Solo Sikoa defeats Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes defeats

Crown Jewel’s boldest and most notable moment came in the opening match, followed by a mostly safe remainder of the card that did have some highlight reel moments in the ring.

Roman Reigns, in a rare starting match, was pinned for just the third time in his Tribal Chief era – this time by Solo Sikoa, as Reigns’ Pedigree still has some work to do.

Liv Morgan, with a lot of help, became the first women’s Crown Jewel champion after another draw from Tiffany Stratton.

Cody Rhodes, with a little smarts, outlasted Gunther to win the men’s championship for the first time in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.

Both he and Morgan would receive Super Bowl-themed rings to commemorate their victories, but it was far from a WWE championship achievement.

Here are five takeaways from Crown Jewel.

Broken family

There was so much to like about the narrative that played out in the six-man match at Bloodline, and it should make Roman Reigns take a hard look in the mirror.

Solo Sikoa pinned Reigns, joining Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso to do so during his Tribal Chief era. Sikoa used three Samoan spikes to get the job done. This gives even more impetus and gives Sikoa the legal right to claim the title of head of the family. The fact that he will lose the match should make Reigns leave his arrogance at the door – he is now mortal.

Sikoa’s group began beating Reigns, Jimmy and Jey Uso, which led to Sami Zayn coming out. There were doubts which side he was on after Zane’s meeting with Sikoa earlier in the week, but in the end he stumped the current tribe leader.

However, there was no happy ending.

Zayn and Reigns attacked Sikoa in the center of the ring while the Usos surrounded him in the other corners. The once honorable Uso hit Reigns with a kick and Sikoa dodged a Superman kick. This prompted Jimmy to punch Zane in the face and Jay had to pull him away.

Reigns’ group is fragmented and will need to be brought back together before Survivor Series.

Same old stories

The Crown Jewel Women’s Championship match between Liv Morgan and Nia Jax unfortunately turned out to be just a repeat of their stories. The heel match was as good as it could be and at times showed how far both have come as performers.

A sunset powerbomb from Morgan to Jax left both men laying in the ring and brought Tiffany Stratton out to try and cash in her Money in the Bank contract, which never happened. Jax chided her as usual and nearly lost the match when she was distracted by Raquel Rodriguez before Morgan hit the handsome Codebreaker off the top rope.

Jax’s punch brought Dominik Mysterio into the ring. After Jax wrapped Stratton and Morgan around the outside, she prepared to deliver the Annihilator to the Women’s World Champion. But Mysterio distracted the referee after he pulled the MITB briefcase into the ring while Rodriguez knocked Jax off the top rope. Morgan brought victory to Oblivion.

The only thing this match accomplished was hoping that Jax was angry enough at Stratton for costing her the match that she would finally be brave enough to cash in on the WWE Women’s Champion.

Golden boy

Cody Rhodes remains untouchable in WWE, and while I felt a Gunther win would have been more impressive, there’s nothing wrong with keeping him unblemished after winning the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 40.

And the way they did it protected Gunther as much as possible in the event of a loss when Rhodes went for Cody Cutter’s top rope but Gunther caught him in the sleeper. But before Gunther could lock him up a second time and put his opponent to sleep like he said he wanted, Rhodes flipped backwards – a la Bret Hart – and pinned Gunther’s shoulders to the mat. After that, they shook hands, although Gunther’s disappointment was visible.

The match was reminiscent of heel Brock Lesnar, with Gunther slowly crushing Rhodes with strikes, suplexes, chops and submissions. Both men came away looking strong as Rhodes hit a finishing powerbomb from Gunter and the Ring General picked up a shoulder after Rhodes’ Cross.

This looks like the start of a feud for years to come.

Thirst for fight

Kevin Owens made sure the bell never ran by attacking Orton from behind with a chair before the match, making good on Triple H’s warning that this was a different version of the Prize Fighter.

Owens, who clearly wanted a fight in the match, hit the referee with a Stunner after he grabbed a chair and tried to start the match. Orton later appointed RKO Raw general manager Adam Pearce after WWE officials came out and tried to restore some order.

Orton and Owens eventually took the match to the crowd. Owens, who felt betrayed by Orton and Rhodes, laid his opponent down on the table and delivered an elbow into the railing to end the carnage. Will Orton come back to cost Owens his match with Ridos? There are many more questions about what will happen next than there are simple answers.

Triple pleasure

Los Angeles Knight and Andrade Carmelo Hayes really showed it off in one of the best matches of the night, taking full advantage of a natural triple threat. There were multiple sequences of quick, creative counters where you weren’t exactly sure who would land the final blow.

Included a final scene where Hayes yanked Andrade off the top rope and dropped a spinning front lock off the ropes. But before he could complete it, Knight came in and hit both men with BFTs before pinning Hayes to pick up the win.

Knight could have simply walked away from both men, but Hayes has felt so close so many times that he may have a more direct feud with the Mega Star.

Other matches

Seth Rollins defeated Bronson Reed

It took a stomp, a stomp on the steel steps, and finally a super stomp from the top rope to keep Reed far enough away from Rollins to win the match. He didn’t stay there long as Rollins had a look of disbelief on his face when he saw a bloodied Reed, who had the best chance early in the match with Tsunami, but got greedy for a second, standing in the ring as he made his way. to the ramp. This match turned out to be fast and explosive. Both men looked good and it was over. Does Rollins go back to the World Heavyweight Championship after this?

Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair defeated Chelsea Green and Piper Nevin, Ayo Sky and Kairi Sane, and Lash Legend and Jackson to retain the Women’s Tag Team Championship.

The women’s tag team match wasn’t always perfect, but it had to be at the pace they maintained, trying to cram as much into the match as possible. The best scene came when Chelsea Green came off the top rope onto the apron, afraid to try a moonsault before diving straight into the ground hands of Piper Nevins on the outside.

This was followed by Kairi Sane hitting an In-Sane Elbow on Green and Nevin, Ayo Sky flying to the outside, and Jakaa Jackson diving off Lash Legend’s shoulders onto them all. At the finish, Nevin hit Green by mistake. Cargill lifted Nevin onto her shoulders to keep the cool looking Doomsday Device.

The divisional matches are going strong right now, but there isn’t a single team that feels like it really threatens Belair and Cargill.

Biggest Winner: Solo Sikoa
Biggest Losers: Carmelo Hayes and Andrade
Best match: Cody Rhodes vs. Gunter
Grade: B