Kickoff Show: JD McDonagh VS Sami Zayn
On the Crown Jewel Kickoff Show, JD McDonagh and Sami Zayn collided with one another for a match that was decent stuff. Matches on the Kickoff Show are never meant to be amazing, but this did a decent job in getting the crowd hyped for the show, especially because Sami Zayn was involved. It’s also great to see JD McDonagh on a stage like this because he 100% deserves it and after Sami nailed JD with the Helluva Kick, Zayn dropped McDonagh with the Blue Thunderbomb to get the victory. Nice and simple stuff.
Grade: C+
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth “Freakin” Rollins VS Drew McIntyre
WWE Crown Jewel 2023 properly kicked off with Seth “Freakin” Rollins putting his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Drew McIntyre. I enjoyed this match a lot and it was probably the match of the night in terms of overall quality. You could also tell that this match meant a little bit more to Drew McIntyre as he knew he had to pick up the victory and that drive allowed him to kick out of both a Seth Rollins’ Pedigree and Stomp. Drew then fought back and dropped Seth with the Claymore Kick, only for Rollins to kick out at 2. The two stars then battled and tussled to try and end the night as the World Heavyweight Champion, and in the end, a second Pedigree and Stomp was enough for The Visionary to retain his Championship. As Drew McIntyre walked off, Damian Priest’s music hit as Senor Money in the Bank ran down to ringside. Before Priest could cash in his briefcase, Sami Zayn arrived out of nowhere and just stole it because why not? Anyway, this was all really good stuff from everyone involved.
Grade: B
Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley VS Nia Jax VS Shayna Baszler VS Zoey Stark VS Raquel Rodriguez
The second match of the night saw Rhea Ripley look to retain her Women’s World Championship in a Fatal 5-Way against Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Zoey Stark, and Raquel Rodriguez. I actually thought this was a decent contest where everyone looked alright. Rhea Ripley is of course a massive star, but the person who looked the best in this match in my opinion was Zoey Stark. Zoey’s a very good wrestler and some of the moves she hit in this match were really good. Shayna Baszler also looked good in this contest whilst Nia Jax and Raquel Rodriguez brought their own thing to the table as well. In the end, though, Rhea Ripley delivered a Riptide on Zoey Stark on the middle rope before Stark landed on both Raquel and Shayna Baszler, and this was enough for Ripley to pin Baszler to retain her Championship.
Grade: C+
John Cena VS Solo Sikoa
The next match saw John Cena look to end his 5-year plus losing streak (in singles matches) as he went one-on-one with Solo Sikoa. Solo dominated this match for the most part, wearing his rival down with a bunch of strong and stiff shots. Whilst Cena was able to rally at times, the 16-time World Champion just wasn’t able to sustain any kind of run and he was fully done after Sikoa met him with the Samoan Spike. However, The Enforcer wasn’t done there as he continued to Spike “The Greatest of all Time” before he eventually pinned John Cena for the 3 count after the 11th Samoan Spike! Whilst the match was only decent (at best), I thought the ending was great and it was really cool to see Solo get the victory.
Grade: B-
United States Championship: Rey Mysterio VS Logan Paul
After an odd Miz TV segment, it was time for the United States Championship match as Rey Mysterio looked to retain his Championship against the man who got the fanciest entrance of the night, Logan Paul. Personally, I didn’t think this was a particularly great match, but I do want to give Logan Paul some credit as some of the moves he hits are pretty amazing. Whilst I didn’t necessarily like the contest itself, I did like the ending as one of Paul’s Minions showed up and handed LP some Brass Knuckles. Santos Escobar then arrived to stop this, but he then “accidentally” placed the Brass Knuckles onto the ring apron which allowed Logan to put them on, and after Rey Mysterio delivered the 619, Logan Paul nailed Mysterio with the One Lucky Punch to get the victory meaning Logan Paul is the new United States Champion! If Logan sticks around on a regular basis, I think this is a good move.
Grade: C+
WWE Women’s Championship: Iyo Sky VS Bianca Belair
The next match saw Iyo Sky defend her WWE Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair in a contest that was probably the weakest of the night. It was certainly the match that the crowd least cared about which is a bit of a shame. Still, some of the moves that Iyo and Bianca hit were good and the contest got more interesting when Bayley made her presence known at ringside. Belair was able to deal with Bayley on the outside whilst the referee was checking on Iyo Sky, but all this did was allow the returning Kairi Sane to drop The Est with a couple of strikes before Sky delivered Over the Moonsault to retain her WWE Women’s Championship. At the end of the day, Kairi Sane is back, and she’s one of my all-time favourite wrestlers. Add in the fact that she’s got lots of history with both Iyo Sky and Bayley and I’m really excited to see where this goes next.
Grade: C+
Damian Priest VS Cody Rhodes
Whilst Damian Priest was without his Money in the Bank Briefcase, The Archer of Infamy still made his way down to the ring holding his Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships as he was set to do battle with “The American Nightmare”, Cody Rhodes. This was one of those matches where it was totally fine, but it was also a bit pointless. The only reason why it felt like it was on the show was so the crowd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia could see Cody. Whilst Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, and Dominik Mysterio all tried to get involved, Jey Uso appeared to wipe all of the Heels out before Rhodes eventually dropped Priest with not 1, not 2, but 3 Cross Rhodes to seal the victory. This really didn’t do a lot for anyone (in my opinion).
Grade: C
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns VS LA Knight
In the Main Event of WWE Crown Jewel 2023, the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship was on the line as LA Knight looked to shock the world by defeating Roman Reigns. Whilst this match started off with the same slow-paced style that we’ve come to see and expect in matches with The Tribal Chief, I actually felt like this didn’t drag on as much as some of the others and it felt like LA Knight got rolling a lot sooner in this match than others in the past. I found that to be a benefit to this match and Knight kicking out of a Roman Reigns Spear will also be a benefit to him down the line. Near the end of the match, Jimmy Uso arrived and pulled out Knight after The Megastar delivered a BFT to Reigns before LA dropped Jimmy through the announce table. However, this allowed Roman to wreck Knight with a Spear through the barricade before The Head of the Table hit another Spear in the middle of the ring to secure the victory. Whilst I never, ever believed that LA Knight was going to win this match, I thought it was a good showing for him, and Roman Reigns keeping hold of the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship was probably the right call.
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