Crown Jewel, WWE’s latest offering from Saudi Arabia, is in the books, and as much as the concept of a Crown Jewel champion was very superficial to serve the propaganda arm of the Saudi government, this was definitely not a B-show in terms of its presentation. Vastly different from when the WWE started its 10-year deal with the company in 2018, this event held a level of importance and progress to the product, an aspect of the company that almost seems to be on cruise control until the switch to Netflix in January. Usually, outside of the “big four” traditional pay-per-views that run almost four hours, the smaller PPVs have less matches and often finish up at the three-hour mark of a broadcast, which is completely fine because it makes for an easier viewing experience.
However, the Saudis got their money’s worth with a full card and more than three and a half hours of runtime before Crown Jewel went off the air. Credit where it’s due, Saudi shows were often treated like fluff in the past, because in many ways they were, with requests from the government there originally for Ultimate Warrior and Yokozuna, both of whom past away years earlier. Under the Vince McMahon regime, those type of requests were placated with the brief appearance of sumo wrestler, Hishofuji Hiroki at The Greatest Royal Rumble in 2019. The WWE was clearly just there for the government to masquerade the event as modernism to the region after years of criticism of corruption in the country. They wanted a sumo wrestler so Vince gave them a sumo wrestler. It was the most profitable show on the WWE calendar so find a sumo wrestler to get in the ring for two minutes and collect $40 million to bring the brand to the country.
In many ways, that’s still the goal for the TKO corporation, but it’s not just make the sleazy cash. Keep in mind, TKO is a part of the bigger Endeavor conglomerate. There’s quite literally a vested interest in establishing Saudi Arabia as not just a money grab, but a lucrative location for future projects, including the UFC, to be brought to the country as well. Technically speaking, any of the proprieties under the Endeavor banner could add Saudi Arabia to the list as a potential location to make some heft cash.
The show opened with The Bloodline vs. Roman Reigns and The Usos in a six man tag team match. This segment provided the sizzle, not necessarily the substance, to this card, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The bottom line this, the Saudis pay for the star power, and despite dropping the title earlier this year. Roman is still one of the top guys in WWE and one of the biggest stars of the modern era so he’s going to be there. At the same time, there’s a lot more to develop and a lot more business to be done with this storyline so it makes sense that this wasn’t the main event since it’s just a piece of the puzzle, not the payoff. Jimmy Uso is just back in the fold with Roman and Jey so there’s a lot more mileage with where the angle can go. That said, the action was fine, but this was essentially a basic six man tag, and that’s all that it needed to be. As far as being a piece of the puzzle that isn’t complete yet, Sami Zayn’s involvement in the match sets up for his eventual alignment with Roman and The Usos to have a full circle moment based on where the original Bloodline faction started. The heels got the victory, which makes sense because as mentioned, this wasn’t the payoff yet, and there probably won’t be a baby face win until at least Survivor Series. Although, given the star power and the history involved, I really think that the storyline has enough steam to build to a main event at one of the nights of Wrestlemania.
Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill retained the WWE Women’s tag team titles in a four-way match that only went about ten minutes so there’s not much to say about it. It was fine for what it was, but this simply wasn’t given enough time to get into second gear. If I had to guess, this match was booked to shoehorn a few more competitors onto the card than anything else.
Seth Rollins vs. Bronson Reed was a decent match, but to be honest, I think these two are capable of a lot more if they are given the right amount of time and spotlight for it. This was another bout that only went about 10 minutes and resembled more of a Raw match than something you’d expect from a pay-per-view. Hopefully, that’s because there’s more planned for than and they simply didn’t want to give away everything until the final bout in the series. Rollins won with a few curb stomps, but Bronson Reed was standing after the contest so I’d guess that there will be a rematch at Survivor Series.
The Women’s Crown Jewel championship match went about 7 or 8 minutes, but was still a tedious viewing experience. The early sequences were very clunky and clumsy. There was a spot in the corner where Liv Morgan completely missed a knee strike, and the two struggles to get to the next spot. The only thing that saved this match from being a total train wreck was the attempted cash in spot from Tiffany Stratton, mostly because it distracted from the very disjointed in-ring action. Eventually, a mishap with the MITB briefcase saw Nia get clobbered with it, allowing Liv to get the win. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I’m sure the real-life Nia Jax is a very nice person, but her continued push on television is one of the perks of being related to The Rock, especially with his current role in the company.
The Kevin Owens segment wasn’t really a match so this not much to discuss about it. If I had to guess, i’d say that the office wanted to wait to have the actual match until Survivor Series, but given Randy Orton’s level of popularity, this was a way to get him on the show without giving away the bout. The Saudis pay big money to see Randy Orton so this was a way for them to see him at the event.
The triple threat match for the US title was a very entertaining sprint. This only went about eight minutes, but it was a fireworks show with some really entertaining aerial offense from each competitor. Andrade reminded everyone that he can be a much more valuable asset to the organization when he wants to turn it up a few notches, Carmelo Hayes looked more like a star here than most of his prior main roster exposure because he was presented on an equal level as the bigger stars, and LA Knight proved that he should still probably have a higher ceiling than a mid-card title. LA Knight retained the championship.
The main event was more or less what you’d expect from Cody Rhodes and Gunther, they are two polished pros that can deliver a quality main event match. Everything they did was crisp and smooth, and the presentation was carefully put together so that Gunther still looked like a monster, while Cody still shined as the top guy. Neither one of them looked secondary, which was the very difficult balancing act of this entire scenario. Rhodes sold and made Gunther look great, and Cody fought back like an admirable baby face should in the main event role. Yes, Cody had the longer and more dramatic road to the title, they was always going to be more cache for the competitor that eventually dethroned Roman Reigns after a historic title run, but Gunther was at least presented on the same level in terms of ability through this contest. Nobody had to sacrifice their credibility for this match to be something more than a glorified exhibition, even if that’s what it was in the grand scheme of things.
The finish wasn’t ground-breaking, as it was famously used in Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper in 1992 and then again when Bret beat Steve Austin in 1996, with the counter to the sleeper to get the pin fall, but it was still very well done at Crown Jewel. Cody was in jeopardy and with a slick counter just barely pinned Gunther for the three count. It wasn’t a definitive win, and it wasn’t supposed to be. That particular conclusion was probably the best way to give the Saudis a winner without hindering the credibility of either champion. The handshake and show of respect at the end of the broadcast was another subtle way to put both of them on an equal level, as it was a way that they both acknowledged their status as champions in the company.
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
