Crown Jewel took place from Saudi Arabia, much to the shagrin of a lot of fans.  I was able to watch it live at the noon start time.  Most of my predictions went as planned but I was unpleasantly surprised with the world cup.  Another controversial figure is the Babe Ruth of WWE, Hulk Hogan.  I don’t care for his choice of words a few years ago, but I will admit it was great to see the Hulkster in a WWE ring.

U.S. Title Defense

In the kick off show, Rusev went one on one with Shinsuke Nakamura.  I didn’t even know this match was going to be on the kickoff show, so I didn’t make a prediction on it.  But had I known, I would have predicted correctly.  A great match though, that went back and forth. And for a second, I thought Rusev may win this.  But in typical heel Nakamura style he connected with a low blow, followed by a kinshasa to win the match.  I wouldn’t mind seeing these two go into a rivalry after survivor series.

World Cup Tournament

The world cup tournament was actually something I was looking forward to.  I don’t think many fans expected the outcome, much like myself, but we were able to see some great matches.

The first match of the tournament was Randy Orton vs Rey Mysterio.  After Shane McMahon said on Smackdown Live last week that if the winner of the Smackdown side losses in the finals they will be fired, I thought for sure Randy Orton would win the tournament.  Orton and Rey had a good match that ended with a surprise roll up pin by Mysterio.  Immediatly my pick was eliminated from the tournament, but he didn’t leave without doing some damage.  He beat up on Rey, weakening him for his second round match.

gohomepwb.com pick: Randy Orton  Winner: Rey Mysterio (PPV prediction record (11-7)

The second match of the tournament was Jeff Hardy vs The Miz.  A pretty good match with The Miz picking up the victory, clean…yes clean.  I was right in the injury angle but I was wrong on the matches and participants.  I expected Hardy to win, and then be beat up, but it happened to Mysterio in the prior match.  Nonetheless The Miz won the match, and took a nasty kick to the throat that caused his voice to be strained.

gohomepwb.com pick: Jeff Hardy  Winner: The Miz (PPV prediction record 11-8)

Now we go to the RAW side of the tournament.  The first match was Seth Rollins vs Bobby Lashley.  This match was much like the Lashley, Finn Balor matches on Raw, Lashley dominates, but ends up losing in the end.  What shocked me was how he lost.  A curb stomp finsher to Lashley and a clean win for Rollins.  This puts Lashley on a little bit of a losing streak, but I think he will rebound in a big way on RAW Monday night.  I did expect Rollins to win however, just not with a clean finish.

gohomepwb.com pick: Seth Rollins  Winner: Seth Rollins (PPV prediction record 12-8)

The last first round match was Kurt Angle vs Dolph Ziggler.  Ziggler and Angle put on a really good match, but I had a feeling that Ziggler would win this match.  Probably most people would think this would be an upset, as most of us expect Ziggler to be enhancement talent again soon.  I certainly hope not, he is a great heel especially with his insurance policy Drew McIntyre.  As predicted Ziggler picked up the win with a clean finish.

gohomepwb.com pick: Dolph Ziggler Winner: Dolph Ziggler (PPV prediction record 13-8)

The finals of the Smackdown side was The Miz vs the injured Rey Mysterio.  I really expected Rey to win this, but I was wrong.  The Miz picked up a clean win against Mysterio putting him in the finals of the World Cup tournament.

gohomepwb.com pick: Randy Orton  Winner: The Miz (PPV prediction record 13-9)

The finals of the RAW side was once again a match between Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler.  I could watch these two wrestle every night.  This was the best match of the night in my opinion.  A classic Rollins, Ziggler match with a lot of false finishes.  I picked Seth Rollins to win this match and after The Miz won his match, I fully expected to see him win.  However, as many of you know by now, I am a Ziggler guy and was pulling for him to win the match.  And after a back and forth match, and a slight involvement from Drew McIntyre, Ziggler was able to hit his superkick and get the win putting him in the finals.

gohomepwb.com pick: Seth Rollins  Winner: Dolph Ziggler (PPV prediction record 13-10)

