Crown Jewel 2024: It Was Good

Crown Jewel 2024
Date: November 2, 2024
Location: Mohammed Abdo Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

We’re back in Saudi Arabia and the focus this time is on champion vs. champion. The Raw and Smackdown World Champions, both men’s and women’s, will face off in a match or a belt that they don’t get to take with them, but they do get a ring. That’s not the strongest buildup but the Bloodline is at it again. Let’s get to it.

A bunch of people came to work today.

The opening video is a look at how prestigious everything is, with the focus on the champion vs. champion matches.

Bloodline vs. Roman Reigns/Usos

Roman and Jimmy come out together, with Jey getting his own full on entrance (Jimmy approves, Roman not so much). Jey and Tama start things off with Tama pounding him down without much effort. It’s off to Jimmy to take over, with a double elbow hitting Tama. Fatu comes in and gets kicked out tot he floor so things can reset a bit. Back in Jey armbars Tama as Reigns wants the tag. Jey tags in Jimmy instead, with Jimmy trying to calm him down, even during a double headbutt.

More bickering allows Tama to go after the knee to bring Jimmy down. Jimmy gets beaten own in the corner but manages to get over to Jey to pick up the pace. That doesn’t last long either, as Jey gets sent into the corner, where Sikoa gets in a headbutt from the apron. The nerve hold goes on before it’s back to Tama for a slingshot hilo. Jey fights up again and brings in Roman, who slugs it out with Sikoa.

The clotheslines have Sikoa down and a Superman Punch makes him do it again. The spear is cut off though and the Samoan Spike gets…two, as it seemed to be three with Jimmy making a slightly late save. Jey comes back in to superkick Fatu to the floor and there’s another Superman Punch to Sikoa. Tama offers a distraction though and the referee gets taken out. Fatu headbutts Reigns and runs him over, setting up the moonsault. A pair of Samoan Spikes finishes Reigns at 16:37.

Rating: B-. I’m a bit surprised by Sikoa getting the pin and getting it fairly easily, but this was more about setting up the next chapter at WarGames. The Usos and Reigns were outnumbered here and that is going to have to be remedied sooner than later. Good match or the most part though, even with Jey’s issues costing the team a bit.

Post match the Bloodline does their pose but Reigns fights up, only to get beaten down again. The TripleBomb through the announcers’ table is broken up so the chair is loaded around Jey’s neck in the corner. Cue Sami Zayn (who slowly walks to the ring, which for some reason paralyzes the Bloodline, who was ready to destroy Jey and then just don’t). Sami teases hugging Sikoa but suplexes him instead. Sikoa is surrounded on all sides but Zayn and Reigns accidentally hit each other, allowing Sikoa to escape. Jimmy yells at Zayn as Reigns is still down. Again, this is just a big pit stop on the way to WarGames.

We get some sitdown interviews with Gunther (who promises to choke Cody Rhodes out) and Cody Rhodes (who promises to win) about their match later.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Piper Niven/Chelsea Green vs. Damage CTRL vs. Meta Four vs. Bianca Belair/Jade Cargill

Belair and Cargill are defending. Sky and Belair start fast and Belair grabs a delayed vertical suplex but misses a handspring moonsault. They trade some flips until Green comes in and takes a beating in the corner. Now Belair’s handspring moonsault connects for two and it’s off to Cargill. Legend comes in and slams Green before glaring Cargill back to the corner.

Jackson steps up onto Legend’s shoulders for a flipping backsplash and hits a running hip attack in the corner. Sane tags herself in and hits a middle rope forearm before handing it back to Sky. Sane’s catapult to send Sky into the corner doesn’t quite work so Sky slams Jackson down instead. It’s off to Niven to run Sky over before Legend and Cargill have the big slugout.

