WWE Crown Jewel 2026 went down Saturday at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after weeks of questions over whether the event would actually take place. Roman Reigns and Chelsea Green won their respective Crown Jewel Championship matches, Tiffany Stratton cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase on Green to claim the Women’s World Championship, Oba Femi helped Penta and Je’Von Evans win the WWE World Tag Team titles, and Cody Rhodes defeated Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match.
As we regroup before Survivor Series: WarGames in a few weeks, here’s four big takeaways from Saturday’s action in Saudi.
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1. Everything’s about Oba
WWE’s intention of keeping the spotlight on Oba Femi is borderline exhausting at this point.
It’s clear he’s WWE’s next big star and they’ve done everything they can to ensure he’s front and center as often as possible. The problem with much of the “Raw” scene over on Monday nights is that it’s littered with guys WWE is actively trying to build up. So in positioning Femi as the next big star, he’s just constantly hammering down on talents who haven’t quite made it yet (see: Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, etc) versus if he was on “SmackDown,” where he’d be punching up at established veterans.
That was the case on Saturday yet again, where Femi was the difference-maker in Je’Von Evans getting his first taste of WWE gold alongside the men’s Money in the Bank briefcase holder, Penta, by slamming Reed off the entrance ramp. For Evans, it’s another step forward in establishing himself on the upper echelon of the “Raw” roster, while Penta bides his time with the briefcase with a pinfall victory over Austin Theory.
Absent the tag-team championship, it’ll be interesting to see how Bron Breakker navigates the next steps in his career. He exploded back from injury, seemed well-positioned to claim a world championship, and has really coasted most of this year. His placement in a next big thing vs. next big thing match with Femi earlier this year was perhaps the highlight of his year, alongside a win over Seth Rollins. He still just hasn’t found his footing though, and he runs the risk of following a similar path Jacob Fatu endured this year in climbing the ranks before empty booking brought him back to Earth.
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2. Reigns stands tall
The odds weren’t great for Sami Zayn to leave Saturday’s main event with a win, and Roman Reigns ultimately closed the door on any chance of that happening with a spear.
Despite the loss, this match at least did more to establish Zayn as a legitimate champion, following the old “sometimes losing is winning” trope. Zayn pushed Reigns to his limits before inevitably falling short, and received a respectful hug from the World Heavyweight Champion before exiting the ring. But no matter the offense Zayn pulled out in this one — and he did appear close at times to earning the win — it was written in the stars that he’d be on the losing end.
Zayn and Reigns picked up from their rivalry years ago in a really strong build to their showdown, but there’s almost no question how the next six months should pan out. Reigns’ sole purpose is to look as strong as humanly possible before dropping the title to Oba Femi at WrestleMania next year. Until April of next year, it’s hard to imagine any challenger putting a real test to “The Tribal Chief.”
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That being said, Saturday’s main event is another example of how, Femi, the champion in waiting, puts a serious gridlock on the title picture (and every Reigns match, for that matter) in a similar way WWE has notoriously fallen for, whether it was Cody Rhodes waiting a year to beat Reigns or one of the John Cena-The Rock WrestleMania tilts.
It makes Reigns champion by default and removes any elements of surprise that made wins like Zayn’s world championship victories so spectacular. When you remove the surprise factor in wrestling, it becomes your favorite show that mailed it in for half of the year, absent almost any creativity. A Zayn loss also robbed fans of capitalizing on one of the best character developments in recent WWE television, which could’ve made him even more insufferable than he already is.
The endgame of Reigns vs. Femi at WrestleMania can still be the endgame, but what happens between now and then is one of the flattest lines WWE has drawn in some time.
3. Tiffy turns
Saturday’s entire women’s Crown Jewel match balanced between Liv Morgan being the proven, cocky champion, and Chelsea Green still working to prove she belonged despite having held the Women’s World title since Money in the Bank. The formulaic approach panned out to a logical conclusion, after Morgan dismissed the Judgement Day and got caught in a roll-up to fall just short of the Women’s Crown Jewel Championship.
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As soon as Green got on the mic post-match, you just knew she’d be in trouble — and sure enough, Morgan’s attack from behind set up a series of unfortunate events.
The perfect cherry on top was Tiffany Stratton hitting the ring and turning her back on Green with a briefcase hit to the head, forcing the champ to lose her title to a successful Money in the Bank cash-in.
Heel Stratton is perfect for “SmackDown” after incessantly trying to cash in her briefcase on Morgan to no avail. In a best-case scenario, the next month or so projects to follow Green playing a similar role as she did during Saturday’s match, and proving she absolutely belongs in the title picture.
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The story that’s followed Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton since WrestleMania has been him pulling the trigger on punting his former mentor. Saturday’s match was as brutal as expected, with intensity to open the bout and weapons quickly entering the fray.
Rhodes finished off Orton with a few Cross Rhodes — causing Orton’s head to slam into the stairs — followed by the punt kick to keep the former world champ on the mat for the 10-count. The final sequence culminated months of build-up to the very moment Rhodes’ foot slammed into Orton’s head, and should now signal the end to their blood feud.
With the rest of the men’s division essentially paired off, it’ll be fascinating to see how Orton and Rhodes navigate their next steps.
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For Rhodes, a return to the title picture seems like a logical path forward. He’s sort of hovered right on the outskirts, occasionally finding his way into title matches since dropping the belt. But a fully-focused Rhodes promo about reclaiming his championship, while simultaneously competing in the upcoming John Cena Classic wouldn’t be surprising.
With Orton unable to get back to his feet, there’s less certainty about where he pops up next. My guess is he takes some time to heal before mixing it up with someone like Trick Williams.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
