WWE Crown Jewel 2019 Retro Review: Every Match Rated and Revisited

WWE Crown Jewel 2019 took place on October 31, 2019, at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was the second Crown Jewel, the fourth WWE event in Saudi Arabia under the company's 10-year partnership with the country, and part of the first Riyadh Season. It streamed live on the WWE Network, with wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown and 205 Live on the card.

The show mattered for several reasons. WWE brought in two outside names for their in-ring debuts: former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and boxing's Tyson Fury. It also promised the first women's match ever held in Saudi Arabia, a country where WWE's women had not been allowed to wrestle before. And the Universal Championship story needed a proper ending after a messy Hell in a Cell finish earlier in the month. A year after the first Crown Jewel, the pressure was on WWE to deliver a better night.

The build

• Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez (WWE Championship): On the September 30 Raw, Lesnar attacked Rey Mysterio and his son Dominik. After Lesnar won the WWE Championship on the October 4 SmackDown 20th anniversary show, Velasquez debuted alongside Mysterio and went after him. Velasquez had beaten Lesnar for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 121 in October 2010, and Dominik was revealed to be his godson.
• Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman: Fury was sitting at ringside on October 4 when Strowman slammed Dolph Ziggler into the barricade, knocking Fury back into his seat. Security held Fury back. On the October 7 Raw, Fury demanded an apology and the two brawled until they were separated.
• Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend (Universal Championship): Their Hell in a Cell match ended in a stoppage, and The Fiend attacked Rollins afterwards. In the WWE Draft, The Fiend went to SmackDown and Rollins to Raw. The rematch was made Falls Count Anywhere, and after Rollins set fire to the Firefly Fun House, a rule was added that the referee could not stop the match for any reason.
• Team Hogan vs. Team Flair: On a September 30 Miz TV segment, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair teased facing each other, and The Miz announced a 5-on-5 match with the two legends as coaches. Rollins was first named Team Hogan's captain but was pulled once he had a title defence. Roman Reigns replaced him, with Randy Orton captaining Team Flair.
• Mansoor vs. Cesaro: Mansoor, a Saudi-born wrestler from NXT, had won WWE's largest standard battle royal at Super ShowDown earlier in 2019. His match with Cesaro was announced on October 14.
• Tag Team Turmoil: Billed as the largest tag team turmoil match in WWE history, with nine teams. The winners would get the WWE Tag Team World Cup and the title of “the best tag team in the world”.
• Natalya vs. Lacey Evans: Announced at a press conference the day before the show as the first women's match in Saudi Arabia. Stephanie McMahon said both women would wear full-body suits.

Match by match

Kickoff: 20-man battle royal for a United States Championship match

The Kickoff show opened with a 20-man battle royal, with a United States Championship match against AJ Styles later that night as the prize. The field was mostly mid-card and 205 Live names: Drake Maverick, Heath Slater, Tony Nese, The Brian Kendrick, Eric Young, Mojo Rawley, Sin Cara, Titus O'Neil, No Way Jose, Akira Tozawa, Shelton Benjamin, Apollo Crews, Buddy Murphy, R-Truth, Andrade, Sunil Singh, Cedric Alexander, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Humberto Carrillo.

Andrade threw out Sin Cara, and Harper dumped No Way Jose with a discus clothesline after Jose got between Harper and his old partner Rowan. R-Truth and Sunil Singh were both eliminated, which led straight into a 24/7 Championship moment on the floor (more on that below). The final four were Rowan, Harper, Alexander and Carrillo. The crowd chanted for Harper, who eliminated Alexander. It came down to Carrillo and Rowan, and Carrillo eliminated Rowan to win at 12:25. This was also Luke Harper's last match in WWE before his release.

