Smark Out Moment

The WWE Crown Jewel 2019 pay-per-view is scheduled for October 31, 2019 at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Follow along here for spoilers and information on the event's card, lineup of matches and news regarding the pay-per-view.

The following are my predictions for the 2019 WWE Crown Jewel PPV. Check back for Crown Jewel 2019 results and review coverage here when the time comes.

WWE Crown Jewel 2019 Spoilers

WWE Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Cain Velasquez

Very, very curious how this all goes down. There's an argument for both sides. If Velasquez loses, his value drops significantly, as the big money match is already done and he lost. A rematch with Lesnar won't be as much of a draw in any fashion. However, if he wins, then how is WWE going to build SmackDown around a guy with no experience as a wrestler? I'm leaning more toward the idea that Lesnar retains the title through some kind of b.s. like a low blow so that they can revisit this later and try to claim that Velasquez never really lost.

PREDICTION: Brock Lesnar retains the title.


Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman

WWE typically has the celebrities win, but I hope that's not the case, here. Braun Strowman loses everything. With each loss, his stock drops. Having him beat Tyson Fury would do wonders to boost him up. I really hope he's the babyface between the two and that he wins, but I have my doubts that that will be the case. He'll probably be the heel booked to lose and then they'll have him steamroll some people after Crown Jewel to try to rehab The Monster Among Men in hindsight.

PREDICTION: Tyson Fury wins.


Universal Championship Falls Count Anywhere Match: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Bray Wyatt

So this is a great idea. They have Wyatt on SmackDown, which means he CANNOT win the title, unless he's part of this mysterious blockbuster trade and he goes back to Raw. Since this is Falls Count Anywhere, that rules out a disqualification or count-out cop-out victory where he doesn't win the belt but still wins the match. That means he needs to straight-up lose, or he wins the belt after moving back to Raw. Either way, it's awesome that their response for people who were annoyed at the non-finish from Hell in a Cell is to book Rollins to win again, rather than to move on. Why is he wrestling twice on the card, anyway? This is a mess and there's no way this works out well for all parties, and there's a part of me that thinks WWE is doing this just to try to prove the upset fans wrong by doubling down and thinking it'll work if they just try again.

PREDICTION: Seth Rollins retains the title.


Team Hogan (Captain Roman Reigns, Rusev and Ricochet, Shorty G, and Ali) vs. Team Flair (Captain Randy Orton, King Baron Corbin and Bobby Lashley, Shinsuke Nakamura and Drew McIntyre)

Well, this is a way to get Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair at Crown Jewel without them wrestling, that's for sure. I'm sure they'll punch each other and whatever.

Here's my issue: why is this happening so damn close to Survivor Series!?! Why does WWE keep doing that? They did Bragging Rights before Survivor Series before, for instance. WarGames is the night before Survivor Series. Why do they wake up in late October/November and just say "Okay, let's have a bunch of 5-on-5 matches."

PREDICTION: Team Hogan wins with Roman Reigns scoring the deciding pin.


World Cup Tag Team Turmoil Match

The "biggest tag team turmoil match" runs into the trend of "the biggest ___" being the gimmick for this event. World Cup is returning, too—this time to determine the best tag team. Of course, some tag teams are missing, but whatever.

At least now, on this graphic, the match is set to feature The B-Team, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, Heavy Machinery, The Lucha House Party, The New Day, The O.C., The Revival, and The Viking Raiders.

I'm working under the assumption The Viking Raiders, The New Day or The O.C. wins. Between those, I'll go with the most dominant of the three.

PREDICTION: The Viking Raiders win.


Mansoor vs. Cesaro

Look, I was all fine with Mansoor winning the giant battle royal. That was a fun moment. But WWE didn't follow it up AT ALL. Now, months later, he's wrestling again just because they're in Saudi Arabia. Obviously, he's going to beat Cesaro, and I feel like this is a doomed situation. Cesaro is going to get a good enough match out of him and probably has no problems putting Mansoor over. But this is just going to hurt Cesaro's value and if they only ever use Mansoor during these shows, he's never going to get over, either. Fans will reject him because he'll just be "that guy who wins in Saudi Arabia". WWE could have something here if they'd actually use him to win some matches on NXT. They can't lose track of that.

PREDICTION: Mansoor wins.


20-Man Battle Royal for United States Championship Shot

The winner of a 20-man battle royal will get a shot at the United States Championship later in the night against AJ Styles. Supposedly, these are the people who will be in the match:

Akira Tozawa, Andrade, Apollo Crews, Buddy Murphy, Cedric Alexander, Drake Maverick, Eric Young, Erick Rowan, Heath Slater, Humberto Carrillo, Luke Harper, Mojo Rawley, No Way Jose, R-Truth, Shelton Benjamin, Sin Cara, Sunil Singh, The Brian Kendrick, Titus O'Neil, Tony Nese

Knowing WWE, though, battle royals like this are always subject to change. That is particularly true when you notice that there are some people missing who you'd think would be involved to fill out the numbers—namely Drew Gulak, EC3 and The Miz.

Kevin Owens, Aleister Black, Sami Zayn and Daniel Bryan are all active wrestlers who are not in the mix, either, but they've shown a history of not being on these Saudi Arabia events, so that's to be expected.

PREDICTION: Humberto Carrillo wins.

United States Championship Match: AJ Styles (c) vs. TBD

I'd imagine the winner of the battle royal will be too spent to be able to beat Styles and win the belt.

PREDICTION: AJ Styles wins.

Lacey Evans vs. Natalya

WOW. They're actually allowed to have the women's division wrestle. That's insane and awesome. However, it's a shame this is the match. They've had way too many matches to be excited about this.

PREDICTION: Natalya wins.