The multi-year undisputed WWE Universal title reign of Roman Reigns will continue after he defeated LA Knight in the main event of Saturday’s Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.
The bout featured plenty of interference, first by Paul Heyman early on and then by Solo Sikoa who distracted the referee as Jimmy Uso appeared and took Reigns out of the ring to help him avoid danger. Knight eventually took out Uso, but got nailed with a Superman punch and spear for a nearfall.
Uso interfered again by putting Reigns’ foot on the ropes after a Knight BFT and pin attempt. Knight again had to turn his attention to Uso and put him through a table. Reigns took advantage by spearing Knight through a barricade and then a spear back on the inside of the ring for the pin and win in just over 20 minutes.
This was Knight’s first shot at any WWE World title after previous shots at the U.S. belt. He has yet to hold any WWE gold.
For Reigns, it’s the latest conquest in a title reign that has lasted over 1160 days. He’s the longest Universal titleholder in company history, and has the longest reign of any WWE titleholder since 1988.
Sane made her WWE return by getting involved in the WWE Women’s Championship match at Crown Jewel on Saturday. Sane returned as a heel, aligning with IYO SKY and helping her defeat Bianca Belair.
As Belair was trying to pin SKY during the match, Bayley jumped on the apron to cause a distraction. Belair then attacked Bayley on the floor. SKY tried to stop the attack, but Belair sidestepped her and SKY accidentally ran into Bayley.
Belair went to give Bayley a KOD, but Sane made her surprise return by pulling Bayley to safety. Sane delivered a backfist to Belair, then gave her a knee strike off the barricade. The knee strike sent Belair into the post.
The referee was focused on SKY and didn’t see Sane’s attack. Belair was able to make it back into the ring and avoid getting counted out, but SKY hit a moonsault and pinned Belair to retain the WWE Women’s Championship.
SKY and Sane beat down Belair after the match. The attack included Sane hitting her InSane Elbow on Belair.
Bayley looked confused about Sane being there. On commentary, Michael Cole brought up that an attack by Bayley had sent Sane out of WWE in 2020.
SKY and Bayley are members of Damage CTRL along with Dakota Kai.
It was reported this August that Sane would be returning to WWE after fulfilling her commitments in Japan. Earlier this week, Sane was added to the internal WWE roster.
During her first WWE stint, Sane held the NXT Women’s Championship and WWE Women’s Tag Team titles one time each. Her post-WWE run included a reign as IWGP Women’s Champion.
For the first time in his professional wrestling career, Logan Paul is a champion.
Paul captured his first WWE gold at Saturday’s Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia. Paul defeated Rey Mysterio to win the United States Championship. The finish of the match was Paul pinning Mysterio after using brass knuckles to deliver a knockout punch.
This is two straight matches where Paul has used brass knuckles to win. He also defeated Ricochet at SummerSlam after hitting a brass knux shot.
A member of Paul’s entourage gave him the brass knuckles to use during Saturday’s match. The knux fell to the floor the first time Paul tried to use them. Santos Escobar stopped the member of Paul’s entourage from picking them back up, but Escobar left the knux on the apron as he chased the entourage member away. Paul picked up the knux and used them as Mysterio was going for a springboard move after hitting a 619.
Paul made his WWE in-ring debut at WrestleMania 38 in April 2022. Mysterio was also involved in that match. Paul teamed with The Miz to defeat Rey & Dominik Mysterio.
Paul vs. Mysterio was made for Crown Jewel after Paul called out Mysterio last month. Paul issued the callout following his boxing victory over Dillon Danis.
At Crown Jewel, Solo Sikoa picked up a dominant victory over John Cena.
Sikoa wrestled in the biggest singles match of his career so far as he faced Cena at Saturday’s event in Saudi Arabia. Sikoa was in control throughout the majority of the match and won in emphatic fashion, pinning Cena after hitting 11 consecutive Samoan Spikes.
On commentary, Michael Cole called this a “star-making moment” for Sikoa. It was Sikoa’s first-ever singles match on a WWE premium live event.
