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| I Make No Regrets With This |
I had no intention of covering both of these events. I just wanted to watch WWE’s first ever female-oriented event...not to mention their rather controversial second show in Saudi Arabia. However, with interesting new things cropping up in regards to either event, I figured I’d give them a review. Not wanting to take up space on my blog with 2 posts, I’m covering both events in 1 instead. Evolution & Crown Jewel are 2 peas in a pod weirdly enough, so there’s that as well. Final rule: I’m strictly going to be talking about the matches, as I’m far more interested in them, although I’ll cover a segment or two if it’s interesting enough.
Evolution
Trish Stratus & Lita vs Alicia Fox & Mickie James (Tag Team Match)
Prediction: Trish Stratus & Lita
Winner: Trish Stratus & Lita
- The show starts off with a blast from the past, as we get Trish Stratus & Lita go up against Alicia Fox & Mickie James. Originally a pair of matches, it was mashed up into this tag-team match. Trish & Lita come out first, and the crowd goes absolutely nuts over the two of them. Once settled down, Alexa Bliss appears (She was going to be in it, but something happened & Alicia took her place) to heel it up, and then introduces Alicia Fox & Mickie James. The two had some pretty wicked Alice In Wonderland outfits, with Alexa having the “Alice” outfit. The nostalgia factor as incredibly high, as Trish & Lita pretty much dominated a majority of the match, although Bliss got involved a little with some distractions. Trish & Mickie managed to have some time together, which echoed their feud from over a decade ago. In the end, the old-school women got the pin, and in the end created something surprisingly good.
Historic Women’s Battle Royal
Prediction: None At First/Ember Moon Later.
Winner: Nia Jax
- I had no personal connection to this match. To me, it seemed like another “Everyone gets a trophy” match, formed just to dump women into a match they’re not using. To give them credit, the 20 women in the match were actually pretty varied between skill & age, so there is that. Naomi came out first, followed by Michell McCool, Sonya Deville, Alundra Blaze, Carmella, Zelina Vega, Kelly Kelly, Tamina, Ember Moon, Lana, Maria Kinellis, Mandi Rose, Molly Holly, Dana Brooke, Nia Jax, Ivory, Asuka, Torrie Wilson, and finally The Iconics.
- Right away The Iconics are taken out, after they have a stupid little skit. From there, the newer women surround the older women in a show of age & defiance to the old-schoolers. From there Molly Holly & Kelly Kelly get taken out, followed by Torrie Wilson, and Sonya Deville not long after. Nia Jax manages to get taken out Alundra Blaze, and headbutts Maria Kinellis not long after. We get a moment when most of the women are beating each other up, we get a pretty intense staredown between Tamina & Nia, which gets broken up momentarily when the other try to break them up and they team up, then they get back to sizing each other up.
- Lana then tries to break them up in a goofy angle, which got her thrown over the top. Then there was a gangup on the two by a bunch of the combatants, which turned into a quad suplex (Best spot in my opinion). After that spot, Carmella got into the middle of the ring, and did her little dance break with Ivory who joined her a little after. Once the dance break was done, Ember Moon began tearing it up, and she became the one I wanted to win. She took out Dana Brooke, Michell McCool, Carmella, Ivory, Asuka, and then Tamina. From there, Ember & Nia got into their own staredown. They start fighting, but Zelina Vega interrupted the two, but that got her thrown out. Sadly, the girl I was rooting for got eliminated a little bit afterwards, and thus Nia Jax is the winner. Meh.
Toni Storm vs Io Shirai (Final Match Of 2018 Mae Young Classic Tournament)
Prediction: ?
