Welcome to POST Wrestling’s coverage of WWE’s Crown Jewel event from Mrsool Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
WWE Crown Jewel
November 5, 2022
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Mrsool Park
- Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns © def. Logan Paul in 24:49
- Raw Women’s Championship, Last Woman Standing: Bianca Belair © def. Bayley in 20:27
- Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship: The Usos © def. Butch & Ridge Holland in 10:49
- Braun Strowman def. Omos in 7:20
- Finn Balor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio def. AJ Styles, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows in 14:01
- Steel Cage Match: Drew McIntyre def. Karrion Kross in 13:01
- Women’s Tag Team Championship: Dakota Kai & IYO SKY def. Alexa Bliss & Asuka © in 12:51
- Brock Lesnar def. Bobby Lashley in 6:01
Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley
Lashley shoved Lesnar into the steps from behind and hit a spear on the floor. The match began with Lashley hitting a second spear as Lesnar rolled to the floor. Lashley put Lesnar through the barricade with his third spear of the match. Lashley hit a fourth spear inside the ring and Lesnar kicked out.
Lesnar avoided the Hurt Lock and hit multiple German suplexes on Lashley while limping before hitting the F-5, which Lashley kicked out from.
Lashley hit a spine-buster and the audience booed him. Lashley applied the Hurt Lock and Lesnar screamed that he didn’t want to give up. Lesnar struggled to the corner and kicked off the turnbuckle to land on top of Lashley and catch him with a pinfall out of nowhere.
WINNER: Brock Lesnar in 6 minutes and 1 second
Lashley re-applied the Hurt Lock to Lesnar after the match and was booed by the audience as he left.
Barrett pushed that Lashley kicked Lesnar’s ass and Lesnar got lucky. This should force a third match in the series with a 1-1 split this year after Lashley’s win at the Royal Rumble. It was a high-octane start to the match with spears and an F-5 but a pretty weak finish that was designed as a fluke rather than a conclusive one.
Asuka & Alexa Bliss vs. Dakota Kai & IYO SKY for the Women’s Tag Team Championship
Byron Saxton interviews Asuka & Bliss backstage and a Bray Wyatt image flickered on the screen, which threw off Bliss momentarily.
All four women were dressed in body suits as they were on the show earlier this year rather than the oversized t-shirts.
Aja Smith is the referee for the match.
Asuka and SKY were tagged in, allowing Michael Cole to provide his Joshi history lesson about Triple Tails.
Asuka and Bliss hit double hip attacks and baseball slides sending their opponents to the floor. SKY came back with a springboard dropkick that hung Asuka upside down on the rope and fell to the floor selling her right knee. The crowd was loudly chanting for Asuka as she was worked on by Kai. Asuka fought back and dropped both with a clothesline and bulldog combo, allowing her to tag Bliss.
SKY hit a double underhook backbreaker to Bliss but couldn’t climb to the top as Bliss stopped her and executed a Code Red.
SKY & Kai went for a double-team superplex on Bliss, Asuka limped her way over to execute a Tower of Doom, which her tag partner took the worst of.
SKY distracted Bliss as she went for Twisted Bliss, allowing Kai to get her knees up. SKY missed an Asai moonsault to the floor and was decked by a knee strike from Asuka.
Bliss landed a DDT on Kai, Bliss climbed and was attacked by Nikki Cross, who hit a hangman’s neck breaker and Kai pinned Bliss.
WINNERS: Dakota Kai (pinned Alexa Bliss) & IYO SKY in 12 minutes and 51 seconds
The focus was Nikki Cross at the end, costing Asuka & Bliss the titles just five days after they won them. Cole reminded people about the history between Bliss and Cross when they were best friends.
It was a good match the two teams had and had references to Asuka’s knee injury weeks ago on television playing a part in the match.
Logan & Jake Paul arrived and were interviewed by Byron Saxton. Logan said he is about to shock the world and all it takes is one lucky punch.
Drew McIntyre vs. Karrion Kross in a Steel Cage Match
Kross got the advantage after crotching McIntyre on the rope and using a catapulting to his throat underneath the bottom rope.
Barrett called it a “game changer” when McIntyre caused a car accident for Kross. Yes, a game changer if criminal charges were filed.
McIntyre hit a Michinoku Driver and did his sit-up suplex sending Kross off the turnbuckle. Kross stopped the momentum with a running knee strike. Kross telegraphed his attack by subtly noting, “I’m going to hit you”. This advance warning allowed McIntyre to block and send Kross into the fence.
Kross hit the Doomsday Saito and Scarlett yelled, “take him down”, he was down.