Sikoa and Cena were also on opposite sides of a tag team match at Fastlane last month. LA Knight & Cena defeated Jimmy Uso & Sikoa.
Cena hasn’t been advertised for any WWE appearances following Crown Jewel. He’s been able to make an extended return to WWE in recent months due to Hollywood being on strike. Cena has been a full-time performer on WWE television since September.
Cena received permission from the Screen Actors Guild to appear for WWE during the strike. Cena has said that he’ll be returning to Hollywood once the actors strike ends.
Part of the story for Cena vs. Sikoa is that Cena was looking for his first televised singles win since 2018.
At Crown Jewel, WWE played up that this could have been Cena’s final match. Cena received a standing ovation from the Saudi crowd after the bout was over.
Sami Zayn is currently in possession of Damian Priest’s Money in the Bank briefcase.
At Saturday’s Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia, Zayn stopped Priest from cashing in on World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins. Zayn then made off through the crowd with Priest’s briefcase.
Rollins retained his World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Drew McIntyre at Crown Jewel. Immediately after the match, Priest ran down and wanted to cash in his MITB contract. As he handed the briefcase to a referee, a hooded figure attacked Priest and threw him into the ring post. Zayn then took off his hood to reveal his identity.
Zayn took the briefcase from the referee and jumped over the barricade, leaving through the crowd. Priest chased after Zayn.
Zayn is currently on a mission to dismantle The Judgment Day. On the pre-show for Crown Jewel, Zayn defeated Judgment Day associate JD McDonagh.
Priest never officially cashed in his briefcase during the angle. Despite not having possession of the briefcase right now, he remains Mr. Money in the Bank. Priest has held the briefcase since July.
McIntyre was shown backstage sulking after his loss to Rollins. Rhea Ripley, who had been unsuccessfully trying to recruit either McIntyre or Rollins to Judgment Day, walked by McIntyre and shrugged.
WWE heads back to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this Saturday for Crown Jewel (1 PM Eastern on Peacock/WWE Network) with Roman Reigns once again set to defend his undisputed Universal title against a top babyface who has been surging in popularity.
Having LA Knight challenge Reigns so quickly during his rise in popularity is an interesting choice. Assuming he’s not winning the title at Crown Jewel, WWE will want to keep him as strong as possible in losing. He would then join a long and growing list of wrestlers who would have beaten Reigns if it weren’t for outside interference or otherwise underhanded bad-guy tactics. It’s possible WWE fans have just seen this finish too many times now.
Still, if WWE can find a unique and creative way to screw Knight out of winning the title, I’m not expecting his momentum to be halted much. Whatever damage is done can likely be rectified with a strong promo on the following SmackDown. Fans are into Knight because he’s entertaining, not because he’s being portrayed as Goldberg-level unstoppable. It’ll be fine.
Crown Jewel is also the first WWE PLE since it was reported that Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque is once again in full control of the company’s creative. Although, it feels as though WWE Fastlane was pretty much a full Levesque show too. Still, barring any unexpected power play by Vince McMahon, it looks like we are finally going to see what Triple H’s long-term plans are for this company.
Another thing to look out for on Saturday is any storyline developments that could lead into Survivor Series later this month. All signs point to WarGames returning at the event this year, so some battle lines could be drawn at Crown Jewel.
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns (-5000 favorite) defends against LA Knight
If you’re a big fan of watching someone almost beat Reigns only to have the win snatched away from them due to outside interference, boy do I have the match for you!
In the months leading up to WrestleMania, there were numerous title matches where it seemed as though Reigns could actually lose. Many fans felt Drew McIntyre had a chance to win at Clash at the Castle last year. Some fans in Montreal believed Sami Zayn had a chance to beat Reigns at Elimination Chamber. Most fans thought Cody Rhodes would beat him at WrestleMania.
It doesn’t feel like that anymore. Now, fans believe nobody is going to beat Reigns until WrestleMania. The betting world concurs as the champion is the biggest favorite of the night.
That Knight is being booked in this match at all is interesting. It seems a little early during his rise in popularity to be putting him in a high-profile match where he’s most likely going to lose.