Winner: Toni Storm
- Next up we have the final match of the 2018 Mae Young Classic Tournament between Toni Storm & the Pirate Princess Io Shirai. I wasn’t involved with this match either, as I never watched any of the Mae Young Classic. The crowd was actually kinda quiet at the beginning for both girls, and I pretty much was also. This was a match were both sides were playing mind games, and they were grappling a lot also. Eventually, Io gets thrown outside the ring, and the crowd begins to pickup here. Toni gets her back in the ring, and the two fight a bit more, and then manages to pin Io for the win. Afterwards, the two women got up, and had a moment of good sportsmanship. Then we get Triple H & Stephanie McMahon, and they award her with the trophy for winning the tournament & a bouquet of roses. Over the top, but I can kinda understand why they did it.
Sasha Banks, Bayley and Natalya vs. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan)(6 Women Tag Team Match)
Prediction: Riott Squad
Winner: Sasha Banks, Bayley and Natalya
- Right smack dab in the middle of Evolution we get the 6 women tag match. On one side we got Sasha Banks, Bayley, & Natalya, and on the other is the Riott Squad. I didn’t have much of a personal connection to this match either (It felt a lot like their bouts on RAW), but I was at least a little more invested here since it didn’t necessarily feel like a “Everybody Gets A Trophy” match.
- Liv Morgan & Natalya are the first to fight, and Liv manages to toy with her opponent. Natalya gets knocked down, and then Liv try to do a “Cute Girl” stare routine to get into her head. Then it goes to Sasha & Sarah for a bit, Bayley manages to tag in for her time with Ms Logan. Eventually, Bayley gets backed into a corner, and one of the most merciless beating of a babyface I’ve seen this year begins. She manages to take out Liv and Ruby Riott by accident, but those two come back in to pound on her some more. Sasha manages to get back in, and things turn around a little. At one point Bayley gets tagged back into the ring and almost gets the pin, but Liv Morgan manages to break it up.
- It comes back to Sasha Banks a little later on, and she almost knocks the Riott Squad taken out with a jump, but her foot snags on the top rope & the squad grab her, but a little bit afterwards she does manage to do a successful jump. The squad regroup and almost get a pin, but Natalya makes the save. At one point Sasha is tagged in and is almost pinned, if not for the actions of Bayley, who got on top of her in an effort to save her friend. This got her taken out, but the save was successful. Natalya tags back in, and almost gets a doubt sharpshooter win, but Liv breaks it up & almost gets the pin in the process. In the end, Sashak Banks, Bayley, and Natalya get the win.
Kairi Sane vs Shayna Basler (Singles Match For NXT Women’s Championship)
Prediction: Kairi Sane
Winner: Shayna Basler
- 5th on the card is the NXT Women’s Championship between the Pirate Princess Kairi Sane, and asskicker Shayna Basler. This marked the first time I’ve actually seen these two, and I thought they were fun. Basler came across like a sadistic brawler who’s only concern was beating who was in front of her, while Kairi was flexible and just having a fun time. A bit into the match, Kairi manages to get Shayna into a submission, but her foe managed to break out of it. Further down, Kairi is on the top rope for a jump onto Basler, but Basler rolled out of the ring, and the Pirate Princess changed her course for her jump. We get towards the end, as it looks like Shayna might win over Kairi, as some of her friend were ringside. It looks like Kairi might get it for a second, but Shayna gets the win in the end because of the interference.
Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair (Last Man Standing Match For WWE Smackdown Women’s Title)
Prediction: Becky Lynch
Winner: Becky Lynch
- This here was match of the night for me. For the weeks leading up to it, they were telling the story of these two women, and the fallout of Becky winning & her transformation into a top women’s heel. It all culminated in this last man standing match for the Smackdown Women’s title, and it was just as dirty, nasty, and brutal as it needed to be.
- Charlottle comes out first, and she gets some cheers, but not as much as Becky did. When beck came out, the entire crowd seemed to immediately erupt into loud applause, and it lasted for a bit. After that, the match happens, and it’s an ugly fight. They’re beating the crap out of each other, weapons come into play (chairs, ladders, a table or two, and even a kendo stick at one point), and they even manage to go into the crowd, and the fighting is pretty messy there also. They get back ringside, and there’s many near pinfalls. By this point they’re super tired, and the biggest nearfall came from Becky, where she had buried Charlotte underneath a pile of chairs & scrap. Shortly after, Becky did a dive on Charlotte, who was on a 2nd table, and managed to get the rightful win. Best match of Evolution!
