WWE Crown Jewel 2018 Match Card And Predictions

Much like Vince McMahon’s relentless lust for money, this show isn’t stopping. Despite pressure from the media and members of government, WWE are going ahead with their Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia this Friday. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey within the Saudi consulate was thought to have thrown this show in jeopardy. Clearly, the stubbornness of this company was underestimated by us all.

It’s not like anything can stop Crown Jewel at this point. I doubt the calls to cancel the Network and boycott the show will make any dent in WWE’s wallets. Remember that they stand to make between 10 and 20 million dollars from this. Despite multiple card changes stemming both from ethical grounds and unfortunate circumstances, there are enough matches on there to guarantee at least a mildly entertaining show. It’s just a real shame that it’s at the sacrifice of moral decency. Here are our predictions for WWE Crown Jewel.

 

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match

The Bar (Sheamus & Cesaro) (C) Vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and/or Xavier Woods)

The Bar’s successful bid for the tag titles on SmackDown 1000 was a pleasant surprise I think for everyone. They’d done little of note since being drafted over from Raw, this was a great way to thrust them into the forefront of the division where they belong. These are two of the very best tag teams in the game today and they will want to put in a wicked showing to wow the crowd.

Prediction: The Bar. Their reign isn’t going to be ended this early and there’s a plethora of tag team talent for them to feud with outside of New Day. The Usos have become a prominent force on television again lately, and Sanity still exist (or so I’m told). New Day do not need title gold to shift merch and be over, they’re simply untouchable at this point in their run.

 

WWE World Cup

Trust WWE to book a “World Cup” that is comprised entirely of Americans. You can try to fool us by throwing Rey Mysterio in there, but we all know he was born in San Diego. Seeing as there’s little story behind this and half the matches are unknown, I’m going to predict it by bracket.

Raw Bracket: Seth Rollins def. Bobby Lashley, Kurt Angle def. Dolph Ziggler, Seth Rollins def. Kurt Angle

SmackDown Bracket: The Miz def. Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton def. Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton def. The Miz

Final Prediction: There wasn’t a whole lot of methodology in predicting a winner up until recently. It was a seemingly random field of names to fill out a card. That was until Shane McMahon dropped the bombshell on SmackDown this week that if his finalist loses their match, they’re heading to Raw. While this stipulation is spectacularly dumb (why would Shane give Raw the chance to nab one of his top stars for free?), it makes things a little clearer.

I know Rey Mysterio not even making the final seems insane, but he just returned to SmackDown. Are they really going to send him packing after less than a month? The Miz came to SmackDown after WrestleMania, so he’s a recent acquisition, same goes for Jeff Hardy. Randy Orton? He’s been with SmackDown ever since the brand split was reintroduced. Over two years on the blue brand with most potential feuds already exhausted. That’s why I’m predicting we get a Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton WrestleMania 31 rematch for the final, where Seth gets that clean win over Randy to bring “The Viper” back to Raw.

 

WWE Championship Match

AJ Styles (C) Vs. Samoa Joe

It’s official now, Daniel Bryan won’t be at Crown Jewel. We all knew it, so I’m glad WWE weren’t completely shady and continued to advertise the original title match up until the day of the event. The match was cleverly pushed forward to this week’s SmackDown in a surprise announcement. AJ Styles retained his title against Bryan and was attacked by Samoa Joe afterwards. Rumour had it that Joe was dealing with an injury. Clearly, it was very minor.

Prediction: It’s a good thing Joe was ready to go, as there were no other real candidates to fill in for Bryan on the night. It’s a renewal of their recently concluded rivalry and will likely be an impressive match. Having said all that, AJ losing the title this close to holding it for a year to a last minute replacement seems unlikely. I’d love to see the belt on Joe, but AJ Styles has got this.

 

Match for the Vacant Universal Championship

Brock Lesnar Vs. Braun Strowman

This could be the best result of the night or the worst. Bar a no contest finish, we’re guaranteed a new Universal Champion. On the one hand, you have Brock Lesnar. Brock’s last reign with the title was panned by almost everyone, and we all breathed a sigh of relief when he finally dropped it after a year and a half. On the other hand, there’s Braun Strowman. Braun’s worked his arse off in the last two years to become a respected main eventer and has the crowd rallied behind him. WWE couldn’t possibly screw this up, right? Right?!

Prediction: Oh God, I’m scared. My head says Brock and my heart says Braun. Then some other part of me says Drew McIntyre interferes to set up a triple threat. I’ll give WWE the benefit of the doubt and assume we’ll see a decisive winner. It may be a prediction based on hope rather than critical thinking, but I’m saying Braun Strowman. Please.

 

D-Generation X (Triple H & Shawn Michaels) Vs. The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker & Kane)

In a testament to how spectacularly poorly received this show’s existence has been, Shawn Michaels is returning to the ring this week and nobody cares. We all knew this was coming. Anyone who bought into Super Show-Down’s “Last Time Ever” tagline was more naïve than babyface Becky Lynch. This match is driven by nothing more than egos and a stupid amount of money. So, I’ll give it the appropriate amount of respect.

Prediction: Brothers of Destruction. Trips put away Taker last time and they’ll want to keep this even-Stevens. If the rumours of this building towards one final Taker vs. Shawn match are true, God help us all.