Shinsuke Nakamura has abdicated his crown and dropped ‘King’ from his name ahead of the crowing of a new King Of The Ring later this month.
WWE posted a backstage video on their YouTube before this week’s episode of SmackDown. In the post as seen below, the Intercontinental champion claimed that he respects the tournament. So he is giving up his crown:
“A new King of the Ring being crowned in a few weeks. I respect the King of the Ring Tournament and I’ve proven myself as The King. Because of that, I am giving up my crown. So you will not call me ‘King’ Nakamura, but you can call me the Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura!”
The last King of The Ring tournament took place in 2019. Baron Corbin won this competition and became the king after defeating Chad Gable in the finals.
Shinsuke Nakamura started a feud with the then King Corbin in May this year. This led to Nakamura beating Corbin to earn the title in a “Battle For The Crown” match during the June 18 episode of SmackDown.
WWE announced the return of the tournament, along with the creation of a similar tournament for women named Queen’s Crown earlier this month.
The tournaments began this Friday on SmackDown and the finals are set to take place at the upcoming Crown Jewel event on October 21. You can check out the brackets for the competition here.