Posted on 10/11/125 by Bob Magee
– Our show opened with a video package showing the mens and
women’s Crown Jewel Championships being moved from the WWE
Experience museum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Perth,
Australia ahead of tomorrow’s Crown Jewel PLE.
– Following that, we then went live to the RAC Arena, as the
men’s Crown Jewel Championship was shown in the ring.
Cody Rhodes addresses Crown Jewel
The Undisputed WWE Champion and reigning men’s Crown Jewel
Champion was first to enter for our opening segment as
Michael Cole and Wade Barrett recapped the happenings of
last Friday’s SmackDown as it related to Cody Rhodes and
Seth Rollins.
Once Rhodes entered the ring, he basked in the cheers of the
Australian crowd before he started off by asking “what do
you want to talk about?” Rhodes said that we could talk
about Seth Rollins and the supposed “doom and gloom outcome”
of the match at Crown Jewel, but after he heard Paul
Heyman’s warnings on Raw, it’s clear that Rollins is
becoming the man he sacrificed himself to defeat at
WrestleMania 41.
Rhodes continued by saying that when you love WWE as much as
Rollins does, you’d do everything for it, even perhaps
skewing reality as a result. But, there comes a downfall as
it becomes a quest for control. Rhodes said that Rollins
might not love the “QB” nickname that was given to him, but
it’s a collective one that he’s proud to have as making WWE
great is a team effort. Rhodes shouted out individuals like
Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, CM Punk, Rhea Ripley, Jey Uso,
and even Seth Rollins as being important aspects of WWE.
The crowd began chanting “Seth’s a wanker” as Rhodes asked
for Barrett and Cole on commentary to confirm that chant. As
he got back on track, Rhodes said that if the world did
revolved around Seth Rollins, what did that mean for him? He
said that in this hypothetical world, this still meant that
Rhodes would remain the one man that Rollins just simply
cannot defeat.
This did its job of selling the men’s Crown Jewel match and
the idea of Cody Rhodes being the one white whale that has
eluded Seth Rollins. It’s clear that Rollins will certainly
win tomorrow’s match, but just how he does it is something
to watch.
**********
– Backstage, Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer was
being approached by Chelsea Green to join the Secret Hervice
until WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton appeared. Green
left as Vaquer and Stratton agreed to be on the same page
for tonight’s tag match.
– Elsewhere, Cody Rhodes was walking and approached by Jacob
Fatu, who said that once Rhodes was done with the Crown
Jewel business, he wanted next for the Undisputed WWE Title.
SmackDown GM Nick Aldis approached Fatu and wanted to
discuss something with him. As Aldis left, Drew McIntyre
attacked Fatu before he was backed off by officials.
U.S. Title Open Challenge: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Shinsuke
Nakamura
Nakamura was revealed as Zayn’s opponent, as he entered to
his old theme music and entrance.
The match got going with Zayn and Nakamura engaging in a
duel of chain wrestling that neither man got the upper hand
on. Nakamura got a bit of an advantage with a boot to the
face followed by a leg drop on Zayn. The momentum continued
for the challenger as he delivered his sliding German suplex
to Zayn, which took us into the break.
Our opening contest returned from commercial with Zayn and
Nakamura trading strikes in the middle of the ring until the
latter dropped his foe with a nice vertical suplex. Nakamura
fired himself up and teed off on Zayn with strikes and an
enzuigiri that sent Zayn stunned into the corner. The
challenger followed that with a heel kick to the face of
Zayn that got a near-fall. Nakamura maintained his strong-
style-tinged assault on Zayn until a clothesline turned him
upside down.
Zayn headed to the top rope and missed with a dive. He
attempted a Blue Thunder Bomb, but fell victim to Nakamura’s
patented spinning kick. In the corner, Nakamura had Zayn
dead to rights for a Kinshasa, but he got countered into a
Michinoku Driver for a near-fall. After pinfalls were
traded, Zayn connected with the Exploder Suplex into the
corner and looked like he’d have the Helluva Kick in the
chamber. Nakamura avoided that and went to the top with a
diving kick to the back of Zayn’s head. One, two… not yet!
With the match still to be decided, we went to another
break.
