WWE Crown Jewel 2023 Review
Will the historic run continue for Roman Reigns, or will LA Knight reach the next level of his meteoric rise to superstardom?
Can Seth Rollins keep up his crazy pace and retain his World Heavyweight Title, or do we get the next chapter in a character shift for Drew McIntyre?
There are five title matches happening at Crown Jewel, so let’s go ahead and see what changes, and doesn’t change, as we head to Survivor Series in three weeks.
Seth Rollins vs Drew McIntyre – World Heavyweight Title Match
The Saudi crowd is super hot to start things off. They’re cheering for Rollins, but it’s worth noting that they are cheering louder for McIntyre, serenading him with soccer-style chants. Drew is smart to that, as he responds with Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal celebration. Ronaldo, one of the greatest players in the sport’s history, is a new member of Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr, and the crowd appreciated Drew for that.
As someone who has dealt with back injuries and soreness for well over a decade now, Rollins matches make me wince like I was watching a King Of The Deathmatch tournament. His opponents beat the hell out of his back with some brutal looking offense. Of course, Seth makes it look even worse, as his selling is second-to-none. I feel like I need a massage.
This was the match everyone expected it to be. Both men bring it on a nightly basis, but opening a big show in front of a hot crowd seemed to motivate them even more. A really good back-and-forth match that allowed both men to look strong. Drew’s power game looked great, and Seth’s speed and athleticism were the perfect counters. 4.25 Stars
After the match, Damian Priest comes to the ring and is just about to use his Money In The Bank shot, but he is attacked from behind by Sami Zayn, who steals the briefcase and escapes through the crowd. Okay then.
Rhea Ripley vs Shayna Baszler vs Nia Jax vs Raquel Rodriguez vs Zoey Stark – Fatal Five Way for the Women’s World Title
Rhea got the longest entrance in wrestling history as approximately 1,924 Saudi Arabians walked out onto the stage, one at a time, before Rhea’s entrance music hit. That was something.
You know what? This was fun. The crowd wasn’t anywhere near as hot for it as they were for the opening match, but all everyone not named Nia Jax worked hard. No slow spots unless Nia Jax was on offense, and everyone took turns looking like they were going to pick up the victory. I’m not going to ask for much more than that from a match like this. 3.5 Stars
John Cena vs Solo Sikoa
It has been five-and-a-half years since John Cena has won a singles match on television or pay-per-view, going all the way back to 2018’s Greatest Royal Rumble, also in Saudi Arabia, when he defeated Triple H. That’s a wild statistic.
To the surprise of nobody, Cena is able to bring the crowd back to a fever pitch after they took a bit of a break during the Five-Way match.
I’m not even really sure what to think about Cena’s latest run. It’s still good to have him back. He’s one of my all-time favorites, without a doubt. It’s just pretty clear that his best days are way behind him. He doesn’t quite look the same in the ring anymore, and his matches have struggled because of it. That hurts me so much. Not quite as much as it hurts me to look at the top of Cena’s head, though. John… for the love of Joe Pesci… please do something about your hair. Shave your head. Use some Rogaine. Something. Anything. Seeing the lights shine off of your dome makes me want to cry. 2.75 Stars
Rey Mysterio vs Logan Paul – United States Title Match
Early on, it appears the crowd has been taken out of things. There was a long gap between this match and the previous one, as we got a bunch of video packages and a Miz TV segment that became a Grayson Waller Effect segment that turned back into a bit of a Miz TV segment involving Saudi Arabian actor Ibrahim Al Hajjaj. Even with Logan Paul, who is a heat magnet, and Rey Mysterio, who is one of the most popular wrestlers to ever live, this crowd has been quiet from the opening bell.
This was good. Not great, but good. A little disappointing, actually, considering who was involved. I’m not a fan of Logan Paul’s doofus buddies getting involved in all of his matches. I get that he’s a heel, but my goodness. 3.25 Stars
Iyo Sky vs Bianca Belair – WWE Women’s Title Match
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that the Saudi Arabia crowd isn’t exactly super hot for the women’s matches, huh?
Man, honestly, this was like the last match… good, not great, and a bit of a disappointment when you consider who was in the match. You could almost say that Bianca was a bit rusty after taking some time off, but I’m sure she’ll be back to her usual form soon. 3 Stars
The biggest takeaway from this match is that Kairi Sane is back, and not in the role that many expected her to have. As usual, I try not to spoil much of anything in my reviews, as I know a bunch of people read this to know whether or not to watch a show. Just know that Kairi is back, and business has picked up. The women’s division in WWE is something special right now.
Cody Rhodes vs Damian Priest
Once again, the crowd is back to being loud. It would be utterly shocking if they didn’t make a ton of noise for a Cody Rhodes match.
Finn Balor is out now. JD McDonagh is out now. Dominik Mysterio is out now with a steel chair in hand. All three of them are taken out by Jey Uso, who drops them all with Superkicks. It wouldn’t be a Judgment Day match without interference, or at least attempted interference.
Starting to see a bit of a theme here recently, but… this was good, not great, and almost a disappointment when you consider who was involved in it. It was shorter than a match between them on Raw would be, and a chunk of it was dedicated to that outside stuff with Balor, McDonagh, Mysterio, and Uso. I might be a little generous here… perhaps overly so… but I’ll go with 3 Stars and move on to the main event.
Roman Reigns vs LA Knight – Undisputed WWE Universal Title Match
Saudi Arabia is full of LA Knight fans. My goodness, what a pop he got for his entrance. There’s still plenty of Roman Reigns in the crowd, but Knight truly is a global superstar now.
Take from this whatever you want, but during a Roman Reigns cravat, there was a brief, yet loud, “CM Punk” chant from the crowd. Just pointing that out. Nothing more, nothing less.
When it comes to a Roman Reigns match these days, you know exactly what you’re getting. There are no variations. Does that mean the matches are bad? No. It does mean that they can lack a certain level of excitement at times, though. It puts pressure on Roman’s opponent, because they need to be exciting and/or good enough in the ring to carry chunks of the match. I’m not sure LA Knight rises to that level. Forget the fact that he’s over like Rover in the city of Dover. He’s not extra exciting or extra great in the ring, and that did nothing to help take this match to another level. Call that a “hot take” if you would like, but I truly believe it. If that EXACT SAME match happened a year or so ago, with Roman defending the title against the leader of Maximum Male Models, it would be an overwhelming opinion that the match was just decent. Because it’s the current version of LA Knight, though, you’re going to see people overrating it, and that’s unfortunate. 3 Stars, and again, that might be me being overly generous.
WWE needs a shot in the arm when it comes to the Undisputed WWE Universal Title. I don’t care if it’s Randy Orton, CM Punk, Will Ospreay, MJF, Gunther, Akira Tozawa, me, you, your mama, or your cousin, too… we’ve reached the point where the reign has run its course. SummerSlam truly was the turning point, and it isn’t going to get any better soon, as WrestleMania is still five months away.
Overall, this wasn’t exactly WWE’s strongest show. There were no poor matches, but the in-ring quality peaked with the show opener, and there was nothing but average-to-decent matches on the rest of the card. We’re on to Survivor Series, where hopefully, things will pick back up again.
