Like the King of the Ring tournament, female wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDownbrand divisions participate. There are two tournament brackets, one for each brand, and the bracket winners face off in the final. The inaugural tournament was held in October 2021 and culminated at the Crown Jewelpay-per-view and livestreaming 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 titled King 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.
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 future Saudi Arabian show.[6] In April 2024, WWE announced that they would hold the King and Queen of the Ring event in Saudi Arabia in May 2024. Tournament matches began on the May 6 episode of Raw, and were held across episodes of Raw, SmackDown, and at WWE 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 Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque announced that the winner of the 2024 Queen of the Ring tournament would receive a women's world championship match of their respective brand at SummerSlam.[9] The 2024 tournament was won by SmackDown's Nia Jax, who defeated Raw's Lyra Valkyria, with Jax receiving a match for the WWE Women's Championship.[10]
Queen gimmick
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 a heel.[11] After taking a brief hiatus in mid-2022, Vega returned in October and dropped the queen gimmick.[12]
2021 tournament
Queen's Crown (2021)
The inaugural Queen's Crown tournament winner Zelina Vega, who became known as Queen Zelina
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 of SmackDown and continued to be held across episodes of Raw and SmackDown. 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.[13]
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.[18]