WWE reveals King of the Ring bracket, first two wrestlers advance
The bracket for King of the Ring 2021 was revealed as the tournament kicked off on SmackDown tonight.
The eight-man tournament began with Sami Zayn defeating Rey Mysterio and Finn Balor defeating Cesaro on SmackDown. Zayn and Balor will face off in a semifinal match on next Friday’s episode of SmackDown.
Here’s the full bracket for the tournament:
- Sami Zayn defeated Rey Mysterio
- Finn Balor defeated Cesaro
- Kofi Kingston vs. Jinder Mahal
- Xavier Woods vs. Ricochet
Raw’s side of the bracket will get underway on Monday. If Kingston and Woods both win their first-round matches, it will be a New Day vs. New Day matchup in the semifinals.
The finals of WWE’s King of the Ring and Queen’s Crown tournaments will both be taking place at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, October 21.
This is WWE’s first King of the Ring tournament since 2019. In the finals of that tournament, Baron Corbin defeated Chad Gable.
Corbin lost his King of the Ring crown to Shinsuke Nakamura earlier this year. WWE uploaded a video today with Nakamura abdicating the crown ahead of the start of this year’s tournament.