Gunther & More Advance In WWE King & Queen Of The Ring Tournaments

WWE kicked off the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments on the May 6 edition of Monday Night Raw with three first-round matches from each tournament. The company had originally advertised that eight tournament matches from the Raw bracket would take place on Raw but Kofi Kingston vs. Rey Mysterio and Shayna Baszler vs. Zelina Vega were pushed back to this weekend's house shows.

In the first match of the night, Jey Uso, the surprise replacement for Drew McIntyre who was not medically cleared to compete, ended up defeating Finn Balor to advance to the next round. Ilja Dragunov, meanwhile, picked up a win over WWE Speed Champion Ricochet. In the main event of Monday Night Raw, Gunther advanced by submitting Sheamus with a Half-Crab.

In the next round, Gunther will face the winner of Kofi Kingston vs. Rey Mysterio, while Jey Uso will take on Ilja Dragunov on next week's Raw.

For the Raw bracket of the Queen of the Ring tournament, IYO SKY earned a win over Natalya, Zoey Stark defeated Ivy Nile, and recent main roster call-up Lyra Valkyria picked up a victory over Dakota Kai. The Damage CTRL member was a late addition to the tournament, replacing an injured Asuka.

IYO SKY will face the winner of Shayna Baszler vs. Zelina Vega on next week's Raw. Lyra Valkyria will take on Zoey Stark at the same show.

The finals of the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments will be held at the King & Queen of the Ring pay-per-view on Saturday, May 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.