Ronda Rousey vs Nikki Bella (Singles Match For WWE Women’s Title)
Prediction: Ronda Rousey
Winner: Ronda Rousey
- I’ll talk about it in a bit, but I was not looking forward to this match. Not because of Ronda, cause she’s been adapting to the WWE system well. Her promo work needs some improvement, but she’s a hell of a lot better than Brock Lesnar! The Bella?.....not so much. They are ghastly on the mic, and in the ring they’re worse....but I’m getting ahead of myself.
- We get a video package of the buildup between both sides, and god is it Bella centric. It’s worse when they actually come out, as you can tell that somebody is messing with the crowd noise, as there seems to be a little more cheering than normal (Despite hearing some booing come through). Rousey comes out after, and it’s obvious from the get go who the people like. Between the 2, Nikki seems to do a better job, but again the Bells are garbage. It was obvious from the beginning that shenanigans was going to occur, and they did. Luckily the twins were wearing different clothes, so they couldn’t switch spots, but they did do other stuff. Rousey pretty much had control most of the time, until the Bellas decided to do something, in which case they had some time to shine. Eventually, Ronda pinned Nikki, and managed to keep the women’s title.
Segments
- 1st segment I wanna talk about was the interview with the Bellas after the tag match. Right away I got the nasty vibe that they’re gonna screw up the last match, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Was it what they were saying? Was it their attitude? I’m not sure. The point was that it didn’t reassure me that the main event was gonna be good, but I was glad to be proven wrong
- There’s a Crown Jewel advert right after the May Young Classic match, and a quick talk about it after Becky & Charlottle. Wow WWE, you might not have wanted to do that. Given how tainted the name of that event is now, you might not want to say anything about it. Especially when Evolution is put on only to placate the women, and to try to appear progressive.
Final Conclusion:
- I was genuinely surprised by how good this whole show was. Yes there was a botch here & there, and some of the matches I wasn’t as invested into as others, but it’s amazing in how good Evolution was. It was definitely done for bullshit reasons, but if WWE manages to put events like this at least once or twice a year (Along with this level of quality), then maybe it’s worth seeing again.
Evolution gets an 8 out of 10.
Crown Jewel
1st Smackdown World Cup Match (Rey Mysterio vs Randy Orton)
Prediction: Rey Mysterio
Winner: Rey Mysterio
- First up on the card is the 1st Raw World Cup Match, pitting a returning Rey Mysterio vs Randy Orton. Rey is the first to come out, and he gets a surprising amount of cheers from the crowd, then Orton makes his way out. Things go underway, and Rey is just flying all over the ring, but Orton manages to knock him out with a jumpkick (Looked pretty brutal actually). Rey manages to recover and almost lands a 619, but Orton manages to recover from an earlier blow, and gets back to beating up Rey. Right at the end, Mysterio trips up Randy & get the pin, but gets a beating for a few moments, which carries over story wise a little later into the card.
2nd Smackdown World Cup Match (The Miz vs Jeff Hardy)
Prediction: Jess Hardy
Winner: The Miz
- And here’s one of the first matches I hate....and it’s only the 2nd match of the card. I don’t deny the fact that I hate The Miz. I really do. For everybody that complains about John Cena being the same thing over & over, they never seem to have issues with Miz basically being the same thing over & over. I digress.....
- Jeff Hardy comes out first, and the crowd definitely makes some noise. The Miz is 2nd to the ring, and in comparison to the last match, these two seem more compatible than Rey & Randy. Both had similar builds, and both had moves that can be compared to one another. The crowd was really into both guys weirdly enough, with both wrestlers seemingly have an equal amount of people cheer for them. Miz has control for a while, but Jeff manages to get some offense back in this bout, as both guys start to just fly all over the place. In the end Miz manages to win the match......weeeeeee (Sarcasm intended).
