King of the Ring (2021)
| King of the Ring | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Logo for the 2021 tournament | |||
| Promotion | WWE | ||
| Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown | ||
| Date | October 8, 2021–October 21, 2021 | ||
| King of the Ring tournament chronology | |||
| |||
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Professional wrestling |
| Location | |
| Dates | October 8, 2021–October 21, 2021 |
Tournament format(s) | Single elimination tournament |
| Participants | 8 |
| Final positions | |
| Champion | Xavier Woods |
| Runner-up | Finn Bálor |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 7 |
The 2021 King of the Ring was the 22nd edition of the King of the Ring tournament produced by WWE. It was held between wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. Tournament matches began on the October 8, 2021 episode of SmackDown and continued to be held across episodes of Raw and SmackDown. The winner was Xavier Woods, or “King Woods”. The tournament concluded at the Crown Jewel pay-per-view and livestreaming event on October 21. It was the first King of the Ring tournament since 2019. WWE also introduced a female counterpart called the Queen's Crown tournament, which was held simultaneously with the 2021 King of the Ring tournament. Raw's Xavier Woods defeated SmackDown's Finn Bálor to win the 2021 tournament and subsequently became known as King Woods.
Background
The King of the Ring tournament is a single-elimination tournament that was established by WWE in 1985 with the winner being crowned "King of the Ring." It was held annually until 1991, with the exception of 1990. These early tournaments were held as special non-televised house shows and were held when the promotion was still called the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, renamed to WWE in 2002).[1] In 1993, the promotion began to produce the King of the Ring tournament as a self-titled pay-per-view (PPV). Unlike the previous non-televised events, the PPV did not feature all of the tournament's matches. Instead, several of the qualifying matches preceded the event with the final few match then taking place at the pay-per-view. There were also other matches that took place at the event as it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view.[2]
King of the Ring continued as the annual June PPV until the 2002 event, which was the final King of the Ring produced as a PPV.[3] Following the conclusion of the PPV chronology, the tournament began to be held periodically every few years, first making its return in 2006, which was held exclusively for wrestlers from the SmackDown brand—the 2008 and 2010 tournaments also featured wrestlers from WWE's other brands. In August 2011, the brand extension ended with both the Raw and SmackDown television shows featuring the full main roster, but in mid-2016, the brand split was reinstated.[4] The tournament's return for 2021 was confirmed on the October 1 episode of SmackDown during the first night of the 2021 WWE Draft. A women's version of the tournament called Queen's Crown was also announced and held simultaneously with the men's tournament.[5][6][7]
The 2021 King of the Ring tournament was an eight-man tournament, and like the 2019 tournament, there were two brackets, one each for the Raw and SmackDown brands, and the winners of each bracket faced each other in the final. The tournament began on the October 8 episode of SmackDown and continued to be held across episodes of Raw and SmackDown. The final was held at the Crown Jewel PPV and livestreaming event on October 21, 2021.[8]
Bracket
| Quarter-finals SmackDown (October 8)[9] Raw (October 11)[10] | Semi-finals SmackDown (October 15)[11] Raw (October 18)[12] | Final Crown Jewel (October 21)[13] | |||||||||
| Rey Mysterio | 8:00 | ||||||||||
| Sami Zayn | Pin[9] | ||||||||||
| Sami Zayn | 11:25 | ||||||||||
| SmackDown | |||||||||||
| Finn Bálor | Pin[11] | ||||||||||
| Cesaro | 11:25 | ||||||||||
| Finn Bálor | Pin[9] | ||||||||||
| Finn Bálor | 9:40 | ||||||||||
| Xavier Woods | Pin[13] | ||||||||||
| Xavier Woods | Pin[10] | ||||||||||
| Ricochet | 10:55 | ||||||||||
| Xavier Woods | Pin[12] | ||||||||||
| Raw | |||||||||||
| Jinder Mahal | 9:40 | ||||||||||
| Kofi Kingston | 8:55 | ||||||||||
| Jinder Mahal | Pin[10] | ||||||||||
Aftermath
On the October 22 episode of SmackDown, The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) had a coronation to formally crown Woods for winning the 2021 King of the Ring tournament. Kingston introduced Woods, now adopting the name of King Woods, who was adorned with the crown, cape, and king's scepter.[14] The following week, King Woods knighted Kingston as "Sir Kofi Kingston", the Hand of the King.[15] After taking time off in January due to an injury, Woods returned in March and dropped the king gimmick.
See also
References
- ^ Beaston, Erik (August 18, 2019). "WWE King of the Ring: Everything You Need to Know About Historical Tournament". Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
- ^ "King of the Ring 1993". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ "King of the Ring 2002 results". Online World of Wrestling. June 23, 2002. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
- ^ Pappolla, Ryan. "Draft rules revealed: Everything you need to know about the WWE Draft". WWE. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
- ^ @WWE (October 2, 2021). "HERE WE GO!! #SmackDown" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "WWE announces Queen's Crown and King of the Ring tournaments". Pro Wrestling Torch. 2021-10-02. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
- ^ "WWE Announces 2021 King of the Ring and Queen's Crown Tournaments". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (October 7, 2021). "KOTR, QUEEN'S CROWN TOURNAMENT MATCHES SET FOR WWE SMACKDOWN". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
- ^ a b c Powell, Jason (October 8, 2021). "10/08 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Powell's review of Rey Mysterio vs. Sami Zayn in a King of the Ring tournament match, Liv Morgan vs. Carmella in a Queens Crown tournament match, contract signing for Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks at WWE Crown Jewel". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
- ^ a b c Powell, Jason (October 11, 2021). "10/11 WWE Raw Results: Powell's live review of Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks, WWE Champion Big E and Drew McIntyre meet face to face, King of the Ring and Queen's Crown opening round matches". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
- ^ a b Powell, Jason (October 15, 2021). "10/15 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Powell's review of the supersized edition with Brock Lesnar, Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks in a non-title match, Finn Balor vs. Sami Zayn in a KOTR semifinal match, Carmella vs. Zelina Vega in a Queen's Crown semifinal match, Sonya Deville vs. Naomi". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
- ^ a b Powell, Jason (October 18, 2021). "10/18 WWE Raw Results: Powell's live review of Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair for the Raw Women's Championship, Shayna Baszler vs. Doudrop in a Queen's Crown semifinal match, Xavier Woods vs. Jinder Mahal in a KOTR semifinal match, final hype for Crown Jewel". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
- ^ a b Powell, Jason (October 21, 2021). "WWE Crown Jewel results: Powell's live review of Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship, Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair for the Smackdown Women's Championship, Big E vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship, Edge vs. Seth Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match, Goldberg vs. Bobby Lashley in a No Holds Barred match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
- ^ Powell, Jason (October 22, 2021). "10/22 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Powell's review of Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair swapping title belts, the coronation of Xavier Woods as King of the Ring". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
- ^ Powell, Jason (October 29, 2021). "10/29 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Powell's review of Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs vs. Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss in a Trick or Street Fight, and more". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 29, 2021.