WWE Crown Jewel 2023

WWE Crown Jewel 2023

November 2023 - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion was Roman Reigns, the World Heavyweight Champion was Seth Rollins, the Intercontinental Champion was GUNTHER, the United States Champion was Rey Mysterio, the Judgment Day held the RAW and the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, the RAW Women's Champion was Rhea Ripley, the SmackDown Women's Champion was IYO Sky, and the Women's Tag Team Champions were Piper Niven and Chelsea Green. 

Seth Rollins defended his World Heavyweight Championship in the opening contest against Drew McIntyre. As Michael Cole noted on commentary, McIntyre has been in a bit of a 3-year rut, failing to win any major singles championship since his run as the WWE Champion during the pandemic of 2019-2020. According to rumor, part of the reason is because, during that time, McIntyre has been wishy-washy about signing a long-term contract, though I think the real reason is much simpler: Roman Reigns has had the most dominant run of any major superstar since Hulk Hogan, leaving little to no room for anyone else to really "break out" as a top, top guy. Regardless, this match was good but the result was never really in question and there was no face/heel dynamic to play off of. Some good nearfalls in the last third as Seth Rollins sold his damaged back but still managed to get the 100% clean victory. Where does McIntyre go from here? At this point, I expect him to turn heel but have zero interest in him joining the Judgment Day, which already has two fairly established heavy hitters in Balor and Damien Priest. Speaking of Priest, his post-match cash-in attempt got thwarted by Sami Zayn, a guy I would love to see get a more serious push going into the Rumble and WrestleMania. (3/5)

A Fatal Five-way for Rhea Ripley's RAW Women's Championship was next as she defended the gold against Raquel Rodriguez, Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax, and Zoey Stark. Like the opener, this wasn't bad, just not very suspenseful as Ripley was all-but-guaranteed to come out victorious. While Ripley is a heel, she was the most over act in the match by a country mile. Baszler has no momentum after the lackluster match with Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam in August and Rodriguez doesn't either after her failed attempt to beat Ripley months back. I can understand not wanting to "burn" a Ripley/Nia Jax one-on-one...but if that is the big match looming on the horizon, Jax should've had more of a spotlight. There were some cool moments with Baszler busting out a number of crafty submissions, but her overall credibility remains an issue compared to how dominant she came across in NXT years ago. (2.5/5)

The next match was arguably the least predictable of the evening as John Cena, who has somehow been winless in (I assume) televised singles match over the past 5 years, took on Solo Sikoa. On one hand, the fact that Cena was coming into this match on such a huge losing streak meant that he was "due" a victory. At the same time, however, the WWE is clearly building up Sikoa as a formidable monster and a victory over Cena would only solidify that. They told a simple-but-effective story from the start to the finish with Cena using his experience and craftiness to control the early going before Sikoa's power started wreaking havoc on Cena's strategy. I liked how they built the match around Sikoa's lethal Samoan Spike with Cena coming up with counter-after-counter until he finally got caught with a wild desperation spike in the final minutes. I was less enamored with Cena continuing to apply the sloppiest, loosest STF possible, but hey, that kinda goes with the territory these days. I would've liked to hear Cole and Barrett play up the fact that Cena was taken to his limit many years ago by Sikoa's uncle Umaga and that, 20 years ago, Cena even faced Solo's old man (Rikishi) on an episode of SmackDown. They don't seem to be hiding the fact that Cena is in the sunset of his career - in fact, Cena's age and deterioration was a key theme of the story - but didn't necessarily connect the dots with how much of a witness Solo has been to Cena's success, a run that saw him come out on top, again and again, against The Bloodline until Roman Reigns usurped him. I'm wondering if we get a rematch at WrestleMania, which would make sense to me. This wasn't a Match of the Year candidate or anything, but it was good for what it was and showed that even if Cena has lost a step in terms of speed and athleticism, he can still deliver in the story and character department as good as anyone. (3/5)

This segment was followed by The Miz bringing out a guy that looked like the Saudi Arabian version of Kevin James. They were interrupted by Grayson Waller. Whatever. This show was filled with propaganda for Saudi Arabia, its airline, and its various "entertainment spots." They forgot to mention that using marijuana will land you in prison and that alcohol consumption is strictly prohibited. The WWE is also opening a museum there - which I'm sure dozens and dozens of tourists from around the world will flock to. 

