2 weeks Ago By Erik Beaston
The first two Crown Jewel champions in WWE history will be crowned Saturday in Riyadh as part of the company's latest trip to Saudi Arabia. Undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes will square off with world heavyweight champion Gunther, while women's world champion Liv Morgan battles WWE women's titleholder Nia Jax. Grudge matches and championship clashes make up the rest of the six-match card at the Mohammed Abdo Arena.
Who can we expect to leave victorious, building momentum with Survivor Series on the horizon, and why? Find out with this preview of the November 2 premium live event. What started as a series of matches between Carmelo Hayes and Andrade for little more than bragging rights has evolved into a rivalry also involving United States champion LA Knight over one of the most storied titles in WWE. After Knight laid out both rivals on Friday's SmackDown, general manager Nick Aldis announced a Triple Threat match for the title at Crown Jewel.
It was a long journey to get a title on The Megastar, which finally happened at SummerSlam with his victory over Logan Paul, but the lack of ready-made competition has been evident. However, Hayes winning the title Saturday would solidify his spot on SmackDown and create a heel champion for Knight to chase, a role he excelled in over the summer. Andrade has also been great as the babyface here, but it feels rather unlikely that he wins.
Prediction: Hayes strikes gold The women's tag team division has heated up en route to Crown Jewel, with three teams emerging as legitimate contenders to Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. Damage CTRL's Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane are the most potent, with previous championship reigns in singles and tag team action. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven may play for laughs but are each distinguished competitors who have had success across the industry.
The wild card is Meta-Four's Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson, a formidable tag team that did not hesitate to jump to the main roster and target the dominant champions while proving they belonged at that level. Any of the three challenging teams could strike gold. For the sake of the division, that may be the best creative decision.
Otherwise, Belair and Cargill have been portrayed as so dominant that the idea of anyone besting them is rather implausible. Despite the odds disadvantage the champions find themselves in, though, this feels like a successful title retention. Prediction: Cargill and Belair retain Bronson Reed sent a message loudly and clearly to the rest of the WWE locker room when he singled out Seth Rollins the night after SummerSlam and brutalized him, putting him on the shelf following six Tsunami splashes.
Since then, he has replicated the attack on R-Truth and feuded with Braun Strowman in a series of brawls that culminated with a Last Monster Standing match that the Australian lost following interference from the returning Rollins. A wild and chaotic scene Monday night on Raw gave way to the formal announcement of a match between the two in Riyadh. On the surface, this is the perfect opportunity to put Reed over as a force of nature.
A win over Rollins would leave no doubt about his status as a top-tier main event attraction on Raw and give the show another Superstar outside of The Judgment Day and Gunther to hold down the top of the card as a hated villain. However, this feels like an opportunity for Rollins to avenge his attack and refocus his attention on regaining the World Heavyweight Championship. The Visionary wins here and moves on from the feud, leaving the question: What's next for Reed? Kevin Owens is a man fueled by frustration, anger and heartbreak.
He watched his friend, Cody Rhodes, cast him aside in favor of partnering with Roman Reigns; the same Reigns who had been a thorn in the side of both men for more than two years. KO's anger boiled over and he attacked Rhodes, before doing the same to Randy Orton when his tag team partner tried to talk some sense into him. Since then, The Prizefighter and The Viper have been on a collision course.
At Crown Jewel, they will square off in one-on-one action. Orton has lost more than he has won of late and while it would be hard to imagine him dropping another high-profile PLE match, there is little chance Owens loses in Riyadh if there is any chance he emerges as the next challenger to Rhodes' undisputed WWE title. Do not expect Owens to win cleanly, but he will pick up the victory that sets up a showdown with The American Nightmare.
Prediction: Owens Women's world champion Liv Morgan and WWE women's champion Nia Jax will compete in Riyadh for the Women's Crown Jewel Championship. It is a rare matchup between two heels, with neither woman particularly adored by fans, although Jax and sidekick Tiffany Stratton have been more consistently earning the cheers of the WWE Universe in the build to the contest. Stratton bears watching in Riyadh as the reigning Ms.
Money in the Bank, a title that gives her the right to cash in her guaranteed championship shot at any time or place of her choosing. With Jax and Morgan both likely to be prone at different points in Saturday's match, there will be an opportunity for her to steal a win. If the booking does not call for a run-in by Rhea Ripley, do not be surprised if that is exactly the creative decision Triple H and his creative team go for to avoid a clean loss by either woman in a one-off match.
With Stratton standing up for herself recently, and even teaming with Ripley on a recent episode of Raw, it feels as though the booking is trending toward her undergoing a babyface turn. Still, it feels too early for that, especially with Naomi building momentum as a challenger to Jax's title. There is also unfinished business between Ripley and Morgan that would not be there if Stratton cashed in on the latter.
With that in mind, Ripley likely interferes, costs Morgan the win and Jax hoists the Crown Jewel title in the same country where she was crowned Queen of the Ring earlier this year. Prediction: Jax wins Undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes and world heavyweight champion Gunther will battle in Saturday's main event for the men's Crown Jewel Championship. On the surface, The Ring General could use a rare, clean win over Rhodes to solidify his reign and pull him up to the level of other top Superstars in WWE.
That is not likely to happen, though. Rhodes emerging as the men's Crown Jewel champion is exactly what WWE wants as an exclamation point on the show. He is the top babyface in the company and the appropriate person to put in a history-making situation such as this one.
It would also be another triumph for The American Nightmare over Gunther, who he has twice eliminated in the men's Royal Rumble, another chapter in a potential long-term storyline between them. More importantly, a vengeful Kevin Owens ruining Rhodes' celebration and leaving him lying to close out the broadcast serves as a cliffhanger for SmackDown and the ignition of their program leading into Survivor Series on November 30 in Vancouver. The match will be excellent, as will the story at the center of it.
But Rhodes will win. Result: Rhodes wins.
