WWE Crown Jewel 2022 preview: Logan Paul is going to get lucky against Roman Reigns

WWE Crown Jewel 2022 takes place today (Sat., Nov. 5) from Mrsool Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It begins streaming live at 12:00 pm ET on Peacock in the U.S. and on the WWE Network everywhere else.

Logan Paul is going to get lucky against Roman Reigns

The main event of this card is WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns defending the gold against YouTube star Logan Paul.

Paul only has two professional wrestling matches under his belt. So why is he already getting a shot at the top prize in WWE? It’s because he’s a celebrity and the Saudi Arabian government is paying WWE more than 50 million dollars for a big attraction.

The only way Logan can defeat the Tribal Chief is by landing one lucky shot, courtesy of some pins or screws in his hand. This is pro wrestling, so of course he’s going to land that lucky shot. The most pressing question is, what happens after Logan gets lucky? Will Reigns need help from The Bloodline in order to survive the blow? Will he kick out of the pin on his own and then smash Paul for the win? Will the referee be knocked out beforehand and unable to revive in time to count the fall? Will Logan Paul pin Roman Reigns and become the new WWE Universal champion?

For what it’s worth, Roman has The Bloodline (minus Sami Zayn) in his corner for this match, while Logan has his brother Jake Paul in his corner. There’s a good chance that chaos will break out ringside between Jake and The Bloodline at some point during this fight.

Logan Paul has delivered the goods in his previous two WWE matches, so this should be a spectacle worth checking out when he goes one-on-one with the top guy in the company.

The rest of the card

The following eight segments are also advertised for Crown Jewel:

Bianca Belair (c) vs. Bayley in a Last Woman Standing match for the Raw women’s title

Bianca Belair always gets the job done when the title is on the line. She defeated Bayley in a ladder match to retain the title last month, and now she will have to be the Last Woman Standing in order to walk out of Saudi Arabia with the gold.

Bayley did pin Belair in a non-title match on Raw to earn this match, but a pin fall won’t matter this time. Whichever woman can keep her opponent down for a (slow) count of ten will be declared the winner. Bayley managed to hit Bianca with a Bayley-to-Belly suplex through a table on Halloween. That’s the kind of high impact move that will be needed to win this match.

If that doesn’t keep Bianca down, Bayley might need to call in an assist from the rest of Damage CTRL. Then again, Bianca has kicked all three of their asses in one match before, so that might not work either. Bayley has a tough road ahead no matter which strategy she chooses, because that’s how dominant Belair has been.

Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley

Brock Lesnar isn’t missing out on that Saudi money, but he needs to take a break from fighting Roman Reigns. Therefore WWE has paired him up with one of the only other wrestlers on the roster who can hang in the ring with Brock in kayfabe, Bobby Lashley.

Lashley defeated Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2022, and Brock is still angry about it. So he showed up on Raw and screwed Lashley out of the United States title. Now he plans to F-5 Bob multiple times in Saudi Arabia.

Lashley never seems comfortable taking German suplexes from Brock, and this contributed to an injury that put Bob on the shelf after he beat Brock at the Rumble. German suplexes are like 75% of Brock’s move set, so hopefully Bob has a better game plan for taking those bumps this time around.

Lesnar is probably winning this bout because he has lost two matches in a row. But regardless who wins, their feud likely won’t end here at Crown Jewel.

Drew McIntyre vs. Karrion Kross in a Steel Cage match

Kross and Scarlett cheated to get a win over Drew McIntyre in a strap match at Extreme Rules. McIntyre responded by injuring Kross in a car crash and beating the hell out of him afterwards. I guess that’s one way to pay someone back for trying to blind you with a fireball and pepper spray. The two men have not crossed paths on TV since the car crash.

Will a steel cage be enough to keep Scarlett from interfering and giving Kross an unfair advantage again? Will Scarlett even be ringside for this match in Saudi Arabia?

Asuka & Alexa Bliss (c) vs. IYO SKY & Dakota Kai for the WWE women’s tag team titles

Asuka and Alexa were injured by Damage CTRL over one month ago, but they came back out of nowhere on Halloween to win the titles from Kai and SKY. Can they do it all over again in a rematch five days later?

The O.C. vs. The Judgment Day

The Judgment Day tried to convince AJ Styles to join their group by beating him into surrender. That plan backfired when AJ brought Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson back to WWE to wage war against Finn Balor, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio, and Rhea Ripley. The two factions will go at it in a six-man tag team match at Crown Jewel.

Ripley is the big problem that The O.C. has not been able to solve. She interferes in all their matches, delivering body slams, low blows, and whatever else is needed to keep The Judgment Day on top. If AJ and the Good Brothers aren’t willing to lay a finger on her or find someone who is, then they will remain at a big disadvantage in this war.

Braun Strowman vs. Omos

The story here is pretty much a dick swinging contest, with each man trying to assert that he is the most dominant giant / monster in WWE.

Omos’ pro wrestling skills begin and end with squashing jobbers. There’s really nothing else he can do in the ring, so WWE has stopped asking him to do more than that.

But now that Braun Strowman is back in the company, Omos’ role on the roster is obsolete. Both men play the role of the giant, but Braun is the one who can actually be called upon to wrestle competent matches against upper card stars.

This match feels like it’s here to cement that Braun is the best giant in WWE. Once this is done, it’s hard to see what Omos brings to the WWE main roster going forward.

This fight should be one of the quickest of the night given Omos’ limitations in the ring.

The Usos (c) vs. The Brawling Brutes for the undisputed WWE tag team titles

The Bloodline broke Sheamus’ arm a few weeks ago, so now Ridge Holland and Butch are coming for Jimmy and Jey’s tag team titles.

The Usos are closing in on the longest WWE tag team championship reign in history, so it’s unlikely that they will lose the belts against the lower two guys of the Brawling Brutes. But this match could still be a banger, even without Sheamus there.

Bray Wyatt is bringing mystical energy to Saudi Arabia

What exactly will Bray be doing today in Saudi Arabia during his non-wrestling segment? This is what WWE’s web site says:

“Bray Wyatt brings mystical energy to WWE Crown Jewel...what new mysteries will Wyatt bring with him when he appears live?”

I burst out laughing when I read that description. Mystical energy? Huh?

Summary

Triple H and his team have booked another good PPV lineup for WWE. These Saudi Arabia shows used to be guaranteed to rank among the worst of the year back when the company was booking Goldberg in main event matches and Shane McMahon to go over the full time talent. But it’s hard to look at the lineup for Crown Jewel 2022 and see any potential stinkers in there aside from Strowman vs. Omos.

What will you be looking for at Crown Jewel?