King and Queen of the Ring: Mexico City

**King and Queen of the Ring: Mexico City** was the 30th annual King and Queen of the Ring professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by World Class Championship Wrestling, and the second to be held under its current name. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Battle Zone and Intensity brand divisions. It featured the semi-finals and finals of the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments as well as the debut of the "Crown Prince" and "Crown Princess" battles royal. The event took place on January 21, 2024, at Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico and attracted 17,766 fans.

The event will be notable for being the first WCCW PPV to be held in Mexico. The card comprised a total of nine matches, with seven airing on pay-per-view and two airing on a special "Fire & Ice" edition of *Sunday Night Heat*. In the main event, Goldberg defended his World Heavyweight Championship against "The Ring General" Gunther.

## Production

### Background

The King of the Ring tournament is a men's single-elimination tournament that was established by WCCW in September 1995 with the winner being crowned "King of the Ring". It was held annually on PPV until 2020, when it was replaced with Super Showdown. The tournament and pay-per-view were reintroduced for 2023 and included the debut of the Queen of the Ring tournament. Unlike the previous events, the 2023 PPV did not feature all of the tournament's matches. Instead, several of the qualifying matches preceded the event with the final few matches then taking place at the pay-per-view. There were also other matches that took place at the event as it was a traditional two-hour pay-per-view.

###  Storylines

The event included matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by WCCW's writers on the Battle Zone and Intensity brands, while storylines are produced on WCCW's weekly television shows, *Tuesday Night Battle Zone* and *Friday Night Intensity.*

## Event

### Pre-Show

The event kicked off with the preshow airing on ESPN on ABC and the ESPN+ streaming service as an episode of *Sunday Night Heat*. The opening match was a Triple threat tag team elimination match between The Hardyz, Viking Raiders and The Acclaimed to determine the #1 contender for the WCCW World Tag Team Championship at *FX Fight Night VII*. Max Caster would eliminate Jeff and Matt Hardy with quick pinfalls nearly fourteen minutes into the match to earn the first eliminations. Jeff Hardy refused to leave the ringside and proceeded to attack Max Caster and then Anthony Bowens, allowing Ivar to pin Bowens for the elimination. Caster would eliminate Erik but would fall to Ivar. The second and final match to air on *Sunday Night Heat* was the featured bout: a WCCW Television Championship match between Shotzi and Bayley. Despite an early onslaught from Shotzi, Bayley managed to retain her belt following a splash from the top rope.

### Preliminary matches

The broadcast kicked off with the debut of the Crown Princess Battle Royal, an 8-woman contest featuring the first competitors to be eliminated from the Queen of the Ring tournament. Carmella scored the first two eliminations, by throwing Roxanne Perez and then Toni Storm over the top rope. Carmella then found herself eliminated when Kris Statlander took control of the match, eliminating Trinity, Su Yung and Gisele Shaw next. Despite this dominance, Statlander would be eliminated by Bianca Belair who managed to stay alive the entire match and earn the victory.

Up next were the Queen of the Ring Semi-Finals, first between Nikki Cross and Mickie James. James would control the early portion of the match but lost control when she took time to mock Nikki Cross who hit James with a low blow which the referee missed. Cross then hit a splash from the top rope before pinning Mickie James for the victory and to advance to the tournament finals. In the second semi-final, "The Man" Becky Lynch dominated "The Empress of Tomorrow" Asuka, pinning her in less than five minutes to advance to the finals against Nikki Cross.

The fourth match to air on pay-per-view was the debut of the Crown Prince Battle Royal, an 8-man contest featuring the first competitors to be eliminated from the King of the Ring tournament. Brandon War dominated the first half of the match, earning the first three eliminations over Johnny Gargano, Chad Gable and Sami Zayn. War would be eliminated six minutes into the match by eventual winner Drew McIntyre. LA Knight eliminated AJ Styles before being eliminated by McIntyre. Damian Priest was the final man eliminated, earning Drew McIntyre the title of Crown Prince.

Up next were the King of the Ring Semi-Finals, first between Kevin Owens and "The Icon" Sting. Despite an early assault by Owens, Sting dominated the majority of the match until Sami Zayn appeared at ringside and distracted Sting, allowing Kevin Owens to hit a stunner and pin Sting for the victory and to advance to the tournament finals. After the match, Sting proceeded to attack Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, hitting the Scorpion Death Drop on both. In the second semi-final, Seth 'Freakn' Rollins took on "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes. In an evenly-matched contest, both men had opportunities for the victory but after reversing the Stomp into a Cross Rhodes, Cody Rhodes earned the pinfall victory and advanced to the finals against Kevin Owens.

The seventh match to air on pay-per-view was the Queen of the Ring Finals between Nikki Cross and Becky Lynch. Despite her best efforts to keep up with "The Man," Nikki Cross found herself victim to three Manhandle slams in a losing effort. The victory earned Becky Lynch the Queen's crown as well as a Undisputed WCCW Women's Championship match at RumbleMania XXVII.

Next was the King of the Ring Finals between Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes. The two men put on a clinic for the fans, with Cody Rhodes managing to counter a Stunner into Cross Rhodes, hitting two more for good measure to earn the pinfall victory. The victory also earned Rhodes the King's crown as well as a world championship match at RumbleMania XXVII.

In the co-main event, "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio defended his WCCW United States Championship against his father Rey Mysterio's LLM National Championship in a Winner Takes All match. Dominik was accompanied to the ring by Rhea Ripley while the Latino World Order followed Rey out. Following a skirmish at ringside between Dominik and members of the LWO, the remaining members of Judgement Day, Finn Balor and Damian Priest, ran to ringside to aid Dominik. With the Judgement Day and Latino World Order fighting up the entrance ramp, Dominik took advantage of the distraction to hit the 619 on his father but missed the Frog Splash from the top rope who countered with a 619 of his own followed by a splash to earn the pinfall victory and walk away with both championships.

###  Main event

In the main event, "The Ring General" Gunther challenged Goldberg for the WCCW World Heavyweight Championship. Accompanied by Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci), Gunther hoped the numbers advantage would work in his favor but Goldberg wasted no time in shutting down Imperium at ringside, brutally attacking both men and spearing Kaiser through the steel steps. Even without Imperium's aid, Gunther managed to hold his own against the legendary Goldberg, hitting a Power Bomb for a two-count. Momentum switched to Goldberg at this point, with the crowd on his side as well, Goldberg lifted Gunther for the Jackhammer, covering him for the two-count. A second Jackhammer at ringside nearly resulted in a count-out but Goldberg threw Gunther back into the ring where he hit him with a third Jackhammer for the pinfall victory and to retain his championship.