Nick Aldis Announces Injury Update To WWE King Of The Ring Tourney Match On SmackDown
The 2024 King of the Ring tournament will continue on tomorrow night's episode of "WWE SmackDown," but one of its original participants has been removed from the brackets. Ahead of this week's blue brand broadcast, "SmackDown" General Manager Nick Aldis shared an important update on the first-round matchups, specifically the one involving The Bloodline's Tama Tonga. While Tonga was initially pitted against former WWE Champion Bobby Lashley in the opening round, a sudden injury has now taken Lashley out of the tournament.
"... I've been informed that Bobby has suffered an injury during training and is going to be unable to compete," Aldis confirmed on X (formerly Twitter). "He has not been medically cleared to compete in that match tomorrow night. So unfortunate news for Bobby Lashley, but a fortunate opportunity for the man taking his place. And that man, I have decided, will be Angelo Dawkins of The Street Profits. So tomorrow, for the first time ever, Angelo Dawkins of The Street Profits will go one-on-one with Tama Tonga in The King of the Ring [tournament]. Best of luck to both of those men."
Important Update ahead of tomorrow's #SmackDown KOTR matches: @WWE pic.twitter.com/c5Pkq7I1jq
— Nick ”Lâchez-Vous” Aldis (@RealNickAldis) May 9, 2024
Like Aldis mentioned, tomorrow night will mark the first-ever faceoff between Tonga and Angelo Dawkins. Tonga made his "SmackDown" debut last month when he and Solo Sikoa attacked Jimmy Uso and subsequently formed a new version of The Bloodline in WWE. Dawkins, on the other hand, continues to be prominently featured in the "SmackDown" tag team vision alongside Lashley and Montez Ford. Together with the addition of B-Fab, this group is now known as The Pride.