WWE Crown Jewel LIVE BLOG

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Top Contender For U.S. Title
Battle Royal
Humberto Carrillo wins
4.5/10

• One of the Singhs sit this one out.
• Andrade eliminates Sin Cara, and we're starting to chip away.
• Rowan eliminates Murphy. Andrade tosses Truth. Humberto Carrillo tosses out Andrade.
• Harper, Rowan, Cedric Alexander and Carrillo are the final four left here.
• The crowd LOVES Luke Harper. This is so random, and one of the only benefits of WWE doing a dumbass show there.
• Rowan and Harper eliminate Cedric.
• We see how this one is gonna end a mile away. Carrillo wins when Rowan eliminates Harper and Humberto capitalizes.
• This seems like it would have made more sense had Carrillo not just lost to Styles. From an idea standpoint.

WWE 24/7 Championship
R-Truth defeated Sunil Singh (c) to become champion
Samir Singh defeated R-Truth (c) to become champion

• R-Truth attacks Sunil Singh and rolls him up for the 24/7 Title after the match.
• All the dorks chase him out.
• Backstage later on, Truth is running from the dorks and gets pinned by Samir Singh.

WWE Championship
Brock Lesnar (c) (w/ Paul Heyman) defeated Cain Velasquez (w/ Rey Mysterio)
5.25/10
Angle: 7/10

• Cain Velasquez's gear works a lot better than street clothes.
• Lesnar gets a great pop, Cain gets booed.
• We're already seeing a different Cain Velasquez style from AAA. His kicks look great.
• Velasquez lands a head kick and jumps on Lesnar
• Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar was about a minute and a half and I loved it
• Lesnar quickly taps out Cain Velasquez with a double wristlock from the bottom.
• Shout out to Brock Lesnar for locking in that half guard while he has Cain Velasquez in a double wristlock from the bottom. Otherwise Cain could just step out and sit into an armbar.
• Brock goes after Cain with a steel chair, and Rey Mysterio makes the save.
• This was Cain's third match. Accentuate the positives, hide the negatives. Use him as an attraction, get Brock over more, set up a rubber match way down the line, continue establishing unpredictable match times for the title, further the Rey feud. This was effective.

Tag Team World Cup
The OC win
5.5/10

• Roode & Ziggler vs. Lucha House Party is up first.
• Commentary is hammering home the BRAGGING RIGHTS.
• The work here is fine, and Gran Metalik is very impressive.
• Lince gets pushed off the top rope to the outside into a Ziggler superkick. Ziggler hits one on Metalik out of the ref's vision.
• Glorious DDT eliminates Lucha House Party
• Hawkins and Ryder quickly eat a Zig Zag Spinebuster and are out.
• Heavy Machinery are out next.
• The stamina takes effect and Heavy Machinery, very over in Saudi Arabia end up taking over.
• Heavy Machinery eliminate Ziggler and Roode with a Compactor
• I love a good gauntlet match. The bummer is everyone but one team/person has to eat a pin, but it's easy to make the story excuse that one had been through several falls already. Also WWE tag teams are very good.
• New Day is out next to a big pop.
• Big E teases getting knocked off his feet, but didn't.
• Some back and forth and Kofi hits a Trouble in Paradise.
• Big E gets Heavy Machinery the hell outta there
• B-Team are next. Kofi hits a Trust Fall.
• Big E beats Axel with a Big Ending
• The Revival are next! Their accolades are put over.
• The Revival are good, but this feels like every fall is jamming ten pounds of shit into a five pound sack.
• Kingston gets a great SOS and missile dropkick.
• Kofi Kingston small packages Scott Dawson, The Revival are eliminated.
• The Revival attacked after the match and hit Shatter Machine. This looked like The Revival got beat by a tired team in five minutes. Why didn't they just hit the Shatter Machine during the match?
• The OC are next. Kofi Kingston welcomes Anderson with a Mushroom Stomp.
• Magic Killer. The OC eliminated New Day.
• The Viking Raiders are next. They've beaten the OC like five times already.
• My opinion, but I think they kept AOP out of the ring until after this so they wouldn't have to get beat and the Viking Raiders could win. That doesn't happen.
• THE OC GET REDEMPTION AND WIN.
• The OC eliminate the Viking Raiders

