2024-11-02 23:40:02
WWE loves its international premium live events, and the eighth one of the year is Saturday with Crown Jewel 2024.
Now a staple in WWE’s fall calendar, Crown Jewel will be held in Saudi Arabia for the sixth time since its inception in 2018 and has one of the biggest cards of 2024 with seven matches scheduled, the most since SummerSlam in August.
Highlighting the day will be the inter-brand matchups between Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and World Heavyweight Champion Gunther, as well as Women’s Champion Nia Jax vs. Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan, with the winner of each match capturing the newly unveiled Crown Jewel title. Two titles − the United States and Women’s Tag Team Championships − will be defended, and three singles matches with some heated rivalries will take place, including the old Bloodline facing the new Bloodline.
Follow USA TODAY Sports for all the highlights and analysis for Crown Jewel 2024:
Bianca Belair and Iyo Sky started the action, setting the tone for their match in great style, similar to their battle at Backlash in 2023.
Damage CTRL were the stars early, even if a spot on the turnbuckle was botched. Even when the action got chaotic as expected, Kairi Sane and Sky executed a beautiful InSane elbow and Over the Moonsault combination. The champions took everyone out and Cargill tried to get a pin in, but it was quickly thwarted. Each team then unleashed their own set of impressive moves, but Piper Niven mistakenly took out Chelsea Green. It gave the champions enough time to captialize with a Doomsday Device on Niven to take her down and for Belair to get the pin to retain the titles.
The match started with Tonga Loa and Jey Uso, and Uso quickly went to his brother to bring the dynamic tag team duo back. The twin brothers quickly took advantage and forced Solo Sikoa to huddle his team together. However, Jey Uso opting to not tag Roman Reigns in showed there are still some things to figure with the old Bloodline, and the distraction was enough for the new Bloodline to get on offense.
The momentum shifted back-and-forth the next few minutes, and when Jey Uso was down, he finally tagged in Reigns for his first action in the match. He met with Sikoa in the middle of the ring and the “OTC” quickly went to work on his rival. Reigns tried to end the match with a Superman punch and spear, only for Sikoa to counter it with a Samoan spike. Sikoa went for the pin, but Jimmy Uso broke it up in time.
While the carnage went out of the ring, Reigns tried to end the match against Sikoa, only for Tonga to get the referee out. That’s when Fatu went to work on Reigns with a brutal assault. By the time the referee got back up, Sikoa delivered multiple Samoan spikes to Reigns to get the pin and remain the Tribal Chief.
Reigns and company tried to fight back after the match ended, but the effort was unsuccessful. The new Bloodline inflicted more damage on their opponents, and when they were going for the crushing blow to Jay Uso, Sami Zayn emerged.
He stood across Sikoa, surprised him with an attack and the rest of his old friends came to help him out. Sikoa was surrounded in the middle of the ring and when Zayn tried a helluva kick, Sikoa dodged it and inadvertently hit Reigns. An argument ensued while Zayn left in confusion.
Analysis: A perfect match to start the night. There were never any lulls in the action and the crowd was very much into seeing the next chapter of The Bloodline.
The result made sense; the new Bloodline is clearly still dominant and has the numbers advantage. There are still some kinks to work out with the Usos, but it was somewhat surprising to see Sikoa get the pin over Reigns to assert his dominance over the “OTC.” The rivalry is going to carry into the end of the year, and the old Bloodline was still one person short from being able to compete. The emergence of Zayn − even though it wasn’t entire successful − announced the old Bloodline finally has the fourth person it needs to go up against their adversaries. A WarGames match is certainly brewing for Survivor Series between the two sides, and the teams are all but set up now.
Roman Reigns and Jimmy Uso made their epic entrance together.
Crown Jewel 2024 is Saturday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. ET.
WWE will air a Crown Jewel countdown show at 11 a.m. ET on YouTube and its social media platforms.
Crown Jewel 2024 is taking place at Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The event can be streamed on Peacock, but you must have their premium or premium-plus subscription to watch. Internationally, it will be available on WWE Network.
Matches not in order
The stage for Crown Jewel looks similar to year’s past with a massive screen from where the wrestlers will make their entrance from.
When Cody Rhodes faces Gunther and Nia Jax takes on Liv Morgan, they’ll be competing for more than Crown Jewel championships.
WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque said on Friday the winners of the match will receive a “massive Super Bowl-like” ring. Since the event is now an annual event, stars will get the chance to collect multiple rings as well.
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