WWE Monday Night Raw Preview: Who Will Win WWE's Most Unpredictable Main Event? (2024)

WWE Monday Night Raw airs its final installment before the WWE King and Queen of the Ring premium live event this Saturday. Unlike most premium live event builds, the shows leading up to WWE King and Queen of the Ring have put all emphasis on in-ring action rather than promos to craft the storylines. That is thanks to WWE supersizing this year's royal tournaments, as 16 superstars were selected for both the men's and women's brackets, therefore necessitating that WWE structure WWE Monday Night Raw and WWE SmackDown broadcasts around tournament matches. On the red brand side of things, the past three weeks have led to tonight, as WWE Monday Night Raw's representatives in the King and Queen of the Ring tournament finals will be decided tonight.

WWE King of the Ring: Gunther vs. Jey Uso

The most unpredictable match of the entire tournament headlines WWE Monday Night Raw tonight when Gunther battles Jey Uso in the semifinals.

All the pieces seemed to be in play for Gunther to decimate the King of the Ring field. He suffered his first main roster singles defeat at WWE WrestleMania 40, losing the WWE Intercontinental Championship in the process and ending his historic 666-day reign. Having Gunther lose there seemed to be a necessary evil in order to move him up the card, and when King of the Ring was announced, the immediate odds-on favorite was The Ring General.

That was before Jey Uso entered the fold. With Drew McIntyre shelved temporarily with injury, Jey slotted into his spot and has surged since. He defeated Finn Balor with ease and arguably upset fresh call-up Ilja Dragunov in the quarterfinals. Jey has been the most over babyface on WWE Monday Night Rawfor the past two months, and fans have pushed for WWE to reward him with some sort of accolade. After losing his WWE World Heavyweight Championship bout at WWE Backlash, King of the Ring is seen as the next best thing. Beyond that, The Bloodline's Tama Tonga is competing in the semifinals on theWWE SmackDown side, and a Jey vs. Tama final has the most storyline implications of any of the possible remaining final matches.

Having only been pinned four times in his five-year WWE career, Gunther has proved himself to be a smart bet, but the past two months have made it hard to ever count out Jey Uso.

WWE Queen of the Ring: Lyra Valkyria vs. Iyo Sky

The women's bracket semifinal is similarly a bit of a toss up.

Since being called up to the main roster during the WWE Draft, former NXT Women's Champion Lyra Valkyria has positioned herself prominently within the WWE Monday Night Raw women's division. She has picked up wins over Dakota Kai and Zoey Stark en route to the semis, making in further in the tournament than any of her NXT call-up counterparts (Ilja Dragunov, Carmelo Hayes).

Her opponent is in a somewhat similar position to Gunther. Iyo Sky reigned as WWE Women's Champion for eight months before being defeated by former stablemate Bayley at WWE WrestleMania 40. In an effort to maintain her high stock and remind fans that she is a force to be reckoned with on her new brand, there is plenty of reason to send Sky to the finals this weekend. That said, pulling the trigger on a Queen Valkyria run would make her the fastest superstar, male or female, to achieve that accolade.

WWE Monday Night Raw goes down at 8 PM ET on USA Network. The announced lineup can be seen below...

• Sami Zayn vs. Chad Gable
• WWE King of the Ring Semifinal: Gunther vs. Jey Uso
• WWE Queen of the Ring Semifinal: Lyra Valkyria vs. IYO SKY