Matthew Roberts takes a look at WWE Home Video’s latest DVD release, Crown Jewel 2022. Roman Reigns takes his toughest challenge yet… Logan Paul.
The WWE’s Saudi shows are locked in for the foreseeable so we might as well just get on with the show. This perhaps felt, in the build up, the most “normal” Saudi show yet in terms of the matches although it did have an appearance by Brock Lesnar and saw Logan Paul become the latest challenger to Roman Reigns.
We kicked things off with Brock as he took on Bobby Lashley. There was little more to this than them walloping each other until someone won but at least you couldn’t say that the six minutes dragged. Brock winning was no real surprise though the ending certainly looked as it if was setting up a rematch down the line.
Alexa Bliss and Asuka had lifted the tag team title belts on the preceeding Raw, much to the disgust of many online fans. Perhaps they should have waited until after the rematch here with Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai to vent their spleen. The match itself was fine and did what it had to do. That it left us back where we were a week ago is just one of those things. It seemed a pointless pair of title changes at the time and nothing that has happened since changed my mind.
Next up was Drew McIntyre and Karrion Kross in a Cage match. Their feud had underwhelmed some viewers although their match at Extreme Rules suffered from being just one of a number of gimmick matches on one show. This was a good, solid effort from both men and the finish gave Drew the win he needed but Kross a way to save face.
The six-man tag between The OC and Judgement Day was nothing we hadn’t seen before over the previous weeks on WWE TV and as such seemed like pure filler. Anyone expecting much from Omos Vs Braun Strowman hasn’t been paying attention; it was fine for what it was (two big men having a bit of a fight) but it wasn’t one that would be challenging for Match of the Year honours.
The Uso’s and The Brawling Brutes was a decent tag team match though even the speculation around Jey’s “broken wrist” wasn’t enough to ever suggest the titles were changing hands here (furthermore with the New Day’s shot at the champions on Smackdown a weeks later having already been announced). There was even less chance that Bailey would unseat Bianca “John Cena 2022” Belair, even though the match was fought under Last Woman Standing rules. Some will have enjoyed this more than others. It was certainly a good effort from both, who certainly suffered for there art here, but they could easily have shaved off five minutes without the match being any the worse for it.
After a Bray Wyatt promo (the kind we’ve been seeing as nasuem since he returned) it was time for the main event. Logan Paul has looked better in two matches than someone like Dominic Misterio has in two years, although when you can train and prepare for one match and have it laid out to perfection in advance you do have an advantage. As per that this was a little overbooked but there’s no doubt that it was one hell of an effort from both men. Such is the WWE you could almost have believed Paul could win and finally end Roman’s, erm reign. As “celebrity” matches go this was one of the best ever.
The event wasn’t a total “wow” but it never dragged that much and even when it seemed to resemble your average episode of Raw towards the middle rather than a PLE it was all fairly entreating stuff. Throw in two good World Title matches to end the show though and it certainly finished on a high note.
The DVD has a ton of extra features. These include matches from the preceding Raw (Bianca Belair Vs Nikki Cross, Karl Anderson Vs Damian Priest and the Women’s Tag Team Title match) as well as promos from Smackdown and the Crown Jewel Press Conference. Nothing is essential, but all add to the overall package.
7 out of 10
Photographs courtesy of Fetch and WWE. Thank you to WWE Home Video for our review copy of WWE Crown Jewel 2022 which is out now on DVD. You can buy your copy from WWEDVD.co.uk by clicking here.