WWE announces King of the Ring matches for Raw and SmackDown
WWE has announced two King of the Ring first round matches for Monday’s Raw and two for Tuesday’s SmackDown.
Cesaro vs. Samoa Joe and Cedric Alexander vs. Sami Zayn are set for Raw, while Kevin Owens vs. Elias and Apollo Crews vs. Andrade will take place on SmackDown.
The bracket for King of the Ring was revealed yesterday. Ricochet vs. Drew McIntyre and The Miz vs. Baron Corbin are the other first round matches on the Raw side of the bracket. The winner of Cesaro vs. Joe will face the winner of Ricochet vs. McIntyre in the second round. The winner of Alexander vs. Zayn will face the winner of Miz vs. Corbin.
Ali vs. Buddy Murphy and Chad Gable vs. Shelton Benjamin are the other first round matches on the SmackDown side. The winner of Owens vs. Elias will take on the winner of Ali vs. Murphy in the next round. The winner of Crews vs. Andrade will face the winner of Gable vs. Benjamin.
King of the Ring is a multi-week tournament that will culminate at Clash of Champions on September 15.
Monday’s Raw is taking place at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is hosting Tuesday’s SmackDown.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.