Welcome back to another installment of A View From the Rafters, which saw a proper return on Monday with AVFR #101: Ample Assets. This one is not numbered because I don’t number the PPV prediction columns because they don’t feel like “proper” columns to me.
Tomorrow WWF presents yet another Premium Live Event. And in a few weeks, they’ll present another one. And in two weeks AEW will present one. I may be the only wrestling columnist on the Internet who complains about how much wrestling there is, but I swear these companies are rattling off PPVs and PLEs every couple of weeks. And yes, it makes me mad this time of the year, because I just know that the Iron Bowl will be an evening game and that will cause me not to be able to watch Survivor Series live.
My grudge with the scheduling aside, let’s talk about why you clicked on this link… WWF Crown Jewel LIVE from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, November 7th at 11 AM CT. That’s tomorrow if you’re reading this on the day it’s posted, today if you’re reading it tomorrow, or perhaps the event has come and gone and if that’s the case I’ll just assume you’re here to check my predictions against the results to see how I did.
WWF is advertising four matches for this event which seems low, and there is still the possibility that Gunther vs. The Demon Finn Balor will take place, because it was advertised locally, it just hasn’t been announced officially by WWF. As such, we’re not going to cover a possible match, and I haven’t the slightest clue why the company wouldn’t announce what would be a high-profile bout for the event.
Why even make the trip for a four-match card? Granted I say why make the trip at all considering how things are in the region right now, when even the U.S. government has travel warnings in place. We’ll pray things go smoothly, as they most likely will, but it’s a helluva risk by TKO and one that this time around I think they would’ve been better off canceling (and not just because there’s football I want to watch).
Before we begin the prediction portion of this edition, here’s a quick rundown of the advertised card:
- WWF World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns vs. WWF Champion Sami Zayn for the Crown Jewel Championship
- WWF Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan vs. WWF Women’s Champion Chelsea Green for the Women’s Crown Jewel Championship
- Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing Match
- The Vision (Bron Breakker and Austin Theory) defend the WWF World Tag Team Championship against Penta and Je’Von Evans.
Crown Jewel Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn
The two top men’s champions in the World Wrestling Federation collide at Crown Jewel when World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns takes on Undisputed WWF Champion Sami Zayn to determine who is the Crown Jewel Champion. Roman and Sami obviously have quite a history together, going back to Sami’s days as the Honorary Uce in The Bloodline and his eventual falling out with the group and Roman in particular.
While Roman has reunited The Bloodline, his current title reign has seen the Tribal Chief rewriting his championship legacy by handling business by himself instead of with the Bloodline’s help in every match. Sami, on the other hand, has become increasingly willing to bend the rules to keep his championship, and while his title isn’t on the line, he’s sure to take every shortcut he can to finally defeat Roman and emerge as the “champion of champions.”
Sami has had several chances over the years at Roman, and while he’s come close on several occasions, he has never managed to defeat the OTC. Can he finally get it done at Crown Jewel?
Stinger’s View: I think the stars have aligned for Sami Zayn to finally defeat Roman Reigns, so yes I’m picking Sami here. My reasoning is simple enough, Roman’s championship isn’t on the line and the Crown Jewel Championship isn’t a thing that will exist after the weekend. Combine that with the fact that 946 will surely be in the house, and we’re ripe for Sami to win thanks to a lot of interference. I feel bad for whoever is the referee of this match, because he’s practically guaranteed to get knocked out.
I’ve always enjoyed the matches between Sami and Roman, and I think this one will be good up until the interference starts. After that, well it becomes less about the match and more about building to Survivor Series. I’m not personally a fan of using a PLE’s main event to build towards another PLE’s main event, but in this instance it is what it is. Sami gets the win and it doesn’t impact Roman in the slightest. On the bright side, Sami’s gloating promo on SmackDown (or perhaps RAW) will be highly entertaining.
Stinger’s Prediction: Sami Zayn wins.
Maddie’s Prediction: Roman Reigns wins. (Sami may have the numbers advantage, but I think Roman overcomes the interference and reminds everyone why he’s still the Tribal Chief.)
