An impressive bracket was assembled for the 25th annual King of the Ring tournament. Featuring four former World Champions, the reigning Intercontinental and United States Champion, and the ruler, Oba Femi, the King of the Ring bracket reads like a warzone.
During the opening round, which consisted of four Fatal 4-Way matches across RAW and SmackDown, one qualifying match accomplished a feat never-before-seen in WWE.
On the June 5 episode of SmackDown, United States champion Trick Williams, Tag Team champion Damian Priest, AAA Mega champion Dominik Mysterio and World Tag Team champion Bron Breakker competed in a King of the Ring qualifier match.
As Michael Cole and Wade Barrett pointed out during the broadcast, the match marked the first time every participant in a Fatal 4-Way match was an active champion.
Dominik Mysterio has been the AAA Mega Champion since defeating El Hijo del Vikingo at the Worlds Collide event on September 12, 2025.
Trick Williams, Damian Priest and Bron Breakker all began their championship reigns this year.
History of Fatal 4-Way Matches
The first-ever fatal 4-way match in WWE (then the World Wrestling Federation) occurred on the December 1, 1997 episode of Monday Night Raw, where Chainz defeated D’Lo Brown, Miguel Perez Jr., and Recon in an elimination-style match.
A year later, WWF introduced a non-elimination style Fatal 4-Way match at Capital Carnage in December 1998. During that pay-per-view match, Mankind defeated Kane, The Undertaker and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
Over the years, Fatal 4-Way matches became more commonplace and delivered more than a few five-star matches.
One of the most prominent examples occurred at Backlash 2007. There, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Edge and Randy Orton competed in a star-studded Fatal 4-Way.
The match featured one of the most memorable finishes in WWE history.
In 2010, the match stipulation became so popular that WWE dedicated an entire pay-per-view for it. The titular PLE received 143,000 pay-per-view buys, down from The Bash’s figure of 178,000 buys. This was the only Fatal 4-Way PPV produced by WWE for their main roster. The one-and-done event was replaced by Capitol Punishment in 2011.
More recently, Trick Williams, Je’Von Evans and Ethan Page competed in a Fatal 4-Way that helped establish them as rising stars.
Given the number of Fatal 4-Way matches over the years, it’s interesting that WWE managed to put a historic spin on it in the King of the Ring tournament.
Dominik Mysterio Earns Stunning KOTR Win
When the King of the Ring qualifying match between Trick Williams, Bron Breakker, Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio was announced, few predicted that the high-flying luchador Mysterio would win.
In fact, the second-generation star entered the match as a massive underdog. However, in true “Dirty” Dominik style, Mysterio pulled off the win by cheating.
After Mysterio’s partner Liv Morgan hit Damian Priest under the belt, Mysterio took advantage. He quickly hit Priest with a 619. Then, he followed it up with a frog splash to secure a pinfall victory.
Now, the AAA Mega Champion is slated to face Oba Femi in the next round of the tournament. Something tells me he may not be as fortunate in that matchup.
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