3 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Crown Jewel 2026
Roman and Sami nearly salvage a sluggish, dull show with a fantastic main event.
In hindsight, maybe WWE should've listened to reports about the dangers of traveling to Saudi Arabia and scrapped Crown Jewel, because that was an absolutely dismal show that probably should not have been seen by the general public.
WWE’s (announced) 4-match card promised 2 major champion vs. champion clashes, a tag title match, and a feud-ending stipulation match between multi-time World Champs. What could possibly go wrong?
If we’re going to assign blame, let’s start with the actual pacing of this 3-hour show, giving nearly 30 minutes to Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton to produce an absolute bore-fest right out of the gate. Because it’s a WWE PLE in 2026, that meant that fans would have to endure 10-25 minute breaks between matches, giving them plenty of time to become bored and disinterested. Throw in an under-delivery in one of the Crown Jewel Championship matches and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
Mercifully, Crown Jewel wasn’t all bad. There were 2 smart booking decisions made, both involving title changes. One was a critical switch, getting the tag titles away from a duo that literally hadn’t defended them since winning the straps in July.
And then there was the main event, which (much like this week's SmackDown) almost redeemed the entire show. If anything, fans should skip straight to the main event and enjoy that showcase, then pretend the first three-quarters never happened.
Let’s get to it…
Downs…
6. Spamming A Stipulation
'Last Man Standing' matches are supposed to be brutal, feud-ending stipulations that are rolled out sparingly, but they often run the risk of taking the piss out of themselves by exposing the stip. Having the referee count to 10 off of a simple clothesline, for example.
Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes had the potential to use the stipulations smartly: You had 2 veterans who know they aren’t going to even get a 6 count off of a move that won’t get a pinfall, so they’d smartly build the match until the counts meant something.
That potential was blown out the window less than 2 minutes into the match when Orton posted himself and Cody demanded the ref count (to 4). They fought outside and ran through another few ref counts off back suplexes on the announce desks and even a Rhodes punch. In fact, it took 10 minutes and at least a dozen referee counts before we got our first one after a legitimate match-ending move – a powerbomb through a table.
And then the match went another 17 minutes.
WWE's entire stipulation was overdone and rendered moot 90 seconds out of the gate, and then it just became comical. Had this same match happened in Chicago or Philadelphia, it would’ve been savaged by the fans.
5. Hazard Pay
Much has been written about the geopolitical reality of what is happening in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia right now.
Sportswashing aside, the country has been under attack from numerous drone strikes that hit and closed the main airport in Riyadh. The United States’ Department of State has advised that people do not travel to Saudi Arabia right now given the danger.
But...that didn’t stop several sporting events from going forward in Riyadh during the past few weeks. WWE was never really going to abandon their lucrative relationship with the kingdom, even if there was a legitimate threat of bombing. To allay staff and wrestlers’ concerns, they reportedly offered people $3,000 in hazard pay, because that’s apparently the going rate for putting your life at risk to put on a crappy wrestling show.
The fact that the show went off without incident (aside from moving location unexpectedly in the days prior) should not be viewed as proof this was the right move. All it would've taken was one tragic situation and WWE would be a cautionary tale rather than a wealthy sports entertainment empire.
4. A Raw Match With Hijinks
Getting the World Tag Team Titles off The Vision deserves some praise, which will come later, but the path to getting to that satisfying conclusion was anything but smooth.
Je’Von Evans and Penta defeated Austin Theory and Bron Breakker in a tag title match that would've nestled perfectly in the second hour of any random episode of Raw rather than in a PLE slot. The match started slowly and looked like it was going to be a sloppy contest as well with the babyfaces whiffing on superkicks to Breakker.
Much like a TV match coming back after a break, Evans got the hot tag and things really picked up with some good action, looking to build to a heartwarming moment with Je’Von finally getting a crowning achievement. Bronson Reed ran out to disrupt the proceedings and throw things into disarray, but then things went off the rails.
Oba Femi, who has been absent from WWE television for several weeks, appeared – using his full entrance mid-match – to even the odds and challenge Reed, who charged up the ramp and immediately got mauled like he was an oversized James Ellsworth. Meanwhile, the match just completely halted until the shenanigans on stage had finished.
It’s understandable that WWE wanted to use Oba to pop the crowd and make the fairly routine tag title match feel more significant, but it just brought everything to a dead stop. Also, dropping Femi back into The Vision’s orbit is a loser move. He already beat Bronson and immediately manhandled him again, so why is 'The Ruler' wasting his time with these mid-card goofs?
3. Chelsea Finally Believes In Herself
What can you say about the Women’s Crown Jewel Championship match other than it happened?
We could play a game and count the number of times that Liv Morgan hit a Code Breaker (4). Or track how often Chelsea Green seemed to doubt herself and act like she was an in-over-her-head rookie instead of a 13-year veteran (more than half the match).
Regardless, whatever story they were aiming for with this match did not connect with the viewing audience or the fans in attendance. Fans weren’t inspired to rally behind Green and cheer her onto victory as she sat on the mat and looked dejected because she was being outwrestled at half-speed by Morgan. There was no real sense of struggle or connective tissue in this match – just a series of moves (about 30% of which were Code Breakers).
Chelsea simply looked like an outclassed undercard wrestler who was punching well above her weight class rather than a World Champion looking to prove herself. Yes, her character is that of someone who is trying to prove her worth as a babyface champion, but eating 80% of the offense, winning with a rollup and then immediately getting duped and turned on by your best friend isn’t exactly the sort of thing that earns fans’ respect.
