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The King and Queen of The Ring tournament is heading towards its next stage, but things are not really going how WWE originally planned. Already, five WWE stars have had to pull out of the tournament due to their injuries, with WWE announcing their replacements as well.
Originally, the tournament lineup was considerably different, with several stars having to step in and replace other stars, thanks to injuries. Asuka was supposed to face Lyra Valkyria, while Zelina Vega was supposed to face Shayna Baszler. Meanwhile, Bobby Lashley was supposed to face Tama Tonga, and Drew McIntyre was penned in to face Finn Balor. Finally, Xavier Woods was supposed to face Rey Mysterio.
Instead, things went quite badly. Gunther's match against Woods saw him injured, with Kingston replacing him in the tournament and proceeding to the next round tonight. Drew McIntyre, much to his consternation, was replaced by Jey Uso due to an elbow injury, while Angelo Dawkins replaced Bobby Lashley. Maxxine Dupri and Dakota Kai stepped up to replace Zelina Vega and Asuka, meanwhile.
Of all the stars replacing others, only Jey Uso and Kofi Kingston have proceeded to the next round so far. Now they will have to face Ilja Dragunov and Gunther respectively. If they win and head to the semi-finals, it will prove that the company made the choice to change up their plans completely.
Hopefully, the company can avoid any other injuries in the interim.
WWE is now set for the quarter-finals for both tournaments
The King and the Queen of The Ring tournaments will continue this week on SmackDown, where things will come to a head. Of the matches listed, four recent call ups or debuting stars have a chance to head to the semi-finals.
Tama Tonga, who recently showed up in WWE with The Bloodline, will have a chance to get to the next round if he beats LA Knight. Meanwhile, Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes will be trying their luck with Jey Uso and Randy Orton respectively.
This will leave Lyra Valkyria trying to get past Zoey Stark on the women's side.
