Every WWE Crown Jewel Ranked From Worst to Best (Thus Far)

WWE Crown Jewel has only been associated with World Wrestling Entertainment for less than a decade, but that doesn’t save it from loads of controversy. Starting in 2018, the PLE has a great ring to it, but it had the problem of being produced in Saudi Arabia—a country whose political leanings haven’t set well with many in the audience.

Politics aside, WWE has always tried to put together a superstar lineup for Crown Jewel, but this lineup hasn’t always produced greatness. The PLE of Crown Jewel has had a very spotty track record when it comes to putting on a great show. There have been some fantastic shows, and some that left a bad taste in the mouth. Below, we will examine a ranking of the Crown Jewel PLEs and compare their performance against one another.

6 – Crown Jewel 2018

It didn’t take long for WWE to lay an egg with Crown Jewel, with the worst of its namesake being the inaugural show. It was well known that WWE got a large sum of money in their agreement to produce shows in the Middle East, and this PLE was just a money grab. There was no redeeming match on this card from top to bottom.

The match that stands out the most was the horrendous tag match between The Brothers of Destruction and D-Generation X. It was a match that featured four men way past their prime, with one coming out of retirement. Years before this would have been fun, but time had taken its toll, and Kane, The Undertaker, HHH, and HBK weren’t able to go anymore. The fans were only happy when the match was over.

Before the main event was a slew of matches that were just plain bad, the championship matches were short and poorly booked, and let’s not forget the train wreck that was the World Cup. A World Cup that could have been a crowning moment for Dolph Ziggler, but was an embarrassment for Shane McMahon. The first Crown Jewel was something WWE would rather us all forget.

5 – Crown Jewel 2019

WWE’s next attempt at putting on a watchable Crown Jewel was just as successful as their first try. This card was again marred by matches that were either terrible or were ones that no one had any interest in watching.

The two biggest mistakes were the Tyson Fury v Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar v Cain Velasquez debacles. Celebrity matches have a place in wrestling, but these were just plain boring. They weren’t hyped very well, and were over before they began, clocking in at a combined 10 minutes. Both Fury and Velasquez were seen again, begging the question of why they would get top billing over other men/ and women on the roster.

The Mansoor/ Cesaro match was admittedly a fun one to watch, but they couldn’t carry the show all by themselves. Team Hogan and Team Flair were a boring multi-man match, and the coronation of The Fiend was too little too late. Also, it was marred with controversy considering how Rollins and The Fiend’s Hell in a Cell match finished a month prior. WWE was 0-2 with their Crown Jewel PLE.

4 – Crown Jewel 2023

Now we are getting into more acceptable territory for Crown Jewel. This was a show that didn’t produce anything offensive to the audience, but also didn’t book many matches that blew us out of the water.

The opener between Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre was a great World Championship match, and Iyo Sky taking on Bianca Belair was fantastic. Those two matches were highlights on a card that was full of matches that were meh.

Solo Sikoa v John Cena and Logan Paul v Rey Mysterio had a ton of hype surrounding them, but failed to click in the way that WWE had hoped. The finishes went with a whimper instead of the expected fireworks. There was nothing bad about them, just nothing that blew us away. It was a theme that followed most of the matches on the card. There was nothing offensive, but nothing that had us wanting more from the night.

3 – Crown Jewel 2024

Last year’s iteration of Crown Jewel had some of the same issues that 2023 had. There were some fun matches on the card, but nothing that blew anyone out of the water. The invention of the Crown Jewel match, pitting the two men’s and women’s world champions against one another, was a great idea.

The two champion versus champion matches were fun, even though there were no massive stakes behind them. Cody Rhodes and Gunther had a fun first-time match that had the two best on the roster going to war. Liv Morgan and Nia Jax dipped a bit in quality, but it was still an interesting heel vs heel dynamic that we don’t get to see very often.

The undercard was full of good to slightly better than good matches. Nothing that is going to stand out on a score sheet, but nothing that is going to make you walk out of the arena. It was a serviceable night of wrestling.

2 – Crown Jewel 2021

WWE was starting to figure things out when it came to Crown Jewel 2021. The Crown Jewel card had more thought put into it than those of past years, and we were given some excellent wrestling from top to bottom. Yes, there are one or two matches that shouldn’t be classified as great, but very few PLEs are going to be fantastic from start to finish.

The highlight of Crown Jewels night was the penultimate showdown between Edge and Seth Rollins, taking place inside Hell in a Cell. It was a fantastic example of how great the gimmick match can be when you have great professionals and a compelling story to tell. There’s a reason why this match was one of the top matches of 2021.

Outside of the opener, yes opener, there were more great matches on this card than awful. Mansoor and Mustafa Ali put on a great fast-paced battle, RKO-Bro defending their tag championships was as entertaining as always, and Brock Lesnar taking Roman Reigns had that big fight field.

Then there was a great triple threat match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship that was a highlight of the calendar year. This was a fun night of wrestling that gave us some entertaining moments.

1 – Crown Jewel 2022

This is not only the best version of the Crown Jewell PLE but it’s also one of the best PLEs WWE has put on, in recent memory. As stated before, it’s difficult for a card to be great from top to bottom, but this one clears that bar. It was a night of superb entertainment from start to finish, with some fantastic matches.

Crown Jewels undercard had just about everything one would want in a PLE. There was a good amount of variety, with multi-person and singles matches, with each holding its own special attraction. They were all given time to put together something great, and the crowd loved it the whole way.

The two matches that stand out above the rest are the semi-main and main event. The Last Woman Standing Match between Bayley and Bianca Belair was beyond incredible. They had a story to tell, and used every weapon not nailed down to tell it. It was such a creative journey, setting the contest apart from a gimmick full of examples.