For us, this is a perfectly fine pre-show battle royal and nothing more. Battle royals with 20 people are always a little messy, and this one had the usual stretches of people leaning on each other against the ropes. The good part is that it had a clear purpose. It gave Carrillo, a young wrestler most fans barely knew, a reason to be in a title match later in the night, and the final stretch was smartly done to make him look clever and quick. Seen today, the Harper chants and his last WWE appearance give it a bittersweet feeling that it did not have at the time. Not essential viewing, but not a waste of time either. Our rating: ★★

Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez (WWE Championship)

The main card started with a video package and pyro, and then went straight to one of the two celebrity-style matches. Lesnar came out with Paul Heyman and his usual pyro. Velasquez walked out with Rey Mysterio, who had his left arm in a sling. Heyman did the introduction and sold it as the ultimate rematch of their UFC fight from 2010. The crowd cheered Lesnar, while Velasquez got little reaction and even a few boos.

The match was worked like an MMA fight. Lesnar tried an early takedown and backed Velasquez into the corner. Velasquez kicked Lesnar's leg, staggered him with a knee to the midsection and knocked him down with a kick to the head, then went for ground and pound. Lesnar kicked Velasquez's bad knee out from under him, locked in the Kimura and forced a tap out at 2:10. Lesnar would not let go, so Mysterio hit him in the back with a chair. Lesnar took over, hit both men with the chair and delivered an F-5 onto it, until Mysterio came back with more chair shots and Lesnar left the ring.

We think this was a poor way to use a former UFC champion. WWE spent a month telling fans that Velasquez was the one man who had already beaten Lesnar, and then let him look dangerous for about a minute before he tapped out. Velasquez's knee was already hurt going in, and the match was built around it, but the result was a match with almost nothing in it. The post-match chair brawl made it clear the real plan was Lesnar vs. Mysterio, so Velasquez became a stepping stone. Two minutes and ten seconds is not a match you can rate highly, and the flat crowd reaction to Velasquez tells you WWE never made fans care about him. Our rating: ★

Tag Team Turmoil for the WWE Tag Team World Cup

Nine teams took part, with the World Cup trophy sitting at ringside: Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik, with Kalisto), Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, Heavy Machinery, The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston, with Xavier Woods injured before the show), The B-Team, The Revival, The O.C.'s Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and The Viking Raiders. The New Day got a big ovation and pyro for their entrance.

Ziggler and Roode eliminated Lucha House Party, with Roode's Glorious DDT, and then Hawkins and Ryder. Heavy Machinery knocked out Ziggler and Roode with the Compactor. The New Day then went on a run, getting rid of Heavy Machinery with the Midnight Hour, The B-Team with Big E's Big Ending, and The Revival. The Revival did not take it well and attacked The New Day afterwards, hitting the Shatter Machine on Kingston. That set up The O.C. to eliminate a worn-down New Day with the Magic Killer on Kingston. In the final stretch, Ivar broke up one Magic Killer, but The O.C. threw him out and hit it on Erik to win at 32:05. Gallows and Anderson celebrated with the trophy.

We have mixed feelings about this one. Some of it is good fun. The Heavy Machinery section was lively, The New Day were the right team to carry the middle of the match, and The Revival's attack after their elimination was a smart way to explain why The New Day finally lost. The O.C. winning was a nice surprise. But 32 minutes is far too long for this kind of match, and several teams were there only to be eliminated. By the end, it felt like a long run of finishers and resets rather than a story. Easy to watch in parts, hard to sit through in one go. Our rating: ★★

Mansoor vs. Cesaro

Mansoor was presented as the hometown hero, and the crowd treated him that way from the start. Cesaro played the arrogant visitor perfectly by slapping away Mansoor's handshake. Mansoor hit a standing moonsault and an arm drag into an armbar. When he dove to the floor, Cesaro caught him with a European uppercut. Mansoor kept fighting back with a step-up enziguri, a huracanrana that sent Cesaro outside, a dive, a top-rope crossbody and a tornado DDT for a near fall.

Cesaro took over with a middle-rope suplex, an avalanche gutwrench suplex that Mansoor kicked out of, and a crossface. Mansoor survived, then nearly won with a superkick and a jackknife roll-up. The crowd broke into a “this is awesome” chant during the near falls. The finish came when Cesaro tried another gutwrench, and Mansoor turned it into a powerbomb before finishing with a top-rope moonsault at 12:45. After the match, Greg Hamilton interviewed Mansoor in the ring, and he spoke first in English and then in Arabic, which got one of the biggest reactions of the night.