McIntyre came back to life and set up for the Claymore but was distracted by Scarlett and Kross went for the Kross Jacket, he hit the Kross Hammer (if Kris Kross and MC Hammer had collaborated in the early ‘90s).
McIntyre hit a superplex and attempted to exit through the door, but Scarlett sprayed McIntyre and the referee with mace. Kross crawled to the door but McIntyre applied an ankle lock, which Kross escaped from. McIntyre landed the Claymore, and both were down as Scarlett locked the door and had the key.
McIntyre climbed over as Scarlett frantically unlocked the cage door for Kross but McIntyre was faster and won the match after landing on the floor.
WINNER: Drew McIntyre in 13 minutes and 1 second
The announcers placed the blame on Scarlett for making a mistake that cost Kross the match. Kross yelled, “this wasn’t supposed to happen”, maybe he’ll indulge us with the original plans.
It was a good match, not great, but the audience was engaged for the most part but didn’t feel like a major blow-off to this program but rather an exercise in escaping a contraption with Scarlett serving as a larger obstacle for McIntyre than Kross.
Saxton asked Roman Reigns to respond to Paul’s comment that it only takes “one lucky punch”, this did not elicit an answer from Reigns, who walked away. Paul Heyman cut the promo and called Reigns “the greatest offensive player in the history of WWE”.
Finn Balor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio vs. AJ Styles, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows
Cole alluded to Dominik and Rhea Ripley being a couple and Barrett pushed back and said they’ve never said that. Ripley is in the corner of The Judgment Day.
Cole identified Karl Anderson as the NEVER Openweight champion. He did not mention Hikuleo waiting in the wings.
The O.C. took turns in the ring with Dominik until he bailed to the floor and begged off. Priest leveled Anderson with a superkick on the floor for the shift. They worked over Anderson and Balor yanked Styles off the apron when Anderson was about to tag him.
Gallows is tagged and he tossed Dominik into the ring, Balor ran across the ring and lost his footing as he spilled to the floor. Priest saved Dominik from the Magic Killer.
Styles and Balor were tagged with Styles hitting the Ushigoroshi. Balor countered the calf crusher and applied a figure-four, which was broken by Anderson. Gallows hit the Gallows Pole on Dominik.
Everyone went down after a superplex to Balor and electrics chairs on Anderson and Dominik, which elicited a “this is awesome” chant.
Ripley prevented Styles from hitting the Phenomenal Forearm and dropped him on the edge of the apron. Cole yelled, “someone has to kick her ASS”.
Balor hit the shotgun dropkick and Coupe de Grace on Styles for the victory.
WINNER: Finn Balor (pinned AJ Styles), Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio in 14 minutes and 1 second
If you’re looking for clean finishes, this has not been the show for that.
The heat was on Ripley, which is clearly building to The O.C. finding someone to combat her in the future, which has been built up on television but made them look silly not having someone for this match.
The six-man was a good match, at the level you would expect for a match on Raw that had time to build and the audience got into the big moments. Dominik has really improved in the heel role and works so much better as the undersized heel than a babyface.
Omos vs. Braun Strowman
Strowman went face-to-face with Omos, who placed his hand in the air, and they had a test of strength. Omos hit an Irish whip and splash to Strowman in the corner before dropping him with a boot. Omos did a lot more trash-talking than usual as he controlled Strowman and tossed him around.
Strowman came back with strikes and needed two attempts to clothesline him to the floor. Omos stopped the Freight Train on the floor by dropping Strowman.
Omos misses an Avalanche into the corner allowing Strowman to lift Omos and hit the powerslam to win.
WINNER: Braun Strowman in 7 minutes and 20 seconds
The match that structured in a way where Omos had to sell very little and heavily focused on Strowman as the underdog. It was not a great match but the story was Omos was dominating him and was caught after one mistake, it was essentially the same story as the Lashley and Lesnar match.
The Usos vs. Ridge Holland & Butch for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship
It was noted that Jey Uso has an injured wrist from the European tour but he is working through it and needs an MRI on Monday.
The audience chanted, “We Want Sami” and Jey yelled that they weren’t getting him.
Holland received a hot tag and tried to engage the audience as he attacked both Usos. Cole compared Holland to a fridge.
Jimmy went for a dive to the floor and was met with a slap from Holland. The Brawling Brutes isolated Jimmy and stomped his elbow on the stairs.
Jimmy went for the Uso Splash and Butch caught him in a triangle and twisted his fingers, Jey tagged and superkicked Butch to break the submission. The Usos hit the double Uso Splash when Holland broke up the cover.
Holland hit White Noise on Jey for a two-count. They hit Jey with Northern Grit and Butch’s superkick with Jimmy making the save.
Butch was stopped on the turnbuckle by a superkick and sent off the top into the 1-D as Jimmy pinned him.