Mansoor defeated Cesaro
6.75/10

• I love Cole and Graves brinigng up that Mansoor eliminated Cesaro from the battle royal.
• Mansoor is not great, but that's why he's in there with Cesaro. Cesaro will make him look amazing.
• Cesaro cracks Mansoor with a European uppercut off a suicide dive attempt.
• Mansoor takes a nice face bump out of a corner European uppercut. I loved that spot.
• Mansoor gets some great offense. Enziguri, tornado DDT, neck breaker. This is just a downright good match.
• A pop-up uppercut, then a Crossface.
• Mansoor hits a great superkick for a two count.
• Cesaro goes for a gutwrench superplex, and Mansoor turns it into a sunset flip powerbomb. A moonsault wins it!
• Mansoor has some amazing facial expressions.
• Cesaro will rightfully get praise for being an amazing ring general, but Mansoor SHOWED UP. He had a great performance. The result was always going to be what it was, and the match was still awesome.
• Mansoor cuts a promo after the match.

Tyson Fury defeated Braun Strowman via countout

2.75/10

• Tyson Fury dressed like he's about to team with Shorty G. He gets a lot of pyro and such.
• Braun is beating Fury down, and Fury sells like a real shithead.
• Strowman gets posted. Fury counters Strowman's mow down spot with a shitty kick
• Fury does a shitty drop toe hold and a shitty big boot and an even shittier pin that Michael Cole pretends is good.
• Strowman does a World's Strongest Slam and the Mow Down spot. Fury takes a few shitty bumps.
• Fury cracks Strowman with a puch outside and Strowman gets counted out.
• Haha, that much sucked really bad.
• Strowman powerslams Fury after the match, so it's still 50/50.

WWE United States Championship
AJ Styles (c) (w/ The OC) defeated Humberto Carrillo
5/10

• Carrillo hits a handspring elbow
• The Carrillo handspring seated arm drag is up there with the Del Rio stomp spot for me.
• Carillo gets some real air on all his offense. All of it looks so breathtaking.
• Carrillo has a lot of potential but isn't quite clicking with me from an emotional investment standpoint.
• He tweaks his knee and Styles applies a Calf Crusher. Carrillo gets out.
• Humberto going for a moonsault her just makes him look like a dumbass. Phenomenal Forearm. Win.
• I've seen this kind of match three times in two weeks and they've already erased any shits I gave about Humberto.

Natalya defeated Lacey Evans
4.5/10

• Natalya looks like she's about to burst into tears.
• WWE production is doing a good job focusing on all the women in the crowd. Natalya and Lacey's entrances added even more gravity to the situation.
• Some dumbass threw a water bottle at Natalya during her entrance
• We see som chain wrestling in body suits and t-shirts before Lacey does a slingshot dropkick.
• You've seen this match like five times before.
• Lacey hits her moonsault, but gets submitted with a Sharpshooter.

Team Hogan defeated Team Flair
5.75/10

• Roman Reigns is super over here.
• This is very slow and plodding, and it's the heels working over Ali for the most part.
• Next up is Ricochet getting worked over for an extended period of time.
• Roman Reigns gets the hot tag to a big ovation.
• The heels wipe out the babyfaces with a series of finishers and focus on Reigns.
• Reigns fights back and takes everyone out.
• Orton hits an RKO, but Reigns kicks out.
• The babyfaces band together and take out the heels.
• Spear on Orton and a win.

WWE Universal Championship
Falls Count Anywhere
4/10
The Fiend defeated Seth Rollins (c) to become champion

• I wonder if The Fiend remembers when he got stomped and hit with a chair 3290980234932 times and just sat up and applied a Mandible Claw to incapacitate Rollins cause he should probably do that move.
• Rollins Stomps the Fiend, but nothing.
• The Fiend tries to senton Rollins through a table, but crushes it when Rollins moves.
• The Fiend sends Rollins through a table at ringside.
• The Fiend kicks out of a Stomp on the concrete exposed floor.
• Rollins eats a Sister Abigail otuside. Later a third and fourth stomp doesn't beat The Fiend.
• Another stomp and some superkicks send The Fiend into some electrical equipment that explodes into pyro.
• Rollins gets hit in the eye with pyro, and Fiend emerges behind him. Sister Abigail wins it.

Rating guide

10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor

Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a "star rating," which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive "TV match" lands at a 5. The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.
These are opinions, and incredibly inconsistent ones that may change upon a second viewing, or sitting on the match for a period of time. Don't take them too seriously, and have (and share) your own!