Dolfan in NYC Posted October 7 Posted October 7 We are on our way to Australia! Land of gila monsters and spiders as large as dinner plates! It's time for Crown Jewel! (8AM start time in the Eastern US, so... 1pm in the UK?) THE CARD~ FOR THE MEN'S CROWN JEWEL CHAMPIONSHIP - Seth Rollins (Raw) vs. Cody Rhodes (Smackdown) FOR THE WOMEN'S CROWN JEWEL CHAMPIONSHIP - Stephanie Vaquer (Raw) vs. Tiffany Stratton (Smackdown) AUSTRALIAN STREET FIGHT - Bronson Reed vs. Roman Reigns AJ Styles vs. John Cena Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky vs. The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka / Sane) 1
The Natural Posted October 8 Posted October 8 18 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said: We are on our way to Australia! Land of gila monsters and spiders as large as dinner plates! It's time for Crown Jewel! (8AM start time in the Eastern US, so... 1pm in the UK?) THE CARD~ FOR THE MEN'S CROWN JEWEL CHAMPIONSHIP - Seth Rollins (Raw) vs. Cody Rhodes (Smackdown) FOR THE WOMEN'S CROWN JEWEL CHAMPIONSHIP - Stephanie Vaquer (Raw) vs. Tiffany Stratton (Smackdown) AUSTRALIAN STREET FIGHT - Bronson Reed vs. Roman Reigns AJ Styles vs. John Cena Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky vs. The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka / Sane) Had to stop myself saying Bl00d Money because Crown Jewel is usually there but it's in Australia this time round. Speaking of time, yes 1pm in the UK, Kelvin. This is one of the best looking WWE PLE this year. I'm into every match here.
TheVileOne Posted October 11 Posted October 11 The problem I'm seeing with PLEs now is that they are too ad-heavy and not enough action. The five-match special worked for NXT, but those NXT Takeover shows didn't spam you and bludgeon you with nauseating ad breaks. There's no reason you can't get six or seven solid matches in a 3+ hour show. And there's usually one or two matches on a Triple H PLE that runs way too long. Why are we even supposed to care about the Crown Jewel title? It's a one-off title that leads to nothing. And WWE has so many other champions that aren't on PLEs anymore. Judgment Day are tag champs and never defend the belts. Why is that? We should be getting more title matches on these shows too. And the rest of the roster who has been working hard all year don't get those opportunities to showcase themselves in a big blowoff match. PLEs are basically like Raws and SmackDowns just with more commercials now. 1
The Natural Posted October 11 Posted October 11 Needed a distraction from the physical pain I'm in so watched Crown Jewel. Thought this was one of the best shows this year and I couldn't stop smiling at John Cena vs. AJ Styles from the start with AJ Styles wearing his short tights I never thought I'd see him wear again to both paying tributes to friends/rivals using their finishing moves. Bray Wyatt's was moving with the crowd doing the fireflies. Might be my new MOTY. *****. Stefanie Vaquer is a star, right she beat Tiffany Stratton for the WWE Women's Crown Jewel Championship. Seth Rollins beating Cody Rhodes for the first time and in doing so winning the WWE Men's Crown Jewel Championship was the weakest of their four matches.
The Natural Posted October 11 Posted October 11 Never expected AJ Styles to wear the short tights again. That's my favourite AJ Styles look from his TNA/ROH days. One for @DreamBroken. 2
Cobra Commander Posted October 11 Posted October 11 I was assuming this card was in Saudi with the name and all. I was also wondering why they were holding an Australian street fight in SA or why they were flying from the USA to Australia to Saudi Arabia Guessing an Australian Outback fight would have probably caused someone to demand the match name be changed
RazorbladeKiss87 Posted October 11 Posted October 11 Just watching the clips of Cena hitting the Sister Abigail. Really great stuff. Sounds like Cena/AJ is worth hunting down. Anything else? 1
The Natural Posted October 11 Posted October 11 (edited) 7 minutes ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said: Just watching the clips of Cena hitting the Sister Abigail. Really great stuff. Sounds like Cena/AJ is worth hunting down. Anything else? Definitely watch John Cena vs. AJ Styles. Gave it the full *****. I'd recommend the whole show. Edited October 11 by The Natural
For Great Justice Posted October 11 Posted October 11 Cena vs Styles is probably the best match with two 45+ year olds ever
Matt D Posted October 11 Posted October 11 7 minutes ago, For Great Justice said: Cena vs Styles is probably the best match with two 45+ year olds ever In order for me to truly engage with this, I'd have to watch 2025 WWE, which I'm not going to do, but I mean... we've had multiple Ultimo Guerrero vs Blue Panther matches just this year. Hechicero is probably over 45 too and he had a great match with Panther. You've got Black Terry vs Mr. Condor. You've got Funk vs Bockwinkel from 83. Tenryu turned 45 in 1995. 6
For Great Justice Posted October 11 Posted October 11 18 minutes ago, Matt D said: In order for me to truly engage with this, I'd have to watch 2025 WWE, which I'm not going to do, but I mean... we've had multiple Ultimo Guerrero vs Blue Panther matches just this year. Hechicero is probably over 45 too and he had a great match with Panther. You've got Black Terry vs Mr. Condor. You've got Funk vs Bockwinkel from 83. Tenryu turned 45 in 1995. Ok Funk/Bock was better But this was legit incredible. There is a time and a place for playing the hits, and I get that, but this was 100% that time and that place. 6
odessasteps Posted October 11 Posted October 11 44 minutes ago, Matt D said: In order for me to truly engage with this, I'd have to watch 2025 WWE, which I'm not going to do, but I mean... we've had multiple Ultimo Guerrero vs Blue Panther matches just this year. Hechicero is probably over 45 too and he had a great match with Panther. You've got Black Terry vs Mr. Condor. You've got Funk vs Bockwinkel from 83. Tenryu turned 45 in 1995. Obligatory Casas and Satanico references.
