn, lands on his feet, uppercut from Jey. Jey backs Finn against the ropes and works him over. They exchange some more strikes and then Jey sends Finn out to the floor. He connects with a follow-up suicide dive to the floor. Balor sends Jey into the post then shoots him over the announce table as we head to a mid-match commercial break.

When we return, we see Uso doing the ten punch on Balor in the corner spot, as the fans chant "YEET!" with each shot that lands. Balor hits a big chop and a snap mare take down into a basement drop kick for a two count. Balor connects with a snapmare and a basement dropkick for a two-count. Balor elbows Uso in the head and applies another rear chin lock. Uso fights out of it, and they begin exchanging right hands. Uso comes out on top with a big right hand that takes the Prince down. Uso charges him in the corner, but Balor drops him on the apron.

Uso kicks him back and comes off the top rope with a diving cross-body block for a near fall. Balor is having trouble getting to his feet and falls to the corner in a seated position. Uso sees his opening and gets the crowd going. Uso charges for a running hip attack, but Balor intercepts him with a big clothesline. Balor stomps away at Uso and taunts the crowd. Uso lifts Balor for a Samoan Drop, but Balor rakes the eyes and takes him down for a two-count. Uso gets up and kicks and uppercuts Balor before hitting a superkick. Uso heads to the top rope but lands on his feet when Balor moves.

Balor connects with a Woo Dropkick and quickly gets to the top rope. Uso avoids the Coup de Grace and connects with the Spear for a close two count. Uso pulls himself up and looks out at the crowd to see Drew McIntyre coming through the crowd to ringside. Balor rolls Uso up for a two-count. Balor connects with a Sling Blade. A “CM Punk” chant fires up. Balor charges for another Woo Dropkick, but Uso cuts him off with a Spear for the win to advance to the next round of the 2024 KOTR tourney.

Winner and ADVANCING in 2024 WWE King Of The Ring Tournament: "Main Event" Jey Uso

– After the match, we see Becky Lynch walking backstage and we learn that she will talk to Michael Cole later tonight. We then head to a commercial break. When we return, we see Drew McIntyre walking-and-talking with Raw G.M. Adam Pearce. He's upset and storms off to find CM Punk. As soon as he leaves, we see CM Punk pull up in a car. He pops out and walks-and-talks with Pearce. He asks if he can hit his music because he's got something to say. Pearce obliges. Punk makes his way all the way out to the ring in a single camera shot.

The crowd very loudly chants "CM Punk! CM Punk!" as he emerges and proclaims it "Clobbering Time!" as always. He settles in the ring and hops on the mic. He talks about being trapped in WWE Headquarters. He then brings up 5 minutes and 46 seconds being how long it took him to make his point. He says what if this week he stays here overtime and waits long enough for Drew to come back.

He says what if this week he stays here overtime and waits long enough for Drew to come back. He says he's probably at a red light scrolling through Twitter. He asks everyone to take their phones out and take pictures and tweet at Drew now and tell him Punk is right here and if he's not a coward, he will turn around.

If he does, in this ring he can catch the beating that he deserves. Punk goes on to tell a story about getting injured in the Royal Rumble back in January after a DDT from Drew McIntyre. He says he was heartbroken. He thought Drew ruined his WrestleMania dreams.

He says he had a good cry about it, had a good surgery and realized Drew didn't ruin anything. At best he postponed or delayed them. McIntyre says he picked a fight with the pettiest man on the roster. He brings up vowing to make McIntyre's life miserable and quotes all the things Drew is blaming Punk for.

Punk says Drew wants to be like him and says Drew is a choke artist. He is the unforgiving consequences to Drew's actions. He says he prayed for this and he broke his elbow. He says if he shows up, or the next time he sees him, he's gonna break his face and then he's gonna break his heart.

He claims Drew fears him and his music hits to end the segment. "If you make me go to Glasgow, Scotland, I'm gonna pop out and break your face!" Punk says off-mic into the camera as his theme continues playing. Punk sits on the top turnbuckle in the corner of the ring and then we fade backstage.

