WWE Crown Jewel 2022 PPV Review

Welcome to the SmarkDown Review Of WWE’s Crown Jewel 2022 PPV! My name is Tanner and let’s get into this!

We’re stationed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the annual WWE Crown Jewel event!

Champions Heading In

• WWE Champion: Roman Reigns [Day 216]

• WWE Universal Champion: Roman Reigns [Day 797]

• WWE Raw Women’s Champion: Bianca Belair [Day 217]

• WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions: The Usos [Day 477]

• WWE Raw Tag Team Champions: The Usos [Day 169]

• WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions: Alexa Bliss & Asuka [Day 5]

Brock Lesnar vs Bobby Lashley | Singles Match

Brock Lesnar def. Bobby Lashley via Pinfall at 6:00.

Ugh. We really can’t just let these guys fight for 10 minutes with zero BS huh? The match was alright while it lasted, but I don’t like that they did an injury spot as it throws away them beating the hell out of each other with no awkward pace. But alas this is the WWE so we must have a WWE style match. The finish was…Jesus. It was bad. Lesnar simply lays on Lashley for the win? That was awkward as hell. This match should’ve been so much better. *

Alexa Bliss & Asuka(c) vs Damage CTRL | WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships Match

Dakota Kai def. Alexa Bliss via Pinfall at 12:50 to WIN the Women’s Tag Team Championships!

The finish was sort of awkward, but the match was pretty fun and was much better than their match on Monday. I’m glad the crowd was engaged as the pace deserved such a reaction. A step up from the opener. ***

Karrion Kross vs Drew McIntyre | Steel Cage Match

Drew McIntyre def. Karrion Kross via Escape at 13:01.

This match takes a while to get going, but is pretty fun towards the closing stretch with both men having near win moments before McIntyre could barely escape Kross. Overall this was better than their Extreme Rules match. **1/2

The Judgment Day vs The O.C. | Six Man Tag Team Match

Finn Balor def. AJ Styles via Pinfall at 14:00.

This is pretty fine honestly, but not great with them resorting to average action before a hot finish that makes it just a bit above average. Good match overall here and I’m interested in who will join The O.C. against The Judgment Day. **3/4

Braun Strowman vs Omos | Singles Match

Braun Strowman def. Omos via Pinfall at 7:19.

Way better than expected with then taking a simple, but effective approach. Omos showed some really good character/charisma improvement while showing some power against someone like Braun. Braun showed some nice babyface energy too before getting a really impressive powerslam for the 3. Decent match! **

The Usos(c) vs The Brawling Brutes | WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championships Match

Jey Uso def. Butch via Pinfall at 10:47 to RETAIN the Undisputed Tag Team Championships.

This was a pretty decent match. It kind of felt overdone in some sense and there were a few f-ups scattered throughout, but again a very ok match here. **1/2

Bianca Belair(c) vs Bayley | WWE Raw Women’s Championship Last Woman Standing Match

Bianca Belair def. Bayley at 20:09 to RETAIN the Raw Women’s Championship

A pretty fun all over the place brawl here with several moments where you were sure the match was over. Some brutal spots too which was a relief to see. I’m not sure if that finish was exactly too logical, but I think Boanca going over was the right move to ensure the realism of the faction war. ***

Bray Wyatt is here!!!

His cryptic speeches and story with fighting against himself and his own family continue!

Roman Reigns(c) vs Logan Paul | WWE Undisputed Universal Championship Match

Roman Reigns def. Logan Paul via Pinfall at 24:46 to RETAIN the Undisputed Universal Championship

Wow this was way better than I ever expected it to be with Logan putting on a hell of a performance against Roman who really sold everything well. The possibility of Logan winning was getting more and more believable. Loved Michael Cole’s selling of Logan’s near falls. He was on fire tonight! I didn’t mind the Usos interfering to take down Logan’s group as it pretty much makes sense. Thank god Logan took one spear and it was over. Very good main event! ***1/4

And that’s the show! Roman Reigns celebrates with The Bloodline to close the show that ran at around 3h30m!

Overall Thoughts: This show did not start off well, but was quickly able to recover with the Women’s Tag Titles Match. Everything else is quite decent with the big highlight of the night being Logan’s impressive performance against Roman. It’s a typical Saudi Arabia Show, but not too bad. I’d give this show an average 5/10