HumanChessgame Posted October 12 Posted October 12 I don't have a ton of good stuff to say about nowadays Cena (or any Cena for that matter) and his randomly pulling out other guys' moves is especially lame, but this match was legit fantastic. If anything it's a testament to Styles being one of the best workers of his generation. I'll admit to not having seen a ton of his Japanese work, but AJ's WWE run has probably been my favorite of his career tenures. 2
TheVileOne Posted October 12 Posted October 12 I don't like throwing around terms like five-star classic or Match of the Year lightly, but Styles vs. Cena was a ton of fun, especially considering that they literally set it up randomly on social media and Cena wasn't even around on TV to build it up. Not to mention appear to be ignoring that whole worked shoot promo by AJ on Raw. Loved AJ wearing his old TNA mid-2000s gear and the ring introduction calling him the leader of the Bullet Club. Gave a fun, unique type of feel to this one. The finisher spamming and homages I think meshed with what they were trying to do here. Cena doing the Walls of Jericho, Styles doing the Super Kick, etc. Everything, though, seemed to make sense, and it wasn't like they were making it stupid or goofy. I thought it worked. Maybe it took the whole year for Cena to get warmed up, but this is the best he's looked during his retirement tour. Though I'm sure being in there with AJ Styles helped. They always had good chemistry together. Outside of that, I found the pacing of the card uneven. Too many ad breaks and just like dead air of messages of we'll be right back. I feel like Saturday Night's Main Event shows on NBC recently weren't paced out this badly and have more consistent action. I think my problem with modern WWE PLEs is the lack of action and how it takes basically one hour to do a whole match now. This card was a good example of that, but I thought the wrestling was all pretty good. I just think we needed a little bit more, plus a couple of title matches thrown in. I feel like the US and IC Titles seldom get defended on PLEs anymore. Like it's a problem to me they are doing this storyline with Bayley and Lyra, and there's no sort of blow-off or culmination at Crown Jewel. Stephanie Vaquer seemed to be teeing up a Rhea Ripley match on the post-show, so I guess that could be next? Vaquer's match with Stratton was just kinda there and fine, but Vaquer's connection with the fanbase is very special. It's no wonder WWE is pushing her so hard so quickly. She's had one of the best first years for any WWE wrestler I can recall in recent memory. Also, considering she could barely speak English when she signed, her improvement in speaking English is amazing. Not everyone needs to cut a Chris Jericho-type promo to be able to get over or have charisma. So Vince Russo can eff off right there. 2
The Natural Posted October 12 Posted October 12 26 minutes ago, HumanChessgame said: I don't have a ton of good stuff to say about nowadays Cena (or any Cena for that matter) and his randomly pulling out other guys' moves is especially lame, but this match was legit fantastic. If anything it's a testament to Styles being one of the best workers of his generation. I'll admit to not having seen a ton of his Japanese work, but AJ's WWE run has probably been my favorite of his career tenures. Check out AJ Styles match with Minoru Suzuki in the G1 Climax 2014, his Wrestle Kingdom 10 match vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and his matches with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada in 2014-2016. 1
Curt McGirt Posted October 12 Posted October 12 Can we stop saying PLEs and just say "big shows" or something? Also there has to be some Fujiwara match vs. Fujinami or some Fuchi match vs. Nishimura or somebody that's up there.
TheVileOne Posted October 12 Posted October 12 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said: Can we stop saying PLEs and just say "big shows" or something? Also there has to be some Fujiwara match vs. Fujinami or some Fuchi match vs. Nishimura or somebody that's up there. No. That's what they are. They are premium live events now. PLE is the acronym for Premium Live Events. It's like calling a pay-per-view a pay-per or PPVs. PPV means pay-per-view. Also, why big show? A Raw can be a big show. A SmackDown or Saturday Night's Main Event could be a big show. Nick Khan's reasoning for why they are not called pay-per-views anymore is technically we aren't extra for a single live event anymore. I get the annoyance. PLE sounds weird, and it doesn't roll off the tongue. It feels awkward, but it's the simplest terminology at this point. Edited October 12 by TheVileOne
The Natural Posted October 12 Posted October 12 Had so much fun watching John Cena vs. AJ Styles. *****. 2
TheVileOne Posted October 12 Posted October 12 I love how Michael Cole calls Cena doing a classic Randy Orton move, "Vintage John Cena." 1
matwarz Posted October 12 Posted October 12 I’ll be the miserable one; Cena and Styles lost me when they did the same spot sequence three times in a row for no reason. Therein followed twenty minutes of karaoke with dead air in between. Fantastic athletes, can’t fault the effort. Might be a big 5 in the marvel universe but not a match I need to watch again 1
Curt McGirt Posted October 12 Posted October 12 (edited) 9 hours ago, TheVileOne said: No. That's what they are. They are premium live events now. No, it's okay, you can call them whatever you want them to. Really. They don't have a trademark on the language or terminology I write or speak; I don't owe them a royalty for doing something different than their corporate newspeak. In fact in light of their ownership and history I deserve to do that. Or don't, whatever. Edited October 12 by Curt McGirt 2
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