9 Match Star Ratings For WWE Crown Jewel 2019

7. Nine-Team Tag Team Turmoil World Cup Match

Tyson Fury Braun Strowman
WWE.com

An hilariously veiled attempt to put these Saudi Arabia shows over as even bigger than WrestleMania - "equal to or perhaps exceeds WrestleMania" was WWE's brilliantly tentative tagline ahead of Super ShowDown - this didn't work because the Saudi fans react to spectacle and star power. This match was very heavy and very long on pro wrestling, at 32:05, and the vast field of participants are not stars to this crowd.

Given the abject state of the booking, that suffix probably wasn't required.

The crowd did react to Lince Dorado's spectacular work in the opener, but the heat spot enveloped the match with a mundane RAW quality, which wasn't ideal so early in a match expressly designed to go long. It was clear immediately that we were in for a slog, and it didn't frame either team as capable of actually running the gauntlet. It all felt like solid-at-best pretext under the ingrained mentality to go 50/50.

Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins whiffed their first double team move, but they were punished with a near-instant elimination. This was at least convenient.

The match devolved, at a crawl, into a series of sub-TV mini-matches. The only real attempt at connective tissue failed - Kofi Kingston, former WWE Champion, was bizarrely selected as the man to go a minute - and it ended with the O.C. claiming "bragging rights", which was odd. They've hardly been built as a force, and another match with the Viking Raiders hardly warranted 32 minutes of build.

Star Rating: ★★½

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!