WWE Crown Jewel 2023 — Review and Grading — #MyOpinion

I love these Saudi events, due to these events it feels like we get multiple wrestlemanias in a year now…! Let’s dive straight into the review :

Seth Rollins © Vs Drew McIntyre for World Heavyweight Championship

What a brilliant start to a Wrestlemania equivalent PPV. WWE do treat these Saudi events as a big deal as whether it be the match card, quality of matches or the stage, everything is top notch. The crowd was red hot for this match and were cheering for Drew from the very start (maybe because he paid tribute to CR7 at the start 😅) There was even a moment when they started booing Seth Rollins, it was a crazy crowd after Drew McIntyre. Seth kicking out of Claymore Kick and Drew McIntyre escaping Stomp brought crowd to their feet. This match was exciting due to multiple reasons as many thought WWE will pull the trigger on Drew McIntyre, few thought there might be a heel turn for Drew and few had the assumption that maybe Damien will cash-in. Due to all these circumstances, I thoroughly enjoyed this match. Pedigree followed by Stomp was too much for Drew to handle and Seth successfully retained the title. What I found interesting was, Drew quickly left the ring disappointed and Damien walked in with a ref for a cash-in which was ultimately stolen by Sami. So maybe Sami-Cody-Judgement Day feud will still continue following tonight and it will be interesting to see how Drew comes back from this defeat. A heel drew is just few weeks away…mark my words..! A solid 4 ⭐️ for this one.

Fatal Five Way match for Women’s World Championship

From not having a single women’s match in 2018 to a story oriented fatal five way match for championship in 2023, WWE have come a long way in representing women in Saudi events. I am always up for multi person matches and I am glad this one also did not disappoint. Mami got the entrance of the ages, she was looking incredible. The match was fun with multiple moments and it was great to see that crowd was also fully invested in the match. Every woman did her part brilliantly and it was well executed match. Baszler executing submission moves on Nia, Raquel and Rhea simultaneously was mind blowing, she is a great athlete and deserves much more. One more thing which I am realising is Zoey Stark is kind of Dolph Ziggler of the women’s division. She is always on spot, sells brilliantly and always helps in elevating her opponents, I am kind of liking her now…! The ending was also good but it felt like Raquel missed her spot but still Mami retained the title which was the right decision at this very spot. 3.5 ⭐️ for Mami’s title defence.

So the biggest question going into this match was whether John Cena’s 2017 days losing streak gonna end. Before going into the match, just wanted to mention the love John Cena receives everytime his music hits. Man…I love this guy and do not care what people say otherwise. Thanks to the Bloodline Saga, Solo got the opportunity of his life to fight against one of the very best at such a grand stage. I liked the different approach WWE put into this match as Cena was seen going after Solo’s arm so that he cannot hit the spike and Solo was seen attempting the Spike multiple times during the match. It was clear that match would end when we see AA or Spike only thing was who would hit it first. I loved the ending as Solo literally killed Cena in the ring and I saw Cena telling him something during the closing moments, maybe those multiple spikes were on the go ideas..! Thank you Cena for still doing this ❤️ Due to rumours going around of Cena not sticking with WWE after Crown Jewel and his long losing streak, many believed John Cena will eventually win this match. But I think WWE did the right call by putting over Solo. So hear me out, John Cena winning would have ended his streak but what else it would have provided? Solo winning fulfils multiple purposes as it provides him momentum going into Survivor Series. Along with this, as Heyman mentioned Solo would be the Head of the Table in the near future, maybe he can go against Roman in a probable future. Also, what better way to elevate a talent by having him defeat a sure shot WWE hall of famer. 4 ⭐️ for this hard fought match.

Rey Mysterio © Vs Logan Paul for United States Championship

I think Logan Paul looks after Carmello Hayes as he also doesn’t miss. With only 7 matches old, Lucha Logan performed pretty well with greatest luchador of all time. Logan is one of the best heels in the business right now and he proved the same when he did the ultimate warrior splash or he tried the frog splash. There were multiple spots in this match which are worth mentioning whether it be the buckshot lariat where he almost botched as his knees were too bent or Logan saving Rey from that moonsault which would have left Rey with a broken neck. The closing moments saw Santos going after Logan’s associate after putting the brass knuckles in the ring after he just collected them from the ground, that was not a co-incidence. Logan used thoses knuckles to knock Rey out and surprisingly win the gold. A lot of poeple are gonna complain but I think WWE got it right again. Rey is relevant with or without the title and at this point in his career it was the right decision. This should ultimately lead us to Heel Santos vs Face Rey or else this all will look like a mess later. 4 ⭐️ for great spots and a surprise title change.

Iyo Sky © Vs Bianca Belair for WWE Women’s Championship

A world title match before Cody Vs Priest was not a good indication for this match as these two can tear the roof of any building at any time. But this time I could understand why this match was kept before as crowd was dead during this match. Not sure what happened here but it was a pretty average weekly show match with couple of good spots. It had an usual Bayley interference which did not help Iyo this time and a miscommunication by Iyo laid out Bayley. Just when everyone thought there is nobody to help Iyo, Kairi Sane returned out of the blue and helped Iyo retain. Bayley was confused/worried at ringside after the match as she was the reason Kairi left last time so now it would be interesting to see how things are sorted in Damage Control. Maybe Bayley will be replaced by Kairi similar to what happened with Edge? A face Bayley soon? Maybe that is not what we want as of now as heel Bayley is best for business. 3 ⭐️ for this, definitely the weakest match of the night.

Even before the start of this match I knew referee was going down sooner and we will have half the roster interfering in this match 😅 So the referee did not go down but we did see Finn distracting the ref so that JD can take advantage but Cody hit JD and then Priest hit South of Heaven but Cody kicked out. Finn called for backup and Dom arrived with a chair but he was interrupted by Jey who superkicked all of them and chased them to the back. Rest of the match was hard hitting and crowd was back alive thanks to Cody Rhodes. Code defeated Priest clean after delivering three cross rhodes one after the other. Since Roman is not advertised for Survivor series, and Sami went after Priest before, mostly this is heading for a survivor series war games match with team Cody Vs team Priest. Even though crowd was cheering awesome chants, this was more than an average match for me and it was quite predictable. 3.5 ⭐️ for this match.

Roman Reigns © Vs LA Knight for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

I don’t think anybody was expecting LA Knight to dethrone Roman Reigns but it was a very weak match according to me. It was a classic Roman Reigns match with slow start, trash talking, close kickouts, frustratred Roman expressions, outside interference and Roman retaining. This pattern is now getting lame as WWE should either let Roman win clean or don’t book it agains the guys who cannot take a clean loss because this approach is making these matches more predictable. At no point during the match it felt like LA Knight was gonna win and there is no fault of LA Knight, it is just that the way these matches are booked, the result is known before the bell even rings. Not sure if this is a one time thing or LA Knight will still pursue Roman as Cody might get back to Roman after Survivor Series. WWE could have booked this match a lot better and give LA Knight more moments to shine, to be a honest a weak ending to such a great night. 3 ⭐️ for yet another Roman Reign’s title defense.

Also, special mention to Miz and Grasyson Waller…Kudos to you guys 🙌

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