WWE Crown Jewel Review - October 31, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kickoff Show: Humberto Carrillo Won a United States Championship No. 1 Contender's Battle Royal

If you've seen one Battle Royal in WWE, you've practically seen them all. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this whatsoever and it felt like it dragged on until it came down to the final few people. Cedric Alexander and Buddy Murphy lasted a while, which I appreciated, but they were ultimately tossed out by Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. You had to know the alliance between the former Bludgeon Brothers would break down at some point (especially since they're on opposite brands now), and in predictable fashion, Carrillo outsmarted them to win the whole thing. I don't say that as a bad thing, however, as it was a huge win for Carrillo, who was just drafted to Raw earlier in the month.

WWE Champion Brock Lesnar def. Cain Velasquez

Well, this was a disappointment. If Velasquez's knee was too injured for this to last longer than a few minutes, then they shouldn't have scheduled in the first place. I wouldn't go so far as to call it "trash," just because it wasn't long enough for it to be considered bad, but I was honestly expecting much more. I almost would have understood Velasquez's loss if this was more wrestling-based, but it came across like a total shoot fight and Velasquez still lost decisively via submission. I'm not sure why anyone would take Velasquez seriously coming out of this. Rey Mysterio actually looked like a bigger badass by battering Lesnar with a chair afterward, so that feud clearly isn't over yet. I could see them facing off at Survivor Series since they're currently on opposite brands.

The O.C. def. Raw Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders, The New Day, SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Revival, The Revival, Heavy Machinery, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode, Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder, and The Lucha House Party in a Tag Team Turmoil Match to Win the WWE World Cup (Non-Title)

A majority of this Tag Team Turmoil match was filler and hardly felt like it was designed to determine the "best tag team in the world." I can't even write that without laughing. Ziggler and Roode dominated the early goings before getting eliminated by New Day, who gained a measure of momentum by beating The Revival ahead of their SmackDown Tag Team Championship clash on SmackDown. Revival laid out New Day afterward, which paved the way for The O.C. defeating them. The O.C. pinning The Viking Raiders to win the whole thing was surprising since they haven't been positioned too strongly lately, but it should set them up to challenge for the Raw Tag Team Championship sometime soon.

Mansoor def. Cesaro

I knew this had a chance to steal the show and they did just that. It's no secret that Cesaro is one of the most incredibly talented athletes they have and Mansoor has shown plenty of potential in the few times we've seen him compete. They worked wonderfully together and put together a super fun match. The crowd reacted to Mansoor like he was the biggest babyface in the company, while Cesaro did an exceptional job of getting him over and making him look like a star. This was an absolute blast and arguably the best bout in the short history of these WWE shows in Saudi Arabia. We need more of Mansoor on WWE/NXT TV, not less.

Braun Strowman def. Tyson Fury by Count-Out

The match peaked with Fury's awesome entrance, which gave this a big fight feel from the get-go. Unfortunately, it didn't deliver. I applaud Fury for trying and commend his efforts in preparing for his pro wrestling debut, but the crowd sat on their hands for this and I don't blame them. It was beyond boring, lacked excitement and energy, and did nothing to make me want to see a rematch between them. I guess the intent was for Strowman to be protected in defeat via the count-out, but it didn't work. In fact, he's an even bigger loser now than he was previously, and that's saying something.

United States Champion AJ Styles def. Humberto Carrillo

Styles and Carrillo had a pretty good match on Raw this week, but this never quite reached that next gear. There were light "This is awesome!" chants at one point, but otherwise, the crowd was quiet. Again, I don't blame them considering Carrillo has yet to win a match on Raw and is still a fresh face. I honestly thought Carrillo could take the title after already losing on Raw, but no such luck. Rather, he once again lost as clean as a sheet. He desperately needs a victory to avoid fans losing interest in him.

Natalya def. Lacey Evans

We've seen Natalya vs. Evans so many times over the past two months that it was difficult to care about this. It was as mediocre as all their other encounters and didn't offer anything of any real substance, but of course, this was less about the match itself and more about the women finally getting the opportunity to wrestle in Saudi Arabia. It obviously meant a lot to the ladies based off their tears afterward and it came across like a really nice moment.

Team Hogan (Roman Reigns, Ali, Ricochet, Rusev and Shorty G) def. Team Flair (Randy Orton, Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, King Corbin, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley)

Although this was a glorified house show main event, it ended up being one of the better bouts on the entire show. The audience was invested in the action, and while it started out slow, they picked up the pace down the stretch and everyone was able to get their signature spots in for the most part. With nothing on the line, it didn't matter who won, but Team Hogan reigning supreme (with Reigns scoring the win for his team) made sense. This won't be remembered a week from now, but it was straightforward and entertaining for what it was.

"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt def. Seth Rollins in a Falls Count Anywhere Match to Win the Universal Championship

As happy as I was with the outcome, I can't say it salvaged the actual match for me. It was somehow worse than we got from Rollins and Wyatt at Hell in a Cell. I'm a big fan of The Fiend, but if his matches are solely going to consist of him kicking out of a dozen finishers, then I have no interest. The red lighting makes his matches extra awful and completely takes me out of it. They utilized the stipulation well by brawling all over the arena, but it was finishers galore and I wanted it end roughly 10 minutes before it did. I'm curious to see how they handle Wyatt being the Universal Champion given he's a SmackDown Superstar, but they could have avoided this all together by having him win at Hell in a Cell to begin with. A third match with these two would be another disaster if that's the route they go in.

Overall Show

I've seen people say that this was the strongest of the Saudi Arabia shows WWE has done so far, but it's hard to agree with that assessment when the night's three biggest matches were either underwhelming or downright deplorable. I realize Crown Jewel 2018, Super ShowDown and Greatest Royal Rumble featured similar atrocities, but I can't give this show a thumbs-up simply because Wyatt won the Universal Championship and the multi-man tag team match was enjoyable. Those two things aren't enough to make this three-and-a-half-hour show worth watching. Props to the crowd for being as loud as they were for most of the matches, but the booking was questionable at times and the in-ring action was average overall. Way to ruin Halloween! Okay, I kid, but what an inconvenient event this was. Unfortunately, we have another eight years of these unless something serious happens before then.