WWE’s Crown Jewel had all the ingredients to be a memorable premium live event on paper, but as we’ve learned in the past, that doesn’t always mean the potential will translate to reality. Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case with Crown Jewel, and the event truly reached its peak with the anticipated match between John Cena and AJ Styles. In fact, this was truly the all-time moment of Cena’s farewell tour, and even with a few dates left to go, it may simply never be matched.
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When I say all-time moment, it’s actually because of a series of great moments that started before the bell even rang and lasted until after a winner had been decided. This entire match was something special, beginning with a custom introduction for Styles that mentioned both TNA and the Bullet Club and then seguing into a showcase of iconic wrestling finishers throughout. That was capped with a touching tribute to Bray Wyatt that truly brought the house down and had an impact on Cena in real time, and it’s going to be incredibly difficult to top this over the next few months, if ever.
John Cena and AJ Styles Delivered an All-Time Showcase
Before the match even started, Cena handed Alicia Taylor an introduction he wrote for Styles, which called out Styles’ history with TNA (mentioning Total Nonstop Action) and then also called Styles the undisputed leader of the Bullet Club, and that was a real surprise as it drew out a genuine “oh s***” from Styles. Cena said he was honored to face Styles, who was also delivering his own callback by wearing his classic TNA gear to the ring, so to say this match got off to a great start would be an understatement.
The match itself showed no issues living up to the hype either. Like Cena’s match against CM Punk, this was the vintage Cena of old, who turned things up a notch after taking some hits from Styles. The two superstars then started paying homage to a host of other superstar finishers, including Randy Orton’s DDT, The Undertaker’s Tombstone and Chokeslam, The Miz’s Skull Crushing Finale, Shawn Michaels’ Sweet Chin Music, Chris Jericho’s Walls of Jericho, and even Rusev’s Accolade. Those were just the ones that landed, as Cena even tried to set up a 619 at one point.
Those all pale in comparison though to the moment where Cena set Styles up for a Sister Abigail, paying tribute to the late Bray Wyatt. Cena hit the Sister Abigail and the crowd lost it, but the moment got even better as the Perth crowd pulled out all of their phones and lit up the arena with the fireflies. As the chants rang out, an emotional Cena took a second to look up to the sky and nod his head, paying tribute to Wyatt in a truly phenomenal way.
Cena would eventually win the match with a nod to The Undertaker and an Attitude Adjustment, creating a modern classic and easily the best moment of the entire Cena farewell tour. With only a few stops left and even a rumored opponent in Gunther for his final match, it’s going to be hard to ever top this classic match with Styles, and wrestling fans are lucky they got to watch this happen one last time.
WWE Crown Jewel Results
- Australian Street Fight: Bronson Reed def. Roman Reigns
- WWE Crown Jewel Championship Match: Stephanie Vaquer (C) def. Tiffany Stratton
- John Cena def. Aj Styles
- Rhea Ripley & IYO SKY def. Asuka & Kairi Sane
- WWE Crown Jewel Championship Match: Seth Rollins (C) def. Cody Rhodes
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Image Courtesy of Ufotable
