WWE presents its Crown Jewel pay-per-view from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 5, headlined by a high-profile Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match between Roman Reigns and Logan Paul.
The penultimate WWE PPV of 2022 will set the stage for Survivor Series later in the month while showcasing the biggest and best names on the main roster.
Which matches have already been announced and who can fans expect to leave the main event with the top prize in professional wrestling?
On paper, the match between Reigns and Paul hardly looks even.
The Tribal Chief has ruled over WWE for over two years as universal champion before adding the WWE title at WrestleMania 38 in April. He is the undisputed top star in the industry and the centerpiece of the company's creative efforts.
The idea of a celebrity, wrestling in only his third match, knocking him off his pedestal and claiming the world for the title sounds ridiculous. And it is, but WWE and Paul have done a wonderful job to this point of asking one particular question: What if it does happen?
That is the key to the hype surrounding this match and should be at the forefront of the next two weeks of build.
The bout is going to be hugely entertaining, and if his first two appearances between the ropes are any indication, the YouTuber is going to show up and show out. He's a ballsy kid who doesn't always know what he doesn't know, making his performances more organic and energized.
He will mesh well with Reigns, who is a spectacle performer with great timing and a flair for the dramatic. They are going to captivate the fans in Riyadh, and the result may be one of the most entertaining main events of the year.
As good as this will be, Reigns will retain his title. But this won't be the last time we see Paul compete in a WWE ring.
Bobby Lashley defeated Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble in January following shenanigans from Paul Heyman. Due to an injury suffered early in the following month's Elimination Chamber, the two never resolved their feud.
So, it makes sense that Lesnar's return to WWE should come against The All Mighty, when The Beast cost him the United States title and left him battered and bruised.
Lashley followed up a week later by driving Lesnar through a table.
Their match in Riyadh will be a heavy-hitting, high-impact clash between two big men with backgrounds in mixed martial arts. It will be unflinchingly physical from the start, and the fans in Saudi Arabia will love it.
The babyface will be protected via the booking, but this is Lesnar's match to win. He lost a lot in fully putting Reigns over as the undisputed WWE universal champion during his last run.
Now, it's his turn.
Prediction: Lesnar wins, Lashley is protected. Expect a third rubber match down the road.
The Judgment Day may be the hottest faction in WWE right now, thanks in large part to the effectiveness of a heel Dominik Mysterio, but the company didn't bring Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows back alongside AJ Styles just for them to lose their first major match.
The match feels very much like the first chapter in a rivalry rather than the concluding one, so a loss for The Judgment Day will not sting too much if the end goal is for them to overcome The O.C. and continue their reign of dominance on Raw.
The performances will be great, and fans should expect some stellar in-ring work whenever Styles and Finn Bálor mix it up, but the outcome feels fairly predictable as WWE Creative works to reintroduce The O.C. to fans as a top-tier faction.
Karrion Kross defeated Drew McIntyre at Extreme Rules after Scarlett interfered, macing The Scottish Warrior in the eyes and ensuring her charge left Philadelphia with momentum on his side.
At Crown Jewel, the former WWE champion will hope to negate her presence in a steel cage match that will hopefully keep her out.
The strap match at Extreme Rules wasn't quite what fans had hoped for from a quality standpoint as the competitors worked too hard to get the gimmick over and weren't allowed to have the all-out, hard-hitting brawl their feud deserved.
That should change in Riyadh when the focus is on the two wrestlers, with as few bells and whistles as possible.
It would seem McIntyre should win to get back at Kross for Extreme Rules, but The Herald of Doomsday still needs credibility in the eyes of the fans.
Despite the intent being to keep Scarlett out, look for her to somehow get involved and for Kross to steal another win from the Scot.
