WWE’s latest (and earliest) Crown Jewel Premium Live Event is now behind us. Being hosted outside of Saudi Arabia for the first time, and instead being brought to the world from Perth, Australia. Crown Jewel has often provided some of the worst matches of each calendar year it takes place. Which is the last thing WWE needed with the 2025 they’ve had. But the escape from Saudi Arabia may have been their saving grace.
Overall, Crown Jewel was one of the most consistent PLE’s of 2025. With not a single truly bad match on the show. Definitely a huge step up from last month’s WrestlePalooza, that’s for sure. Triple H really took that C grade from ESPN personally. That being said, the show still had issues.
There wasn’t a single title match of consequence on the show. Instead we got Crown Jewel Championship matches. Effectively WWE’s version of a Super Bowl ring or World Series trophy. As the world champions fight for a ring they’ll rarely wear and a huge championship belt they don’t even get to see after they win it. But hey at least it had one genuine match of the year contender!
Perth pays tribute to Bray Wyatt
5. Stephanie Vaquer vs. Tiffany Stratton – Women’s Crown Jewel Championship
Rating: 3/5
It was better than Liv Morgan vs. Nia Jax from last year, but that’s not saying much. As Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer battled WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton to crown the second ever Women’s Crown Jewel Champion. And given how heatless and basic the build was, it’s no surprise the match went the same way.
A hair over ten minutes of checklist wrestling. Ticking off all the boxes to make a fine enough PLE match. But not doing anything to make the match memorable or even standout. Just Tiffany Stratton doing her gymnastic moves while Stephanie Vaquer tries to not wrestle too many circles around her. A competent enough match that no one will be talking about a week from now.
What was the point of building up Tiffany Stratton’s 2025 undefeated streak only to end it in a match that means nothing? We won’t see the Crown Jewel Championship until Crown Jewel 2026. Why build it up as something notable and end it in this fashion? In a match for bragging rights? It just doesn’t make sense to me. But it’s another big win for Stephanie Vaquer, so I can’t be too mad.
Tiffany Stratton gets kissed by the Devil
4. Rhea Ripley & IYO SKY vs. Asuka & Kairi Sane
Rating: 3.5/10
This match was destined to fail as soon as it had to follow up a certain other match on this show. Home country girl Rhea Ripley may have been enough to keep the crowd invested. But I’m not from Australia, so I didn’t have that luxury. Which is the only time I’ve ever said that. Regardless, all four women are amazing, so it’s no surprise that this match was still solid.
A majority of this match was IYO SKY vs. Asuka and IYO SKY vs. Kairi Sane. As they’re the beating heart of this entire story. And Rhea Ripley is also there. The three, to no surprise, had amazing chemistry. And Rhea served her purpose with her powerful crowd-popping bursts of offense. The winners were never really in doubt, which almost always hampers a match, but the road getting there was enjoyable enough.
This storyline has quickly become one of the best things on Raw. Picking up the slack of the Raw Women’s Division now that Becky Lynch is barely doing anything, and Bayley & Lyra Valkyria are running in circles against The Judgment Day. Hopefully it wasn’t all just to set up this one match. And we actually get to see the storyline progress beyond this. Most likely in a WarGames match at Survivor Series.
Hometown hero Rhea Ripley makes her entrance
3. Roman Reigns vs. Bronson Reed – Australian Street Fight
Rating: 3.75/5
If you’ve seen any Roman Reigns match in the last few years, you’ve seen this match. Especially Roman’s stipulation matches. As this followed that template almost beat for beat. Just with some added color from down under. And an outcome that should be a much bigger deal than it is.
Roman and Bronson took turns slowly dominating each other, occasionally with the assistance of Australian-themed weaponry. The match was slowly and naturally ramping up, and then the wheels fell off when Bron Breakker interfered. That’s when the match turned into every other Roman Reigns stipulation match. As Roman took a break on the outside while The Usos fought The Brons. Then came back for the finish.
Bronson Reed beating Roman Reigns was the right call. However, the nature of the victory totally undermines it. It took several assists from Bron Breakker, and an accidental assist from Jey Uso, to hand Reed the win. Like they knew Bronson had to win to keep this storyline going, but really didn’t want him to.
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a Superman Punch!
2. Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins – Crown Jewel Championship
Rating: 4/5
The whole build to this match was weird. Seth was consumed by his need to beat Cody. While Cody seemed to just write Seth off since he was 3-0 against him since returning to WWE. It didn’t help that both men’s feuds had to be paused for this meaningless bragging rights match. That being said, both men are great, so it’s no surprise this match was still good.
I’d argue the match peaks at the start. With Seth going ballistic every time Cody gets the best of even the most simple exchange. It sort of falls apart once Seth gets the advantage, though. He falls into the same overconfidence that led to him being 0-3 against Cody in the first place. Which would have made for a good story, but it doesn’t really factor into the match itself. At least the match was free of interference. Even if Seth still did cheat to win.
Once again, the outcome was never in doubt. With how much they brought up the whole 0-3 thing, and Paul Heyman basically saying Raw’s top faction will disappear if Seth lost, the writing was on the wall. Not that it really matters, as the Crown Jewel Championship is worthless. And this whole match was likely just another building block on the looooooooong road to WarGames next month.
Seth would do anything to beat Cody
1. John Cena vs. AJ Styles
Rating: 5/5
A lot of people, myself included, thought this match wasn’t going to happen. That WWE didn’t deem AJ Styles important enough to be a part of Cena’s last year. A sentiment that the Phenomenal One felt as well. But John Cena demanded it online because Triple H sucks at his job, and the match was willed into existence. I’m not exaggerating, that’s how the match was set up.
This match was a love letter to professional wrestling, and to both men’s careers. From AJ Styles’ TNA gear, Cena writing a custom introduction for Styles, the callbacks to their previous matches. Not to mention the plethora of references to both men’s past friends and rivals. And it was, pun fully intended, phenomenal. Cena and Styles had instant chemistry the moment they first locked up in 2016, and it’s still alive nearly 10 years later.
This was an excellent display from two veterans nearing retirement, pulling out everything they can possibly think of to get one last one over one of their biggest rivals. Utilizing the signature offense of their toughest opponents and closest friends to assist them. The Bray Wyatt tribute was especially great. Here’s hoping AJ’s retirement year gets better treatment than Cena’s largely has.
One. Last. Time.
