6 Ups And 11 Downs From WWE Crown Jewel

4. Joe The Bridesmaid

Despite taking AJ Styles to the limit every time they’ve wrestled for the WWE Championship, Samoa Joe came up short again on Friday at Crown Jewel.

It’s a familiar site that is just a headscratcher: Joe is a solid heel who could easily carry the title and be a believable champion to beat all comers. Imagine him fending off Styles, Daniel Bryan, Rusev and Rey Mysterio, as well as other heels who might come at him.

But to have Joe jump into a title match at the 11th hour and lose yet again just hurts him. There’s only so many times you can lose a title bout (especially as a monster heel) that you lose credibility in that role. Joe’s the type who could turn the volume to 11 to get his heat back, but it just seems unnecessary to stick him in this match and then have him lose like that.

That’s not an endorsement for AJ to lose, but for WWE to think beyond just plugging Samoa Joe into the vacant spot on the card.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.