411’s WWE Crown Jewel 2022 Preview

Hello 411 guys, gals, enbies, and everyone else! Welcome to 411’s WWE Crown Jewel preview! I’m Jeremy Thomas, here as always, and that’s right — Sweet Saudi Blood Money VIII is here as WWE returns to Riyadh for their latest Saudi Arabia show. WWE has a collection of eight matches to satisfy MBS their fanbase, most of which are pretty clearly stopgap bouts to deliver some star power for this PPV. Look, at this point the Saudi PPVs are what they are. Most of the matches here have potential to deliver, which is an improvement over Crown Jewels and Super Showdowns of years past. We have a lot to get into for Saturday’s show so without further ado let’s prep for the brutal heat, get all of the women in neck-to-toe ring gear and dive in!

Omos vs. Braun Strowman

Image Credit: WWE

Braun Strowman made his WWE return a couple of months ago and has been on a roll since then, first crushing American Alpha in singles matches and most recently flattening local enhancement talent. It’s exactly what WWE needed to do with him, putting him back in the position of a monster before giving him his first major return feud — which, as it turns out, is against Omos. The company has put itself in a weird position now, as Omos made his return to WWE TV after a hiatus and is going up against Strowman in Riyadh. This is exactly the kind of match I would expect the company to put on in Saudi Arabia — a showcase match that pits two monsters against each other and probably won’t be particularly good in terms of in-ring work, but will deliver on spectacle to a degree. Between the two of these men, I think Strowman will benefit more from the win. Omos wasn’t exactly off TV for very long, and a loss here doesn’t do much to hurt him while Strowman is just coming back and can be positioned as an upper card/main event babyface. Expect Braun to get the win here, much to MVP’s dismay.

WINNER: Braun Strowman

Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley

Image Credit: WWE

Speaking of spectacle… this match has all the potential for that, but also with quality in-ring work as well. It’s also the hardest match to call on this card. Brock Lesnar made his return to WWE TV last month and attacked Lashley, setting up this rematch from the Royal Rumble. That bout saw Lashley win the WWE Championship thanks to a belt shot to the head by Roman Reigns. This time there’s no title on the line and likely no Reigns to get involved, so odds are that it won’t go the same way. As long as the heat doesn’t get them, this should be a really enjoyable match with the two hosses just taking it to each other. Lashley has hinted that the feud will continue past Crown Jewel, and I have no problem believing that. That only really happens if Lesnar picks up the win here, or perhaps a no-contest. WWE has invested a lot in Lashley in 2022, and while I don’t think he’s picking up the win over Lesnar here I do think they will want to protect him a little bit. As a result, I’m leaning into the idea that they fight to a no-contest or a double countout via some kind of big spot outside the ring.

WINNER: No Contest or Double Countout

The Judgment Day vs. AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

Image Credit: WWE

The Judgment Day have been on a strong run in WWE as of late and have more than made up for their early stumblings. Damian Priest, Finn Balor, Rhea Ripley, and Dominik Mysterio have been on a roll, and their road takes them through The O.C. at Crown Jewel. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson had a productive time outside of WWE and came back into the company stronger than when they left, and their reunion with AJ Styles has been nice to see. That puts them in an interesting position here. On one hand, for all the apparent drama surrounding Karl Anderson being booked for the show it seems important to give The O.C. a big PPV return win. On the other, the Judgement Day lost their last PPV match when they faced Rey Mysterio and Edge at Clash at the Castle. The fact that Balor got the win over Edge at Extreme Rules blunts that loss a bit and I expect that this match is a chance to give AJ and The Good Brothers a big babyface win at the PPV. Just about everyone is a good worker here and even Dominik is improving, so all in all this should be a decent encounter.

WINNER: The O.C.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match
Alexa Bliss & Asuka vs. Dakota Kai & IYO SKY

Image Credit: WWE

This week’s Raw saw a rather surprising Women’s Tag Team Championship victory by Asuka and Alexa Bliss in the main event. That win kind of came out of nowhere despite Asuka and Bliss’ chasing of the titles for some time; the new champions didn’t have much momentum in the stop-start feud and taking the titles off Kai and SKY seemed like an odd choice. Odd, that is, until the rematch was announced for Crown Jewel. If there’s one thing you can say about WWE, it’s that they love their firsts. And to date, no WWE Women’s titles have changed hands in Saudi Arabia. Hot potatoing the titles onto Asuka and Bliss allows Damage CTRL to win the championships back and perhaps break Asuka and Bliss up if they want to go that route. I don’t generally love the idea of hopping the titles back and forth, and I don’t love it here but I also really don’t like sweeping Damage CTRL’s momentum away from them so quickly. Expect a perfectly good match here that sees the former champions regain their titles, and I’m kind of okay with that.