For us, this is the best match on the show by a clear distance. Yes, WWE was obviously pushing Mansoor because of where the show was, and nobody should pretend otherwise. But that does not change how well the match was put together. Cesaro gave Mansoor a lot, sold his offence like it really hurt, and paced the near falls so the crowd believed each one could be the finish. Mansoor did not look out of place, and the moonsault finish was clean. This is a great lesson in how a veteran can make a newer wrestler look like a star in front of the right crowd. If you watch only one match from this show, make it this one. Our rating: ★★★½

Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman

Strowman came out first and was booed. Fury's entrance was much bigger: he came out to The Isley Brothers' “It's Your Thing” with pyro and lasers, was lifted up onto the stage, and wore Saudi clothing. The crowd cheered him, and it was clear WWE wanted this to feel like a big crossover moment.

The match mixed wrestling with boxing. Fury threw quick jabs to the body, hit a kick to the face and a big boot for a near fall, and argued with the referee about the count. Strowman hit him with a right hand on the floor, a club to the chest, shoulder tackles and a powerslam. At one point Fury sat up after a clothesline, Undertaker-style. Fury avoided a running powerslam, dropped Strowman with a drop toe hold and a big boot, and then landed a right hand as Strowman was trying to get back in. Strowman stumbled off the apron and was counted out at 8:05. After the bell, an angry Strowman hit Fury with a running powerslam and left, and Fury got up, shouted at him and took his shirt off.

We think this was a bad match, and the eight minutes felt longer. Fury had clearly trained and put in effort, and for a boxer in his first match he did not embarrass himself. But the match had no flow. Long stretches were just two big men standing and swinging at each other, and the crowd, hot at the start, went quieter as it went on. The countout finish was the worst of both worlds: it protected Fury without giving the fans a clear win, and it made Strowman, once again, the man who loses to a visiting champion. The best thing about this match was the entrance, and that tells you most of what you need to know. Our rating: ½★

AJ Styles vs. Humberto Carrillo (United States Championship)

Styles came out with Gallows and Anderson, who brought the World Cup trophy they had just won to ringside. Carrillo, the Kickoff battle royal winner, started with speed: a springboard arm drag, a standing moonsault and later a corkscrew crossbody. Styles slowed him down with a fireman's carry neckbreaker and worked his back. They traded an enziguri and a Pele kick, and Carrillo dropkicked Styles off the apron and dove on him.

Late in the match, Carrillo hurt his knee on a counter, and Styles went straight for it with the Calf Crusher. Carrillo reached the bottom rope. He came back with a kick, but when he went for a moonsault, the knee gave out again, Styles moved, and Styles finished him with the Phenomenal Forearm at 12:35 to keep the title.

This is a good match that the crowd mostly ignored. Coming after the Fury match, the audience was flat, and there were only light “this is awesome” chants. Some reviewers noted that the crowd simply did not believe Carrillo could win, and many seemed happy to cheer Styles anyway, which took away the usual hero vs. villain heat. For us, the wrestling holds up better than the atmosphere suggests. Carrillo's athleticism was impressive, Styles's work on the knee gave the second half a clear story, and the finish made sense. It is not a match anyone talks about now, but it is honest, well-worked television with a likeable young challenger. Worth a watch if you skip the parts of this show that are not. Our rating: ★★★

Natalya vs. Lacey Evans

This was the first women's match in Saudi Arabia, and the entrances reflected that. Natalya's music hit with pyro, and she fought back tears at the start. She wore black gear with a pink Hart logo shirt over it and handed her cat ears to a fan. Evans wore all black with a red T-shirt over her gear and waved to the crowd. Both women were in full-body suits, and the added shirts looked, to some reviewers, like last-minute additions.

The match was simple. Natalya used arm drags and a roll-up, and Evans worked her arm and used a cobra clutch. Natalya tried an early Sharpshooter, but Evans countered. Evans hit a fisherman's suplex and a springboard moonsault for near falls. Natalya came back with a discus lariat and locked in the Sharpshooter, and Evans tapped at 7:20. The crowd chanted “this is awesome” and “women's wrestling” as the action picked up. Afterwards, the two raised each other's hands and embraced while fireworks went off from the top of the stadium. Evans cried, and they hugged fans at ringside and took selfies before leaving.

