Regardless of the lineup for WWE Crown Jewel 2024 trying stacked going into the occasion, the present was met with blended response from the viewers with many followers praising matches on the cardboard — reminiscent of Cody Rhodes vs GUNTHER and Seth Rollins vs Bronson Reed — and others criticizing WWE for lack of storytelling in addition to having Roman Reigns pinned throughout his six-man tag staff match with The Bloodline. Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Publication has since supplied his ideas on WWE’s twelfth PLE from Saudi Arabia in addition to what probably brought about the numerous reactions from the followers who watched the present.
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“Total, the present bought a blended response. My feeling was that the wrestling was good all through and it was a straightforward practically three hours to observe. They tightened it up with out the lengthy breaks between matches. Rhodes vs. Gunther was excellent, however we do see matches of that caliber each week. WWE can be about storyline development, and apart from the Sami Zayn angle teasing his becoming a member of the Bloodline that everybody anticipated however bought over nice, there wasn’t a lot in the way in which.”
Meltzer additionally touched on the scheduled Kevin Owens vs Randy Orton match that ended up not occurring as a result of each males brawling earlier than the bell rang. He steered that WWE could have averted having the match happen to defend Owens from being pinned so quickly after his heel flip, or to guard Orton from a loss, particularly if the plan is for “The Viper” to problem Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship within the close to future.
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Meltzer on Crown Jewel’s present high quality
Meltzer continued by diving into the present high quality of Crown Jewel, explaining that whereas a lot of the matches on the cardboard have been pleasant, the occasion as an entire was beneath WWE’s previous requirements for PLE’s.
“The one factor this does present is how the requirements for a present are such {that a} present with largely good matches, a significant storyline development that has been constructed up and make sense, however no matches of the yr and aside from the one factor, no actual storyline development, get solely a blended response. And clearly, from a match high quality standpoint it was good by previous requirements but it surely was beneath most WWE and AEW exhibits this yr. It did really feel like should you missed it, you did not miss something main, however should you watched it, you noticed present.”
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Meltzer additionally reported that Crown Jewel had 28 p.c extra viewers than final yr’s present, however crucially talked about that Peacock subscriptions have elevated by 38 p.c all through 2024 probably because of the Summer time Olympics, leading to WWE gaining extra viewers for his or her premium content material. Nevertheless, Meltzer did observe that the curiosity degree and buys for the occasion didn’t match a few of WWE’s most earlier PLE’s, explaining that Crown Jewel is down 37.7 p.c from Dangerous Blood, which had 17,000 buys and is down 9.8 p.c from Bash In Berlin.
In case you use any of the quotes on this article, please credit score “Wrestling Observer Publication” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