– Backstage, we see Cathy Kelley standing by with Ricochet. She brings up his match against Ilja Dragunov, in their first in-ring meeting, in an important bout like the King of the Ring Tournament opening round bout. Up walks Braun Strowman who hugs his former tag-team partner.

Strowman says he'll remind everyone why they call him "King Ricochet." Once this wraps up, we return back inside the XL Center where we hear the familiar sounds of the theme music of IYO SKY. Out comes the former WWE Women's Champion representing Damage CTRL. She settles in the ring as we head to another break.

Queen of the Ring First Round Match: IYO SKY vs. Natalya

When we return, we hear the iconic sounds of Natalya's entrance tune and out comes the women's wrestling legend for first round action in the first match of the 2024 WWE Queen of the Ring Tournament. The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one. Cole and McAfee bring up Nattie dedicating this match to the late Owen Hart.

After some early back-and-forth action, we see SKY settle into the early offensive lead as we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break. When we return, we see Nattie fighting back, including hitting a big super-plex off the middle rope, however SKY ends up taking back over again immediately afterwards.

Nattie hits a sit out power bomb out of nowhere to slow SKY down. She goes to hook SKY's legs, but Dakota Kai hops on the apron and gets involved, which leads to SKY hitting the running double knees to a slumped over Nattie in the corner. She follows up with a top-rope moonsault for the win to advance to the next round of the tourney.

Winner and ADVANCING in 2024 WWE Queen Of The Ring Tournament: IYO SKY

– After the match, Damage CTRL remains in the ring. Dakota Kai gets on the mic and reveals she will be replacing Asuka to take on Lyra Valkyria in the scheduled Queen of the Ring Tournament first-round match later. She also tells Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair not to get too comfortable with their newly won WWE Women's Tag-Team Championships.

She claims The Kabuki Warriors are coming back for them. After that, the camera shot settles on Cole and McAfee at the commentary desk at ringside. The two introduce a video package that introduces former WWE NXT World Champion Ilja Dragunov to the Raw audience, as his first night as a drafted star to Raw is tonight ... and it's next.

King of the Ring First Round Match: Ilja Dragunov vs. Ricochet

The video package wraps up and we shoot back inside the XL Center where we hear the theme song for Ilja Dragunov. Out comes "The Mad Dragon" to a monster pop from the Hartford crowd. He settles in the ring for opening round action in the 2024 WWE King of the Ring Tournament.

His music dies down and the theme for Ricochet plays. Out comes "The Highlight" Ricochet. The WWE Speed Champion heads to the ring with his newly won WWE Speed Championship around his waist. He settles in the ring to a big pop as well as Cole and McAfee hype up how good this match should be with these two in it. The bell sounds and off we go.

Ricochet blasts Dragunov with a big chop. Dragunov answers back with one of his own. We see some move-attempts and reversals, and then the WWE Speed Champion drills the former WWE NXT World Champion with a big kick in the mouth. On that note, Cole talks us into a mid-match commercial break as this tourney tilt continues.

When we return, we see some more back-and-forth action, which sees Dragunov start to connect with a series of German suplexes. Ricochet goes for a top-rope moonsault onto Dragunov on the floor, but Dragunov takes a step back and upon Ricochet's landing, Dragunov dumps the WWE Speed Champion on his face with a German suplex that flips Ricochet all the way over.

After that, we see Ricochet come to life, hitting a huge top-rope hurricanrana on Dragunov, who was also on the tip-top rope as well. The crowd went bonkers for that. Dragunov rolled directly out to the floor, where Ricochet hit a dive through the ropes. And another. He hits a third, but goes over the top of the top-rope this time with a flipping splash onto "The Mad Dragon."

A censored "Holy sh*t!" chant breaks out from the Hartford crowd as Cole and McAfee talk us into a second mid-match commercial break as the intense action in this high stakes tournament bout continues. When we return, we see Ricochet send Dragunov into the corner. He goes for a German suplex of his own, but Dragunov elbows his way out of it. He hits a big move for a close two-count.