We have to separate the moment from the match here. As a match, it was basic: seven minutes, a few nice spots and a clean finish, with no real heel or face story because Evans did not play her usual character. Michael Cole's commentary about Saudi progress also made it harder to enjoy, and the wider debate about whether this was real progress or public relations is fair. But the moment did matter to the wrestlers, and you can see it on their faces. Young girls in the crowd were clearly into it. We rate the match, not the history, and the match was average. Our rating: ★★

Team Hogan vs. Team Flair

This was the big entrance match of the night. Ric Flair came out with pyro from the top of the stadium. Lana accompanied Bobby Lashley, and Randy Orton got a big star reaction. Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart had their own pyro, Ricochet wore a full-body superhero-style outfit, and Roman Reigns came out to pyro as well. Team Hogan was Reigns, Rusev, Ricochet, Shorty G and Ali. Team Flair was Orton, Lashley, King Corbin, Shinsuke Nakamura and Drew McIntyre.

The early part was quick tags, with Nakamura and Shorty G trading suplexes and Rusev and McIntyre slugging it out. Corbin shoved Ali into the barricade, and Team Flair isolated Ali and then Ricochet, helped by cheap shots including one from Flair. Reigns got the hot tag, cleaned house and nearly pinned Orton after a Superman Punch. Rusev and Lashley traded punches, and Reigns dove onto Team Flair at ringside. Orton hit Reigns with an RKO for a very close near fall. When Orton lined up a punt kick, Shorty G grabbed his foot, Ali and Ricochet flew onto the others outside, and Reigns speared Orton for the win at 19:55. Reigns then hugged his teammates, Hogan and Hart.

For us, this is the most fun match on the show after Mansoor vs. Cesaro. It follows a classic formula, with the babyfaces in trouble, a hot tag, chaos and a big finish, and it works because nearly everyone gets a moment. The RKO near fall was a good false finish, and the crowd was loud for the comeback. The problems are the usual ones for a 10-man tag with no eliminations: a lot is happening, nobody gets much time, and it is easy to forget the next day. Hogan and Flair added nostalgia but very little else. Solid, enjoyable, and not much more. Our rating: ★★★

Main event: Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend (Universal Championship, Falls Count Anywhere)

The Fiend entered with his lantern under red lighting, with “Let Me In” on the screen, and the crowd went quiet as he walked to the ring. He took control early, ignored a Stomp at ringside and slammed Rollins onto the apron. Rollins sent him through the barricade and hit him with the top of an announce table. Rollins put a chair around The Fiend's head and swung a sledgehammer, but The Fiend caught him in the Mandible Claw. Rollins escaped. The Fiend missed a senton through an announce table, then later put Rollins through stacked tables with a move off the top rope.

The Fiend pulled up the ring mat to show a steel grate, but Rollins hit him with the steel steps and gave him a Stomp onto it, and The Fiend kicked out at two. The Fiend hit Sister Abigail on a raised platform, and Rollins kicked out. On the stage, Rollins hit a long run of Stomps, and The Fiend kept getting back up; some fans booed. Rollins then hit superkicks that sent The Fiend off the stage into an area of equipment that caught fire, and extinguishers were used. Sparks went into Rollins's eyes. The Fiend appeared behind him, put on the Mandible Claw and hit Sister Abigail to win the title at 21:50. The lights went out, and The Fiend was shown on the stage holding the belt under strobe lights.

We think this main event has a good idea and a poor execution. WWE wanted to show that The Fiend could not be hurt, and they did that, but it meant Rollins spent much of the match hitting someone who would not react. That makes it hard to care about any near fall. The red lighting made a lot of it hard to see, the match ran too long, and the fire and spark finish felt more like a production accident than a planned ending. The right man won, and the crowd got its moment at the end, but after Hell in a Cell this needed to be clear and convincing. It was clear. It was not convincing. Our rating: ★½

