WWE RIPS UP King Of The Ring 2026 (WWE News)
Joe Tessitore and WWE.com staff have a NIGHTMARE with WWE's King Of The Ring tourney.
There's been a ton of speculation about exactly what's happening with the 2026 King Of The Ring brackets since events during the Clash In Italy post-show and on WWE.com hurled everyone into a state of confusion.
Firstly, announcer Joe Tessitore seemed to hype up a standard singles match for Oba Femi during the first round, but that's obviously not happening. Instead, all of the first round bouts across both the men's and women's tournaments will be Fatal-4-Ways. Then, following those, it'll be singles matches at the semi finals and final stages (the latter of which will be thrashed out at Night Of Champions in Saudi Arabia on 27 June).
Later, WWE.com added to the trouble by showing both Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn as replacements for Talla Tonga and Ricky Saints. Neither top star had been announced originally, so this seemed like a huge deal. PWInsider stepped in to point out that this was a simple error by .com staff members.
Drew and Sami won't be part of KOTR. Oops!
The Wrestling Observer then corroborated that story by indicating that WWE plans to move ahead with the original brackets shown during the Clash In Italy post-show. This was a decidedly WCW-esque 'left hand not talking to the right' situation. A minor hiccup, sure, but announcing McIntyre and Zayn for the tourney when they won't even be involved at all was the biggest clanger.
To clarify, Tonga and Saints keep their spots, and every single one of the opening bouts in the King and Queen Of The Ring brackets will be worked under Fatal-4-Way rules.