As I look at the clock, I see that it’s 4:52am. I’ve been bedridden for the last few days with COVID, and I’m currently rocking a 102-degree fever and a migraine.
Don’t ever say I don’t love this stuff.
The RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia is already rocking. A rowdy Australian crowd is ready for Crown Jewel, and the entire arena is chock full of bright yellow John Cena t-shirts.
Before the show officially goes on the air, a singer from Perth sings the Star Spangled Banner, and the crowd IMMEDIATELY begins to boo.
Lololololololololol.
Let’s have some fun.
Roman Reigns vs Bronson Reed – Australian Street Fight
I said it a few sentences ago, but there are SO MANY John Cena shirts in the crowd. There are entire sections where almost everyone is wearing Cena’s farewell shirt. It’s a crazy visual.
Big Bronson is back home, and it has to be insanely cool for him to be back in Australia, competing in a high profile match like this. He got slightly less of a heel reaction than he usually does, but even with the hometown aspect, these fans are here for Roman Reigns. They’re singing for Roman during Bronson’s entrance, and they explode as Roman’s music hits.
We’re not even a full minute deep here, but the crowd is already losing their minds. I know Roman Reigns made some waves recently with his comments about what the world travel has been doing to his mind, body, and soul, but crowds like this guarantee that WWE’s attempt at a world takeover will continue on.
Roman is having fun. He’s smiling as he dishes out punishment to his opponent, smiling as the crowd chants for him, and smiles as he uses Australia-specific weaponry.
Speaking of that weaponry, it hasn’t been used much. Neither man has taken advantage of the Street Fight stipulation all that much so far. They’re beating the hell out of each other with strikes, sure, but my point remains.
LOL @ Bronson using a stop sign as a weapon, only for the crowd to start chanting “read the sign” at him. Clever.
With Bronson up against the barricade at ringside, Roman goes to build up a ton of momentum by running around the ring before delivering a Spear, but he is intercepted at the last-minute by Bron Breakker, who hops the barricade and drops him with perfect timing. Paul Patrol then put Roman through the announce table with a Shield-like assisted powerbomb.
Before the attack can continue, The Usos show up to a big pop and they go after both members of Paul Patrol. The Usos are on top for a moment, but they eventually get taken out, including Breakker driving Jimmy through the barricade with a Spear. It happens just in time for Roman to recover and get back in the ring.
Jey goes to hit Bronson with a Spear through a table, but Bronson side steps it, and Jey accidentally puts Roman through the table instead. It’s enough for the Vision members to get the advantage again, and after a Tsunami, Bronson pins Roman. That’s a HUGE win for Bronson, who becomes only the second man in the last several years to pin Roman in singles competition.
After the match, a frustrated Roman yells at his cousins, saying that he told them to stay out of his business. Roman says that the world already thinks that he can’t do anything on his own, and he says that he loves Jimmy and Jey, but that he doesn’t want to see them until Christmas. But what about Survivor Series, Roman?!?
Fun match, even though it didn’t reach “great” status. It was still a physical, crowd-pleasing affair that got the show kicked off in a hot way, though. 3.5 Stars
Stephanie Vaquer vs Tiffany Stratton – WWE Women’s Crown Jewel Title Match
Are you ready for a title match that doesn’t matter in the slightest?!? These Crown Jewel Title matches are so dumb. They give us big matchups, but nobody really takes the “titles” seriously as a reward.
Dueling chants of “La Primera” and “Tiffy Time” at the sound of the opening bell. The crowd is nowhere near as hot as they were for the show opener, though.
In the early stages, Tiffany is using her superb athleticism to her advantage, while Stephanie is trying to slow it down with submission attempts.
They’re really going back-and-forth, trying to get their style over.
A missed Prettiest Moonsault Ever from Tiffany allows for Stephanie to land her corkscrew splash for the pin and the win. It’s the first loss of 2025 for Tiffany. The match was good, but I would’ve appreciated it if they got more time. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the match even reached the ten-minute mark. They were building to something special, and could’ve reached that if they had at least five more minutes to work with. I’ll still go with 3.5 Stars, though. Like I said, they were building to something even bigger and better, so I’ll still give them credit for what they did in the time they were given.
After the match, Triple H comes out to present Stephanie with a Crown Jewel ring and he puts the Crown Jewel Title around her waist. She then gets interviewed, and with tears welling up in her eyes, gives a nice speech about how she believes in herself now because the fans believed in her.
John Cena vs AJ Styles
AJ comes to the ring in old school gear, looking like his TNA self. That’s pretty cool.
The crowd likes them some AJ Styles, but they LOVE them some John Cena. They’re going nuts for him during his entrance.
A graphic during his entrance says that Cena is going for his 100th victory on pay-per-view, and that he ranks second in company history behind The Undertaker (107) in that category.
Cena hands Alicia Taylor a piece of paper that consists of a personalized introduction for AJ, including calling him the definition of “Total Nonstop Action” and pointing out that he is the true boss of the Bullet Club, drawing an “oh shit” from a surprised, but clearly emotional, AJ. That was a great touch.
We have another styles clash here, pun fully intended. Cena is trying to control the pace by slowing things down and using his power advantage, but AJ is trying to use his speed and athleticism to his advantage. So far, in the very early moments, AJ is on top.
Cena continues to pay tributes to some of his favorite rivals from years past, hitting AJ with a Skull Crushing Finale. The Miz isn’t on the card, but he is in Australia, so he’s probably cheesing it up backstage right now.