It’s pretty tough to be a top babyface in WWE right now when all roads lead to Reigns who nobody beats. Zayn is not as popular now as he was before he lost in Montreal, although you could argue he was never going to maintain the hot streak he was on. On the other hand, Rhodes seems to have come out from his loss to Reigns relatively unscathed. Time will tell what impact Saturday’s result will have on Knight’s trajectory.
Prediction: Reigns retains
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins (-400 favorite) defends against Drew McIntyre
I’m surprised Rollins isn’t a bigger favorite. I absolutely do not recommend gambling on wrestling past something friendly with friends but if I were to, I’d put some money on the champion.
Eventually, Damian Priest is going to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and take the title off Rollins so it seems likely that Rollins will hold the belt until then.
McIntyre will lose here, but he will do so in a way where his character feels cheated. Then, the bitterness will start to eat at him just like it eats at his character that his big WrestleMania moment occurred in front of no fans. He’ll then move further into the bad guy who feels justified role similar to Bret Hart in 1997 which Dave Meltzer wrote is the inspiration for McIntyre’s current story.
Prediction: Rollins retains
WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley (-2500 favorite) defends against Nia Jax (+800), Raquel Rodriguez (+500), Shayna Baszler (+1200) and Zoey Stark (+1200) in a fatal five-way
It doesn’t feel like the right time to take the title off Ripley. I’m not sure if that time will come anytime soon either as she’s been the MVP of Raw as of late.
What this match will likely do is build up the next real challenger. Someone other than Ripley will have the match won, but the champion will do something dastardly to steal the victory out from under them. She’ll then defend the title against that wrestler at Survivor Series.
Prediction: Ripley retains
WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY (-300 favorite) defends against Bianca Belair
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Belair win the title, but it seems a little fast for her to regain it.
It’s been a weird ride for Damage CTRL. They debuted at SummerSlam last year as Levesque took the creative reins. Then as he lost said reins, we started to get a storyline that seemed to be leading to the breakup of the group. Now that Levesque is back in charge, those breakup teases don’t happen anymore. The sudden cohesion of this group was what first signified to some that Vince McMahon was no longer in charge. However, that doesn’t mean IYO isn’t dropping the belt to Belair on Saturday.
I’m expecting this to go similar to the Charlotte Flair vs. SKY match from a few weeks back on SmackDown. Bayley will help the champion secure the underhanded victory. Eventually, this title is going back on Flair. It’s just not clear when that will be.
Prediction: SKY retains
WWE United States Champion Rey Mysterio defends against Logan Paul (-600 favorite)
I’m surprised Paul isn’t a bigger favorite. Having him bring the United States Championship to all the media appearances he makes, having it on display during his YouTube show, and whatever else Paul does will be great marketing for the company.
Paul will cheat to beat Mysterio and then he’ll taunt the LWO with the belt on social media which could lead to a rematch at Survivor Series.
Prediction: Paul wins the title
Cody Rhodes (-700 favorite) vs. Damian Priest
Rhodes is a heavy favorite and will very likely win, but these are two guys WWE wants to keep strong. I wouldn’t rule out some type of non-finish here.
Rhodes is being kept strong for another big match against Reigns, possibly in the main event of WrestleMania. He’s 8-1 in singles matches on WWE programming since WrestleMania 39 with his only loss being a referee stoppage to Brock Lesnar at Night of Champions. However, Rhodes avenged that loss and won the trilogy 2-1 after beating Lesnar at SummerSlam.
Priest is being kept strong too, though quite possibly because he’ll soon take the World Heavyweight title off Rollins. He hasn’t lost a singles match on WWE programming since June. Priest seems like he’s been getting pushed since his match against Bad Bunny at Backlash in May. WWE likely decided they had something with him around that time.
This match is two guys being built up for big matches that are not against each other so it’ll be interesting to see what the finish is.
Prediction: Rhodes
John Cena (-120 favorite) vs. Solo Sikoa
While Cena’s role at this stage in his career is to put over young stars, I’m not certain that is what he will be doing in Riyadh on Saturday.
