WWE set itself up well for Survivor Series while placing plenty of doubt around John Cena’s immediate future with the company after the events of Crown Jewel.
Only one championship changed hands in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday when Logan Paul defeated Rey Mysterio to become the United States champion, but plenty of meaningful stories were hit on a night when Roman Reigns’ match didn’t actually raise up the show.
Here are five takeaways from Crown Jewel:
Your Time Is Up?
John Cena’s future in WWE has never been more uncertain.
The 16-time world champion is 46 years old and has hinted that his time in the ring is winding down, and that moment feels potentially closer than ever after Cena was annihilated and beaten clean by Solo Sikoa.
In the biggest win over Sikoa’s career, Cena took four full Samoan Spikes and a few more short ones as The Bloodline’s enforcer held him lifeless at his feet before pinning him.
Cena, who had his moments but played a step behind most of the match, has done an amazing job putting over young talent in the latter stages of his career.
After a squash match Cena called a must-win and a measuring stick for where his skills are now, he didn’t leave his boots in the ring to officially signal retirement, but his sober body language sure showed he’ll be considering it. Maybe it’s just giving him an out if the actor’s strike ends.
Either way, he got a standing ovation from the Saudi Arabia crowd.
While this doesn’t feel like the way Cena — who hasn’t won a single match since 2018 — will go out, WWE is clearly writing a redemption of retirement story, maybe for WrestleMania.
Tired and True
LA Knight did nothing wrong in his main event match with Roman Reigns, showing he belongs in the ring with WWE’s biggest star.
But this confrontation won’t rank near the top Reigns’ most memorable clashes during a historic reign because all the interference needed for him to win is getting stale, and it took much less than usual this time.
A “CM Punk” chant did break out.
The Undisputed WWE Universal champion got help from Sikoa and Jimmy Uso, the latter putting his cousin’s foot on the rope just in time after Knight hit his Blunt Force Trauma finisher. Knight kicked out of just one Superman Punch and one spear.
While it links Knight to the rest of the babyface The Bloodline screwed over for a potential Survivor Series WarGame match, when there is no post-match angle you are the umpteenth person it’s happened to you risk it blending in with all the rest and not elevating the talent in the same way.
A Bad Day
Rhea Ripley was treated like an absolute star, getting the best entrance as two lines of Saudi Arabian men lined up almost in reverence of her on the stage. She then proceeded to beat Zoey Stark, Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax and Raquel Rodriguez clean to retain the Women’s World championship. Only Jax wasn’t involved in the finish, as Ripley delivered a Riptide to Stark onto Baszler, who was trying to submit Rodriguez. Maybe Jax will come back for a one-on-one match at some point.
But that was where the immediate good news ended for The Judgement Day.
JD McDonagh lost to Sami Zayn in an emotional match on the kickoff show. Damian Priest not only lost to Cody Rhodes after Jey Uso cut off McDonagh’s attempt to interfere, but he had his Money in the Bank briefcase stolen by Zayn after he was close to cashing in on World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins.
The potential good news, as both these sides now have true reasons to clash in WarGames, is Drew McIntyre could finally have a reason to take Ripley up on her off to join the group after losing a pay-per-view opener to Rollins.
Golden Goal Complete
Paul — in just his eighth match — is finally a champion in WWE, beating Mysterio with the help of brass knuckles to become the United States champion. It happened in a way that advanced a number of intriguing storylines with Paul, Myterio and Santo Escobar.
A member of Paul’s “entourage” slipped him the brass knuckles in the ring, but Mysterio was able to thwart his first attempt to use them.
When Paul’s friend tried to retrieve them, he was initially stopped by Escobar, Mysterio’s partner in the LWO.
But while in pursuit of Paul’s helper, Escobar left the brass knuckles in the ring.
Paul was able to grab them while being set up for the 619 and smashed Mysterio with a right hand as he looked to complete his finisher with a springboard move.
After the match Paul tried to console Mysterio like he did nothing wrong, only to have the legend tell him: ‘You know what you did.”
It leaves you wondering what level of tension there will be between Escobar and Mysterio now. Was his leaving the knuckles in the ring a lapse in judgment or planned from the start out of remaining resentment for Mysterio taking his place to win the U.S. title in the first place?
With that said Paul did appear to save Mysterio from potentially severe injury, catching him in mid-air on a springboard move before it looked like the legend’s head might land awkwardly on the mat. Kudos to Paul for having the ring awareness to pull that off.
In-Sane Surprise
There was plenty of chatter about Kairi Sane likely returning to with her STARDOM contract up and WWE couldn’t have pulled it off in a better. After Bayley’s outside help was able to keep WWE women’s champion Iyo Sky alive in her match with Bianca Belair, Sane jumped the barricade with the ref distracted to attack Belair, save Bayley from a KOD, and take out the EST for good in the clash.
Belair rolled back into the ring and Sky hit her moonsault finish to win and Sane delivered in In-Sane Elbow for good measure after.
Sain, Sky’s former tag team partner, returned as a heel with an edge, unlike the pirate princess version we saw previously in WWE. It makes Damage CTRL even more dangerous for now. It gives WWE a way to eventually break a stunned Bayley away from the group — as it’s been teasing for a while — without dissolving Damage CTRL completely once Dakota Kai returns from injury.
Biggest winner: Solo Sikoa, Logan Paul
Biggest loser: Damian Priest
Best match: Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre
Predictions: 6-1
Grade: B