The 2022 Crown Jewel () was a professional wrestling premium live event (PLE) produced by the American company WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the fourth Crown Jewel and took place on Saturday, November 5, 2022, at Mrsool Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event was held as part of the city's annual Riyadh Season festivities and aired live at 7:00 p.m. Arabia Standard Time (12:00 p.m. Eastern Time).
This was the eighth event that WWE held in Saudi Arabia under a 10-year partnership in support of Saudi Vision 2030. It was also the second Crown Jewel to be held at Mrsool Park, after the inaugural 2018 event when it was known as the King Saud University Stadium (renamed in 2020). This was also the first Crown Jewel to be branded as a "premium live event", a term the company introduced at the start of the year to refer to its events airing on traditional pay-per-view and via WWE's livestreaming platforms. It would also be the first Crown Jewel to livestream on Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, following the shutdown of its version of the WWE Network in late January, and it was WWE's final PLE to air on the WWE Network in the Philippines before it transferred to Disney+ on November 17.
Eight matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Logan Paul to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, which also saw an appearance by Logan's brother Jake Paul. In other prominent matches, Braun Strowman defeated Omos, Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky) defeated Alexa Bliss and Asuka to win the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, Bianca Belair defeated Bayley in a Last Woman Standing match to retain the Raw Women's Championship, and in the opening bout, Brock Lesnar defeated Bobby Lashley.
The event received overwhelming acclaim, with fans and critics praising the main event for Logan Paul's wrestling skills and his efforts to wrestle after suffering an injury halfway through the match. The Last Woman Standing match was also praised for its creativity. The Women's Tag Team Championship match and the Steel Cage match were also well received.
Production Background
Crown Jewel is a professional wrestling premium live event (PLE) produced by the American company WWE since 2018, held in late October–early November in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It has been held every year since, except in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is held as part of the city's annual Riyadh Season festivities, which began in 2019. It is the main recurring event held as part of a 10-year strategic multiplatform partnership with the Ministry of Sport (formerly General Sports Authority) in support of Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia's social and economic reform program, a partnership that began in early 2018.
Announced on May 23, 2022, the fourth Crown Jewel, and eighth overall event in the Saudi Arabian partnership, was scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 5, 2022, at Mrsool Park, marking the second Crown Jewel to take place at this venue, after the inaugural 2018 event when it was known as King Saud University Stadium (renamed in 2020). The event featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This was also the first Crown Jewel to be branded as a "premium live event", a term the company introduced on January 1 to refer to its events that are available on pay-per-view (PPV) and via livestreaming.
Broadcast outlets The PLE was broadcast on traditional PPV outlets worldwide. It was also available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, and the WWE Network everywhere else. This was the first Crown Jewel to livestream on Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, following the shutdown of its version of the WWE Network in late January. This would also be WWE's final PLE to livestream on the WWE Network in the Philippines, as on October 21, it was announced that The Walt Disney Company and WWE inked a deal to make Disney+ its exclusive home for WWE Network in the Philippines, which began on November 17. With the event being held in Saudi Arabia, it aired live at 7:00 p.m. Arabia Standard Time (12:00 p.m. Eastern Time).
Iranian attack concerns
On November 1, 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia may be subject to a targeted attack by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps amid the Mahsa Amini protests simultaneously taking place. The article stated that the attacks were planned for "targets in the kingdom". This brought concern regarding Crown Jewel that upcoming weekend. PWInsider reported that WWE would be going forward with the event and that the company had security protocols and emergency contingencies in place if something were to happen, but were hopeful that there would be no issues. On November 2, Iran denied that they were planning any attack.
Storylines The event included eight matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
Main event match
After Roman Reigns appeared on Logan Paul's podcast Impaulsive, the social media influencer then trash-talked Reigns after the latter left the set. This led to a social media exchange, resulting in Paul appearing on the September 16 episode of SmackDown where he confronted The Bloodline to invite Reigns to a press conference in Las Vegas the following day. At the conference, WWE executive Paul "Triple H" Levesque announced that Reigns would defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Paul in the main event of Crown Jewel, marking only Paul's third match in WWE. During the Crown Jewel press conference the day before the event, it was confirmed that while Reigns would have The Bloodline in his corner (except Sami Zayn), Paul would be backed by his brother Jake Paul.
Undercard matches On the October 10 episode of Raw, The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio, and Rhea Ripley) called out AJ Styles to join their stable, as Styles and Bálor used to be teammates in the Bullet Club in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Styles came out to seemingly accept the offer, however, he rejected and introduced the returning Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson as backup, making their return to WWE after both were released in April 2020, thus reforming The O.C. A brawl then ensued between the two teams. The following week, The Judgment Day confronted The O.C. and challenged them to a six-man tag team match at Crown Jewel, which the latter accepted.