Everyone winds up on the floor so Green teases a dive, which has to be caught by Niven. Sky hits a dive and Jackson hits one of her own, followed by Belair hitting a Cactus Clothesline on Legend. Back in and Jaded hits Green but Damage CTRL makes the save. Meta Four is back up to clean house, including a toss sitout powerbomb. We hit the parade of secondary finishers but Cargill escapes the Unprettier. Niven Vader Bombs Green by mistake and a Doomsday Device (geez) finishes Niven to retain at 12:00.

Rating: C+. They got a bit of time here and the match was boosted up a bit as a result. I was expecting a title change here but Belair and Cargill retaining is hardly a bad thing. They’re becoming more dominant champions and that is something you need rather than having the titles bounce around all the time.

We recap Bronson Reed vs. Seth Rollins. Reed injured Rollins a few months back and put him action. Rollins is back and wants revenge so they’ve been fighting a bunch.

Seth Rollins vs. Bronson Reed

The brawl starts on the ramp and Rollins can’t get very far. They go to ringside and Rollins is driven into the timekeeper’s area. The fight heads inside for the opening bell and Reed hits an early Tsunami but goes up again instead of covering. Rollins rolls away and hits a quick Stomp for two as they’re starting fast. Rollins’ sunset flip is countered with a sitdown splash for two and things slow down a lot.

Back up and Rollins’ attempt at a slam doesn’t work but he counters a powerbomb into a DDT (that looked great) to leave the both down. A middle rope clothesline staggers Reed but he catches Rollins on top. That’s broken up with a headbutt and Rollins drops a frog splash for two. Reed is back up with a Death Valley Driver for two but Rollins slaps him in the face, saying Reed should have finished him when he can. They had outside where Rollins gets in a shot of his own, setting up the Stomp on the steps. Back in and another Stomp finishes Reed at 12:20.

Rating: B-. Gah I’m not sure about that, as Reed needed the win a lot more than Rollins. I’m not saying Reed is done, but that’s not going to do him any favors as a monster taking a loss can be rather damaging. Rollins is hardly a low level star, but I would have stretched Reed’s dominance out just a bit longer.

We recap Liv Morgan vs. Nia Jax for the Women’s Crown Jewel Title. Basically the idea is Tiffany Stratton is going to cash in on someone but we’re not sure whom.

Women’s Crown Jewel Title: Liv Morgan vs. Nia Jax

We get the Big Match Intros and Morgan plays keep away to start. That only lasts so long as Morgan gets in a few shots, which just seem to annoy Jax. The running shoulder in the corner misses for Jax but she hits a quick super Samoan drop. Jax goes up for the Annihilator but gets countered into a sunset bomb.

Cue Tiffany Stratton, only to have Jax shout her down before the cash in. Morgan gets two off a crucifix so Stratton tries it again, only for Raquel Rodriguez to break it up. A middle rope Codebreaker gives Morgan two and they’re both down for a bit. Jax yells at Stratton on the floor and the big fight is on, with Jax running Morgan over. Dominik Mysterio slides the briefcase in for a distraction though, allowing a quick Oblivion to give Morgan the pin at 8:14.

Rating: C+. This was a good bit better than I was expecting as they played to their strengths rather than trying to have it be a straight match. That being said, I’m once again completely done with the Money In The Bank stuff, as the “THIS IS IT! SHE’S CASHING OH NEVER MIND!” for months on end lost its charm years ago. That was on full display here and I was sick of seeing

HHH comes in for the title presentation.

We recap Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton. Owens feels like Orton (and Cody Rhodes) betrayed him by siding with Roman Reigns, causing Owens to turn of both of them. Owens doesn’t want to hurt someone he claims to be his friends but he’s willing to do what he has to. Orton just wants revenge.

Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens

Owens hits him with a chair before the bell and they fight on the floor. Owens drops him onto the announcers’ table and takes the chair inside to keep up the beating. The referee tries to break it up and gets a Stunner as referees and agents come down. Orton gets the chair and hits Owens with it, followed by the hanging DDT. Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis come in so Orton RKOs Pearce. Owens gets up and they fight into the crowd, where Owens uses something metal to knock him onto a table. An elbow off the stage crushes Orton again. They’re both left laying and no match.