Dragunov heads to the top-rope while Ricochet is laid out. He leaps off and hits a back-splash senton with a huge impact for another super close pin attempt. Dragunov hits Eddie Kingston-style rapid-fire chops over-and-over again to Ricochet, who slumps down in the corner of the ring. Dragunov loses focus for a moment, and then Ricochet super kicks him.

Ricochet hits a lionsault for a two-count of his own. Dragunov hits a big shot that drops Ricochet. He hits a power bomb and then falls onto Ricochet with a huge H-Bomb. He looks for Torpedo Moscow but Ricochet counters with a code-breaker for a super close surprise pin fall attempt out of nowhere. Ricochet heads to the top rope, but Dragunov cuts him off.

Dragunov hits a tip-top-rope super-plex and then backs into a corner, where this time he connects with a flying H-Bomb for the pin fall victory. With the win, Ilja Dragunov advances to the next round of the King of the Ring tournament with a thrilling victory in his first official match since being drafted to Raw. Instant classic. Dragunov now meets Jey Uso in the next round. He and Ricochet shake hands.

Winner and ADVANCING in 2024 WWE King Of The Ring Tournament: Ilja Dragunov

– Once the Ricochet-Dragunov banger wraps up, we shoot backstage to an interview with Sheamus, who talks about his own history in WWE of providing "banger after banger after banger," while hyping up his main event later tonight against "The Ring General" GUNTHER in another 2024 WWE King of the Ring Tournament opening round match. After this wraps up, we head to another commercial.

– Back from the break, we see coverage of the record-breaking SmackDown and Backlash: France shows from this past Friday and Saturday.

Queen of the Ring First Round Match: Zoey Stark vs. Ivy Nile

Back inside the XL Center, Zoey Stark makes her way down to the ring for our next match of the evening. Out next comes "The Pitbull" Ivy Nile. She settles in the ring and the bell sounds to kick off our second 2024 WWE Queen of the Ring first round bout of the evening.

Nile starts off strong, and McAfee appears to be a fan of hers based on his commentary throughout, however when all was said-and-done, it was Stark who hit a Z:360 for the pin fall victory. With the win, she advances to the next round of the Queen of the Ring tourney, where she faces the winner of Dakota Kai vs. Lyra Valkyria, which is scheduled for later tonight in another first round tourney bout.

Winner and ADVANCING in 2024 WWE Queen Of The Ring Tournament: Zoey Stark

– Backstage, we see World Tag-Team Champions Awesome Truth with Raw G.M. Adam Pearce and Uconn Huskies Head Coach Dan Hurley. Truth is confused, and thinks the NCAA is an independent pro wrestling promotion. The Miz tries to help bring him up to speed, but obviously fails to do so. They are told they will hear soon about their next title defense.

– Up comes Bron Breakker, who wants to know from Pearce why he isn't in the King of the Ring. Pearce says he expected this and says they should go talk. They head into his office. Back inside the XL Center, we hear the sounds of Chad Gable's theme music. Out he comes for our next match of the evening, where he will go one-on-one against "Big" Bronson Reed.

– First, however, we shift gears and head into a quick pre-match commercial break. When we return, we see footage of last week's show where Bronson Reed was challenging Sami Zayn for the Intercontinental title when Chad Gable attacked Zayn and possibly cost him the chance of becoming champion. We then see Dom-Dom bringing Carlito to meet The Judgment Day.

Priest says it's one year to the day that Carlito cost him his moment in Puerto Rico. He says Carlito won't find any friends here. Carlito levels with him and says he needs help with the LWO. He says if he scratches their back, they can scratch his. Priest also tells JD McDonagh he's gonna be the one to deal with Braun Strowman after what "The Monster Among Men" did in his return last week.

King of the Ring First Round Match: Chad Gable vs. "Big" Bronson Reed

Back live, "Big" Bronson Reed makes his way down to the ring. The bell sounds and off we go. We see some brief back-and-forth action between Reed and Gable, with Gable hitting some German suplexes on the much larger man, before Sami Zayn hits the ring and attacks both guys. In the end, however, it is "Big" Bronson who leaves them both laying.

