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Well, that was quite a big disappointment!
WWE Crown Jewel was certainly a very controversial show going into Friday, and fans maybe a little disappointed after watching WWE's second PPV from Saudi Arabia. The WWE have a lucrative contract with Saudi Arabia to stage shows there for the next 10 years, but this is one that they would want to forget soon. When John Cena and Daniel Bryan decided it isn’t worth the effort, you know the show was in some real trouble, as WWE lost two of their most popular Superstars.
The show was filled with slow matches, lots of cheating and some terrible booking decisions. I can safely say it was one of the worst pay-per-views in years in the WWE. And just after the amazing WWE Evolution, it was really baffling to watch Crown Jewel, as it was disappointing.
As I am still figuring out why HBK is really bald now, I will try to distract myself and present my list of the top five most surprising moments of WWE Crown Jewel.
(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and they do not necessarily represent the views of Sportskeeda
#5 The Heels Rule the Night
The previous Saudi Arabia show had the feel of a “glorified house show”. By that, I mean that the faces won a majority of the matches to send the fans home happy. I expected that would be repeated at Crown Jewel. I was surprised to be very wrong.
The heels were quite successful for the majority of the night. The bad guys ruled in a majority of the World Cup matches. Brock Lesnar, the ultimate heel, won the Universal Championship and The Bar retained through some major cheating too.
It was amazing to see so much cheating during the entire four-hour show, and Crown Jewel had some very some strange finishes as well.
#4 The Miz Plays The Face All Night Long
The Miz is a good guy now, right? The Miz worked really hard at Crown Jewel through the long show. He put on two of the better matches of the night with his two really good World Cup tournament matches.
The most surprising thing was that Miz played the good guy most of the night as well. Sure he tried to use the ropes from time to time but both of his matches were won clean with his finisher.
This version of The Miz continued well into the World Cup Final. He tried to fight through his injury to compete for the Smackdown brand. That really isn’t something The Miz usually does, so it was quite surprising to see him try to overcome the odds at Crown Jewel.
#3 Shawn Michaels Carries The Main Event
It is quite funny that the 53-year-old wrestler who hadn’t wrestled in over eight years would easily be the best part of the main event and one of the best performers of the entire night.
Shawn Michaels performed very well in his return match at Crown Jewel. You wouldn’t necessarily expect that after he had so much time off. You would have to have ring rust right? However since Triple H got injured so early in the match, it placed a lot of pressure on Michaels to put on a real show.
And when has Shawn Michaels ever not put on a great show? I don’t know if I needed to see Shawn Michaels wrestle again in 2018 but you cannot deny he was the best part of the main event or Crown Jewel itself.
#2 Brock Lesnar Wins The Universal Championship
Why?
Brock Lesnar held the Universal Championship for 504 days and proceeded to defend the title only ten times in one and a half years. It was frustrating to see the Raw Brand without a champion for that entire time.
With Roman’s shocking illness causing him to drop the title, I figured the WWE would want another full-time wrestler to carry the brand into 2019. But I am not an insane person like clearly the entire WWE writing team.
Sure, Strowman survived a lot of F-5s but ultimately he was wiped out by Brock Lesnar in about three minutes. So the very popular Braun was destroyed by a wrestler who has only appeared a few times a year.
I guess Vince McMahon really wants Lesnar to have that Universal Title at UFC 230. Seems surprising to throw your full-time roster under the bus to do so.
#1 Shane McMahon Win the WWE World Cup
What did I just see?
The WWE World Cup tournament was an eight-man tournament to determine the “Best in the World”. I laughed at the idea that only Americans were involved in the World Cup. However, the semi-finals, in particular, were pretty good and I was looking forward to the rare heel versus heel match in the final. However, I quickly forgot the WWE can make some really stupid decisions.
It one of the most surprising decisions in recent WWE history, as the WWE decided to pull an injury angle after going through the entire eight-man tournament. The Miz, who had fought so well in the tournament, was “injured”. And naturally, he was replaced by Shane McMahon. Yes, Shane McMahon was entered into the tournament without warning and won the entire thing.
Shane defeated Dolph Ziggler to be crowned “Best in the World”. Sigh.
