WWE Crown Jewel Review: October 31, 2019

20-Men Battle Royal – Winner faced AJ Styles for the WWE United States Championship

This match took place during the kickoff show and the winner of it would face the Phenomenal One later that night. Humberto Carrillo was after about 12 minutes able to get away with the win. As expected, we saw a little conflict between Harper and Rowan, but not enough to build up a feud.

Opinion: In general, Carrillo is a good choice, but we saw this match already this week on RAW and Carrillo lost, so why should he win this night? Especially after he already has been in the Battle Royal.

Rating: B

Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez for the WWE Championship

This match was surely the worst one of this PPV. It just took about two minutes until Velasquez hit the champ with a nice kick to the head and Lesnar went down. The challenger wanted to continue to hammer away at him, but Lesnar applied the Kimura Lock for the submission win. After the match ended, the WWE Champion didn’t break up the hold and due to that, Rey Mysterio entered the ring and hit Lesnar with a chair. At first the champ was able to defend himself and also delivered an F5 to Velasquez, but in the end, he left to avoid a further beating from Mysterio.

Opinion: I don’t understand why they did this. Ahead of this match, it seemed as Velasquez would be the first superstar which was able to hurt Lesnar and the Beast always looked scared when they met each other. Now, Velasquez looks extremely weak. However, I’m not 100% sure if that was the actual plan for the match since one of Velasquez low kicks seemed to hit Lesnar really close to his genital area and the Beast is someone who doesn’t care in this situations about the actual plan for the match and does what he wants. Maybe we’ll get some information about that within the next days. Anyways, the match was disappointing but good to see Rey looking so strong.

Rating: C

Largest Turmoil Tag Team Match in history to declare the best Tag Team in the world

This match took more than half of an hour and included every possible team of the roster of RAW and SmackDown. The fight was really entertaining and almost every team had his chance to shine. In the end, there were just the Viking Raiders and the OC left in the ring. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson picked up the win after the Magic Killer and then the two winners celebrated with the trophy.

Opinion: It’s good to give the win to the OC, but theoretically they are now the best team in the world but have no championships. Additionally, they bet at the end the Viking Raiders who are currently RAW Tag Team Champions. In the light of this, Gallows and Anderson deserve a title shot and usually would need to win the titles. However, I’m not sure if they really get a title match, but the match itself was entertaining.

Rating: B

Mansoor vs. Cesaro

The quality of this match surprised me. Even though Cesaro worked the majority of the match and had to help Mansoor, the local hero could show off his talent and they performed a great match which logically Mansoor won. The crown was totally hyped and after the match, Mansoor got interviewed in the ring and talked about the fact that anything would be possible.

Opinion: A great match and a typical face interview afterwards. Mansoor has got the talent to also make his name in NXT while on the other side WWE has really no plan what to do with Cesaro even though he’s a hell of a wrestler as he showed in this match.

Rating: A-

Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman

In this match, it was very similar since Strowman had to carry Fury through the whole match. However, that’s logical since the Gipsy King hasn’t been training for wrestling for long and despite that it was a good performance. You felt that he tried to show what he already learnt. In the end, he gave the Monster Among Men a knockout punch while he was on the Apron and so, Strowman lost via count-out. A good way to let Fury look strong, but Strowman still looked good since a count-out loss isn’t that big.

Opinion: I’m looking forward to watching how Fury’s in-ring abilities will develop. Strowman seems as dangerous as he did ahead of this PPV and it’s a good start for Fury. Especially when you compare that match to the one between Lesnar and Velasquez.

Rating: A-

AJ Styles (w/Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) vs. Humberto Carrillo for the United States Championship

This match took about 12 minutes and was quite entertaining as you would expect from these two guys. However, as already explained, it never seemed realistic that Carrillo would stand a chance to win the title. Besides, Styles had the “Best Tag Team in the World” in his corner and so it was even more unlikely that he would lose. And so, after the Phenomenal Forearm, Styles was able to defend his title.

Opinion: The match was good, but not thrilling at all. Styles needs a new rival who is dangerous enough to really hurt him. Hopefully, he’ll get a new and interesting feud within the next weeks.

Rating: C

Natalya vs. Lacey Evans

In this match, it was all about the message since it was the first women’s match in Saudi Arabia. Due to that, nobody cared about that the in-ring performance of both women wasn’t good. Both wore suits which covered their whole body except their head. After about seven minutes Natalya won via submission after she had applied the Sharpshooter. After the match, fireworks shot off and the two women hugged each other while the audience cheered. It was an emotional and great moment.

Opinion: Good to finally see this match, but it’s bad enough that it’s such a big thing in 2019 that it’s the first time that two women are in a wrestling match in Saudi Arabia. Anyways, the moment after the match was great and really emotional: just what it meant to be. The audience was really amazed and we saw several little girls in the crowd who just looked very happy to see these two women in the ring.

Rating: A

Team Hogan vs. Team Flair (5-on-5 Tag Team Match)

This match was exactly as we expected it to be. The faces (Team Hogan) were able to show their moves while their opponents worked as typical heels and used unfair methods. Of course, the feud between Rusev and Bobby Lashley played also a central role in this match, but the most noticeable aspect was once more Roman Reigns’ (Team Hogan) performance. He kicked out of an RKO and then speared the Viper to get the win for his squad. After the match, the team of Hogan celebrated together.

Opinion: Even though I’m a fan of Reigns, it was once more way too much. The main goal of this match was to let him look like the best wrestler of the roster. If they continue like this, he’ll be in the title picture once more very soon and then the WWE Universe won’t stand behind him. He’s just too good and without any weakness, and WWE needs to change that. Anyways, the fight itself was great to watch and every wrestler had the chance to show himself.

Rating: B

Seth Rollins vs. “the Fiend” Bray Wyatt in a Falls Count Anywhere Match that can’t be stopped for any reason for the WWE Universal Championship

Then it was time for the main event which took about 22 minutes and was full of action. During the whole match, they once more used the red lighting. They bet the hell outta each other and used tables, the sledgehammer and also brawled in the crowd.

In the final phase of the match, they were up on the stage and Rollins hit the Fiend with several Curb Stomps. However, the Fiend still got up after these Stomps and so, Rollins performed three Superkicks. After the third one, Wyatt fell off the stage and in something which looked like some electronic boxes. Pyro shot off to let it look like an electrical issue, the Architect went down to continue to attack the Fiend. However, suddenly pyro shot off once more and hit Rollins in his eyes and after that, he acted blinded. Suddenly, the Fiend appeared above of him and applied the Mandible Claw, followed by the Sister Abigail and then Wyatt got away with the win.

Opinion: The match was entertaining, but the Fiend just looked once more too strong. Rollins wasn’t able to keep him down with several Curb Stomps and even the fall from the stage didn’t hurt him really. In light of this, how should he ever lose a match and furthermore the championship? That’s the greatest problem with this main event. But it’s good to see that the fans get what they always wanted: the Fiend as Universal Champion

Rating: B-

Summary

All in all, this PPV was solid even though the two matches for the main titles were not perfect. The fight between Lesnar and Velasquez was way too short and horrible, but maybe the end wasn’t as it has been planned. The match between the Fiend and Rollins was entertaining and the fans finally have what they wanted, but I’m not sure who should ever beat him. The remaining matches were good, but WWE should change the way they use Reigns as we saw once more during this PPV.

Rating: B