Review for WWE Crown Jewel 2022

Crown Jewel was an amazing event this year. I will overlook the issues we have had with the event over the last few years and although I still think they are relevant looking at the first Crown Jewel and this one and you can see the leaps and strides WWE have made in this country. However, I must admit I was sceptical when it was announced Logan Paul was challenging Roman Reigns. I had not been impressed with his performance at Wrestlemania a while back and I thought this was just another example of using a celebrity for a cheap pop.

Boy was I wrong!

I was stunned by the performance of Logan Paul and I think the fact that I expected this to be either cheat shots, run ins or a squash meant the fact they went over twenty minutes was astonishing. It would not surprise me if Logan Paul went the Ronda Rousey route and make this a full-time thing as he was very impressive and the fact that he divides a crowd so much is just perfect for the world of WWE. Even I will admit I was wrong and there were genuinely times in this match when I thought he would win.

Brock Lesnar against Bobby Lashley was a big bulls slugfest, but it worked and was a great way to start the show. Not great, but definitely worth a watch. Sadly, can’t say the same for the other slugfest between Omos and Braun Strowman which was a little directionless and showed how limited Omos really is in the ring.

Drew McIntyre against Karrion Kross in a Steel Cage was a good match and as always it is lovely to see them use Scarlett in that Heel valet role which works so well. A great match between the two with some exciting moments.

I love tag team wrestling, but I have to admit that they needed to have put a stipulation on one of them to make them stand out. Usos against Brawling Brutes was great and had some excellent moments, Asuka and Alexa Bliss against Damage CTRL was another good match, but I expected more from everyone considering the talent in the ring. With the six-man between The OC (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) against The Judgment Day (Finn Balor, Damien Priest and Dominik Mysterio) was the best of the bunch. Maybe it was because of those involved, maybe it was the chemistry worked a lot better, but if you are a fan of tag team wrestling this was a great example of this.

The Last Woman Standing for RAW Women’s Championship between Bianca Belair against Bayley was one of the best women’s matches I have seen in a long time. It was given the time to mean something and both women came out of this match looking amazing. I do think the ending should have been changed and who won was wrong, but then I would always think that. However, bell to bell, this was one of the best matches of the night.

Surprisingly, this set gets a second disk filled with extras and matches and though I wish they had just gone the Blu-ray route with this I am not going to complain. Matches include Bianca Belair against Nikki Cross, Karl Anderson against Damien Priest and a WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match between Asuka and Alexa Bliss against Damage CTRL. These are all fine TV matches, not given enough time to be perfect, but just enough to hype up the PPV and the people involved.

Segments include a brawl between Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar, Bray Wyatt speaking, The Bloodline and the Crown Jewel Press Conference. All are great and hearing Bray speak just sends chills up me as it always does. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more aftermath of Crown Jewel and maybe some interviews with those involved to really show how much the Logan Paul appearance was shockingly good in comparison to previous celebrity involvement.

Crown Jewel 2022 was a fantastic PPV. Only one match was a dud and even that one was still watchable. There are some genuine match of the year contenders and it is very rare for me to recommend a PPV for more than one match, but this had it all from tag to women to steel cage to simply amazing performances this is a jewel of a PPV.