While Monday Night Raw only showcased half of that brand's first-round Fatal 4-Way matches in this year's WWE King and Queen of the Ring tournament, the June 13, 2025 edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown featured all four of those round 1 bouts to help speed through this year's bracket.
The men's division started off the night in a match where Randy Orton advanced by defeating Aleister Black, Carmelo Hayes, and LA Knight. The final moments were Knight being attacked by Bron Breakker and Big Bronson Reed, who were getting some revenge on Knight's attack from Raw when he went after Breakker and cost him his first-round Fatal 4-Way to Sami Zayn. At the same time, Hayes was going to jump off the top rope and land onto Knight, and did so, but only by eating an RKO in the process. Hayes rolled off to the side and The Viper capitalized on the situation by pinning Knight.
Later on, the other King of the Ring bout took place, resulting in Cody Rhodes beating Andrade, Damian Priest and Shinsuke Nakamura.
This means Orton will be in action in the semifinals against Sami Zayn, while Cody Rhodes doesn't know his semifinals opponent yet, as there still needs to be another Fatal 4-Way over on Raw between Sheamus, Rusev, Bronson Reed, and Jey Uso. Uso was revealed earlier today as the mystery final person on the bracket, which brings up a question of how in kayfabe Adam Pearce hadn't settled on that until after Uso had dropped the World Heavyweight Championship to Gunther.
When it comes to the Queen of the Ring tournament, their first match resulted in Jade Cargill beating Michin, Nia Jax and Piper Niven, scoring a pinfall on Niven after her Jaded finisher, despite being thrown over the commentary table earlier in the match. She will face Roxanne Perez in the semifinals to settle the left hand side of the bracket.
The other Queen of the Ring Fatal 4-Way was Alexa Bliss vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Chelsea Green vs. Candice LeRae. Originally, Chelsea Green was scheduled to compete, but was shown as still being at home in her hot tub, failing to convince SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis to postpone the match. Aldis simply put Alba Fyre in there as her replacement, instead. Ultimately, Alexa Bliss came out on top, pinning Candice LeRae to advance. A mere moment later, Alba Fyre was tapping out to Charlotte Flair's Figure 8, but that was too late, which will surely upset The Queen.
Bliss will face the winner of the remaining Fatal 4-Way match to take place on the next Monday Night Raw, which will be between Asuka, Ivy Nile, Raquel Rodriguez, and Stephanie Vaquer.
What do you think of these four WWE Superstars advancing in this year's tournament? Who do you think will win the semifinals? Drop your predictions, reactions, and other thoughts in the comments below!