7 Ups And 5 Downs From WWE Crown Jewel 2021

4. REAL Athlete KOs Wrestler AGAIN

WWE loves its crossover attempts to get into the mainstream conversation, but they almost always do it at the expense of their own talent.

We got the latest installment of this at Crown Jewel, when Mustafa Ali (a guy once pegged for a main-event level push) lost to hometown hero Mansoor, then tried to attack him afterward. A mystery man made a slow walk down the ramp, then revealed to be Saudi Arabia’s Tarek Hamdi, who won an Olympic silver medal in Karate earlier this year.

Hamdi proceeded to knock out Ali with one kick, leaving Mustafa flat on his back while Mansoor and Tarek left together to cheers.

Yes, you can say that this was a simple way to pander to the local audience, but once again, it just diminished a WWE superstar’s stature. Ali was no match for a “real” athlete, who KO’d him with little effort.

But WWE will always chase this mainstream appeal at the expense of any sense of “credibility” of their superstars. It’s in their DNA.