9 Match Star Ratings For WWE Crown Jewel 2019
4. AJ Styles Vs. Humberto Carillo
The aim, with this Humberto Carillo push, is to put him over in defeat via a series of mettle-testing matches against elite-level talent.
It's a tested pro wrestling tactic in theory, but it fails in execution because that elite-level talent - AJ Styles - hardly boasts the old aura in 2019. He has lost matches of little significance of late, and has settled into an elder statesman role that, through unfocused long-term booking, lacks the gravitas and protection required to pull off.
Here, there was never an impression that he pushed AJ to his absolute limit, which is the only way of making this sort of story work. Carillo is another, exceptionally gifted athlete, but there's too little in the way of unique characteristics to his act that further obscures the objective. He can hang with AJ purely because he is very, very good - not because he perseveres beyond a lack of size or experience. His toil in the Battle Royal did aim to add a sense of fatigue to overcome, but this story beat, meshed with AJ at his new methodical pace, manifested as a fairly dry and static affair.
A solid match with no weight to it.
Star Rating: ★★¾