WINNERS: The Usos in 10 minutes and 49 seconds to retain the Undisputed tag titles
There were some effective near-falls in the match even though the outcome was a foregone conclusion. The four have good chemistry and Holland has benefited a lot from the association. You can see his improvements working nightly with Sheamus and Butch.
The Usos will defend the titles against New Day this Friday in Indianapolis.
Bianca Belair vs. Bayley in a Last Woman Standing Match for the Raw Women’s Championship
Several weapons including a ladder were introduced in the early portion of the match. Belair was seated in a chair as Bayley leaped off the barricade and clotheslined Belair.
Bayley swung the metal portion of the barricade into Belair’s head and followed with chair shots. Bayley covered Belair with the ring steps and put the ladder over the stairs as the referee counted. Belair tried to escape and was struck by a kendo stick. Belair caught the kendo stick and pulled Bayley into the steps.
The two fought up the apron and Belair was hit with the Bayley-to-belly. Bayley applied the crossface and released the hold as the count began.
Bayley returned in a cart and Belair got out of the way and knocked Bayley out of the cart. They fought on the roof of the cart with Bayley laid out on the roof. Belair drove the cart down the ramp with Bayley on top, yanked Bayley off the roof, and landed on a table that did not break (ouch). Cole referred to the LIV golf tour.
Belair powerbombed Bayley through the table but Bayley got to her feet at the count of nine.
Belair missed a 450 splash and crashed onto a set of chairs.
Belair stopped a Rose Plant onto a chair, hit a KOD that dropped Bayley’s knee onto the chair, and trapped Bayley in a ladder in the corner, which she couldn’t escape from as the count of ten was made.
WINNER: Bianca Belair in 20 minutes and 27 seconds to retain the Raw Women’s Championship
This match was great and I’d say the best one of the show, so far. You could argue it could have been a more definitive ending with Bayley battered and beaten rather than being “stuck”, but the two worked incredibly hard and I thought this delivered in a big way. The audience wasn’t as vocal during this one and hurt it a bit at times, but the match was laid out very effectively and I liked the spot where KOD was delivered to Bayley’s knee and referencing her major injury.
Bray Wyatt came out and said he comes from a prestigious wrestling family and wanted to be great since he was a child. He had to be greater than all of them, which led to a chant of “yes, you are”. He made a monster of himself and wore that mask with pride and no longer felt pain or was afraid, he was untouchable, but this monster destroyed him and ran off everyone he loved. Wyatt said people love the “idea” of him but don’t actually love him. That isn’t the end of his story and he is here to rewrite the ending to his story.
On the screen, Uncle Howdy asks “why wear a mask?” and you can’t fool him. Howdy asked if the people would still love him if they knew the truth and knows Bray will give in eventually. He said if he’s afraid of the aftermath, never take off the mask and tell him he’s wrong.
Roman Reigns vs. Logan Paul for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
Paul executed a standing switch and took Reigns down and used a fireman’s carry to emphasize his wrestling skill. Reigns ducked a punch and regrouped on the floor.
After a leapfrog and hip toss, Paul clotheslined Reigns to the floor and stuns Reigns. Back in the ring, Paul hit a Buckshot Lariat for a two-count. Paul followed with a big springboard and stopped by Reigns’ right hand in mid-air and Reigns took over.
Paul landed a gut-wrench suplex and a blockbuster off the turnbuckle. Paul hit his own Superman punch but couldn’t climb on top for a cover, instead he does a kip-up. Paul hit a high cross and standing moonsault for a two-count.
Paul signaled for Sweet Chin Music and was hit with a Rock Bottom by Reigns.
Reigns missed with a Superman Punch and Paul landed the right hand dropping Reigns and followed with a Superman Punch for a near-fall.
Reigns was put onto the announcer’s desk, Paul took a phone from his team and carried the phone as he hit a Frog Splash off the top through the table.
The Usos appeared and attacked Paul’s entourage in the front row and hit both with superkicks inside the ring. This led to Jake Paul making his entrance and landing punches to both, which didn’t look great.
Logan hit another frog splash and Reigns kicked out.
Solo Sikoa entered and led to Logan hitting a dive to the floor on The Usos. Paul returned to the ring and was hit by a Superman Punch and a spear to win.
WINNER: Roman Reigns in 24 minutes and 49 seconds to retain the Undisputed Universal Championship
The goal of the match was to make you believe Paul could win and build layer upon layer of doubt with the run-ins, attacks, and Paul’s big spots. Paul did very well in a main event role and is a great athlete, which we already knew, and this wasn’t an audience that was going to boo him.
It was a very long show but the last two matches were very strong for what they were intended to be.