1st Raw World Cup Match (Seth Rollins vs Bobby Lashley)
Prediction: Seth Rollins
Winner: Seth Rollins
- Next up is the 1st World Cup Match on the Raw side, pitting Seth Rollins & Bobby Lashley together in the ring. Seth comes out first, followed by Bobby Lashley & his manager/hypeman Lio Rush. I want to punch him so hard in the face, even his breathing sounds funny, and coupled with how lackluster Bobby has been since his return, it just makes the whole thing worse. It’s even more lackluster when you find out that he was John Cena’s replacement, and he’s flatout bland. Kinda like Rey & Randy, Seth & Bobby seems strangely mismatched when in the same ring. All throughout this match, Bobby pretty much has control throughout the entire thing, although Seth does get a little bit of time in, only for Bobby to take that offense back into his court. In a move I think nobody saw coming, Seth goes for a curbstomp (Couldn’t tell if it was watered down) on Bobby, and manages to get the pin.
2nd Raw World Cup Match (Kurt Angle vs Dolph Ziggler)
Prediction: Kurt Angle
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
- The 2nd Raw World Cup Match came after Seth & Bobby, with the Olympic Gold Medalist taking on Dolph Ziggler. Kurt Angle comes out first, and the crowd is really behind him oddly enough. Ziggler comes out second, and he has his buddy Drew McIntyre follow him out. Kurt is pretty much keeping his feet on the ground the whole time the match is going on, while Ziggler used a high-flyer style in an effort to trip up his opponent. At one point in the match Kurt almost suplexs Dolph off the ropes, but Dolph is holding on as tight as he can, and somehow pulls himself & Angle back into the ring. Angle almost manages to get a pin, but Drew interferes, and then Dolph gets a nearpin as well. Kurt manages to get an ankle lock on Dolph for a little bit, but Ziggler manages to get out of it, and lands the Zigzag for the win.
Smackdown Tag Team Championship (New Day vs The Bar)
Prediction: New Day
Winner: The Bar
- With the first part of the World Cup out of the way, we now get to one of the 3 championship matches of Crown Jewel, with the New Day trying to reclaim the Tag Team titles from the current champions The Bar. The New Day are the first to come out, and I couldn’t believe my eyes when they went with a “Magic Carpet” gimmick for part of their entrance. Points for over-the-top & not giving a crap WWE! The Bar’s entrance was considerably plainer, and they had the Big Show follow them out (Guess he couldn’t be in the World Cup Tournament).
- Big E & Shaemus start things off, and the two go at it. Kofi tags in a little afterwards, then Cesaro comes in and they fight for a bit. Kofi gets backed into The Bar’s corner, and then Cesaro & Big Show manage to get a couple lowblows on Kingston while the ref has his back turned. Shaemus tages in, and gets some low blows on Kofi also. Kofi manages to get out of the beating for a second and almost gets Big E back in the ring, but gets stopped by Shaemus. The Irishman gets tagged out by Cesaro, who goes right back to working on Kofi. Kofi then manages to fight back for a bit, then Cesaro regains control and beats him up some more. Eventually Big E gets tagged back in, and goes right for Cesaro. Shaemus gets back in for some more offense, but Bie E manages to get a near pin in the process. Ultimately, The Bar (Unfortunately, in my opinion) retain the tag titles due to Big Show’s interference.
3rd Smackdown World Cup Match (Rey Mysterio vs The Miz)
Prediction: Rey Mysterio
Winner: The Miz
- Now we get to the 1st of the semi-final World Cup matches, with Rey Mysterio & The Miz fighting each other despite how much pain both guys were feeling. Things start out fast & flexible, but transitions into both wrestlers just toying with one another. Miz manages to escape the ring, but Rey does this weird dive onto him through the bottom rope. Miz gains control of the match while Rey is out of it, as he tries a few submissions out on the luchadore. The two eventually go out of the ring to brawl, then get back into the ring to brawl. Rey tries to get a pin, but Miz kicks out. Miz tries to get a pin, but Rey kicks out. Rey tries for another pin, but Miz kicks out again. Rey goes for a 619 as sort of a Hell Mary move, but Miz uses a little bit of trickery to get the pin......oh boy.