No Contest

– Now we go to a special video package introducing former WWE NXT Women's World Champion Lyra Valkyria to the Raw audience, as tonight marks her first night as a Raw Superstar since being drafted by the red brand from NXT in the 2024 WWE Draft. After this wraps up, we see Becky Lynch walking backstage. The WWE Women's World Champion talks with Michael Cole when we return.

– We shift gears and head into another commercial break. When we return, we see GUNTHER backstage in his ring gear. "The Ring General" talks directly into the camera about his King of the Ring tournament showdown tonight against Sheamus in the main event. Back inside the XL Center, Michael Cole is standing in the ring in front of two chairs.

He introduces the WWE Women's World Champion Becky Lynch. Out comes "The Man" to fireworks and pyro as the Hartford crowd goes nuts as she makes her way to the ring for a scheduled one-on-one sit-down interview with the Raw play-by-play commentator live in the ring. They show a photo of her wearing a goofy-ass hat at the Kentucky Derby over the weekend.

After they spend some time talking one-by-one about the new talent on the Raw women's roster from NXT in the 2024 WWE Draft, including Alba Fyre, Isla Dawn, Kiana James and Lyra Valkyria, the theme for Liv Morgan cuts them off. Cole heads back to the desk as Morgan confronts Lynch about not showing her an ounce of respect.

Lynch says she'll have a chance in three weeks in their title match at WWE King and Queen of the Ring 2024 to earn it. As they continue to talk, the theme for Damage CTRL cuts them off. Out comes Dakota Kai, IYO SKY and Kairi Sane. They surround the ring as Morgan and Lynch stand back-to-back. Morgan ducks down and rolls out of the ring, laughing and saying this isn't her problem.

Damage CTRL proceeds to beat down "The Man," prompting the theme for former WWE NXT Women's World Champion Lyra Valkyria to hit. She runs to the ring shrugging her shoulders at Morgan, asking why she isn't doing anything. She hits the ring and helps clear Damage CTRL out to the floor. She stands tall with Lynch as we head to another commercial break.

– When we return, we see Paul "Triple H" Levesque in a commercial for WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada next year. After that, we return backstage inside the XL Center where Jackie Redmond is standing by with WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn, who suggests a triple-threat match for his title against "Big" Bronson Reed and Chad Gable at WWE King and Queen of the Ring 2024.

Queen of the Ring First Round Match: Lyra Valkyria vs. Dakota Kai

Back inside the XL Center, the bell sounds and off we go with the latest opening round match in the ongoing 2024 WWE Queen of the Ring Tournament, as Dakota Kai, replacing originally scheduled Asuka, fills in to battle Lyra Valkyria. We see some back-and-forth action, before we quickly head into a mid-match commercial break with Kai in the offensive lead. When we return, Valkyria fights back into the lead and hits her finisher for the win.

Winner and ADVANCING in 2024 WWE Queen Of The Ring Tournament: Lyra Valkyria

– Backstage, we see Kofi Kingston explaining that due to the attack from GUNTHER and Ludwig Kaiser, Xavier Woods can't win the 2024 WWE King of the Ring, so he's going to do it in his honor, but first, he's got to get past Rey Mysterio in the opening round.

King of the Ring First Round Match: GUNTHER vs. Sheamus

We return inside the XL Center where Cole and McAfee are shown at the commentary desk at ringside. They inform us that some of the matches in the King and Queen of the Ring tournament will be taking place at upcoming weekend WWE non-televised live events. The main event tonight will be GUNTHER vs. Sheamus in a first round KOTR bout.

Scheduled for next week's Raw is "Main Event" Jey Uso vs. Ilja Dragunov in a King of the Ring quarterfinal bout. Also scheduled is the winner of tonight's Sheamus vs. GUNTHER main event against the winner of the Kofi Kingston vs. Rey Mysterio opening round bout in another KOTR quarterfinal match.

