King of the Ring (2015)
| King of the Ring | |||
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iWireless Center (April 28) | |||
| WWE Network event chronology | |||
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| King of the Ring event chronology | |||
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| King of the Ring tournament chronology | |||
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| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Professional wrestling |
| Location | |
| Dates | April 27, 2015–April 28, 2015 |
Tournament format(s) | Bad News Barrett |
| Runner-up | Neville |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 7 |
→ | |
The 2015 King of the Ring was a
The opening round matches for the tournament were held on the April 27, 2015, episode of Monday Night Raw, which aired on the USA Network from the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This was the first tournament held since 2010 and the last to have a separate dedicated event until 2024; the event was planned to be revived in 2023 but was canceled and rescheduled for 2024 titled King and Queen of the Ring to incorporate the women's Queen's Crown tournament, which was established as a female counterpart in 2021. This was also the first tournament held since the end of the first brand extension in 2011, which was reintroduced in 2016.
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 matches 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] The King of the Ring PPV was considered one of the promotion's "Big Five" PPVs, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble.[3]
Results
Quarter-finals
- Raw (Quarter-final matches) – April 27
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luke Harper | King of the Ring quarterfinal match | 10:12 |
Finals
- WWE Network event (Semi-final and final matches) – April 28
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bad News Barrett defeated Neville | King of the Ring final match | 7:10 |
Bracket
| Quarterfinals Raw April 27 | Semifinals WWE Network April 28 | Final WWE Network April 28 | ||||||||||||
| Dolph Ziggler | 8:18 | |||||||||||||
Bad News Barrett
| Pin | |||||||||||||
| Bad News Barrett | Pin | |||||||||||||
| R-Truth | 4:37 | |||||||||||||
| R-Truth | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Stardust | 3:47 | |||||||||||||
| Bad News Barrett | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Neville | 7:10 | |||||||||||||
Dean Ambrose
| 12:29 | |||||||||||||
| Sheamus | DQ | |||||||||||||
| Sheamus | 5:43 | |||||||||||||
| Neville | Pin | |||||||||||||
Neville
| Pin | |||||||||||||
Luke Harper
| 10:12 | |||||||||||||
Aftermath
In July 2016, the brand extension was reinstated, with WWE's main roster again divided between the Raw and SmackDown brands.[8] The next King of the Ring tournament was then held in 2019 and was an interbrand tournament, featuring wrestlers from both brands. Each brand had a separate bracket, and the winners of each bracket faced off in the tournament final. Qualifying matches for the 2019 tournament began in August and took place across episodes of Raw and SmackDown. The tournament final was originally scheduled to be held at that year's Clash of Champions PPV, but was rescheduled for the following night's Raw on September 16, 2019.[1][9][10]
After eight years, the event was planned to return to PPV and livestreaming in 2023, with that year's event rebranded as "King and Queen of the Ring" to incorporate the women's
References
- ^ a b Beaston, Erik (August 18, 2019). "WWE King of the Ring: Everything You Need to Know About Historical Tournament". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on August 18, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
- ^ "King of the Ring 1993". Pro Wrestling History. Archived from the original on November 20, 2008. Retrieved October 2, 2008.
- ISBN 9781439193211.
At the time, SummerSlam was one of WWE's "big five" Pay-Per-Views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, and Survivor Series were the others), ...
- ^ "King of the Ring 2002 results". Online World of Wrestling. June 23, 2002. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2010.
- ^ Sacco, Justine; Weitz, Michael (April 7, 2011). "The New WWE" (Press release). Connecticut: WWE. Archived from the original on May 3, 2018. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ "Raw: The King of the Ring tournament Returns to Raw – This Monday". WWE. April 27, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
- ^ Caldwell, James (April 28, 2015). "Caldwell's WWE KOTR Special Report 4/28: Complete "virtual-time coverage" of King of the Ring finals on WWE Network". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on May 1, 2015. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
- ^ WWE.com Staff (July 19, 2016). "2016 WWE Draft results: WWE officially ushers in New Era". WWE. Archived from the original on July 20, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
- ^ Casey, Connor (September 11, 2019). "King of the Ring Tournament Finals Scrapped From Clash of Champions, Pushed to WWE Raw". ComicBook. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- CBSSports. Archivedfrom the original on September 22, 2019. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Russell, Skylar (March 6, 2023). "WWE Returning To Saudi Arabia In May 2023 For King & Queen Of The Ring Event". Fightful. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (April 13, 2023). "WWE Changes 'WWE King & Queen Of The Ring' PLE To 'WWE Night Of Champions'". Fightful. Archived from the original on April 14, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
- PWInsider. Archivedfrom the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
- ^ Barrasso, Justin (April 25, 2023). "WWE's New World Championship Takes Some of the Shine Off Roman Reigns". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on April 26, 2023. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
- ^ Brennan, Corey (June 10, 2023). "WWE Keeping King And Queen Of The Ring For A Future Saudi Arabia Show". BodySlam.net. Archived from the original on June 11, 2023. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (April 7, 2024). "WWE To Hold 5/24 SmackDown And WWE King And Queen Of The Ring PLE In Saudi Arabia". Fightful. Retrieved April 8, 2024.