WWE Rumors: King and Queen of the Ring Scheduled as May's 2nd PLE Show with Backlash

WWE reportedly has two premium live events scheduled for May, following WrestleMania 39 on April 1 and 2.

According to Wrestlenomics (h/t Manik Aftab of Ringside News), Backlash will be held on May 6, followed by King of the Ring three weeks later on May 27.

Backlash was held for the first time in 1999, and it ran annually through 2009 before being dropped from the pay-per-view calendar. It returned in 2016 and has been held every year since with the exception of 2019.

In 2021, the show was renamed WrestleMania Backlash, but Wrestlenomics noted that WWE is planning to drop the WrestleMania branding from the show for 2023.

WWE introduced King of the Ring as its fifth annual pay-per-view in 1993, joining WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and Survivor Series.

King of the Ring took place every year through 2002, and most of the events featured a one-night-only tournament to determine the winner of the King of the Ring.

Many of the biggest stars in WWE history had their careers kick-started by winning King of the Ring, including Bret Hart, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Edge and Brock Lesnar.

While the King of the Ring pay-per-view ceased to exist after 2002, WWE has periodically held King of the Ring tournaments, doing so in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2019 and 2021.

In 2021, WWE also put on a Queen's Crown tournament to determine a Queen of the Ring for the first time in WWE history.

Xavier Woods and Zelina Vega were named King and Queen of the Ring, respectively, in 2021 when they won their finals matches at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.

According to Wrestlenomics, the 2023 King of the Ring premium live event will see both a King and Queen of the Ring crowned again, although it is unclear if it will feature one-night-only tournaments like past King of the Ring pay-per-views.

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