WWE Reveals All 12 Participants in World Heavyweight Championship Tournament
As promised during WWE's Backlash Premium Live Event, the company has revealed the names of all 12 competitors across SmackDown and RAW who will compete in a multi-match tournament to determine a new World Heavyweight Champion.
The names included are multiple former World Champions, WWE Hall of Famers, and young up-and-coming stars!
The full list of names involved are:
- Seth Rollins
- Austin Theory
- AJ Styles
- Bobby Lashley
- Finn Balor
- Rey Mysterio
- Edge
- Damian Priest
- Miz
- Sheamus
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Cody Rhodes
12 WWE Superstars from #WWERaw and #SmackDown look to claim the World Heavyweight Title at #WWENOC.
Find out who they are NOW! 👀 https://t.co/v5qvYFx5eH
At the Backlash Press Conference on Friday, the company's CCO Triple H revealed that members of the SmackDown and RAW rosters would be involved in this gold rush tournament, even though the title itself would be "exclusive" to the RAW brand.
How has WWE structured the World Heavyweight Championship Tournament?
The tournament will begin this upcoming episode of the red brand, where there will be two triple-threat matches. The winners of each bout will then face each other in the main event of RAW. The same is set to take place on Friday Night SmackDown as well.
The winner at the end of both RAW and SmackDown this week will then square off against one another at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia, where a new World Heavyweight Champion will be crowned.
As of this writing, there is no confirmation on how each individual triple threat match will be set up.