WWE King & Queen of the Ring preview & predictions: Does Gunther take the crown?

Saturday’s King & Queen of the Ring (1 PM Eastern on Peacock/WWE Network) should continue WWE’s trend of solid premium live events.

Similar to Backlash and other recent non-WrestleMania PLEs, Saturday’s lineup is a tight five matches that will all be given the time they need. The Paul Levesque era has seen him keeping the shows under three hours as well, helping to keep live crowds hot throughout.

Where Saturday differs from other recent WWE PLEs is in terms of its predictability. Other than Cody Rhodes vs. Logan Paul, these matches could go any of a few different ways. Below are previews and predictions for each match at WWE King & Queen of the Ring.

WWE Champion Cody Rhodes defends against Logan Paul

For the second time in about a year and a half, Paul will headline a WWE show in Saudi Arabia. Considering his level of fame outside of wrestling, it made all the sense in the world to have him go up against Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel 2022 and it makes all the sense in the world for him to challenge Rhodes on Saturday. 

Love him or hate him, he is a guy who draws interest when his face is plastered on posters. However, much like in 2022, he is not going to win the title. His role is to create a few viral moments during the match and then lose after having given a valiant effort. 

The betting world currently lists Rhodes as a -5000 favorite and it’s hard to disagree with that. There is no logical reason to believe Paul has any chance of walking out of Jeddah with the title. Still, it should be a fun match. 

Prediction: Rhodes retains

WWE World Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defends against Liv Morgan

When Rhea Ripley fell victim to the Liv Morgan Revenge Tour and had to vacate her title, a lot of people thought the belt would end up on Morgan. It still might. When Ripley returns, the match to make is her vs. Morgan for the belt she never lost. 

When a battle royal was made to determine a new champion, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to put the belt on Morgan without having to beat someone like Lynch. But maybe that’s why she didn’t win. Her first title reign was portrayed as a little bit of a fluke as well as most MITB cash-ins are. She would have the title, but without beating a top-tier talent for it, she wouldn’t be a strong champion going into a program with Ripley. 

There is a longterm story building that only makes sense if Morgan is the champion. We’ve seen little hints of this. Dominik’s bandana being spotted hanging out of Morgan’s pocket, Finn Balor and Morgan casually getting out of the same car during a backstage shot on Raw are all lining up for Morgan to replace Ripley in Judgment Day. Ripley goes babyface, possibly Priest too, and the rest of the group stays heel.

Morgan won’t beat Lynch clean for the title, and it might not even happen on Saturday, but it’s happening eventually. 

The betting odds have Lynch as a small -190 favorite. Betting on wrestling is a fool’s game, but if it wasn’t, I’d put my money on Morgan to win the title here. 

Prediction: Morgan is the new champion

WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn defends against Chad Gable and Bronson Reed in a triple threat match

Anytime a triple threat championship match is booked, it’s an opportunity for a sneaky heel to get a cheap title win. I’m just not sure that is what will happen here, though. 

The typical “heel steals victory from babyface” finish isn’t as perfectly set up here as it first appears on paper. Reed giving the Tsunami to Zayn but Gable sneaking in and stealing the victory would be a possible finish If Reed was the babyface in this story, but he’s not. Zayn having Reed beat only for Gable to come in and steal the win is possible, but then why use someone like Reed to take the fall when you could use someone less Godzilla-like?

The idea of Zayn retaining in a similarly sneaky fashion is possible but feels unnecessary. With Zayn being the big fan favorite in Saudi Arabia, I think he’s just going to get a relatively clean win on Saturday. The finish will have to be something where Gable’s character can still claim he was cheated, even if he really wasn’t, and thus deserves a singles match against Zayn for the title, possibly at SummerSlam.

Prediction: Zayn retains 

King of the Ring Finals: Gunther vs. either Randy Orton or Tama Tonga

At the time of this writing, Orton and Tonga have yet to meet in the tournament semifinals on SmackDown. There’s a shot that Tonga follows in his father King Haku’s footsteps and becomes a second-generation WWE king, but it feels much more likely that Orton advances to the finals.

Triple H announced the winners of the King & Queen of the Ring receive SummerSlam World title shots against the champion of their respective brands. That last bit is important. Gunther winning the King of the Ring would feel like a lock if it were to lead to him challenging Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam, but based on what Triple H said, it would lead to him facing Damian Priest or whoever has the World title at that point instead. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. The World title scene on Raw feels like it’s a pretty crowded party with Drew McIntyre and CM Punk expected to be in the mix when they return from their respective injuries.

Orton vs. Rhodes at SummerSlam could be good with the story that Rhodes is facing his old mentor. Orton could even turn heel in the lead-up.

Still, I just can’t see a scenario where Gunther loses. Even with the stipulation that the winner faces their brand’s champion at SummerSlam, I still think Gunther will win this tournament. I just don’t know what they do after.

Prediction: Gunther

Queen of the Ring finals: Lyra Valkyria vs. either Bianca Belair or Nia Jax

Triple H’s announcement on Thursday factors into this match in a big way too. The World title picture on Raw seems to be the Lynch and Morgan show until Ripley returns. I don’t see much of an opportunity for them to squeeze in a Valkyria match at SummerSlam. Meanwhile, the WWE Women’s title scene on SmackDown is more open.

The winner of Belair vs. Jax on SmackDown should go on to win this. They have been teasing that Belair doesn’t trust Bayley because of all she had to deal with from Damage CTRL over the last couple of years. Bayley vs. Belair at SummerSlam seems the most likely result of this tournament. I just don’t know what that means for Belair’s team with Jade Cargill.

Prediction: Belair