The WWE Queen of the Ring tournament also saw a last-minute replacement.
The May 6th episode of Raw saw the beginning of the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments take place, which will culminate at the Premium Live Event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on May 25th. Ahead of the show going on the air, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made the announcement that due to injury, Drew McIntyre would not be competing in his King of the Ring match and was pulled from the tournament entirely.
In the opening segment of Raw, it was announced that McIntyre’s replacement would be Jey Uso, who defeated Finn Balor in the opening round and would face Ilja Dragunov in the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, this was not the only star to be removed from a tournament.
Later in the night, Iyo Sky was victorious in her opening round match on Raw. After the match, Dakota Kai grabbed a microphone and informed the crowd that Asuka was injured and not cleared to compete, therefore Kai would be taking The Empress’ place in the tournament. Kai lost to Lyra Valkyria later in the night.
Although no further updates were given by Kai or by WWE during the broadcast, the former Women’s Champion suffered a knee injury back in March 2024 on an episode of SmackDown. As a precautionary measure, Asuka was removed from live events that weekend and did return to action on the Raw before WrestleMania.
Asuka Loses Championship At WWE Backlash
The Damage CTRL member last competed at the Backlash Premium Live Event in France, where The Empress and Kairi Sane put the Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line. In what was the only title change of the evening, Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair became the new Women’s Tag Team Champions at the show.
Inside The Ropes will provide more updates when they become available and wishes Asuka a full and speedy recovery.