WWE Shines with Crown Jewel – Annenberg Media

“Sports Entertainment Solidified” is a pro wrestling column by Maddy Myer.

WWE returned to Saudi Arabia to host Crown Jewel on Saturday, producing some of the best matchups the pay-per-view has seen to date. Veterans like John Cena and Rey Mysterio passed the torch to the next generation with their matches, and consistent performers like Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes kept up their momentum.

For the women’s side, Kairi Sane made her return to WWE during Iyo Sky and Bianca Belair’s match. It will be great to see how she’ll shake up the women’s division in the coming weeks, but for now, here are the top pro wrestling matches from the past week, this time all stemming from Crown Jewel.

Logan Paul vs. Rey Mysterio (WWE Crown Jewel, November 4)

This match started with Logan Paul absolutely dominating Rey Mysterio. Mysterio is known for his high-flying moves, but Paul kept him grounded for a good chunk of the match, while also doing some high-flying moves of his own. There were times Mysterio would try some offense, but with the size difference, Paul would easily catch him and deliver a move on his own, even bench-pressing Mysterio at one point. The tide finally shifted in Mysterio’s favor after Paul hit his shoulder into the ring post, and Mysterio followed it up with an outside dive. After the dive, Mysterio kept the momentum up with a senton bomb and springboard crossbody back in the ring, but it wasn’t enough to put Paul away. In the end, Paul received outside help with the likes of brass knuckles that he used to “knock out” Mysterio for the three count to become the new United States Champion. This wasn’t the only legend to lose at Crown Jewel, as Solo Sikoa absolutely dominated John Cena in their matchup.

Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky (WWE Crown Jewel, November 4)

Early on, Iyo Sky had a game plan for defeating the returning Bianca Belair. Sky targeted Belair’s knee, which prevented some of Belair’s power moves from connecting. Sky mostly relied on submission holds that could further target that knee. Eventually, the pace picked up as Belair stopped letting her knee bother her, and the match went outside the ring. Sky hit Belair with a moonsault from the top rope that knocked her down, but she recovered quickly, slamming Sky into the barricade. Sky rolled back into the ring, faking an injury of her own only for Bayley (Sky’s Damage CTRL partner) to interfere with Belair. Belair took care of Bayley and was ready to return to the ring, until a returning Sane showed up and attacked Belair. Since the referee was distracted with Sky’s “injury,” none of this was seen, and by the time Belair returned to the ring, Sky hit Belair with a moonsault to win the match and retain her championship.

Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre (WWE Crown Jewel, November 4)

McIntyre had something to prove against Rollins, and he did just that throughout the match, often taunting Rollins and targeting his fragile back. Still, it was an impressive showing from Rollins, who only ran out of steam momentarily before showing McIntyre why he is the champion. Rollins tried to hit McIntyre with an outside dive early on in the match, which only resulted in McIntyre catching him for a belly-to-belly suplex on the floor. This was the start of the back torture Rollins would take throughout the match. Still, Rollins was able not to let that phase him much and had enough juice to deliver a senton and moonsault back-to-back on McIntyre once back in the ring. When it was time for Rollins to do one of his signature falcon arrow suplexes, however, McIntyre countered it with a suplex of his own. A few moments later, Rollins countered a McIntyre attack into a pedigree. Both men were countering left and right and even kicked out of each other’s finishers. In the end, Rollins delivered not only the pedigree but also his main finisher, the stomp, to beat McIntyre. Soon after Rollins won, Damian Priest marched down with his money in the bank contract in hopes of cashing in on Rollins to win the Championship. However, Sami Zayn swooped in, attacking Priest to thwart his efforts.

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