More tributes from Cena, this time being an Accolade, and the crowd chants “Rusev Day” right away. Then, AJ breaks the hold and gives a tribute of his own, locking Cena in Samoa Joe’s Coquina Clutch. Cena then gets out of that and locks AJ in a Walls Of Jericho to a big-time pop from the crowd, who chant “Y-2-J.” Good stuff.
Cena catches AJ’s Phenomenal Forearm attempt, then hits AJ with a Sister Abigail. Man, that got me emotional. Even more so because the crowd was ON IT by busting out the fireflies, and chanting “thank you, Wyatt” as Cena looks to the sky and smiles.
All I can do is keep up with the tributes, man. Cena drapes AJ over the middle rope and hits him with a Randy Orton style DDT. He then “hears voices” and drops to the mat before hitting AJ with an RKO for two. Cena even tried to hit AJ with a Punt, but he was unsuccessful. On commentary, Woi Bar-ruh correctly declares that this is like when you create your own wrestler in a video game and give the character everyone’s finishing move.
As soon as I finish typing that, Cena hits AJ with an Undertaker-style Chokeslam. Tribute after tribute after tribute here. The Chokeslam gets a two count, and then the crowd hilariously chants “6-1-9,” and Cena goes to give it to them IMMEDIATELY, but AJ stops him to loud boos.
AJ is tuning up the band, and he hits Cena with Sweet Chin Music! This is hilarious.
LOUD “Yes” chants from the crowd now.
Cena catches a diving AJ, rolls through, and just when you think he’s going to hit an Attitude Adjustment, he turns it into a Tombstone! He picks AJ back up and then hits an AA for the win. That was so much fun. What a wonderful tribute to so many of their fellow wrestlers, and both men looked years younger in the process. I know some are going to complain that AJ basically kicked out of a dozen different finishing moves, but if you can take yourself away from that for a moment, this was a fantastic match. Like I said, they were able to turn back the clock, even outside of the move tributes, and they showed how much in-ring chemistry they have. 4.5 Stars
Folks, I’m not ready for Cena’s career to end. He only has four dates left. I’m stressing out.
Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky vs Asuka & Kairi Sane
After all that, the crowd now has to get excited all over again, this time for the arrival of their countrywoman, Rhea Ripley.
Sure enough, they go nuts for Rhea’s entrance. Both Rhea and Iyo have “Rhiyo” written on their faces, underneath their right eye. How adorable.
To show how popular Iyo is, the crowd is still going crazy for her and chanting for her as she’s in the ring. The story is being built to a hot tag for Rhea, though, and the crowd chants that they want Rhea.
My goodness, Iyo has eaten some STIFF strikes from both Asuka and Kairi in this one. Michael Cole and Woi Bar-ruh are wondering how Iyo is still standing, and I’m wondering the same thing.
The hot tag to Rhea finally happens, and the crowd goes wild.
With as much punishment as Iyo has taken in this match, she hasn’t been afraid to dish it out, either. All four women are hitting hard, as a matter of fact. They knew they weren’t in an enviable position on the card, and it seems like they made a pledge to go out there and beat the shit out of each other to make up for it.
Riptide, followed by an Over The Moonsault, and it’s enough for a Rhiyo victory. Yeah, all four women really went out there with a chip on their shoulder, and it shows. Following Cena and AJ, and coming on before the main event, wasn’t a great spot for them, but they made it work and kept the crowd involved. Really good stuff. Super physical. 4 Stars
Cody Rhodes vs Seth Rollins – WWE Crown Jewel Title Match
Last year, Cody defeated Gunther to become the inaugural Crown Jewel Champion. Can he successfully “defend” it here?
During a backstage segment earlier in the show, Paul Heyman told B&B Music Factory that, under no circumstances were they to come to the ring and interfere in this match, even if Rollins were to call for them. That has people speculating about someone else coming out to help Rollins here. Becky Lynch again? Dave Meltzer recently talked about the rumored plans for Survivor Series, including a match with The Vision that included Austin Theory. Would this be a spot for Theory to make his return?
Shoutout to Seth for rocking the Nike Air DT Max 96 Colorado colorway sneakers for this match. The DT Max 96 is my all-time favorite shoe, so of course I’m a fan of seeing them in the wrestling ring.
The story in the early moments is that Rollins is rattled. His offense keeps being countered and reversed by Cody, and the crowd keeps chanting derogatory things at him, and it has taken him off of his game. The fact that he has never beaten Cody is weighing heavily on him.
I’m digging the back-and-forth nature of this one. Seth struggled in the beginning, but he finally got everything in order and dominated for a few minutes before Cody got the momentum back again.
With Cody tied up in the Tree Of Woe, Seth just went COAST TO COAST WITH A HEADBUTT. That was amazing. Wow.
Cross Rhodes from the top rope! It only gets two! Cody and Seth are cooking. That shouldn’t surprise anyone in the slightest.
Ref bump! Seth takes advantage by hitting Cody in the face with a Rolex watch, worn brass knuckles style. Multiple Stomps later, including one from the middle rope, and Seth is your winner, and the new Crown Jewel Champion. What a match. Don’t tell Cody and Seth that this was a match with nothing on the line. They worked this like it was a WrestleMania main event. 4.5 Stars. They gave it all they had, and had a great back-and-forth battle. Big, big night for The Vision.
Top to bottom, this was a great pay-per-view. Two Match Of The Year contenders, a super physical tag match, a star-making performance from Bronson Reed, and a relatively short-but-sweet match between Stephanie Vaquer and Tiffany Stratton. Nothing to dislike on the entire show. A definite recommendation from me if you haven’t already checked this one out.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go back to sleep. It’s 8:30am, and I’m still sick as all hell.
