The champion vs. champion spirit of WWE Survivor Series is being resurrected at WWE Crown Jewel. As announced by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque at WWE Bad Blood, this November’s Saudi Arabia-based premium live event will host the top men’s and women’s champions of WWE Monday Night Raw, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Gunther and WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan, taking on the top men’s and women’s champions of WWE SmackDown, WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax, in singles contests. The winners of each match will be crowned the inaugural WWE Crown Jewel Champion, a title that effectively serves as a trophy, as it will not be regularly defended on WWE programming.
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While excitement and intrigue are ripe in the build up to WWE Crown Jewel, WWE finds itself in a bit of a booking corner when it comes to deciding how these matches should actually play out.
Why Gunther Should Beat Cody Rhodes
Since returning to WWE in April 2022, Cody Rhodes has only suffered a handful of pinfall defeats. His most recent time being on the receiving end of a 1-2-3 was when Solo Sikoa pinned him at WWE Money in the Bank in a tag bout, a loss that he avenged one month later at WWE SummerSlam.
Knowing how quickly Rhodes is able to bounce back from his rare defeats is all the more reason for Gunther to get this win. The American Nightmare’s whole story is overcoming adversity, and while he’s enjoyed a successful summer, his incoming program against Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson becomes all the more intriguing if he’s more vulnerable going into it.
Outside of Rhodes being able to take the loss, Gunther needs the win. His WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign is still very fresh, as he has only defended the gold twice since winning it at WWE SummerSlam over two months ago. Gunther’s reigns are defined by his extensive stretches of being undefeated, as evident by his runs as NXT UK Champion and WWE Intercontinental Champion. While he does not necessarily need to eclipse two years with his current prize, it would be too hard of a 180 if he shows chinks in his armor this early into his time as WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
Beyond that, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is still has the lingering consolation prize stink on it. After all, then-Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns labeled it as the “loser’s bracket title” given that it was only introduced because Reigns was too dominant with his unified straps. The WWE Championship and WWE World Heavyweight Title have evened out significantly since they both changed hands at WWE WrestleMania 40 in April, but the fans still see Rhodes’s gold as the ultimate prize in the company. Giving Gunther the win at WWE Crown Jewel narrows that gap significantly and makes both WWE Monday Night Raw and WWE SmackDown feel like even playing fields going into the new year.
Why Nia Jax Should Beat Liv Morgan
Nia Jax is enjoying a career renaissance unlike anyone in professional wrestling today. During her first run with WWE, Jax was a strong presence but never fully executed the relentless dominance that WWE was attempting to communicate.
Since returning to the company last fall, Jax has successfully transformed herself into that “Irresistible Force.” She showcased her main-event-level abilities at WWE Elimination Chamber in February when she headlined that premium live event against then-WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. In the months that followed, Jax won Queen of the Ring in dominant fashion and parlayed that tournament victory into winning the WWE Women’s Championship at WWE SummerSlam. Jax’s momentum is barreling forward, and WWE would be foolish to show any cracks in her game this early into her reign.
As for WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan, her whole game is trickery. She essentially stole her current prize from previous champion Becky Lynch in May thanks to inadvertent help from Dominik Mysterio. Dominik fully intentionally helped Morgan three months later at WWE SummerSlam, giving her the assist to beat main rival Rhea Ripley. Morgan got more assistance at WWE Bad Blood in the form of a returning Raquel Rodriguez.
When WWE Crown Jewel rolls around, Morgan losing to Jax clean would not stall her progress. Her style of heel is one that needs to get her comeuppance every once in a while. And beyond that, if WWE Monday Night Raw‘s Gunther is taking the men’s victory, it’s only fitting that WWE will split the wealth and give the women’s win to WWE SmackDown‘s Nia Jax.
WWE Crown Jewel goes down on Saturday, November 2nd.