SmackDown returned from the break with Zayn and Nakamura
once more mixing it up with strikes until Zayn’s attempt at
a Blue Thunder Bomb was countered into a modified Kinshasa
to the back of the U.S. Champion’s head. Zayn instinctively
rolled out of the ring as he caught Nakamura by surprise
with an Exploder Suplex into the barricade. Zayn then hit a
Helluva Kick before he threw Nakamura back into the ring
before the count of ten. As Zayn tried to get back into the
ring, Nakamura caught him by surprise with a Sudden Impact
kick that got a near-fall. He then got Zayn with the Scorpio
Rising and looked to have the Kinshasa lock and loaded. That
was until a hooded man attacked
The hooded man pulled Nakamura out and threw him over the
barricade. The man revealed himsefl to be the returning Tama
Tonga, as the other members of the M.F.T.s appeared around
the ring to surround Zayn. The group laid a beatdown on both
champion and challenger, as Solo Sikoa took in the
destruction.
Sami Zayn def. Shinsuke Nakamura via DQ to retain the United
States Championship
A great match ruined by another DQ finish. I’m not sure if
dressing up this Bloodline retread in facepaint in a “Malibu
Stacy with a new hat” situation is going to make them any
interesting, but I guess I can’t fault WWE for trying again
with this, as daunting a task as it may seem to be. That
said, it’s at least great to see Tama Tonga back from
injury.
**********
– Backstage, we learned that on next week’s SmackDown, Drew
McIntyre and Jacob Fatu would go one on one. As McIntyre
discussed this with GM Nick Aldis, he was attacked by an
irate Fatu, who wanted to get a little payback on the
assault from earlier in the night. A gaggle of referees and
officials tried their best to keep the two separated.
Stephanie Vaquer & Tiffany Stratton vs. Giulia & Kiana James
Vaquer and James started things off for their respective
teams as the latter delivered a cheapshot to her opponent.
Vaquer answered with a back suplex and caught James in prime
position for an early-match Devil’s Kiss, much to the
crowd’s delight. James retreated and tagged Giulia as we
headed into an oddly-placed commercial break.
The action resumed from the break with Giulia throwing
Vaquer into her team’s corner as James tagged herself in and
kept the Women’s World Champion isolated for a moment.
Giulia was the legal woman again as she took off from the
top with a dropkick for a near-fall. Vaquer managed to kick
Giulia aside which gave her enough time to tag in Stratton.
The WWE Women’s Champion was a house of fire as she
unleashed a flurry of offense on James with a somersault
clothesline into the corner followed by a slam for the near-
fall. Stratton stunned James into the middle rope and looked
to have a running attack, but Giulia created a distraction
as she then entered the match with an Arrivederci Knee to
Stratton. Giulia then connected with a Northern Lights Bomb,
but Vaquer broke up the pin.
As things began to break down, Stratton got the Alabama Slam
on James as Vaquer entered the with a tag. Vaquer connected
with a modified version of the Angel’s Wings, but Giulia
broke up the count. Stratton with a blind tag as Vaquer
launched herself onto Giulia outside to take her out of the
equation. Back in the ring, Stratton finished James off in
short order with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever.
Vaquer and Stratton stood in front of the Women’s Crown
Jewel Championship and faced off after the match.
Tiffany Stratton & Stephanie Vaquer def. Giulia & Kiana
James
Standard women’s tag team fare, but I enjoyed it
nonetheless. I do think that giving Giulia and James the win
here wouldn’t have hurt as it’d at least create a new set of
challengers for Stratton to contend with post-Crown Jewel.
**********
– As Zaria and Sol Ruca were chatting amongst themselves,
the Women’s Tag Team Champions, Charlotte Flair & Alexa
Bliss appeared and told the NXT stars that facing them would
be not be an easy battle to expect. Utlimately, Flair and
Bliss granted Zaria and Ruca a chance at their Women’s Tag
Titles.
WWE Tag Team Championships: The Wyatt Sicks (Joe Gacy &
Dexter Lumis) (w/ Nikki Cross & Erick Rowan) (c) vs. The
Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) (w/ B-Fab)
The match got going right away as Gacy and Lumis ran into
the ring and immediately began to fight with Dawkins and
Ford. As things finally setled down, the Profits had the
upper hand early as they threw their weight around at Gacy’s
expense. Outside the ring, Dawkins barrelled through both
Gacy and Lumis, which sent the two Wyatts into the
timekeeper’s corner. We headed to the commercial break with
the Street Profits having control in the early stages of
this match.
