Top five mistakes WWE did in the build-up to Crown Jewel 2024

WWE is going to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel 2024

The next Premium Live Event (PLE) for WWE in this calendar year is the 2024 edition of Crown Jewel. Triple H had done a commendable job over the last few years, finally managing to make Crown Jewel a relevant PLE by booking matches that actually advance storylines within the event.

Before that, Crown Jewel was merely an occasion filled with legends past their prime being forced back into the ring in exchange for exorbitant sums of money, often tarnishing their legacies with matches that fans found absolutely atrocious. However, this narrative changed over the last two years, as WWE began showcasing young and upcoming talent, treating Crown Jewel like any other regular PLE happening elsewhere.

This year, things have taken a dramatic turn as WWE has decided to morph Crown Jewel into a concept reminiscent of Survivor Series. The world champions of both the men’s and women’s divisions will square off against their counterparts from rival brands to vie for the Crown Jewel Championship.

While this development is certainly an improvement over previous iterations—where legends returned for one-off matches—it has still led to numerous letdowns in the build-up to Crown Jewel. Let’s explore the top five mistakes in this year’s build-up to Crown Jewel:

Overpushing the Cody Rhodes agenda

While we mean no disrespect to Cody Rhodes, he is indeed the full-time champion we hadn’t had in the last two years and one of the faces of the company. However, he isn’t quite “that guy” yet. Roman Reigns remains the cornerstone behind this economic boom, alongside figures like Nick Khan and Triple H, who have spearheaded the operation.

Gunther has repeatedly emphasized in his recent promos that Cody is essentially the quarterback of this operation that has resulted in WWE’s current economic success. While it’s understandable what WWE is attempting to do, they shouldn’t overpush this narrative, as pro wrestling fans are not that naive—especially in the age of social media. This strategy could lead to fans turning on Cody Rhodes and outright rejecting him in the future.

The Usos Were Reunited Way Too Soon

While it’s understandable that blood is thicker than water and they are family after all—so despite everything that has happened, Jey can still forgive Jimmy since he is his twin brother—they should have given a bit more time to build such a massive moment.

The Usos’ reunion was significant and received a huge pop, which the blue brand desperately needed after being lackluster for a while now. Yet, the reunion happening so soon feels a bit forced. After everything that Jimmy Uso made Jey suffer in the past year, it should have been developed with more time.

This could have involved Jimmy taking a lot of bullets for his brother in order to finally convince Jey and win back his trust. This is one of the major criticisms in the build-up to Crown Jewel.

The Intercontinental Championship is once again not on a PLE

Ever since Sami Zayn lost the championship at SummerSlam, there hasn’t been one Intercontinental title defense at a PLE. Now, that’s not bad for RAW, as we are getting a lot of championship matches and new champions being crowned at the show.

But it definitely takes away from the title as well as the champion if it is never being defended at a PLE. Bron Breakker does have the star power to take the championship to PLEs and defend it, so WWE should really consider giving him that chance in the near future.

Kevin Owens vs Randy Orton needed more substance

It’s compelling to see Cody Rhodes finally having an interesting rivalry outside the Bloodline, with Kevin Owens turning on him in the parking lot after Bad Blood. However, with Cody preoccupied with Gunther at Crown Jewel, WWE decided to book Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens at the event.

But I can’t help but wonder if the only reason they booked this match was to have Randy Orton, one of the biggest names in the company, have a match at the PLE. Yes, Kevin Owens did attack him after SmackDown but he also had really strong reasons behind it. And given how Randy Orton and Kevin Owens were portrayed as the best of friends in the past few months, does it make sense for Randy to completely ignore Kevin Owens’ point of view and just outright demand a match against him?

Moreover, it’s puzzling to see how WWE is portraying Kevin Owens as if Randy Orton needs to be cautious and protected from him, especially after Owens was literally jobbing to the Bloodline for the majority of the past two years.

While I have no disrespect for the Prizefighter, it would seriously hurt Randy’s credibility if WWE plans to book him to lose to Owens at Crown Jewel. This rivalry certainly needed much more substance to be sold as the grudge WWE is portraying it to be, when, in case, Kevin Owens really doesn’t have a problem with Orton—but with Cody in kayfabe.

The Crown Jewel Championship lacks credibility

Just like how Braun Strowman was handed a championship because he won the Greatest Royal Rumble at Saudi Arabia, which didn’t mean anything at all and was never brought to WWE TV afterward, the same is going to be the case with the Crown Jewel Championship.

Yes, Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther is a dream match, and Nia Jax vs. Liv Morgan does have a lot of potential to be entertaining. However, that doesn’t change the fact that these massive championships didn’t need to be there, as they won’t be brought to WWE TV after the event ever again. The whole point of a championship is that it’s defended, isn’t it?

Moreover, Triple H and the crew tried to sell the idea that the championship is gorgeous because it has a lot of diamonds, yet the crowd at Bad Blood just booed it outright. Again, despite the criticism, I am on board with the champion vs. champion idea and wouldn’t mind if they had the mid-card champions from the brands take on one another from next year as well.

However, that giant diamond-embedded championship and the fact that they are trying to make it look so prestigious, even though fans don’t seem to care, makes it all look extremely forced. They should focus more on selling the rivalry between the champions instead of making it about the championship itself.

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