Crown Jewel In A Nutshell: Fireworks From Afar

Well folks, in spite of all the protests, in spite of all the calls for them to not do it, WWE’s Crown Jewel happened as planned, more or less. Sure, we had no Daniel Bryan, nor John Cena. But the show went on, and the Saudi Arabian fans packed the stadium as they did for the previous big show. The Friday show was already a pretty stacked one, all things considered. Even without the Superstars who stayed home, we still have the promise of a new Universal Champion, the conclusion of the WWE World Cup, and Hulk Hogan’s first appearance on any form of WWE programming in quite some time. So let’s get right into things and crack open this Nutshell!

Best Match of the night:

I have to give this sort of a 1a and 1b treatment.

Dolph Ziggler and Seth Rollins brought it in their World Cup match. AJ Styles and Samoa Joe brought it in the World Title match too.

Neither will go down as match of the year candidates, but both were bright spots on the card.

Worst match of the night:

If I was going by sheer story, this match would not fall here. But, going on the eye test? This one deserves this spot. The match? The tag match between The Undertaker and Kane and DX. Why? Look, the pace was largely methodical, which makes a ton of sense given the age and condition of the four men. The problem is, as much as they might excel in story-telling and such, there were so many less than pretty spots. I don’t want to call them all botches, but someone might make that argument. Things were far too telegraphed more often than not. It just did not look crisp, basically. I watched it and immediately thought that, while they are all big names…they are all past their primes, and the match they worked looked nothing like any worked by the regular roster.

And, to be fair…there were a lot of stinkers on the card. A lot.

Crowd Chants of the Night:

I will say this: the crowd was loud, and the did chant. However, for the most part, the acoustics did not translate for me. Could have been on my end, but while I could tell they were cheering, I couldn’t always tell what they were.

Star of the Night

No one was good enough to deserve a star tonight. At least, that was my opinion.

Jobber of the Night:

Braun Strowman sure felt like he got jobbed out, didn’t he?

Upset of the Night:

Shane McMahon stealing the World Cup. More on that later

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

Biggest one had to be Corbin hitting Strowman with the title belt, which led to a slew of F5’s and a disappointing Lesnar victory.

Botch of the night:

I can’t pick just one. So, I give you the main event match.

Noteworthy Moment:

Well, Hulk Hogan is back. Was nice to see him, to be honest. Yes, I know what he did in the past. He got chastised, he paid the price, and he’s back. I will forgive and forget whenever I can, as I’d like the same courtesy if ever I needed it.

Even though WWE was actually there, they sure did go out of their way to not really mention Saudi Arabia much.

I have to wonder if WWE bringing Renee Young as part of the broadcast team was their way of pushing progress forward.

Overall lowlights:

In 2018, it’s still just weird to see a WWE show without women’s matches. Actually, it’s not weird. It’s disappointing. Especially considering that at the start of this very same week, the women had a PPV all their own (which was far better than this show).

While I would say the set and production seemed better, it still screamed “glorified house show”. WWE actually got to provide a title change, which odds are they wouldn’t have done otherwise. Corbin and Shane added some twists we probably don’t get on an actual house show.

Main event was, quite honestly, terrible. We got nearly a half hour of four guys who mostly don’t belong in the ring anymore. That Triple H got hurt during the match kind of drills the point home. Yes, anyone can get injured, but when you aren’t in matches five and six days a week and constantly preparing, you can’t pull off a major match as easily as you could 15 years ago.

And then we have the World Cup. Look, everyone knows wrestling is sort of rigged. So, the entire World Cup thing was already a farce. But then having Shane McMahon win it? I mean…what on Earth were they thinking? Surely this sets up a RAW versus SmackDown Survivor Series match…but…it was a poor idea.

Overall highlights:

Hmm…sadly, not much.

Hulk Hogan out for the cheap pop.

Ziggler and Rollins. Let these two feud over a bigger belt, please.

Styles and Joe.

Oh…and the show is finally over, so we don’t have to talk about will it happen or not anymore. So that right there is a plus.

After the final bell:

For the most part, this was a house show. Granted, house shows do not get that stage or ring setup, but it was a house show. I think they amped it up a bit as compared to Greatest Royal Rumble, but that’s not saying much.

I am glad the back and forth about will it happen or not can finally subside. That is, until they have another one.

I think regardless of where they go next, I am disappointed in how Lesnar/Strowman went. I am also annoyed at the World Cup end results. Unless Miz was legit out and hurt, having McMahon work the last match and win was a joke.