On Saturday, November 2nd. WWE hosted their latest Premium Live Event as part of the controversial deal with the Saudi Ministry of Sport with Crown Jewel. Emanating from the Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyadh, a new tradition was launched as the first ever Men’s & Women’s Crown Jewel Champions were crowned. As announced at last month’s Bad Blood event, the respective Raw & Smackdown world champions of the Men’s & Women’s Divisions went head to head (akin to the former concept of Survivor Series pre WarGames), with the winner being crowned the Crown Jewel Champion and awarded a giant diamond studded title. Granted, they do not get to keep the title & bring it home, as the belts themselves will remain at the “WWE Experience” in Riyadh, the respective winners instead getting a commemorative ring to keep, akin to a Superbowl Ring. With the idea being that across their careers, superstars could aim to collect multiple rings.
For the women, we saw Raw’s Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan take on Smackdown’s Women’s Champion Nia Jax. The match was full of interruptions, firstly from Women’s Money in the Bank holder Tiffany Stratton coming out mid-match at a prime moment considering both brand’s champions were in one place at the same time, however a seemingly attempted cash-in was thwarted as Nia Jax caught her friend mid cash in and tried to send her to the back as it wasn’t immediately clear who Stratton was intending to cash in on. The deciding factor was the simultaneous interruptions of Dominik Mysterio & Raquel Rodriguez who combined, were able to distract Nia long enough for Liv to be able to get the win and go down in the history books.
On the men’s side, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes faced off against World Heavyweight Champion Gunther. Where the Women’s Match was filled with interruptions & distractions, there was none of this in the Men’s match, simply the 2 top members of their respective brands in a fair contest to determine who was the best. And it was a very even bout, neither Cody nor Gunther seemed miles above their opponent and both were giving everything they had. The only thing that separated the two was at the end when Cody went for a Cody Cutter, only to be caught by Gunther in a Sleeperhold which seemed like it would end the match, only for Cody to manage to flip over and pin Gunther to the mat just long enough to get a 3 count and edge out with a victory. A victory which not only earned him the Men’s Crown Jewel Championship, but also Gunther’s respect as he shook Cody’s hand before leaving to allow the crowning ceremony take place.
Also on the show, we saw Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill defend their Women’s Tag Championships against the Sky Pirates (Iyo Sky & Kairi Sane), Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson of NXT’s ‘Meta-Four’ and the team of Piper Niven & Chelsea Green. LA Knight also successfully defended his US Championship in a Triple Threat Match with Carmelo Hayes & Andrade. Kevin Owens & Randy Orton having what was supposed to be a match turn into an arena wide brawl resulting in the match never officially starting which saw not only the two superstars, but also a referee and RAW GM Adam Pearce being collateral damage for this intense feud. Seth Rollins also was barely able to defeat Bronson Reed in an effort which took 4 Curb Stomps, one directly onto a set of steel steps & a Super Stomp off the top rope. However despite all of this, the final shot of the match was actually Bronson Reed stood up in the middle of the ring as if nothing had even phased him, as he looked more annoyed than hurt which surely stunned The Visionary.
And the show opened with this months Bloodline shenanigans with Roman Reigns, Jimmy & Jey Uso taking on Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga in a match to determine which Bloodline would rule the day. And in the end, Solo’s Bloodline took the victory in this match, even pinning Roman Reigns directly with no true interference/rule bending to mention. It’s clear to see that Solo’s Bloodline is a true unit while years of trauma/division proved too much for Roman’s Bloodline to ignore. After the match, Sami Zayn did eventually come out to prevent a post match beatdown, but notably remained absent when Roman & Jimmy were the main targets, and only arriving when it was Jey Uso who was about to be assaulted. And the segment ended with Sami going to hit Solo with a Helluva Kick but he ended up striking Roman instead as Solo managed to dip out of the way last second. Yet despite the mistake, Sami didn’t seem too distraught over the incident, which again considering his feelings for Roman & that Jey is being exploited/dragged into business that’s no longer his problem, one could understand. So while these events opened the show, they left the most lasting question afterwards of what was next in the Bloodline Saga and will the Original Bloodline be able to mend the obvious cracks in their relationship as evidently Solo’s Bloodline is too strong a unit to defeat while fractured.
