The WWE headed to Perth, Australia, for the seventh edition of Crown Jewel from the RAC Arena.
Powered by a white-hot crowd, the second Premium Live Event of the ESPN Unlimited era saw the men's and women's champions from "Raw" and "SmackDown" square off to determine the 2025 Crown Jewel champions. World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins was desperate to get the monkey off his back and finally notched a win over Undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes, while Women's World champion Stephanie Vaquer knocked off Women's champion Tiffany Stratton in a shockingly short affair.
John Cena's retirement tour has hit its final stretch, and the highly anticipated match with AJ Styles did not disappoint. Meanwhile, Roman Reigns was caught up in family turmoil following a loss to Bronson Reed, while another fractured family continued their feud as Iyo Sky teamed with Rhea Ripley to take on her longtime friends Asuka and Kairi Sane.
After each PLE, we assess the quality of each wrestling match based on effective storytelling, in-ring performance and overall entertainment. We also grade the event as a whole.
Did Crown Jewel deliver?
Men's singles match: John Cena vs. AJ Styles
Result: Cena defeats Styles by pinfall
Grade: A
No build, no problem. Cena and Styles have had an incredible rivalry since 2016, with a series of matches that helped Cena escape the "5 Moves of Doom" label that he had been saddled with during his lengthy reign on top of the WWE. Both 48 years old and nearly a decade removed from their last encounter, Cena and Styles had to find a way to offer something different and engaging for their last dance.
And they absolutely delivered with a match that was unique from their previous affairs but also served as a love letter to their respective histories inside the squared circle.
We should have known we were in for something special when Styles wore his Total Nonstop Action wrestling gear to the ring and was introduced as the leader of the Bullet Club faction.
After establishing that they were all too familiar with each other's moves, with counters for their opponent's counters and settling into a stalemate, Cena and Styles dug deep into their bags and utilized moves from former opponents that served both as a homage and an exceptional game plan to catch their opponent off balance. Cena introduced a Skull Crushing Finale (The Miz) and an Accolade (Rusev) before being met with a Coquina Clutch (Samoa Joe) and an Angel's Wings (Christopher Daniels). Moves from Chris Jericho, Frankie Kazarian, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton and Triple H were among the tributes in the match.
It was an absolutely brilliant way to surprise fans and work within their in-ring limits. Still, Styles was as masterful as ever and deployed a springboard 450 as a reminder that he's one of the best ever. Cena was equally entertaining and hit a Sister Abigail in a touching salute to the late Bray Wyatt. Everything worked here, including the conclusion.
After hitting Sweet Chin Music (Shawn Michaels), Styles went for a splash off the top rope, but Cena caught him and rolled through, in a nod to Michaels from their excellent WrestleMania 23 match. Instead of hitting the Attitude Adjustment, Cena transitioned to a Tombstone (Undertaker). It was only fitting that Cena put a pin on the match by hitting one last Attitude Adjustment for the win.
This was as good as it gets and a fitting way to end one of the best rivalries in WWE.
Women's tag team match: Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky vs. Asuka and Kairi Sane
Result: Ripley and Sky defeats Asuka and Sane
Grade: B
The Cena-Styles match was going to be a tough act to follow, but this tag match did exactly what it was supposed to do by keeping fans engaged as all four women worked extremely hard in a fun outing.
Sky was isolated by her former friends Asuka and Sane early on, which only built the anticipation for Ripley being tagged in. As expected, the roof nearly blew off the RAC Arena when Ripley, from Australia, entered the match. It's no surprise that everything worked so well with the four women all being among the best in the business. Sane was the key to the match as she managed to effectively balance her allegiance to Asuka while being torn about turning on Sky.
The finish was handled well to protect Asuka as Sane sacrificed herself for her friend. Ripley clobbered Sane with a Riptide and Sky followed with an Over The Moonsault for the finish. While Sane's loyalty ended up costing her, Asuka remains the ruthless warrior that Sky will eventually have to overcome.
Men's Crown Jewel Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins
Result: Rollins defeats Rhodes by pinfall
Grade: B
This match was all about Rollins, where the outcome was just as important as the match itself. For Rhodes, he simply served as the mountain that Rollins had been unable to overcome despite being the World Heavyweight Champion.