Women’s Crown Jewel Championship: Liv Morgan vs. Chelsea Green
The Women’s Crown Jewel Championship will be decided when Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan takes on WWF Women’s Champion Chelsea Green. Morgan regained the Women’s World Championship at Money in the Bank by defeating Stephanie Vaquer and Becky Lynch in a Triple Threat Match, while Green captured her championship at SummerSlam in a Five-Way Ladder Match. Both women have successfully defended their titles since then, with Chelsea even wrestling through a broken orbital bone to retain against Nia Jax.
Over the past few weeks, Chelsea has found herself at the mercy of Judgment Day’s numbers game, but she has backup of her own in the form of Tiffany Stratton and IYO SKY. Which women’s champion will emerge as the Crown Jewel Champion when Chelsea Green finally goes one-on-one with Liv Morgan?
Stinger’s View: I like both women, but this match doesn’t do anything for me. And while I didn’t mention it in the Sami/Roman match, it applies to them too: I’m not a fan of these “bragging rights/champion of champions” matches they do on Crown Jewel now. Either it isn’t going to end cleanly, or you risk telling your audience that one is a lesser champion.
Just run traditional championship matches between the champion and a challenger that they’re feuding with, not this champion versus champion nonsense. Besides, we all already know that Raquel and Roxanne will get involved, and possibly others, because Judgment Day may have never won a match cleanly. And while I think it’s a good chance that Chelsea will have backup with Tiffany and IYO, I still think that she’ll lose and that’s primarily because WWF is almost allergic to having Liv ever lose.
My grievances with the concept of the match aside, I think the match itself will be pretty good. Well good, once again, until the interference starts. Maybe they’ll surprise the hell out of me and have a straight-up clean wrestling match with a decisive winner, because anything can happen in the World Wrestling Federation, but I wouldn’t bet on it. The question becomes will Tiffany Stratton take advantage of the situation after the fact and cash-in on whoever loses? Probably not, but you had better believe they’ll at least tease a cash-in because they seemingly do it every week.
Stinger’s Prediction: Liv Morgan wins.
Maddie’s Prediction: Chelsea Green wins. (I’m calling the upset! Liv is the obvious favorite, but Chelsea stealing a victory with a little help from her friends would be wonderfully appropriate.)
Last Man Standing Match: Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton
The rivalry between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton has become increasingly personal since their WWF Championship match at WrestleMania 42. Cody retained the title that night, but Orton delivered a vicious punt kick to Rhodes after the match. Cody admits that he hasn’t been himself since then.
Now the former mentor and student will meet to settle their longstanding grudge in a Last Man Standing Match, where the only way to win is to beat your opponent badly enough that he can’t answer the referee’s ten-count.
Considering their history together and everything that’s happened since WrestleMania, this is one of those matches where the personal issues have become more important than any championship either had been eyeing.
Stinger’s View: This will likely be the longest match of the event, and possibly the best classic WWF style match of the day. Orton is a rugged veteran at this point and has sustained many injuries in his career, so he’s understandably lost a step in the ring. That said, he’s still the Viper and a Last Man Standing match is the type of match that will allow him to shine because it plays to his strengths.
This feud has been building for quite some time, and I can only hope that, since it is a Last Man Standing match, this will be the end of it. I can’t see WWF having their golden boy Cody lose, so naturally he’s my pick. The bigger question becomes where does Cody go next, and where does Randy Orton go from here?
Ignoring my actual pick, I’d like to see Randy get the win and go on to have one last run as the Undisputed WWF Champion. I don’t see it happening, of course, but it’s what I would like to see if I could have things go my way.
Stinger’s Prediction: Cody Rhodes wins.
Maddie’s Prediction: Cody Rhodes wins. (Randy will make him earn every second of that ten-count, but I think Cody finally puts his former mentor down and ends this rivalry.)
