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This Friday, the road to Survivor Series takes a quick detour, as WWE will once again emanate live from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with WWE Crown Jewel.
This Pay Per View event has been surrounded with controversy since it was first announced and amplified more with current events. It has even caused John Cena and Daniel Bryan to pull out of appearing at the event. However, the card is stacked and is sure to be a good one. On the Smackdown side of things, The Bar will defend the Smackdown Tag Team Championships against The New Day. In addition, AJ Styles will take on Samoa Joe once again for the WWE Championship in the Smackdown main event.
On the RAW side of the card, Braun Strowman will take on Brock Lesnar to crown a new Universal Champion after the title was vacated by Roman Reigns due to illness. In the RAW main event, Shawn Michaels will return to the ring for the first time in almost 9 years as D-Generation X takes on the Brothers of Destruction. In addition to this, four RAW superstars: Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, Dolph Ziggler, and Kurt Angle as well as four Smackdown superstars: Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, and The Miz will battle it out in the WWE World Cup to determine the Best in the World".
There will be seven total matches in the tournament as Angle and Ziggler as well as Rollins and Lashley go head to head in the quarterfinals on the RAW side. On the Smackdown side, Mysterio will go battle Orton and Hardy will battle the Miz in the quarterfinals.
With all of that being said, here are four things possible this Friday at WWE Crown Jewel. Also, be sure to stay tuned here at Sportskeeda for the latest breaking news and rumors regarding Crown Jewel as the event gets closer and closer.
#4 Jeff Hardy will be "Fired"
The WWE World Cup, which will determine who is the "Best in the World" got an interesting new wrinkle added to it, as last night on Smackdown Shane McMahon announced that if the Smackdown superstar makes it to the finals should lose to the RAW superstar, they no longer have a home on Smackdown. In other words, they will be "fired".
When you look at the four Smackdown competitors in the World Cup and what they have going on at the moment, it is easy to pick out which one could be fired. First, let's look at the least likely one, which would be Rey Mysterio. Mysterio just returned to Smackdown two weeks ago and it makes no sense to have him moved over to RAW so quickly after returning. The other person less likely to move over to RAW would be The Miz. He was on RAW earlier this year and many people believe him a Daniel Bryan are destined to battle it out at WrestleMania for the WWE Championship, so it would make no sense to move him over to RAW now.
That leaves Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy. While an Orton loss and moving over to RAW move isn't out of the question, RAW has too many heels at the moment, especially with the latest turn buy Dean Ambrose, and they don't need anymore. If Orton makes it to the finals, I can see him winning the whole thing. That leaves us with Hardy, who has cooled off significantly since losing the United States Championship and his subsequent feud to Orton. He is also suffering some lingering injuries, so a "You're Fired" angle would be the perfect way to write him off television for a while.
Hardy is also the least likely of the four to get a push anytime soon, so a loss in the finals won't hurt him at all. I can see Hardy squeak a win out over The Miz in the quarterfinals and the finally defeating Orton in the semi-finals, before falling short in the finals to the RAW competitor.
#3 AJ Styles will finish off Samoa Joe once and for all... again
After defeating Samoa Joe at Super Show-Down last month, and with Daniel Bryan winning his #1 contender's match, many believed that the long feud between the two was over and that AJ would move on to face Bryan at Crown Jewel. That was the case until recent events changed those plans. With Bryan no longer wanting to go to Saudi Arabia and having his title match last night on Smackdown, WWE needed a backup plan for Crown Jewel a few days later, and in steps Samoa Joe.
After Styles' title defence last night, Joe returned and attacked both Styles and Bryan, which led to Styles requesting the match between him and Joe for Crown Jewel, which was later confirmed by Paige. This is most likely a one-off match since Survivor Series is coming and it will most likely be RAW vs. Smackdown and Champion vs. Champion again.
With Styles about to reach one year as WWE Champion, I find it hard to believe that WWE will take the belt off of him this close to it, especially in a filler match that wasn't even originally planned. I see Styles retaining here and moving on to face the winner of Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series, while Joe moves into a feud against Daniel Bryan.
#2 Braun Strowman will finally win the Universal Championship
After Roman Reigns had to vacate the Universal Championship due to illness, Braun Strowman will go one on one against Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship.
I recently wrote an article on how Crown Jewel may be now or never for Strowman, as he has been in numerous Universal Title matches, but has come up short in all of them, including twice to Lesnar himself. I stand by that point as if Strowman does not win the title here, I'm not sure if he ever will, at least on RAW. The timing will never be better, as the Universal Championship has had horrible luck since its inception.
Apart from a decent Kevin Owens reign in late 2016-early 2017, which was helped enormously by Chris Jericho, the title has either been vacated due to injury/illness or has barely been defended or seen on television, namely Lesnar and Goldberg. The Universal Championship NEEDS a good, quality reign now more than ever, and Strowman is the guy to do it.
Even after he was turned heel in his feud against the Shield, Strowman was still getting cheers and now that he is back to being a babyface, the crowd can fully get behind him again. If Lesnar walks out of Crown Jewel with the belt, then we will be back to where we were before SummerSlam and absolutely no one wants that. Lesnar had the upper hand on Braun on the go home show, so I would be shocked if Strowman does not go over on Friday and finally wins the Universal Championship.
#1 Shawn Michaels will pin The Undertaker
For the first time since his loss at WrestleMania 26 in 2010, Shawn Michaels will return to in-ring action as he will reform D-Generation X with Triple H to take on the Brothers of Destruction, Kane and The Undertaker. This match is happening after the events of Super Show-down where Triple H defeated The Undertaker and then was attacked after the match by him and Kane.
While most people agree that Michaels' retirement is now ruined since he is going back on his word, there is nothing we can do about it now and we just have to accept it. I believe that this is part of a long-term build and will end at WrestleMania 35 next year, where Shawn will retire the Undertaker once and for all.
How WWE plans on getting there is the question, but the first step will most likely be Michaels pinning the Undertaker in the middle of the ring. Kane will most likely go back to his real-life job as Mayor and Triple H already defeated the Undertaker so he will have no purpose after this match.
That leaves us with Michaels and Undertaker and the build to their match at WrestleMania, so expect DX to pick up the win at Crown Jewel, and HBK getting the pinfall on the Deadman.
