WWE Crown Jewel 2018 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections
By Luke Norris
WWE World Cup Final
Shane McMahon vs. Dolph Ziggler
What we learned: We learned here that WWE Crown Jewel went completely off the rails. If the Brock Lesnar fiasco wasn’t bad enough, the finals of this supposedly historic WWE World Cup tournament featured SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon taking the place of an injured Miz to take on Dolph Ziggler, who had already competed in two matches earlier in the night. Oh yeah … and then Shane McMahon freaking wins the thing. WHAT?! More like WHAT A JOKE, am I right?
So again, let me run down what happened here. Baron Corbin and Shane come to ringside to watch the match. Okay, no harm done. The ref sends Drew McIntyre to the back to make things even for Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz. Again, all good there. The Miz attacks Ziggler but then collapses, seemingly with a “hurt” knee. The ref checks on him and says that he can’t compete. The announcer is going to call it a forfeit but Shane says he’s stepping in. Awful.
I try to get invested in what is happening but just can’t wrap my brain around it, but it doesn’t matter anyway because in less than three minutes, Shane has won and is running around with the trophy as Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Renee Young (just think of how having more women on this show would have made Crown Jewel so much better) try to figure out what is happening … just like the rest of us.
#SDLive Commissioner @shanemcmahon is showing some concern for his SmackDown Superstar... #WWEWorldCup #WWECrownJewel pic.twitter.com/AblpTDOgVw
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) November 2, 2018
With @mikethemiz unable to go, #SDLive Commissioner @shanemcmahon is COMPETING against @HEELZiggler in the FINALS of the #WWEWorldCup tournament! #WWECrownJewel pic.twitter.com/VRjsnLKhXw
— WWE (@WWE) November 2, 2018
The #WWEWorldCup Finals are on, and...@mikethemiz = injured.@HEELZiggler = ready to battle.@shanemcmahon = $$$$.#WWECrownJewel pic.twitter.com/0afLiRgFJi
— WWE (@WWE) November 2, 2018
What’s next: I don’t even know how this plays out. Is The Miz fired from the blue brand then? I mean, he didn’t technically win. Does Dolph Ziggler get his revenge at Survivor Series in the RAW vs. SmackDown match that I assume Shane will captain on one side? What a trainwreck that whole thing was. I don’t even know if I know enough adjectives to describe how dreadful that was.