WWE Crown Jewel

[Daaaaaad!]

6 minutes ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

Am I imagining this or has Kane always taken a shit pedigree? Before I clicked that gif I could see it in my head.

You're dead right. Classic Kane face bump, taking it all on his knees for some reason.

I assume we're in spoiler territory now, but this... this might just be the greatest troll of all time. Almost admirably galling. 

[David]

Well, I quite enjoyed it. That's my last viewing of current WWE until they next hit the Arabian gulf and pull out the big guns.

[Fatty Facesitter]

Some eery shades of late 90's WCW about this...

All that pyro for a two minute Hogan promo. This lot are absolutely pissing money aren't they?

Thought all four of the first round World Cup matches were fine (Mysterio!! Goal for Saudi Arabia! Goal for ALL Arabia!) - short but sweet and kept things rolling nicely for the second portion of the tournament format. Angle surprised me by actually having a decent little match with Ziggler and not completely wiping himself out in the process. SD title six-man tag was good too. Sheamus is a bit bland for me, along with The Bar's act, but the match itself picked up a good pace towards the back end. 

Semi-final World Cup matches were ok but the fact they've booked Ziggler vs Rollins AGAIN is just incredible. I can tolerate Hogan's racism, them holding an event in a country like Saudi Arabia and their sheer greed when it comes to the money they've made from this, but all of that pales in comparison to the criminality of booking this match again. I think it's time they saw other people. 

AJ/Joe was a bit of a damp squib and the point the show started to take a turn for me. Nothing bad about it but this AJ run is just going to be devoid of any life whatsoever until CM Punk's record has been wiped out. Can we trade Somoa Joe back to Raw to squash midcarders like Apollo Crews and Bobby Roode for a bit while they figure out his next move? 

That'll be Lesnar popping up on EPSN over the weekend then. They'll go with Strowman going up against evil authority figure Corbin during the winter while Brock will coast along to another Wrestlemania. I know he was attacked pre-match and he kicked out of 100 F5's, but you could have given him more than one offensive move perhaps? Initially expected Brawn to win, posing with His Excellency with the big red belt and the big green belt he won back in April. 

Now, Shane-gate...I can see why they've booked it - it's all to cause chaos and conflict to drive storylines ahead of the inter-brand rivalry at Survivor Series (the announcers all but gave that away). Shane will likely captain a Smackers team at Survivor Series while Drew/Dolph co-captain a Raw team. I'm guessing Shane's over-celebrating at the end potentially points to a heel turn as well down the line. It's also better than the alternative we could have had if Corbin had done the same thing. If this isn't pointing to a Shane heel turn though, then their inability to book sympathetic babyfaces and constantly put over part-timers never ceases to amaze me. I'm apathetic at the sight of him these days but it would have been a decent thing for Dolph to win at the end. But hey, Saudi cheddar. 

I actually enjoyed some of the main event theatrics, but the last fifteen minutes where they effectively fell over each other to get it finished was fucking hilarious. To be fair HHH looked like he was working with an arm injury throughout and HBK didn't look terrible from an in-ring standpoint (I did like his cheeky grin to himself as he completed the kip-up but almost lost his footing at the last second) but Kane and Undertaker look bloody dreadful. HHH and HBK spooning together in the corner post-orgasm while they bathed in their sweet Saudi money with all the fireworks going off was quite romantic. 

Overall it was more of a WWE greatest hits tour than anything to get properly worked up about, and the first couple of hours or so of the show were actually alright. But their inability to book compelling babyfaces, over-reliance on old-timers and failure to put over newer talent will ultimately........have zero effect. For whilst there were a lot of similarities to late 90's falling-off-the-rails WCW booking conventions here, WWE as a company is shitting money and ran properly. So we're stuck with it, basically. I'm so offended that I'm definitely not watching a WWE PPV again until Survivor Series.  

 

[I Bent My Wookie]

If you include Drew, Heyman, Rush, Big Show and Xavier on the outside of the ring and Hogan hosting the average age of the 29 people who are seen as actual parts of the show (not including referees or commentators) for this event was 41. 

That's 16 years older than me and if this was 2002 I'd expect Kane, Taker, HHH, HBK to be in the main events, Lesnar breaking out, Shane O'Mac being made to look a more credible athlete than he is and Hogan to be wheeled out to appease audiences while Big Show is on his third turn of the year and nearly all non American or Canadian talent is evil.