Normally, this would be a good opportunity for Cena to make Sikoa look like an unstoppable monster. Complicating this, however, is the storyline about how Cena hasn’t won a singles match on WWE programming since 2018. Granted, Cena has only wrestled three singles matches on WWE programming in that time (he’s won several singles matches on house shows and TV dark matches), but still, the storyline they are telling could lead one to believe that Cena has to win.
Sikoa could still win, though, causing Cena to further question if he still has it anymore, perhaps promising to retire if he doesn’t win his next big match or something similar.
I imagine we could see some callbacks and homages to Cena’s rivalry with Sikoa’s uncle Umaga during this match which includes one of the best matches in both Cena and Umaga’s careers: their Last Man Standing war at the 2007 Royal Rumble.
Prediction: Cena
Kickoff Show: Sami Zayn vs. JD McDonagh
There are no betting odds available for this match, but if there were, I imagine Zayn would be the biggest favorite of the night. This will be a fun match by two very good wrestlers and will give fans a chance to cheer Zayn on.
Sometimes in life, you have decisions that realistically, taking out emotions, should be easy, but emotions are a huge part of life, which makes them so difficult.
A decision that we’ve made should be a benefit for everyone who subscribes to this publication, yet when you do something a certain way for so long and it’s been so successful historically, it is hard to make changes.
In short, the mailed version of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter will be no more, effective with the 12/11 issue. The Observer itself will continue as an online publication and for the vast majority of you there will be no real changes.
Obviously, the online version covers probably 96 to 97 percent of those of you reading this, and there will be a positive for everyone in some fashion.
The print Observer has been something I’ve been doing for 41 years. With the joining forces with Bryan Alvarez in 2008, a decision in hindsight I wish I made years earlier but a previous attempt at doing the Observer online ended up disastrous with constantly being lied to about subscriber numbers and then as Pro Sports Exchange, the group we worked with, started having financial issues before closing down, it cost me a very significant amount of money. The second partnership has been anything but that, leading to a new wave of popularity and readership levels. In time, as would be expected, the vast majority of the existing readership transferred over, because they would get the issues earlier, and also would get the four news podcasts that I do weekly as well as the rest of the shows. The website has opened up the ability to have gatherings and personally meet so many of you over the years, which has been so rewarding.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including the latest on Bryan Danielson’s injury, AEW and NXT previews for Tuesday, the RAW report for Monday plus the preview for Crown Jewel, ratings, MMA news and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
John Cena’s match for WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia has now been officially confirmed.
WWE has announced that Cena vs. Solo Sikoa will be part of the card for Crown Jewel. The show is taking place from Saudi Arabia on Saturday, November 4. It will air live on Peacock/WWE Network with a start time of 1 p.m. Eastern.
At Fastlane earlier this month, Cena & LA Knight defeated Sikoa & Jimmy Uso in a tag team match. Knight is challenging Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Crown Jewel.
A brawl between Cena and Sikoa took place on SmackDown last Friday. It ended with Cena laying out Sikoa with an Attitude Adjustment. Jimmy Uso got involved in the brawl at one point, but Jey Uso appeared and provided backup for Cena.
With Hollywood on strike, Cena has made an extended return to WWE this fall.
Cena hasn’t won a televised singles match since defeating Triple H at the Greatest Royal Rumble in 2018.
The updated lineup for Crown Jewel is listed below:
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against LA Knight
World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins defends against Drew McIntyre
Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley defends against Nia Jax, Raquel Rodriguez, Shayna Baszler, and Zoey Stark in a fatal five-way match
United States Champion Rey Mysterio defends against Logan Paul
Rhodes will face Damian Priest one week from Saturday, November 4, in Saudi Arabia. The two agreed to a match in the open of Monday’s Raw. After the two exchanged more words, Rhodes and Priest got into a brawl. However, it was a trap as Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh came out and joined in. Jey Uso attempted to come out for the save, but the Judgment Day overwhelmed both men, attacking Rhodes’ leg with a chair.
A backstage segment later showed Uso helping Rhodes backstage, clearly limping from the attack.