The match of the night followed as Rey Mysterio Jr. defended his United States Championship against Logan Paul. Mysterio is arguably among the top 10 babyfaces of all time and while he may not have all the speed and agility he had 20+ years ago, he still gets more mileage out of doing the simple stuff than many wrestlers can do today doing maneuvers that are way more complicated and risky. Mysterio is also a guy that has a real knack for elevating the talent he works with - I mean, how many guys have had their career-best match against Mysterio? Psicosis is an easy pick, but I'd also include Dean Malenko, Kane, Chavo Guerrero, maybe even Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, and Dolph Ziggler too. And so Logan Paul may have had his easiest match yet - he wasn't just in there against an absolute pro, he was working against a guy whose specialty is making others, even guys with sizable gaps in their game, look incredible. Paul brought the goods, though - while he may not have taken as many high risks as he has done in the past, his mannerisms and aggressiveness remained. For the first time (maybe ever?), Paul got to show off his strength. I really wish they had kept the interference to a minimum in the other matches on this show as it took away from Escobar's involvement and the eventual finish, which saw Logan once again come away with the victory due to outside involvement and a pair of brass knucks. (3.5/5)

Back to the ring we go for the next contest - IYO Sky challenging Bianca Belair for the SmackDown Women's Championship. Sky and Bianca have excellent chemistry but this match was met with mostly crickets. Belair's high energy and Sky's expert timing and execution were basically wasted on this crowd. In front of the right audience, this might have even been a "match of the night" candidate but there just wasn't enough energy to feed off of and the biggest spots of the match all fell a little flat. Given over 15 minutes, these two told a good back-and-forth story and I really liked the execution of the swerve in the finish as Kairi Sane made her return to the company by attacking Belair on the outside. Again, in front of a more invested audience - hey, maybe even one that actually views women as not being lesser - I think this would've felt special, the way their Backlash match really left an impression due to the passion of the crowd. (3/5)

Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Priest followed. This felt like a RAW main event or a house show match - not necessarily a bad thing, just missing a raison d'etre. Also, had Priest successfully cashed in earlier in the night, would that have made this a World Championship match? I've complained about other matches having fairly predictable outcomes, but will give them some credit here as I wasn't 100% sure how this would turn out. My money was on Cody just because Cody has been on a big roll as of late, especially on Premium Live Events. At the same time, Judgment Day has also had a ton of success and really needs victories to maintain their credibility, no different than Roman Reigns and the Bloodline. Plus, Cody is over enough that a loss here wouldn't have damaged him, especially if it came from outside interference. Rhodes and Priest had a good physical match, but not a very lengthy one; it seemed like this was put on the card to appease the audience by giving them a Cody appearance rather than to progress any storyline. The live crowd was more into this than the previous bout, but, at home, I wasn't nearly as enthralled. Ultimately, this match needed some sort of stakes to keep me captivated and the interference of Judgment Day and then Jey Uso felt by-the-numbers. Not bad and maybe even slightly above-average in terms of what was actually done between the bells, but ultimately, forgettable and meaningless. (2.5/5)

Main event time - LA Knight vs. Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. The question here wasn't whether LA Knight would do the impossible - it was whether he'd be able to leave a strong enough impression to become a true "main event" level guy. Nobody can say that Reigns didn't allow Knight to look strong here, but this match suffered from not only a predictable end but an overreliance on what have become tropes of his entire reign. First, there was some involvement from Heyman on the outside, then it was Solo Sikoa making an appearance, and then, like clockwork, Jimmy Uso showed up too. Knight got to kick out of a Spear and nearly get the victory with his finishing move, but aside from what will likely be a feud with Logan Paul (which I predict will not be nearly as good as some might think and result in a very average match), I also just don't see LA Knight as having some big main event run in his future as long as Reigns is still around. Speaking of Reigns, he'd feel more dominant if they peppered in some more dominant wins during this reign. It was nice of him to "give" so much to LA Knight, but we're supposed to see Reigns as this unbeatable monster now and I'm not sure LA Knight really deserved to get as close to winning as they presented here. Paint-by-numbers main event. (2.5/5)

Earning a Kwang Score of 2.86-out-of-5, the latest edition of "WWE Blood Money" was a disposable, forgettable show. While none of the matches were actively bad, there also wasn't too much that left any sort of impression. If there was supposed to be a star-making moment for LA Knight in the main event, I missed it. The opener looked like it might've led to some much-needed character development for Drew McIntyre, but no such thing took place. The Solo/Cena match was good-not-great and the same could be said of both Women's Championship matches. The match of the night was Logan Paul/Rey Mysterio, but I wouldn't call it "must see." All in all, a bit of a glorified house show that the most rabid, current WWE fans would find enjoyable, but inessential viewing for anyone else and hardly the best entry point for the lapsed viewer.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver