5 Mistakes WWE made on RAW before Crown Jewel

The final RAW before Crown Jewel was a mix between an episode of SmackDown from three years ago and rehashing several matches from the last few months.

Roman Reigns opened the show and cut his usual promo, but it wouldn't be the last time The Tribal Chief showed up as the Bloodline dominated the episode.

Roxanne Perez and Lyra Valkyria squared off again just weeks after fighting each other. Perez will team with Rodriguez against Bayley and Valkyria on next week's show.

Egos took center stage as Jey Uso, LA Knight, and CM Punk jockeyed for a shot at the World Heavyweight title. The action was entertaining, but WWE made the next five mistakes on RAW before Crown Jewel.

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#5. Where's AJ Lee?

It was great to see the former Divas Champion return to WWE after 10 years. Along with her husband, CM Punk, AJ Lee beat Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch at Wrestlepalooza.

With that huge victory, the normal thing would be having Lee appear at least once after the big win. She hasn't shown up on RAW at all for whatever reason, and Punk only came back on the go-home show.

It's strange to miss every show after a big win. Had they lost, it would have made more sense, but The Man and Visionary have been on each week.

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#4. IYO SKY loses twice on RAW

IYO SKY had a bad night on the RAW before Crown Jewel. She was by herself as Rhea Ripley was in Perth doing promotional work for the event. Asuka made Kairi Sane face SKY ahead of the PLE, much to her dismay.

Sane pinned her friend, thanks to help from Asuka, notching a huge win over a former women's champ. IYO isn't too far removed from holding the Women's World Championship and challenging for it at Wrestlepalooza.

As if that wasn't enough, the Kabuki Warriors attacked SKY after the match. The narrative is that SKY needs Rhea and cannot handle her former family by herself. On RAW, she lost twice to sell that notion.

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#3. Bloodline domination ahead of Crown Jewel

When watching the latest RAW, it felt more like an episode of SmackDown from three years ago than a Monday night show. Reigns opened the show but was interrupted by Bronson Reed.

It set up their Australian Street Fight for Crown Jewel. The Usos then shared two backstage segments with their cousin, with Jimmy and Roman passively arguing about what's best for Jey.

Jey then crashed the ring to interrupt Punk and LA Knight, who both felt they were next in line to face Rollins after Crown Jewel.

Only Knight had legit grounds since he hadn't been pinned by Rollins or lost the title. Jimmy soon followed Jey to the ring. Miscommunication led to the main event, with The Best in the World and The Megastar beating the Usos.

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#2. Where's John Cena?

If John Cena's Retirement Tour is so important, why isn't he appearing on programming every week? His match with AJ Styles was announced shortly after Wrestlepalooza, but Cena didn't appear to promote it once.

RAW featured video packages featuring the history between the two rivals instead. The Phenomenal One showed up each week, but the retiring 17-time champ hasn't.

As his career winds down with each passing week, failing to appear when he has a huge match becomes even more of an issue.

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#1. No promotion of the Women's Crown Jewel Championship match

WWE built the recent Crown Jewel PLEs around having the two major champions of RAW and SmackDown face off. That brought back shades of the Wildcard Rule as stars would show up on the opposite brand to promote the card.

Explaining the issue as having one match featured on each brand isn't feasible. Cody Rhodes and Rollins have appeared on both shows more than once during the build. Their history was recounted in a pre-taped package during RAW.

Stephanie Vaquer and Tiffany Stratton featured nothing close to similar treatment on the same episode. They will tag together this week against Kiana James and Giulia. Both matches have not been treated equally during the build to Crown Jewel.