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WWE Queen of the Ring tournament finale reportedly planned for Saudi Arabia

The first-ever Queen of the Ring is in the pipeline and WWE reportedly plans to host a grand finale for it, later this year.

Lacey Evans and Natalya made history in Saudi Arabia (image courtesy WWE.com)

Bengaluru, July 29: The first-ever Queen of the Ring is in the pipeline and WWE reportedly plans to host a grand finale for it, later this year and could take place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the fall in a supposed mainstream sports news headliner.

Wrestling Inc was the first to report that WWE had plans for an All-Women Queen of the Ring tournament to be held this year. This will be a female version of the prestigious King of the Ring tournament that gave birth to some breakout stars who went on to cement their legacies in the professional wrestling circuit.

Then it was reported that the tourney dedicated to the women Superstars would begin on the October 8 SmackDown (just a week after the 2021 WWE Draft planned for the last week of August and the first week of September) and will continue through the October 11 RAW.

Raw and SmackDown season premiers are also planned around the same timespan while it was also noted that the promotion is all set to return to Saudi Arabia for their next pay-per-view event on Thursday, October 21.

In a separate report, Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Wrestling Podcast has now informed that the finals of the Queen of the Ring tournament are set to take place in Saudi Arabia.

There is no word yet on the name of the next Saudi show or the format of the tourney as WWE didn't officially announce anything, regarding the PPV slated to air on Peacock and the WWE Network.

WWE coming up with the finale of an All-Women tournament in the Kingdom would be a major deal since there have been major restrictions when it comes to female athletes participating in events. Due to local laws, female Superstars were banned from performing in the first couple of PPV events.

The company accidentally aired a promotional video featuring their female Superstars at the Greatest Royal Rumble in 2018 to which the Saudi General Sports Authority reacted in a negative way. They later issued an apology to the audience mentioning that was an “indecent material” airing at the show.

At Crown Jewel 2018, Renee Young made history by appearing at the commentary booth and she also returned at Super ShowDown 2019.

The first-ever women’s division match was supposed to go down at Super ShowDown 2019, with the lineup of Alexa Bliss vs. current Women’s Tag Team Champion Natalya. But at the last minute, the Saudi government scraped that match despite Bliss and Natalya flying in the country.

WWE was finally allowed to hold a women’s division match in Saudi Arabia at Crown Jewel 2019 where Natalya defeated Lacey Evans. But per the country's rule, they were forced to wear t-shirts as well as fully covered suits instead of their normal WWE in-ring gears.

Last year, Bayley and Naomi also competed in a match at Super ShowDown 2020, going by the same rules. WWE did celebrate these history-making moments in a major way to capture some headlines and they wish to do it again while returning to Saudi Arabia after a gap of one and a half years.

Story first published: Thursday, July 29, 2021, 14:57 [IST]
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