In the months since SummerSlam, Rhodes and Uso have feuded with the Judgment Day. Together, they defeated Balor and Priest for the Undisputed Tag Team titles at Fastlane earlier this month. However, The Judgment Day regained the titles last week thanks to the help of the rest of the group.
Here is the updated card for Crown Jewel:
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against LA Knight
World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins defends against Drew McIntyre
Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley defends against Nia Jax, Raquel Rodriguez, Shayna Baszler, and Zoey Stark in a fatal five-way match
WWE United States Champion Rey Mysterio defends against Logan Paul
LA Knight is officially the next challenger for Roman Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
WWE has confirmed that Reigns will defend the title against Knight at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, November 4. The announcement of the match was made by the Los Angeles Times on Friday.
At Fastlane, Knight teamed with John Cena to defeat The Bloodline’s Jimmy Uso & Solo Sikoa. Knight pinned Jimmy to win the match.
A confrontation between Knight and Reigns then took place when Reigns made his return to SmackDown last Friday. Knight defeated Sikoa in the main event of the episode. Reigns laid out Knight with a spear after the match.
This will be the first title defense Reigns has made since defeating Jey Uso at SummerSlam this August.
Knight has gotten victories at three straight WWE premium live events. Prior to his victory at Fastlane, Knight won the SummerSlam battle royal in August and defeated The Miz at Payback in September.
Crown Jewel will stream live on Peacock/WWE Network starting at 1 p.m. Eastern time on November 4. Here’s what’s been announced for the show so far:
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against LA Knight
World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins defends against Drew McIntyre
Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley defends against Nia Jax, Raquel Rodriguez, Shayna Baszler, and Zoey Stark in a fatal five-way match
A United States Championship match with Logan Paul challenging Rey Mysterio is also planned for Crown Jewel but has not been officially announced yet.
Bianca Belair could be returning to WWE in the near future.
An official poster released for WWE Crown Jewel on November 4 features Belair along with John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Logan Paul, Roman Reigns, and Rhea Ripley.
PWInsider is reporting that Belair could be back on WWE programming as soon as this Friday’s SmackDown in San Antonio.
Belair hasn’t wrestled since the August 18 edition of WWE SmackDown. She lost the WWE Women’s Championship less than two weeks earlier to IYO Sky at SummerSlam when Sky cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase.
During an interview with Metro last month, Belair addressed her absence from WWE programming, saying she has been working on other projects and also taking time for “self-care.”
“Right now, it was just some self-care,” she said. “We did some things with us personally that I’m so excited about, it has to do with the future.”
A reality TV program starring Belair and Montez Ford titled “The Crawfords” is expected to be released on Hulu by the end of the year. Belair also mentioned wanting to write a children’s book.
The World Heavyweight Championship will be on the line at the WWE Crown Jewel pay-per-view on Saturday, November 4.
It was officially announced during Monday’s Raw show that Seth Rollins will defend his World title against Drew McIntyre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The match came about following an in-ring promo from Rollins opened Raw. Rollins teased vacating his World Heavyweight title due to injury, but then stated that his reign was just getting started. McIntyre then entered and challenged Rollins to a title match. Rollins thought that McIntyre was issuing the challenge for Raw, but McIntyre said that he wants Rollins as close to 100 percent as possible and proposed the match for Crown Jewel. Rollins accepted the challenge.
Damian Priest hen ran in to attack Rollins while McIntyre looked on from the stage. McIntyre allowed the attack to commence. Dominik Mysterio entered with Priest’s Money in the Bank briefcase as a cash-in seemed imminent, but McIntyre stopped Mysterio while Rollins dealt with Priest in the ring.
Later on Raw in a backstage segment, Rollins said that on-screen authority figure Adam Pearce had made the bout official for Crown Jewel and chided McIntyre for playing mind games with him as a McIntyre heel turn continues to be foreshadowed.
Rollins defending against McIntyre is the first match official for Crown Jewel. Roman Reigns is expected to defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the event as well, with his SmackDown appearance this Friday likely being used to set up a challenger. John Cena is also advertised for the November 4 show.
WWE Crown Jewel, Saturday, November 4, 1 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins defends against Drew McIntyre