US Title: LA Knight vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Andrade

Knight is defending and lets the challengers beat each other up to start. That doesn’t last long as Hayes knocks them outside. Knight sends Hayes into the announcers’ table a few times and adds the slingshot shoulder to Andrade. Back in and Andrade fights up, including the running knees to Hayes in the corner.

One heck of a moonsault to the floor drops Knight, only for Knight to cut him off with a dive. Back in and Knight can’t BFT Hayes only to get caught with the First 48. Hayes knocks Andrade down for two as well an everyone needs a breather. Andrade drops Knight for two and takes Hayes up top for a super fall away slam. Knight goes up and hits the double top rope elbow for two more. It’s Hayes up this time with Nothing But Net to Andrade but Knight is right back with the BFT to retain at 8:57.

Rating: B-. This was a good TV match and that’s all it needed to be. Knight gets another win and it’s no like either of the other two are really hurt by the loss. It’s time to end Andrade and Hayes’ series though, as it’s gone on long enough. They need to do something new and Knight needs a fresh challenger as well.

We recap Gunther vs. Cody Rhodes. They both want to be the best and prove that they’re better and have gotten physical a few times. Time for a match.

Men’s Crown Jewel Title: Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther

Feeling out process to start with Gunther getting the better of some grappling. Rhodes reverses into an armbar to take Gunther down. That’s reversed into a headlock as they’re taking their time to start here. Rhodes fights up to escape and the fans approve as we’re somehow five minutes in. The chops are blocked and Cody goes for the Flip Flop And Fly, only for a big chop to cut him off.

A drop down uppercut works a bit better for Cody but he has to break up a sleeper attempt. Gunther takes him outside for a big chop and slams him on the floor for a breather. Back in and Gunther gets the better of a slugout before slowly chopping Cody down to the floor again. Cody shrugs off a slam and catches Gunther on top as the fans deem this awesome. A top rope superplex brings Gunther down and they’re both down.

Cody gets fired up and hits the Bionic Elbow (the fans chant Dusty), setting up a Cody Cutter for two. The Disaster Kick is countered into the Boston crab before Gunther switches to the sleeper. That’s escaped so Cody hits a quick Cross Rhodes and they’re both down. Back up and Gunther hits the powerbomb for two but he makes the mistake of slapping Cody in the corner. That fires Cody up and he grabs a quick Cross Rhodes for another near fall. Another Cross Rhodes is blocked so Cody goes up for the Cody Cutter, only to get pulled into the sleeper. That’s reversed into a rollup to give Cody the pin at 23:00.

Rating: B+. I don’t think anyone was expecting this to be anything less than very good and they hit that point. It was a clean match with Cody catching him in the end and that’s perfectly fine. The good thing here is that it was basically a match either could afford to lose, but unfortunately Cody doesn’t really gain much from the win. Still though, best match on the show by a wide margin.

Post match Gunther shakes Cody’s hand and we get the big presentation of the title, with HHH and Liv Morgan coming out to celebrate, with some government officials joining them.

Overall Rating: B-. One of the good things about modern WWE is you won’t get many truly bad matches or shows and that was the case here. I wasn’t overly interested in a lot of what they had going on but nothing on the show was anything close to terrible. The main event was very good and some of the other stuff worked well enough. The biggest issue here was a lack of anything impactful happening, but Survivor Series can handle that later this month. Not exactly a must see show, but there are worse options out there.

Results
Bloodline b. Roman Reigns/Usos – Samoan Spike to Reigns
Jade Cargill/Bianca Belair b. Damage CTRL, Piper Niven/Chelsea Green and Meta Four – Doomsday Device to Niven
Seth Rollins b. Bronson Reed – Stomp
Liv Morgan b. Nia Jax – Oblivion
LA Knight b. Andrade and Carmelo Hayes – BFT to Hayes
Cody Rhodes b. Gunther – Rollup

 

 

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