The Money in the Bank cash-in also immediately nullified any achievement of winning the Crown Jewel Championship, leaving Chelsea simply a loser who got lucky for 3 seconds in a bad match.
2. A Dull, Slow Slog
More on this, just because there's way more to say.
The 'Last Man Standing' match between Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes should've been a violent, aggressive battle between bitter rivals who had reached the stage of their feud where it could only be settled when one of them couldn’t answer the referee’s 10 count.
Instead, they slogged along for 27 minutes in a dull, methodical WWE plunder match that used all the typical weapons, but they made sure to pause every 60 seconds for a ref count that had zero chance of succeeding, lest they actually develop a rhythm and momentum.
The result was a God awful boring match that didn’t see its first serious ref count until 10 minutes in, but after a dozen meaningless ones. The match was a turgid snoozer, pumped with artificial drama that only served to highlight that the fans were 100% behind the heel Orton and booed babyface Cody down the stretch, even chanting “you suck” at one point and cheering when Randy hit a low blow.
This desire to do a big, dramatic match because it’s between 2 main-event superstars is poisonous. Had they just gone out there and swung wildly, busted out the weapons, beaten each other down and then had a few long counts before the climax, this might have worked fine. But that didn’t happen, and Rhodes gets to file another big match disappointment into his ledger.
1. A Dismal, Horrid Show
Heading into Crown Jewel, the narrative surrounding the PLE focused on the dangers the wrestlers and crew would be facing by flying into a country that has seen numerous drone strikes and the United States government is recommending people avoid.
But then the event actually took place, and it was an embarrassingly bad show.
The opening match of the 4-match card between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton set the tone with a long, dull and uninspired battle, and it didn’t get better from there. The tag title match was a Raw match at best, with an Oba Femi “run-in” riveted onto it to pop the crowd. The Women’s Crown Jewel Championship under-delivered.
Only the main event between Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn reached its potential, and honestly (given that pair), it would've been a colossal shock if they hadn’t.
Crown Jewel already had a cloud hanging over it. A good show would've at least muted the criticism and given fans something else to discuss, but this one ensured that the negative chatter would continue and only intensify – WWE held a show that put their staff at risk in the name of the almighty dollar, and then they crapped the bed with the poor quality of the show itself.
Ups…
3. At Least They Moved The Belts
Setting aside the underwhelming World Tag Team Title match itself, there is one thing to praise: The Vision are no longer tag champs on Raw.
They won the tag titles way back in July, then defended their titles exactly once during the past four months: At Crown Jewel on Saturday. That’s inexcusable and borderline criminal. Getting the titles off Bron Breakker and Austin Theory and away from this failed stable of losers was imperative.
That’s not to say that Je’Von Evans and Penta are suddenly going to be holding open challenges on Raw every week, but at least there’s a shakeup and the potential for some new matchups. Penta is clearly a project for WWE right now with the Money In The Bank briefcase, and Evans has been getting spotlighted more recently, so maybe they’ll use the tag titles to give them a showcase spot on Raw.
We might be back here in a couple of months lamenting how Evans and Penta never defend their titles, but for now there is some movement.
2. It’s Tiffy Time…To Cash In
Tiffany Stratton’s failed attempts to cash in her MITB briefcase on Liv Morgan were starting to pile up, and eventually, something was going to need to give.
Stratton seemed to attempt yet another cash-in Saturday at Crown Jewel, but after Chelsea Green repelled the Judgment Day yet again, Tiffany turned on her friend. She waffled her with the briefcase and cashed in on the WWE Women’s Champion. One Prettiest Moonsault Ever and 3 seconds later, Stratton was champ once again.
The turn was never really a shocker – Stratton has been better as a heel at times, and her failed attempts with the Judgment Day running interference for Morgan were bound to drive her to consider the alterative of Green, whose main line of defense was Tiffany herself.
Coming on the heels of a match where Chelsea struggled to gain an upper hand and she only won with a lucky rollup, the challenge going forward will be whether Green actually mounts a credible challenge to get her title back, or if Stratton is just off to the races as a newly minted heel champion.
Either way, this was probably the right call given how Chelsea’s “oops” title reign had been booked.
1. Sami Earns Respect
Heading into Crown Jewel, Sami Zayn repeatedly and obnoxiously claimed that he deserved respect, and he was outraged that no one – not the fans, not management, not Roman Reigns – would give it to him.
Saturday, Zayn went out there and beat that respect into Roman in their Crown Jewel Championship match. The pair had a well-paced, hard-hitting and passionate battle that saw Sami repeatedly kick out of Reigns’ best moves. They stood toe-to-toe throughout, with Sami refusing to back down or cower.
Whilst he did resort to trying to use the WWE Championship title as a weapon, Zayn mostly fought honourably (Roman even commented mid-match that he respected Sami for going all-out trying to win).
The finishing sequence, which saw Sami and Roman exchange punches, Superman punches and finisher attempts, finally ended with Reigns landing a spear to pull out the win. That earned groans from fans (another title for Roman?), but it all made sense moments later when Sami forcefully offered a handshake of respect, only for Reigns to slap it aside and hug him instead.
In that one moment, Sami earned Roman’s respect, validating his WWE Title run and accomplishments.
Whether that means Zayn will morph into a babyface when WWE returns to US soil or not, it was still a fantastic moment that meant just as much as winning the match would have.
Here’s hoping that WWE understands what they have with Sami, and that this was part of a longer story arc with him rather than just a cheap way to send the Saudi fans home happy.