On the October 10 episode of Raw, Bobby Lashley listed off the names of previous wrestlers he had defeated, which included Brock Lesnar, who he faced only once and defeated at the Royal Rumble in January. Lesnar, in his first appearance since SummerSlam in July, then made a surprise return and attacked Lashley. This ultimately cost Lashley his United States Championship in a title defense that occurred right after the confrontation. Later backstage, Lashley challenged Lesnar to face him on the following week's episode. There, the two brawled which ended after Lashley put Lesnar through the commentators table. Later that night, a match between the two was announced for Crown Jewel.
At Extreme Rules, Karrion Kross defeated Drew McIntyre in a strap match after Kross's wife, Scarlett, incapacitated McIntyre with pepper spray. On the following episode of SmackDown, Kross was scheduled to compete in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship. However, before SmackDown went on air, Kross was involved in a car accident (kayfabe) and was attacked by McIntyre while receiving help, rendering him unable to compete. The following week, McIntyre announced that he would be facing Kross in a Steel Cage match at Crown Jewel.
During Braun Strowman's match on the October 14 episode of SmackDown, Omos and his manager MVP of the Raw brand appeared in the crowd. After Strowman won the match, MVP explained that they took issue with Strowman's claim of calling himself the "Monster of all Monsters" and claimed that Strowman would look normal sized if he stood next to Omos. The following week, Strowman called out Omos to confront him. MVP came out instead and Strowman stated that he wanted to challenge Omos at Crown Jewel; MVP then accepted on his behalf, however, Omos then came out and towered over Strowman before shoving him out of the ring. The match was officially confirmed on the October 24 episode of Raw.
At Extreme Rules, Bianca Belair defeated Bayley in a Ladder match to retain the Raw Women's Championship. On the October 24 episode of Raw, Bayley defeated Belair in a non-title match after interference from Nikki Cross, who ditched the Nikki A.S.H. persona. Due to this, Bayley earned another title match against Belair, which was scheduled for Crown Jewel and stipulated as a Last Woman Standing match.
On the October 14 episode of SmackDown, Sheamus and Solo Sikoa competed in a fatal four-way match to earn an opportunity at the Intercontinental Championship. During the match, Bloodline members Sami Zayn and Jey Uso interfered on Sikoa's behalf. The Brawling Brutes (Ridge Holland and Butch) then came out to defend their stablemate, Sheamus, and a brawl broke out between the two teams. The following week, The Bloodline attacked and injured Sheamus. After defeating Zayn and Sikoa on the October 28 episode, Holland and Butch earned a match against The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship at Crown Jewel.
After being absent for a few weeks due to an attack by Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky), Alexa Bliss and Asuka made their return on the October 31 episode of Raw. That night, they challenged Sky and Kai to a match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship and defeated them to win the titles. The next day, a championship rematch was scheduled for Crown Jewel.
During the October 31 episode of Raw, it was announced that Bray Wyatt would be making an appearance at Crown Jewel. Wyatt had been released from WWE in July 2021 and made his return to the company at Extreme Rules. Since his return, he had made cryptic promos about his future, while also being haunted by a figure from his past named Uncle Howdy, who first appeared on the October 28 episode of SmackDown.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsMichael ColeWade BarrettArabic commentatorsFaisal Al-MughaisibJude AldajaniRing announcerMike RomeRefereesDanilo AnfibioJessika CarrDan EnglerDaphanie LaShaunnRyan TranPre-show panelJackie RedmondMatt CampPeter Rosenberg
Preliminary matches The PLE opened with Bobby Lashley facing Brock Lesnar. During Lesnar's entrance, Lashley shoved Lesnar into the steel steps, who injured his knee. Lashley performed a spear on Lesnar, threw Lesnar back into the ring, after which, the bell rang to officially start the match. After the match officially began, Lashley performed a spear on Lesnar, who rolled out of the ring and hobbled at ringside. Lashley performed a third spear on Lesnar through the barricade. Lashley performed a fourth spear on Lesnar for a near fall. As Lashley tried to apply the Hurt Lock on Lesnar, Lesnar countered and performed three German Suplexes and an F-5 on Lashley for a near fall. Lashley then dominated Lesnar, however, Lesnar attempted a second F-5 only for Lashley to perform a spinebuster. In the closing moments, Lashley applied the Hurt Lock on Lesnar, who appeared to fade, however, Lesnar kicked the turnbuckle to break the hold. Lashley still kept the Hurt Lock applied, however, Lesnar landed on top of Lashley, and as Lashley's shoulders were on the mat, the referee counted the pin, thus Lesnar won the match. Following the match, an incensed Lashley applied the Hurt Lock on Lesnar.