Rollins teetered between hubris and madness as he became increasingly desperate to end his losing streak to Rhodes. Early on, he pulled out his normal bag of tricks, but, as expected, nothing normal would keep Rhodes down. The Visionary's descent into desperation saw him retrieve the Rolex watch that Rhodes gifted him for helping with The Bloodline feud, but he immediately changed his mind as he wanted to do it without assistance.
That brief pause nearly cost Rollins as he absorbed a Cody Cutter and a Cross Rhodes for a near fall. Rollins took things a step further with a coast-to-coast flying headbutt, an avalanche Spanish Fly and a Rock Bottom (an excellent touch) for yet another near fall. Rollins' determination allowed him to survive a wicked Avalanche Cross Rhodes and eventually saw him resort to nefarious ways by using the watch to knock Rhodes out cold and clobber his rival with a pair of Curb Stomps for the win.
Rollins winning by any means necessary -- but without interference from The Vision -- was the only way to go here to establish him as the top heel with a firm grasp on the championship. This match wasn't on par with their previous matches but was well handled from a storytelling perspective.
Australian Street Fight: Roman Reigns vs. Bronson Reed
Result: Bronson Reed defeats Roman Reigns by pinfall
Grade: C
This was a pretty standard no-disqualification match disguised as an Australian Street Fight, with a rugby ball and cricket bat being introduced by Reigns, giving it a little home country flair. Reigns worked the crowd during a long stretch of dominance early on, but Reed managed to get in some offense to balance things out.
Ultimately, this match was dulled a bit by the solid Last Man Standing battle between Aleister Black and Damian Priest on "SmackDown" the night before. It wasn't particularly violent for a street fight and wasn't as heated as you would expect, considering Reed put Reigns on the shelf for a month.
The action picked up when Bron Breakker inserted himself into the match, intercepting a Reigns spear attempt on the outside with a spear of his own. The Usos joined the fray to assist their cousin Reigns, and a narrative was set when Jey Uso miscalculated and accidentally hit Reigns with a spear through a table. Jey's involvement cost Reigns the match when Reed hit a Tsunami to pick up the win.
This match was more about establishing a new narrative with friction between family members than anything else. Reed getting the win was surprising but necessary to keep The Vision strong. It was a solid match. Nothing more, nothing less.
Women's Crown Jewel Championship: Tiffany Stratton vs. Stephanie Vaquer
Result: Vaquer defeats Stratton by pinfall
Grade: C-
Champion vs. champion matches without any real stakes or heat between the participants are difficult to pull off, and the hope is to keep both titleholders strong for their respective brands. Unfortunately, this one ended before it really got going and totally missed the mark. Vaquer beat Stratton in just 10 minutes (1 minute,16 seconds longer than Brock Lesnar's squash of John Cena at Wrestlepalooza), treating the "SmackDown" WWE Women's Championship as second rate.
It started with Stratton showing off her athleticism early -- hitting an excellent Alabama Slam from a cartwheel transition -- before her miscalculation cost her the match.
It's hard to justify why this match was so brief -- outside of an injury forcing an audible -- with Stratton eating the pin after missing a Prettiest Moonsault Ever and getting hit with Vaquer's corkscrew moonsault. There was no real drama or near falls in the match, as both have had better and more competitive outings on "Raw" and "SmackDown." You'd expect a lot more from two champions than what we got.
Similar to the Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre match at Wrestlepalooza, this never had a chance to get out of first gear. A story of Stratton's inexperience being the difference-maker would have been fine if Stratton hadn't been the champion since WrestleMania. But it didn't work here and made her look weak. Hopefully, there is a good reason to explain why we had such a brief match between these two. The women deserved more.
WWE Crown Jewel final grade: B
A show that stumbled out of the gate with a relatively tame street fight and a far too brief fight between women's champions was rescued by an absolutely stellar match between Cena and Styles that put an excellent bookend to their rivalry. Rollins finally getting his comeuppance against Rhodes -- by any means necessary -- and the women's tag match were both strong and anchored a memorable bounce-back for WWE after a middling Wrestlepalooza.