3rd Raw World Cup Match (Seth Rollins vs Dolph Ziggler)
Prediction: Seth Rollins
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
- Next up is the 2nd semi-final World Cup Match, with Seth Rollins taking on Dolph Ziggler. Seth comes out first, and just like last time, Dolph has Drew come out with him. Kinda like Rey & Randy, both guys were showing some wear & tear from their last fights. Drew definitely played more of a role in this match, as he interfered much more here than in the last match he was at ringside for. Due to his early interference, Dolph almost manages to get a pin, but luckily Seth kicks out. Dolph manages to get control again, and just gets Seth down to the ground. Seth manages to get a moment, but Ziggler just gets back in control, continuing to try to get his opponent to submit. At this point, the crowd really begins to get behind Seth, and regains a bit of strength. The two proceed to trade some near falls, and with a distraction from Drew, almost manages to get a pin. It fails, so Ziggler tries to get a pin again, and Seth manages to kick out twice. McIntyre manages to interfere twice, and in the end Dolph Ziggler is your winner unfortunately. From there, we get a quick interview from Byron Saxton with him, and Dolph proceeds to go into a small tirade about how nobody ever believed in him for the 10th time. Why is he still in the company?
WWE Championship Match (AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe)
Prediction: AJ Styles
Winner: AJ Styles
- Now we’re at the 2nd Championship match of Crown Jewel, with the current WWE Championship holder AJ Styles going up against Samoa Joe once again. This match is interesting in that Daniel Bryan was obviously stated for this, but had backed out, and actually wanted to not be in Saudi Arabia again for a while. There’s a lot of reasons why, but the one that is most often sited is that his friend Sami Zayn was left home from the Greatest Royal Rumble for his beliefs, and that really irked Bryan a lot, so in protest he decided that Crown Jewel wasn’t worth it. Good on you Daniel Bryan!
- Joe is first to the ring, but as he makes his way there, the whole arena is just chanting for AJ. Things get louder when AJ actually shows up, and it’s obvious that he’s the fan favorite. Right away, Styles proceeds to go for Joe’s knees, and they weren’t doing so good (Forgot why), but somehow the Samoan manages to keep standing. The two give each other a nasty beating, but Joe somehow stays his ground. Eventually Joe goes for a pin, but AJ puts his leg on the rope before he’s successful. Mad, Joe proceed to maul AJ mercilessly, but in his rage Styles manages to trip up Joe for a moment, and almost gets a pin on him. Joe tries for the pin, but AJ manages to kick out twice. Seeing an opportunity, AJ tries out a submission, but it fails. Seeing that Joe is hurt pretty good, he decides to do one last move, and manages to land a Phenomenal Forearm for the win. I kinda liked this match!
Universal Title Match (Braun Stroman vs Brock Lesnar)
Prediction: Braun Stroman
Winner: Brock Lesnar
- Go away Brock Lesnar! Just go the fuck away! Why do you need the title for a 3rd damn time, and through bullshit interference by Barron Corbin no less! I’m so glad I didn’t watch this fucking match! Get rid of the fucking Universal Title! It is fucking cursed!
Final World Cup Match (The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler)
Prediction: ?
Winner: Shane McMahon (More below)
- As if the Universal Title Match wasn’t a big enough slap to the face, we have the final World Cup Match, with the A-lister going up against the Whine-Ass. I was dreading having either of these guy win the whole thing, and given how heels seemed to win many of the matches throughout the whole show (Echoes of WM32 were kicking in....the horror), I wasn’t looking forward to what was going to happen. I’ll give them credit......I wasn’t expecting this!
