This year’s edition of the Crown Jewel premium live event is currently scheduled to take place at the Riyadh Season Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 7th despite the recent political tensions. They also have WrestleMania 43 currently booked in Saudi Arabia, but it’s unknown whether or not WWE will continue booking PLEs there post-WrestleMania 43. There are rumors that there are backup plans for the PLE to be hosted somewhere in the United States. Nothing has been confirmed yet by WWE or TKO. The two confirmed matches for the PLE are Sami Zayn vs. Roman Reigns and Liv Morgan vs. Chelsea Green. These are the four current main event champions on the main roster. Modern WWE doesn’t book more than six matches in a single PLE, and it’s not likely to change for this event. That leaves room for around three to four matches to fill out the card. Here are the likely matches to expect at this year’s Crown Jewel.
Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton
Last night’s SmackDown saw Cody Rhodes finally pull off the infamous Punt Kick, just on someone unexpected. Rhodes has been vowing to kick Randy Orton’s head off since their post-match scuffle at WrestleMania 42, where ‘The American Nightmare’ beat Orton to retain the Undisputed WWE Championship. A face-off between Rhodes and ‘The Viper’ was scheduled to main event the show. Baron Corbin had other ideas. Corbin came out instead of Orton and called ‘The Golden Boy’ out for being the same whining Rhodes that he witnessed before his 2024 release. ‘The Nomad’ vowed to end Rhodes and kickstart his main event run, causing a quick physical altercation that resulted in an impromptu match.
Rhodes and Corbin would go back and forth before Orton’s interference caused Rhodes to win by disqualification. ‘The American Nightmare’ and ‘The Viper’ would fight until the former had the upper hand and was in position to finally kick his mentor’s head off cleanly. That was the case until ‘The Nomad’ came back into the ring, interrupted the Punt Kick, and positioned ‘The Golden Boy’ for an End of Days. Rhodes would counter it and land a Cody Cutter, which put Corbin into position for the dreaded Punt Kick. Orton rolled out of the ring while this was all going on, and when ‘The Golden Boy’ put ‘The Nomad’ in punt position, ‘The Legend Killer’ kept repeating that Rhodes didn’t have it in him to pull off the punt. The future WWE Hall of Famer couldn’t be more wrong, as Rhodes proceeded to pull the trigger and punt Corbin’s head into oblivion.
Orton’s facial expressions said it all. He expressed immense fear and concern about his future well-being. If ‘The Viper’s former student could punt someone that’s only pissed him off for a single day, imagine what his former student would do to him given the chance after months of personal attacks and beratement. It’s likely that ‘The American Nightmare’ will continue to hunt Orton down until SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis books the match the week before Crown Jewel. Maybe the WWE universe will finally see a different side to Rhodes.
Kevin Owens vs. CM Punk
These two also despise each other, except they never had a good relationship to begin with. Kevin Owens and CM Punk, essentially, took each other out and prevented one another from winning this year’s Money in the Bank contract. Last night’s SmackDown saw the two enemies bicker back and forth in front of SmackDown’s general manager. Aldis wasn’t pleased that the two weren’t willing to wait to tear each other apart in a sanctioned match. ‘The National Treasure’ made his intentions known: he was a fan of Owens vs. Punk in a sanctioned match, so long as they could keep to themselves before and after the fact. This segment surely teased an upcoming bout at Crown Jewel.
Stephanie Vaquer vs. Becky Lynch
These two women also fought against each other, alongside Morgan, in a Triple Threat Match for the Women’s World Championship. Stephanie Vaquer and Becky Lynch, similarly to Owens and Punk, prevented each other from winning their match. This allowed ‘Güerita’ to hit Oblivion onto Vaquer to regain the belt. This past episode of Raw saw the two verbally assault each other backstage. ‘La Primera’s injury seems to be real, but she said onscreen that it shouldn’t take too long before she’s able to go again in the ring. WWE creative seems to be playing the long game with this feud; this should be the first of many matches between the two decorated superstars.
946 vs. The Bloodline in a No Disqualifications, No Countouts Match
This match is the least likely to happen on the card. It would set up an inevitable WarGames match beautifully, however. The shock of this past Raw was Carmelo Hayes returning to WWE television to join 946’s Royce Keys, Bronco Nima, Lucien Price, and Jaida Parker. Solo Sikoa had Keys in position for a Samoan Spike in their Six-Man Tag Team Match before Hayes came in with a crowbar and bashed Sikoa’s legs before beating up Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso alongside their brother. The match ended in a no contest, and Raw general manager Adam Pearce seems unable to control the two factions. He ordered veteran referee Chad Patton to not enforce the traditional tag team rules, essentially making it a Street Fight. The fact that the match didn’t end definitively will definitely get under everybody’s skin. It seems likely that 946 will hit another successful attack on The Bloodline before a No Disqualifications, No Countouts Match will be ordered by Reigns or Pearce. The only way this match stipulation ends is when someone gets pinned or submitted. ‘The OTC’ is scheduled to be on this upcoming episode of Raw, and it’s likely that either he’ll see his family get attacked by 946 or that he’ll get attacked by 946 himself. This could see Zayn fight internal demons on whether or not he should help his former ‘Tribal Chief’ and his honorary family out. It remains to be seen, as ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ didn’t make any comments during this past episode of SmackDown and said he wanted to voice his thoughts and opinions to Reigns’s face. Should this match take place, there’s a good chance either Jacob Fatu or Naomi returns to help The Bloodline bolster its numbers once again.