The World Cup finals, The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler.  What a swerve we got in this one.  Shane McMahon and Baron Corbin were at ringside for the finals match.  The match started out with Drew McIntyre being kicked out of the ringside area, then The Miz playing the part as the heel, in the heel vs heel match, attached Ziggler from behind.  Ziggler was thrown out of the ring, and when The Miz jumped down from the ring apron fell to the ground clutching his leg.  As we would find out this was kayfabe, but bravo to The Miz, for selling this like nothing I have ever seen.  I, along with just about everyone else thought this was a legitimate injury.  Ziggler was back in the ring and the referee was going to award him the match, when Shane McMahon said that he was filling in for The Miz…so, enter McMahon.  A very fresh McMahon went after the surprised Dolph Ziggler and beat him up pretty quick.  McMahon hit a slingshot into the turnbuckles, and then a patent coast to coast finisher to beat Ziggler and be crowned the best in the world.

It will be interesting to see how this story goes, it looked to me as if Shane McMahon may be turning heel soon.  The way he acted after beating a worn out Ziggler was very Daniel Bryanesk at the start of the YES! chants.  I also believe this will catapault Ziggler into a Universal title picture soon.  He put on a great show at Crown Jewel.  I was not crazy about the finish to the World Cup tournament.  I think they kind of made a mockery of it having Shane come in at the last minute to win it.  But like I said, I believe this is the start of a heel turn for Shane.

gohomepwb.com pick:  Randy Orton  Winner: Shane McMahon (PPV prediction record 13-11)

The Bar Retain

The Bar took on the NEW DAY! in a Smackdown Live tag team title match.  The match was ok, put probably the one that people will most forget about when they think of the show.  The match was stiff and quick and ended as predicted with interfernce from the Big Show when he punched Big E.  The Bar was able to win the match and retain their tag team championship.  I hope that the Uso’s are next in line for a title shot.

gohomepwb.com pick: The Bar  Winner: The Bar (PPV prediction record 14-11)

AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe one more time

In an almost impromptu match, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles renewed their rivalry for about 10 minutes. The match was probably not their best and AJ Styles won clean with a phenomenal forearm. Now that he has beaten Joe by every possible scenario, it’s safe to say this rivalry will be put on the shelf. I look for Orton to be in the title picture after Survivor Series. So a very predictable match and a very predictable finish.

gohomepwb.com: AJ Styles Winner: AJ Styles (PPV prediction record 15-11)

A New Universal Champion Crowned

Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman went one on one for the vacant Universal championship. Before the match started Baron Corbin hit Strowman in the back of the head with the championship. Lesnar went on to hit about 6 F5’s to beat Strowman and become the first ever two time universal champion. His is what I hoped and picked would happen. Strowman needs to rejuvenate his baby face momentum. I think Lesnar and AJ will have a great match at Survivor Series and then we will see Strowman chase Lesnar for the Universal championship until Wrestlemania.

gohomepwb.com pick: Brock Lesnar Winner: Brock Lesnar (PPV prediction record 16-11)

An attitude era Main Event

Triple H and Shawn Michaels, together known as DX took on the team of Kane and the Undertaker. This match was mostly controlled by Kane and the Undertaker. Triple H was choked slammed through a table, so HBK was by himself for most of the match. Which I believe was the plan, so that we could see all the classic HBK moves. We were not disappointed either, as we saw everything he could offer. Including a moonsault from the top rope to the floor. It looked as though HBK landed on his face, but hit the move nonetheless. The match ended shortly after that with some sweet chin music and a pedigree on Kane for a DX pin fall win. I called the finish to a tee, as I fully expected Kane to take the L in the match.

gohomepwb.com pick: DX Winner: DX (PPV prediction record 17-11)

Outside of the World Cup tournament, this was a pretty predictable show. I can only imagine how happy the WWE is to have this trip over with. I kind of hope that they are done with the overseas pay per views for a while. I like the traditional ones and we are getting close to the road to Wrestlemania already. I look for a good Survivor Series and then we will start to see a couple Wrestlemania angles take shape.

It will be interesting to see what happens on RAW tonight with the crowning of a new Universal champion. Also, it will be interesting to see if Ziggler gets into an angle with Shane McMahon for a Survivor Series elimination tag match. Thanks for checking out gohomepwb.com.