Recapping the 2026 Queen of the Ring Final at Night of Champions

The month of June gave us an amazing NBA Finals, a thrilling Stanley Cup Final, a very close United Bowl, and a very awesome College World Series. In addition to all of that, the month of June gave us a very memorable Queen of the Ring tournament, with the field starting off with 16 women vying for a championship opportunity at SummerSlam. Well, sort of. One of the women just happened to be the reigning Women's World Champion. We had four Fatal Four Way Quarterfinals, followed by the Semifinals, and after all of that, it was down to two women for the crown: Liv Morgan and Iyo Sky.

Iyo Sky has had an interesting 2026 so far. She and Rhea Ripley reigned as Women's Tag Team Champions for just under two months, before Iyo was back to battling against former mentor Asuka. Iyo and Asuka, after about a year of feuding, finally battled it out at Backlash, with Iyo winning and receiving her flowers from Asuka afterwards. Iyo took that win and rolled with it, entering the Queen of the Ring tournament and was the first to advance, defeating Lash Legend, Giulia, and Roxanne Perez on the June 1 episode of Raw. In the Semifinals two weeks later, Iyo defeated Raquel Rodriguez.

And then there's Liv Morgan. Even though the crown is supposed to dictate contendership for either one of the titles, Liv Morgan entered this tournament as the reigning Women's World Champion. She defeated Stephanie Vaquer to win the title at WrestleMania, but other than defeat Sol Ruca on Post-WM Raw, she hadn't done much of anything entering this tournament. I repeat like the broken record I am, a reigning champion should not be in the Queen of the Ring tournament, but it is what it is. I'm just saying, Tony Khan never put Thekla in the Women's Owen's Hart Tournament. Nevertheless, Liv made the most of it, defeating Becky Lynch, Chelsea Green, and Alexa Bliss on the June 8 episode of Raw, and in the Semifinals on the June 19 episode of SmackDown, Liv defeated Charlotte Flair.

The Final of the Queen of the Ring Tournament took place on Saturday, June 27, 2026 in Saudi Arabia, and it was all set: Liv Morgan and Iyo Sky about to face off. Liv's entrance came at the wrong time, interrupting Danhausen. The "Very Nice, Very Evil" sensation had been crossing paths with Judgment Day recently, and he had cursed JD McDonagh on Raw. Regarding Liv, she demanded the money Danhausen had supposedly stolen, and she even got in his face and threatened him. Huge mistake! Danhausen, with the wave of his fingers, delivered those three magic words: "You... are... CURSED!"

Liv slapped Danhausen, but the damage was done. She made her entrance to the ring, as did Iyo, and they went back and forth, because of course they did. There were a lot of things I expected. I thought we'd see involvement Raquel and Roxanne, one way or the other, but this match was very straight up. No outside interference. In the end, we did get what we expected: Iyo Sky was victorious!

Iyo Sky became WWE's fourth Queen of the Ring, joining the short list that includes Zelina Vega, Nia Jax, and Jade Cargill. Once Iyo accepted the crown, she automatically chose to challenge Liv to a rematch, this time for the title. This is another awesome accolade for Iyo; she's one of a small number of Women's Grand Slam Champions (in fact, she's the most recent one), and she's a MITB winner as well. The only thing missing is a Rumble win.

And so we have our first official match for SummerSlam 2026, the second SummerSlam to be a two-night event. Iyo Sky defeated Liv Morgan to become Queen of the Ring, and Iyo has chosen to run it back at the big event at Minnesota's US Bank Stadium, the home of the Minnesota Vikings. That's two straight years that SummerSlam's at an NFC North stadium; they were at Ford Field in Detroit last year. They better be at Lambeau next year.

And so another Queen of the Ring Tournament is in the books. Iyo has the crown and the title opportunity, and now the countdown to SummerSlam is on! SummerSlam will take place on August 1 & 2, 2026, and we will definitely find out which night will feature the Women's World Championship contest between Liv Morgan and Iyo Sky!