6 Ups And 5 Downs From WWE Crown Jewel 2023

2. Biting On A Title Switch

WWE Crown Jewel 2023 Drew McIntyre Seth Rollins
WWE.com

The best kind of wrestling matches can have a pretty simple, logical conclusion but still get fans to fall for a false finish or two that subverts expectations.

Drew McIntyre came a hair’s width away from capturing the World Heavyweight Championship on Saturday night, including avoiding a Phoenix Splash and nailing a Claymore for what felt like a surefire victory – especially after he had kicked out of Seth Rollins’ Stomp. But both men’s near-bulletproof finishers proved to misfire a bit, and the match continued.

Rollins got the victory with a Pedigree/Stomp combo, escaping a highly entertaining match with his championship intact. It’s also heartening that Seth’s back issues have carried over from the Shinsuke Nakamura feud and now presents a target for every challenger, leaving Rollins’ reign to feel like it’s on borrowed time.

For McIntyre, he tried to win the honorable way and fell short, so now the focus likely will turn to how Drew regroups and whether he starts to give in to shortcuts to reach his goal. The Scottish Warrior’s slow heel turn has been extremely well-handled and one of the most entertaining parts of Raw, and this likely will kick off the next phase of that story.

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Contributor
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.