The last Queen of the Ring tournament took place last June which landed Jade Cargill on the throne as she was crowned Queen of the Ring at Night of Champions. Although Cargill took the crown by defeating Asuka in the finals, it was actually two other women who were originally planned.
Per the recent season of WWE Unreal that has just been released on Netflix, the original plans for the Queen of the Ring finals was Rhea Ripley vs. Giulia. It is a bit surprising that this was the finals that were originally drafted as Giulia wasn’t even in the tournament and Ripley was eliminated in the first round. Giulia did win the WWE Women’s United States Championship the night before the finals by defeating Zelina Vega on SmackDown.
Cargill would go on to get her championship match from her Queen of the Ring win at SummerSlam, but at the time would lose the match to then-champion Tiffany Stratton. Cargill would go on to defeat Stratton in October to become champion.