- The Miz comes out first, and Dolph & Drew are next to the ring. Perhaps the only good thing I could say about this match is that Drew was almost immediately sent to the back by the ref, and a bizarre glimmer of hope came through. Then Miz & Ziggler are beating each other up, and I don’t know what the hell happened, but it looked like Miz got some kind of knee injury (If it’s real, it looked pretty bad). And out of nowhere, Shane McMahon takes Miz’s place (Shane & Barron Corbin were ringside during this) after saying to the ref & the announcer that “This isn’t how it’s supposed to end”. After a few minutes, Shane McMahon wins the world cup. Rendering the entire thing completely pointless, and spitting in the face of the potential that the world cup actually had. Makes me wish that Miz or Ziggler won.
DX vs Brothers of Destruction
Prediction: Brothers of Destruction
Winner: DX
- So with the two worst matches out of the way, it’s time for the match that somehow managed to get people to talk. The Brother of Destruction, taking on the reunited Degeneration X. I’ll give Shawn credit: he managed to stay away for 8-ish years. The paycheck for this must have been good, or the itch to wrestle one last time was scratching him hard. Either way, kinda nice to see him weirdly enough. DX comes out first, and it’s a giant nostalgia blast to the face. The crowd was really into the entrance, as a lot of people were wearing DX shirts, holding the glowsticks, or both. Kane is out next, and he’s got some pretty good pyro behind him. Undertaker is last to the ring, and his pyro & effects are also pretty good. In fact, it’s probably one of the most elaborate setups of the whole show.
- So Triple H & Kane are the first to square off, and they take a bit of time before they actually fight each other. Michaels & Taker tag in not long after, and they start fighting a bunch as well. It goes right back to Kane & Triple H, then DX is outside of the ring not long after. Taker & Shawn fight again, and Michaels actually manages to do an elbow off the top rope (At least that’s what I thought happened). Triple H & Kane come back in, then Shawn rejoins Hunter to unleash a double suplex on the Big Red Machine. From there Shawn gets an elbow on him, then when Undertaker got back in, he got a big dose of Sweet Chin Music to the face.
- It goes on a little more, until both teams manage to get outside the ring to just beat the crap out of each other, then it’s brought back into the ring to continue there. Kane almost manages to pin Shawn for the win, but fails. Taker is tagged in, but Michaels does a jump on the both of them. Triple H comes in a little bit, and after some more fighting, everybody is down for the count. I’ve forgotten how, but DX manages to get the pin to win, and end Crown Jewel with them on top.
Other
- Turns out the Hulk Hogan host rumors were true. I’m strangely pleased by seeing him once again, as the nostalgia for him was surprisingly high, and the fireworks display was pretty nice. Given how much of a turd he’s been the past few years, I don’t hold my breath until he does something stupid.
- Seeing Renee Young on the announce team, and without a hijab no less, is genuinely shocking. It seems like it’s really done just for brownie points & propaganda, but it’s still quite the sight.
- They went all out with the pyro displays & set. Wish Raw & Smackdown got some of this back.
- Weirdly enough, the first 4 World Cup matches seemed to last about 20 minutes.
- No pro Saudi Arabia propaganda. Guess there’s a sliver of a soul in WWE.....however small it is.
Final Conclusion:
- I was coming into this show absolutely dreading it. Given the political & social bullshit going on beforehand, not to mention WWE pushing the event hard (Apart from the period of silence when it was on shaky ground), I was expecting Crown Jewel to absolutely bomb, and...it was better than I thought. There’s plenty of bullshit to go around, whether because of politics or some of the match results (Mainly the match results), but Crown Jewel was far better than the company’s first Saudi Arabia show back in April. If you weren’t fond of the Greatest Royal Rumble, then maybe Crown Jewel will be for you.
Crown Jewel gets a 7 out of 10.
And this was my review for both Evolution & Crown Jewel. Both were fascinating shows for a variety of reasons, and both weirdly enough have something for everybody. With this out of the way, Alcatrazz Month continues onward, so see you tomorrow for some of my favorite songs from the band. Until then, have a nice rest of the day!
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