WWF World Tag Team Championship: The Vision vs. Penta and Je’Von Evans
The Vision will defend the WWF World Tag Team Championship when Bron Breakker and Austin Theory take on Penta and Je’Von Evans. These teams have been at each other’s throats for weeks, with Breakker and Theory repeatedly using their numbers and underhanded tactics to make life miserable for the challengers.
Penta and Evans actually defeated the champions in a non-title match on RAW back in October, although Evans had to turn The Vision’s own brass knuckles against Theory to get that victory. Since then, the rivalry has only gotten more intense, including Breakker putting Evans through the roof of an ambulance and The Vision delivering another brutal attack on the challengers.
RAW General Manager Adam Pearce finally made the championship match official, giving Penta and Evans an opportunity to settle things in the ring and potentially leave Crown Jewel with the tag team titles in the day’s only real championship match.
Stinger’s View: I expect this to be a fast-paced, exciting match. Perhaps the most exciting match of the night, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the best match.
This isn’t a complaint, lord knows I don’t want everyone reading to think “this guy does nothing but complain,” but can we get some real tag teams? Sure, The Vision is a team, but Bron Breakker shouldn’t be competing in tag teams and I don’t think he will be much longer. Penta and Je’Von aren’t a real tag team either, just thrown together because they had an issue with The Vision.
So, once we get past this match, where The Vision will undoubtedly retain due to their number advantage with Bronson Reed, Logan Paul and Maxxine Dupree being at ringside (I assume), can we please start building a real tag team division? I don’t understand why AEW can have a thriving scene and WWF seems almost bothered that they even have tag team championships.
Now back to the match itself, Penta and Je’Von will certainly look good and seem to be on the cusp of winning until the rest of The Vision gets involved. That’s just par for the course. Penta is Mr. Money in the Bank, so brighter things lie ahead of him, but I’ll be interested in seeing where Je’Von goes from here. Perhaps he can rekindle his feud with Ethan Page and challenge for the Intercontinental Championship?
And while I think they get the win, I’d like to start seeing some dissension develop between Breakker and the rest of The Vision, because he desperately needs to be out of tag team wrestling and elevated up the card.
Stinger’s Prediction: The Vision retain the titles.
Maddie’s Prediction: The Vision retains. (Penta and Je’Von will give them a fight, but I expect The Vision’s numbers advantage to make the difference when it matters.)
And there is still the possibility of the Gunther/Finn Balor match happening. As of this writing, WWF hasn’t announced the match. And while SmackDown was taped Monday, it is still possible they’ll insert something into tonight’s broadcast to announce the match.
While I won’t waste time previewing a match that may not happen, just in case it does happen I will offer a prediction: Finn Balor wins. I think Gunther should be dominant, but at this point Finn Balor needs wins, and why even do The Demon gimmick if he’s just going to lose? If he loses every time he comes out as The Demon, why should fans ever care to see it?
Maddie’s Bonus Prediction: Finn Bálor wins, if the match happens. (If Finn is bringing out The Demon, he’d better win, because even supernatural creatures need a decent win-loss record!)
Stinger’s View: Predictions Made, Complaints Filed
And so concludes the second straight weekend of a PLE prediction column. We’ll probably be doing it again next week for AEW Full Gear.
I think Crown Jewel is a solid little card. I have to believe that Gunther/Finn Balor or some other match will be added. Four matches just isn’t a lot for a Premium Live Event unless it’s not going to be very long. Actually, I hope it is just four matches. This comes on at 11, and that means it should be off by 2. Which is great because I’ll be watching the Alabama/LSU game at 2:30.
Speaking of, we’ll have Quick Results and maybe a paragraph or two of overall Stinger’s View with my thoughts on the event. But I won’t be doing full results with thoughts on each match because of the time it takes and the aforementioned football game. Likewise, there’ll be quick results for AEW Collision Saturday too, but no thoughts on the matches or show because I won’t be watching it.
Until next time, this has been Stinger reporting from the rafters of Titanquisitor Hall, where we just can’t escape wrestling except for Sunday, apparently.
And remember, even though there may be too much of it, wrestling matters.