In 2024 WWE Queen of the Ring Tournament action next week on Raw, Lyra Valkyria battles Zoey Stark in a QOTR quarterfinal. Also, IYO SKY will take on the winner of the Shayna Baszler vs. Zelina Vega opening round match in the Queen of the Ring tournament. After we learn these updates, we shift gears and head into another commercial break.

When we return from the break, Cole and McAfee are shown again at ringside and they hype up some more King and Queen of the Ring action scheduled for this coming Friday night's episode of WWE SmackDown. The theme for GUNTHER hits and out comes "The Ring General." The longest-reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion in history settles in the ring.

The theme for Sheamus hits and Cole and McAfee proclaim it "FIGHT NIGHT!" as "The Celtic Warrior" makes his way to the ring for our main event of the show this week, which is another first round match in the ongoing 2024 WWE King of the Ring Tournament. The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one.

The two trade big chops back-and-forth. GUNTHER blasts Sheamus with a big boot that drops him to the ring apron. GUNTHER glares at McAfee and Cole once again tries to find out what McAfee did in the past to make GUNTHER dislike him so much. Sheamus fights back and hits repeated forearm shots to GUNTHER over the ring ropes from the apron.

GUNTHER fights back and clotheslines Sheamus down. He goes for a pile driver or power bomb outside of the ring ropes on the hard part of the ring apron, but Sheamus counters with a back body-drop and a big boot. He yells out "FELLA!" as Cole talks us into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues in our high stakes Raw main event.

As we settle back in from the commercials, Cole points out the welts all over the back and body of "The Celtic Warrior," as GUNTHER likely adds a fresh one with a vicious chop that connects. After another few minutes in the offensive driver's seat, GUNTHER finds himself on the wrong end of an Irish Kiss and White Noise. Sheamus fires up and the crowd comes to life.

We see Ludwig Kaiser at ringside, who attacks Sheamus' right knee, which allows GUNTHER to take back over on offense. The referee catches this after the fact, and ejects Kaiser from the ringside area for a big pop. Sheamus is still holding his knee in pain on the mat as we shift gears and head into another mid-match commercial break as this match continues.

When we return, Cole points out the obvious, which is that the knee of Sheamus has become the story of this match. He also points out that Sheamus was asked if he wanted to continue during the break, and opted to do so. Meanwhile, live in the ring we see "The Ring General" purposely focusing his attack on the right knee of Sheamus that Kaiser softened up.

Cole reminds everyone that Sheamus' Brogue Kick is used by the right leg, so he's compromised in a lot of ways with the bum wheel. He tries to fight back, but his leg gives out on him and GUNTHER goes back to work on it. Sheamus again comes back to life and tries picking up GUNTHER for an Irish Curse, but his knee gives out again. Sheamus hits a running knee with the bad knee.

After he recovers, Sheamus looks to go back to work on GUNTHER, but yet again his own right knee gives out on him, which allows GUNTHER to take back over. GUNTHER slaps on a single-leg Boston Crab on the bum wheel of the WWE veteran. He lets it go and then heads to the top-rope, but Sheamus cuts him off and turns him around.

He takes him off the top backwards and connects with a Celtic Cross for a close two count. GUNTHER hits a German release suplex, but Sheamus pops right back up and lets out a war scream, telling GUNTHER to "c'mon!" He hits his trademark spot on the former longtime I-C champ for a super close pin attempt, but GUNTHER kicks out.

GUNTHER immediately goes right back to work on Sheamus' compromised knee with a single-leg Boston Crab. Sheamus fights it like hell and tries scratching-and-clawing his way to the ropes, but he isn't able to make it, as GUNTHER squeezes down on it fully and this one is over. GUNTHER gets the win.

The second the bell rings, GUNTHER looks up as Cole mentions his win on commentary. We don't hear from Samantha Irvin, no music plays, the show simply and very abruptly ends.

Winner and ADVANCING in 2024 WWE King Of The Ring Tournament: GUNTHER