We returned from the break as the Wyatts had Ford staggered
in the corner and ready for a double superplex. Dawkins
emerged and held Gacy and Lumis in place instead, as Ford
recovered and delivered a double blockbuster on the WWE Tag
Champs. The cover, but Nikki Cross put Gacy’s foot on the
bottom rope. Things broke down as B-Fab attacked Cross on
the outside. Erick Rowan stood behind B-Fab, which allowed
Cross to go on the attack with a leap. Dawkins then launched
over the top rope to take down Rowan as Ford was the legal
man.
From the top rope, Ford wanted to hit the Frog Splash, but
Lumis pulled Gacy out of harm’s way, which caused Ford to
hit the mat hard instead. The two Wyatts then finished
things off with the Plague on Ford to retain the WWE Tag
Titles.
After the match, Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s. appeared and
had a brief, but tense staredown with the Wyatt Sicks.
The Wyatt Sicks def. The Street Profits via pinfall to
retain the WWE Tag Team Championships
Just a standard tag match, with nothing really to write home
about. The tease with the M.F.T.s targeting the Wyatts
certainly happened, I do at least want to see where this
goes initially.
**********
– The Miz was interviewed backstage about his betrayal of
Carmelo Hayes on last week’s SmackDown, as he called himself
“the spotlight” and that Hayes “blew it” in his eyes and
that his former Melo Don’t Miz partner ultimately “missed”.
– We got a recap of the Crown Jewel Kickoff and Seth
Rollins’ abrupt exit from the kickoff while The Vision was
on stage, with the implication being that Rollins’
confidence is in question ahead of his match with Cody
Rhodes tomorrow.
Last Man Standing: Damian Priest vs. Aleister Black
We got going right away with Priest pummeling Black in the
corner before he threw him over the top rope. Priest pulled
out a kendo stick from under the ring, but got caught by
surprise with a kick from Black. Priest recovered and
battered his foe with the top half of the steel steps as the
fight made its way through the entryway. We took a
commercial break after one more steel steps strike from
Priest to Black.
SmackDown’s main event resumed as Priest sent Black crashing
into the barricade with a fierce throw. The referee began
his count, but Black managed to get himself back on his feet
as he ran back into the ring. Priest connected with an
elevated Flatliner on Black before he set up the bottom half
of the steel steps in the middle of the ring. Priest looked
for a superplex onto the steps, but Black escaped and
instead sent his rival face first into the steps.
Priest wanted to hit the South of Heaven on Black right on
the steps, but he couldn’t connect with it. Black headed up
top and crashed onto Priest with a Meteora. That,
however,was not enough to keep Priest down for the count.
With the steps turned on its side, Priest threw Black face-
first onto it. As the action spilled to the outside, Priest
was thrown against the steel steps as his neck bounced off
of it. Somehow, Priest recovered and shoved Black onto the
top of the commentary table, as we took another break in the
action.
We returned as Priest unleashed the pain on Black with a
kendo stick to the back. He tried for some sort of an Old
School-style maneuver, but Black kicked Priest upon landing,
which sent him out of the ring upon impact. Black took a
chair from the crowd and battered Priest in the ribs with it
repeatedly. Priest recovered in time and chokeslammed Black
against the apron before delivering a Razor’s Edge onto the
commentary table. Black was seemingly out cold, but he woke
up and got himself back to his feet before the count of
nine.
As Black stood up, Priest once again threw Black with a
Razor’s Edge onto the table. Once more, Black rolled off the
top of the table, which allowed him to beat the count of
ten. After this, the battle broke out into the crowd as
Priest took Black to a set of production boxes. With Black
and Priest on top of a platform, the latter looked to have
this won. That was, until Zelina Vega appeared and checked
up on Black, as he pleaded for Priest not to do any damage.
Priest did not comply, and ended up eating a fireball to the
face, followed by a Black Mass kick that sent him crashing
through a table. The referee made the count, and Priest was
unable to make it to the count of ten, which gave Black the
victory.
Aleister Black def. Damian Priest via pinfall
**********
A fun main event with a very interesting finish as Zelina
Vega made her return to WWE TV with a new gimmick as she’s
now aligned with her real-life spouse Aleister Black. That
should be interesting to see going forward.
All in all, this wasn’t really much of a go-home show for
Crown Jewel as it was basically an extended PLE where
matches that otherwise wouldn’t fit the Levesque-ian way of
5 matches per PLE card are booked. It’s certainly not bad
thing to position pre-PLE editions of SmackDown. The matches
that we did get were at least decent, and it was nice to see
some surprise returns to spice things up.