WINNER: Damage CTRL (NEW WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion)

Steel Cage Match
Karrion Kross vs. Drew McIntyre

Image Credit: WWE

Poor Drew McIntyre has had a difficult couple of months. First, he loses to Roman Reigns at Clash at the Castle and then last month he fell to Karrion Kross in a Strap Match at Extreme Rules. McIntyre has felt like someone who needs a bit of a refresh, but it doesn’t feel like it’s coming any time soon. Kross, on the other hand, has been faring well since his return as he targets McIntyre and has been put over quite strong. The matches between the two haven’t been the best, but neither have they been particularly disastrous; either way, this feud kind of needs to end. That could happen with a result either way, but if they want to keep McIntyre in the position he’s at then they need to give him a win. The Steel Cage stipulation protects Kross a little as a heel and it should give the two something to work with in order to make this match stand out a bit from their last battle. While I could see someone coming out and costing McIntyre the win to give him a new feud, my guess is that he goes over because a win by Kross would make seemingly position him for a title match with Reigns, and I don’t think WWE is ready to go heel vs. heel right now.

WINNER: Drew McIntyre

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship Match
The Usos vs. The Brawling Brutes

Image Credit: WWE

The Brawling Brutes have been surprisingly good as a team, at least from an entertainment value. No one is going to put Ridge Holland among the top (or even particularly good) workers in the company anytime soon, but he’s definitely improved and Butch has benefited big-time from the tweaks to his character. All that said, they are definitely not the team to take the titles off the Usos. The Brutes are still getting their feet under them after a rough start and while the titles need to come off the Usos at some point, it definitely feels more like something that needs a bit more storyline behind it (say, a Sami Zayn turn). This should be a fairly enjoyable match; the Usos can always deliver and like I said, the Brutes are getting better as a team. I just don’t see this having much if any chance of ending with a title switch.

WINNER: The Usos (STILL Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions)

Raw Women’s Championship Last Man Standing Match
Bianca Belair vs. Bayley

Image Credit: WWE

Damage CTRL has suffered a little bit of momentum damage since their hot start. Not only did IYO SKY and Dakota Kai lose the Women’s Tag Team titles this week as I mentioned above; Bayley has also had a few stumbles as she feuds with Bianca Belair in a storyline that felt a little bit like it was rushed. That said, I don’t expect those stumblings to continue. Triple H has put a lot into the trio since they came back at SummerSlam and at some point they have to come out strong as a group. Crown Jewel feels like that time. Belair has had a very strong run as champion and I could see WWE wanting it to continue, but Bayley needs to get a win here after two losses to Belair on PPV. Now seems like a perfect time for Bayley to pick up the win and perhaps feud with Belair through Survivor Series before WWE begins the preparation for the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania.

WINNER: Bayley (NEW Raw Women’s Champion)

Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Match
Roman Reigns vs. Logan Paul

Image Credit: WWE

Look, I know there’s a lot of poeple who are still rolling their eyes about Logan Paul being in the main event of a PPV challenging for WWE’s top titles. For my part, I don’t have an issue with it. If this were Survivor Series, SummerSlam or WrestleMania I might have a bigger issue. But it’s not. This is WWE Crown Jewel, which is typically a pretty throwaway PPV that is done just because it’s ridiculously profitable for the company. And with that being the case, why not utilize Paul to maximize the name value here? I think most of us can agree that Paul has proven he can go in a WWE ring, though Crown Jewel’s environmental conditions are a whole different beast. And I don’t think that anyone believes Paul has an honest chance to win this, either in storyline or not. And that’s okay; the point here is to give Paul a chance to shine and give Reigns a different kind of match to work. The expectations might be fairly low but I think Paul can deliver as the plucky guy who proves how tough he is against Reigns. Again, there’s beyond zero doubt who is still champion after this match; while the shock value of a title switch thanks to some interference could be tempting, we’re almost certainly gonna see this match end with Reigns holding his titles high.

WINNER: Roman Reigns (STILL Undisputed WWE Universal Champion)

And that’s all we have for WWE Crown Jewel! For a paycheck show, this isn’t too bad and while there’s nothing that has me super-excited, it’s pretty decent on paper. Thanks once again for reading and remember that we will have live coverage of the show courtesy our own Scott Slimmer right here on 411mania.com. I’m outta here; Bray Wyatt’s gonna be at the show and Uncle Howdy creeps me out…

Image Credit: WWE