Company's a fucking shambles right now. Maybe Vince does still think its 2002.

 

EDIT: forgot Corbin. Doesn't change much.

[air_raid]

1 minute ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

Some eery shades of late 90's WCW about this...

It's remarkable how many people in my disconnected circles are using this analogy.

3 minutes ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

I'm so offended that I'm definitely not watching a WWE PPV again until Survivor Series.

Me neither. Although the real fun is TLC and the Mixed Match Challenge final, where BnB are valiantly defeated by Shane & Marissa.

My favourite thing about today was when Michael Cole went "to retain" and it actually was the finish. Took me truly off guard.

[Snitsky's back acne]

So that was Crown Jewel....

I can see why they did the Shane thing but why do it at the expense of a heel? Have it be Rollins, fighting courageously to the final, only to have Ambrose run in, flatten him and Shane win,

Was the crowd chanting CM Punk or is that just my old man hearing? Also were they piping those other chants in?

Oh well, 2 Saudi shows down. 8 to go.

[air_raid]

7 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

I can see why they did the Shane thing but why do it at the expense of a heel? Have it be Rollins, fighting courageously to the final, only to have Ambrose run in, flatten him and Shane win,

Babyface Shane fucked over Raw for bants represented by a heel because he'll be fighting heel Corbin at Survivors.

[The King of Old School]

Yeah Team Corbin vs Team Shane at Survivors.

Corbin/Ziggler/Mcintyre/Lashley/Strowman (against his will) vs Shane, Hardy/Mysterio/Bryan/Joe

Should be a hoot, they will probably have the world cup on the line.

Event was ok for what it was, some of the world cup matches were ok, not sure i ever need to see Rollins/Ziggler again though. I liked the dynamic of Rollins/Lashley, Rey looked decent. Brock winning totally caught me off gaurd. AJ/Joe is in the Rollins/Ziggler catagory now. 

Main event was just old nostalgic fun that shouldnt be looked at too serious, despute looking rediculous HBK looked pretty good in the ring, anyone reckon we're getting one last HBK/Taker match out of it?

[air_raid]

11 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

 

Main event was just old nostalgic fun that shouldnt be looked at too serious, despute looking rediculous HBK looked pretty good in the ring, anyone reckon we're getting one last HBK/Taker match out of it?

Since the build to Super Showdown started, yeah they did.

[The King of Old School]

Be interesting to see where it goes, not sure they could drag it out until Mania from here but suppose thats where it belongs, part of me hopes they do it at Survivors so they can both do something different at Mania, would love a HBK/AJ match.

Have to say i'm looking forward to a Brock/AJ rematch at Survivors, last years was a belter, although part of me thinks we're getting a 5 minute squash this time.

[Michael_3165]

None of these Saudi shows are ever going to be noteworthy simply because the crowds are shit. They clearly aren't interested.

[Otto Dem Wanz]

Well I think we can agree that the quality and reception of this show was worth all the fuss surrounding it.

@Sonny Mustang It's not a title for title match at Survivors is it? Or were you being optimistic  

EDIT - anyone see those two kids in the audience who looked they were arguing and about to start fighting each other or did I imagine that?

[UK Kat Von D]

The conspiracy nut in me wants to say they intentionally put on a terrible show in the hopes it will be forgotten about as soon as possible. Shane winning and Braun getting hammered must have been intentionally designed to make sure everyone outside of Saudi Arabia does not give a fuck about any of these shows 

[gmoney]

3 hours ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

Shawn Michaels looks like my nob after a long bath. 

Fucking dying at this. A++++++++++

[HarmonicGenerator]

At one point during the World Cup I was wondering if I should be disappointed that, instead of getting any combination of Rollins, Mysterio, Angle and Hardy we were getting a halfarsed load of matches we’ve already seen - I did quite like Rollins vs Lashley, though - but that turned to admiration at the cheek of just having Shane win the thing. Hilarious!

I thought the main event was terrible. I wasn’t expecting Summerslam 2002 from Shawn but it’s evident he’s not had a match in 8 years. Kane’s wig fell off, Undertaker can’t really move and even Triple H looked lost to me. Considering the talent involved, that’s my pick for worst match of the year.

Oh, and that Lesnar/Strowman match. Bloody hell. I know this show is the equivalent of one of the old U.K. PPVs when it comes to canon but they can’t let Braun get anything in on Lesnar, can they?