Beyond the matches

• 24/7 Championship chaos: On the Kickoff show, after R-Truth and Sunil Singh were both thrown out of the battle royal, Truth rolled up Sunil on the floor to win the 24/7 title, which got a big crowd reaction. Later, the Singh Brothers chased Truth backstage. He ran into a pair of closed doors and knocked himself out, and Samir Singh pinned him to take the title back. Silly, but it did its job as a short break.
• Opening and broadcast team: The main card opened with a video package and pyro, and Michael Cole and Corey Graves introduced the Arabic broadcast team sitting at ringside.
• Mansoor's speech: After beating Cesaro, Mansoor spoke to his home crowd in English and then in Arabic. For us, it was the warmest moment of the night.
• Backstage segments: Byron Saxton interviewed Seth Rollins, who said the feud would end that night. Saxton also interviewed Hulk Hogan, who called him “Beautiful Byron” and said he had been training in the desert. Rey Mysterio cut a backstage promo saying Lesnar had beaten Velasquez but would still pay for what he did to Dominik and the family.
• Celebrity guests: Fury's entrance, with pyro, lasers and Saudi clothing, was the most elaborate of the night. Hogan, Jimmy Hart and Ric Flair were ringside for the 10-man tag, each with their own pyro.
• Production: Pyro was used heavily all night, including fireworks after the women's match. Reviewers criticised the red lighting in the main event, and the fire and spark at the finish looked like an electrical problem to some viewers.
• Announcements and plugs: The show confirmed that NXT would be part of Survivor Series for the first time, ran ads for WrestleMania and Survivor Series, and Cole hyped the next night's SmackDown on Fox, including Miz TV with Bray Wyatt.
• The crowd: Loud for Mansoor, the 10-man tag and the women's match, but flat for Styles vs. Carrillo, quiet for Velasquez and fading during Fury vs. Strowman.

The verdict: does it hold up today?

Only in parts. In our view, Crown Jewel 2019 is better than the 2018 show, but not by as much as it should be. Mansoor vs. Cesaro is still a great example of how to make a new star in front of a home crowd, Styles vs. Carrillo is good, and the 10-man tag is an easy watch. The women's match matters historically, even if the match itself is average. But the two matches WWE pushed hardest, Lesnar vs. Velasquez and Fury vs. Strowman, are the weakest on the card, the tag turmoil is too long, and the main event never feels as big as it should. Watch the highlights, not the whole show.

• Best match: Mansoor vs. Cesaro
• Worst match: Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman
• Overall: 2 out of 5

Full results and our ratings

What happened next

• WWE's flight home was delayed. A plane carrying close to 200 WWE employees sat on the tarmac for about a day. WWE said it was down to mechanical problems. A group including Vince McMahon, Lesnar, Hogan, Flair and Fury flew out on private jets without delay.
• Because so many wrestlers were stuck, the next night's SmackDown in Buffalo was rebuilt around talent who had not worked the show, including the women's roster and NXT, and the Lesnar vs. Velasquez match was replayed in full.
• Lesnar and Heyman moved to Raw with the WWE Championship to go after Mysterio, which led to a No Holds Barred match between Lesnar and Mysterio at Survivor Series.
• The Fiend's Universal title moved to SmackDown, where he held it until Goldberg beat him at Super ShowDown in Riyadh on February 27, 2020.
• In November 2019, WWE announced its Saudi partnership was extended through 2027. There was no Crown Jewel in 2020; the event returned in 2021. Next in our series: the Crown Jewel 2021 retro review, ahead of Crown Jewel 2026.

More Crown Jewel retro reviews

We have gone back through every Crown Jewel. Here is how the others rate, out of 5:

• Crown Jewel 2018: ★½ (1.5 out of 5), the first one, and the World Cup
• Crown Jewel 2021: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), Hell in a Cell and a loaded card
• Crown Jewel 2022: ★★★½ (3.5 out of 5), Reigns vs. Logan Paul and a Last Woman Standing match
• Crown Jewel 2023: ★★½ (2.5 out of 5), Rollins vs. McIntyre and Reigns vs. LA Knight
• Crown Jewel 2024: ★★½ (2.5 out of 5), the first Crown Jewel Championships
• Crown Jewel 2025: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), the first Crown Jewel outside Saudi Arabia

And for what is coming next, read our Crown Jewel 2026 preview.