Ranking Best Possible King and Queen of the Ring Winners at WWE Night of Champions
The 2025 King and Queen of the Ring tournaments are underway, with three Superstars from each bracket already cashing their tickets to the semifinals.
On the men's side, Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton and Sami Zayn will all compete for an opportunity to advance to the finals. Over in the women's bracket, Roxanne Perez, Jade Cargill and Alexa Bliss are already guaranteed a spot in the semis.
With two more quarterfinal Fatal 4-Way matches to go, who is the best option in each bracket to win out and earn a shot at their division's respective championship at SummerSlam?
Find out with this ranking of the best possible winners at WWE Night of Champions on June 28.
Remaining Men's Quarterfinal
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Monday night will see the final entrant from the Raw side of the men's bracket decided when former world heavyweight champion Jey Uso, Rusev, Sheamus and Bronson Reed square off in a four-way battle.
This is how they rank in terms of best potential King of the Ring option:
- Reed
- Uso
- Rusev
- Sheamus
Sheamus and Rusev have teased a rivalry in recent weeks, which likely means they will spend most of Monday's showdown focused on each other, leaving Uso and Reed to do battle.
In most cases, Uso winning as a make-good for dropping the world title would make the most sense, but Reed should not be losing matches this early in his return from injury. He is meant to be muscle for Seth Rollins, and the last thing WWE should want is for him to lose credibility by eating losses at this point.
That commentary can continue telling the loss of a physically exhausted Uso, who took on too many challengers from too many different directions and is now reaping the consequences of his decisions, only strengthens the argument that a Reed win here, and a semifinal showdown with Rhodes, is for the best.
Remaining Women's Quarterfinal
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On the women's side, Ivy Nile, Raquel Rodriguez, Stephanie Vaquer and Asuka will compete for the right to square off with Bliss in the semifinals.
They rank as such:
- Vaquer
- Asuka
- Rodriguez
- Nile
Nile, for as often as she has made the most of her opportunities, feels very much like an afterthought here. She is a heel who is here to round things out and balance the heel-babyface ratio.
Rodriguez has the size advantage and is over enough with the audience, thanks to her association with The Judgment Day, to draw heat. She is also a dark-horse candidate to secure the win as someone who would match up well with the smaller Bliss in the semis.
With that said, though, this is a two-horse race, with Vaquer edging out Asuka.
While there will and should be excitement surrounding the long-awaited return of The Empress of Tomorrow following a year on the shelf, there is more time and energy invested in La Primera at this point. She has been booked dominantly and has rarely netted a loss.
Monday does not feel like the time to change that, even with Asuka's grand return.
With that said, here is how the combatants who have already advanced in both brackets rank.
Women's Bracket No. 3: Alexa Bliss
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Little Miss Bliss advanced past Candice LeRae, Alba Fyre and Charlotte Flair to compete in the semifinals, which was somewhat of a surprise given the latter's presence.
Bliss and Flair have hinted at a rivalry and after the former cost the 15-time champion a shot at winning the Queen of the Ring crown, something the future Hall of Famer has yet to accomplish, it appears that is still the direction things are headed.
That quality of victory would suggest Bliss may be a favorite to win the tournament but given Tiffany Stratton, a babyface, currently holds the championship, it would seem less likely the five-time champ advances to SummerSlam to challenge her.
Add to that an established story thread with Stratton, and you have even less of a reason to believe Bliss advances to Saudi Arabia and leaves with the crown.
Men's Bracket No. 3: Randy Orton
4 of 8
The best thing Orton has going for him is a potential redemption story.
A year ago, The Viper advanced to the finals of this tournament before falling to Gunther in the first of their epic 2024 encounters.
With that said, Orton has already challenged John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship at Backlash in his hometown of St. Louis and lost.
While a showdown with Rhodes, his former protege in Legacy is a possibility, it would not be surprising if he did not make it to the tournament finals amid considerable momentum for his semifinal opponent, Zayn.
As is always the case with the third-generation star, it should be no great surprise to anyone if he does pull out the victory, based solely on his name and resume, but he has the least going for him of the three Superstars who have already advanced.
Women's Bracket No. 2: Roxanne Perez
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Roxanne Perez is one of the most gifted in-ring performers on the women's roster on either brand and has seen her role increase tenfold, thanks to a role in the mounting tension within The Judgment Day.
It is for that reason that she slots in at No. 2 in her bracket.
The Prodigy will square off with Cargill in the semifinals, which seems like the perfect spot for Liv Morgan to get a bit of revenge after suffering a few losses of late, thanks in large part to backfiring interference from the two-time NXT women's champion.
With Morgan looking for a measure of revenge, and things getting messier within The Judgment Day with every passing week, look for Perez to suffer a disappointing defeat that propels her opponent to the finals and further intensifies the budding rivalry.
Men's Bracket No. 2: Cody Rhodes
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Cody Rhodes is destined to dance with Cena once more, avenging his WrestleMania 41 loss to The Unseen 17 and regaining the Undisputed WWE Championship.
The question is whether he needs the King of the Ring victory to get there.
That would be an emphatic "no."
The American Nightmare is a star of such magnitude that he does not need to win a tournament to put him in a championship position. He is the biggest babyface on the roster and someone who can confront Cena and set up a rematch in time for SummerSlam with or without a crown to go along with it.
Even if Triple H is determined to book another series of matches to get him there, Rhodes vs. Cena II is an easier sell to audiences than the alternative, without the need for a resume-padding King of the Ring win.
Not when there is someone else who could benefit so much more from such a victory opposite him in the bracket.
Women's Bracket No. 1: Jade Cargill
7 of 8
Yes, Cargill is a babyface who would oppose Stratton at SummerSlam.
However, there is a red-hot story thread hanging out there that makes the prospect of Cargill vs. Stratton a more appealing matchup than it otherwise would be, thanks in large part to the winner of the women's Money in the Bank match.
Cargill is still embroiled in an intensely personal rivalry with Naomi, who possesses the coveted MITB briefcase, with the potential to cash it in at any time, in any place she sees fit.
What better way to escalate things to a whole new level than by having Naomi either cost Cargill a championship by cashing in and stealing the gold out from underneath her at SummerSlam or by ruining her celebration and cutting her championship reign short by directly cashing in on her at MetLife Stadium on August 2-3?
That potential story development makes Cargill a far more intriguing option than anyone else already announced for the tournament, with a major angle trumping a matchup between Vaquer and women's world champion Iyo Sky on Raw, something WWE can book without the need for the Queen of the Ring crown.
Men's No. 1: Sami Zayn
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One would be hard-pressed to find someone more genuinely beloved in Saudi Arabia than Sami Zayn, who consistently receives one of the loudest reactions of any Superstar on the card.
That he is amid a pursuit of a world championship makes this a perfect storm for The Underdog from the Underground.
A scenario in which he defeats stars the magnitude of Orton and Rhodes to win the tournament and earn his way to SummerSlam, where he would presumably challenge Gunther for the world title is one that WWE and Triple H should not pass up.
Will Rhodes win the tournament and challenge Cena in the main event of SummerSlam? Probably, and there is nothing wrong with running that marquee bout back.
However, Zayn is a far more interesting option at this point, with a story that fans have emotionally invested in.
The best option of the bunch.
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