Reason why WWE used to book tournaments, according to Vince Russo (Exclusive)

WWE had been gearing up for another King and Queen of the Ring Tournament this year, following the success of last year's. The finals for both tournaments are set to take place at the end of this month at Night of Champions. The premium live event is scheduled for June 28, 2025, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The latest episode of RAW saw the tournament kick-started with one match for each of the men's and women's divisions. Sami Zayn emerged victorious and advanced to the semi-finals after defeating Bron Breakker, Penta, and Dominik Mysterio.

Meanwhile, Roxanne Perez grabbed a win to advance to the next round, beating Liv Morgan, Kairi Sane, and Rhea Ripley. Talking about tournaments in general on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Legion of RAW, Vince Russo explained why they were booked when he was part of WWE creative.

"Tournaments do not draw. They do not draw and the reason they never drew in the past is because they're cold matches. There was no story and tournaments never ever drew. Every now and then bro we needed a breather creatively, so we would book a tournament, knowing it was not going to draw. We just needed a mental break," Russo said. [1:18:53 onwards]

While this might have been the case when Russo was part of WWE, it may not be the case currently. The King and Queen of the ring has serious stakes involed as both winners get a world title shot at SummerSlam, and last year's winners, both followed up their tournament wins with world title wins.

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About the author

Faiz is a WWE writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He is a BBA graduate who is passionate about sports and wants to make a career in that field. This passion led to a postgraduate degree in Journalism, which helped him pivot into becoming a sports writer. When writing, he puts the utmost importance on accuracy and thorough research.

Faiz has six years of work experience across four companies. He started his career with Zomato and then moved to Amazon. He shifted to becoming a football writer at TV9 Digital and is now with Sportskeeda. He covered the Wrestling Xtreme Mania event in Gurgaon in 2025, where he had the opportunity to interview Raj The Maharaja, fka Jinder Mahal. At the same event, he also got quick interviews with former WWE Superstar Dijak and Japanese Joshi legend Emi Sakura.

When it comes to his favourite wrestlers, Faiz has two names in mind. He loved to watch Triple H before the current WWE CCO retired, and he is a huge fan of Roman Reigns. Being a loyal fan since the Tribal Chief's SHIELD days, Faiz credits Roman's mic skills and unmatched in-ring storytelling for his mega success. When he was young, one in-ring story left a lasting impression on his mind and eventually got him hooked on WWE. That match was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24. Apart from that, he is also a fan of RAW.

When Faiz is not writing for Sportskeeda, he loves to keep up with other sports. He is an avid cricket and football fan, a huge gamer, and loves playing some RPGs on the PlayStation.

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Edited by Rahul Madurawe