Though reaction to the creation of the new WWE World Heavyweight Championship had been decidedly mixed among fans, the thought of a tournament to crown the inaugural titleholder — with the final to take place later this month at Night of Champions — was more positively received.
And while everyone loves a good tournament (there’s just something about brackets, you know?), and WWE announced the format for this one earlier this month, it didn’t reveal the 12 men who would be competing for the new championship — until today.
In a video published to its social media accounts and on WWE.com, the company confirmed the 12 participants in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament Sunday afternoon.
From Raw:
- Cody Rhodes
- Damian Priest
- Finn Balor
- Seth Rollins
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- The Miz
From SmackDown:
- AJ Styles
- Austin Theory
- Bobby Lashley
- Edge
- Rey Mysterio
- Sheamus
Two triple threat matches will reduce the field from six to two on each show this week, with the winner going head to head to then determine a finalist from both Raw and SmackDown. Those show winners will then meet in the final at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, May 27 for the right to be called the first ever WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
The final piece of the puzzle is to determine who is in each triple threat match, which would allow a bracket to be completed. WWE may or may not reveal one prior to the start of the tournament Monday night on Raw (and will be missing out on an opportunity to create even more buzz if it doesn’t), but should one come about, we’ll be sure to share it here on Wrestling Junkie.