Bobby Lashley being escorted out of the arena after sending Brock Lesnar through the announce table. (Picture: WWE)
Crown Jewel is approaching fast and prior to this week, the only match that was announced for the show was Roman Reigns vs. Logan Paul for the Undisputed Universal Championship.
However, four more matches have been added to the Premium Live Event that will take place in Saudi Arabia on November 6.
Welcome to the WWE Weekly Round-up, where The Inner Sanctum will take you through this week’s most pivotal moments on WWE television and preview what shapes to be a huge week ahead.
While Crown Jewel began to form this week, the United States Title picture also became clearer and Bray Wyatt sent a haunting message to the Friday Night Smackdown locker room and WWE Universe.
JBL returns to introduce Baron Corbin as a member of Monday Night Raw
WWE Hall of Famer, JBL made a return to Monday Night Raw and announced that Baron Corbin would be traded to the red brand for Rey Mysterio, who moved to Smackdown last week.
It was expected that an alliance between these two would occur, as Corbin was last seen on television a month ago entering a white limousine backstage.
Prior to that event, Corbin was suffering a numerous amount of losses and it was anticipated he would return to his much-loved ‘sad’ gimmick that he adopted last year.
Although this wasn’t to be the case, a partnership between these two is still a smart move and it is hopeful JBL will be making frequent appearances on television alongside Corbin.
The pairing share multiple similarities with each other, while Corbin also desperately needed a rebranding after his previous ‘happy’ persona became tiresome and stale.
JBL continuously labelled the newest Raw member a “modern day wrestling God”, before Corbin defeated Dolph Ziggler in a highly entertaining encounter.
Multiple superstars enter United States Title picture
Monday Night Raw marked the return of Elias, after his ‘younger brother’ was permanently written off TV in early August. In his first night back, he and Mustafa Ali both entered themselves in the frame for a United States Title opportunity.
The main event of this week’s episode of Raw was contested for the United States Championship, between Seth Rollins and the man who defeated him at Extreme Rules, Matt Riddle. It made sense for The Original Bro to have a title shot after beating The Visionary, who won the championship from Bobby Lashley last week.
Prior to the match, Elias attempted to perform for the WWE Universe before he was interrupted by Riddle. The Original Bro only expressed how excited he was for the musician’s comeback and when Elias was about to start singing afterwards, Rollins made his way to the ring.
Elias was ringside during the main event to support the challenger and was inside the champion’s head, as he levelled Rollins on the outside while the referee was not looking.
Riddle was super competitive in this match, as he had the momentum in the dying stages with a triangle hold The Visionary could not escape.
When Rollins was able to finally break the hold, he left the ring for a breather and demanded Elias to hit him again to win by disqualification. Elias did not budge and therefore, received a superkick from the champion.
Just as Riddle was about to hit an RKO, Elias entered the ring to attack Rollins and it only backfired. The Visionary used the interference to his advantage by pushing his opponent into Elias, before delivering a curb stomp to The Original Bro and retaining the championship.
Rollins then attempted to further assault Riddle post-match, until Mustafa Ali stopped him in his tracks and sent the United States Champion out of the arena. Earlier on Raw, Ali confronted The Visionary and told him he was next in line for a shot from when Lashley was the champion.
Rollins denied Ali, but the door is now back open for a potential one-on-one or fatal-4-way between the two, Riddle and Elias. However, a rivalry between the Original Bro and musician might kickstart next week as a result of what happened during the main event.
The more realistic possibility is a clash between Rollins and Ali, which could take place at Crown Jewel. While the latter hasn’t proven himself much and rarely appears on television, there is only two weeks left until the Saudi event and it is too late to introduce someone else to potentially challenge Rollins.
The one-on-one contest could also pose as a handy one-off and is a fresh match that would have the potential to steal the show.
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Four matches set for Crown Jewel
Last week on Raw, Brock Lesnar made a stunning return and assaulted Bobby Lashley prior to his United States Championship match against Seth Rollins. As a result of the attack, The Almighty entered his defence hurt and ultimately lost the title.
Lashley wanted a face-to-face confrontation with The Beast Incarnate this week and as Lesnar was coming down the stage, The Almighty wasted no time and the two engaged in a brawl. The former United States Champion was on the winning end of the encounter, spearing his rival through a barricade before putting him through the announce table.
While The Beast’s reason for attacking The Almighty last week has not yet been clarified, a match between the two goliaths was made official for Crown Jewel. It will be their second ever one-on-one clash, as Lashley scored the first win at this year’s Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship.
Following the surprise returns of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson last week, Finn Balor issued a challenge for The Judgment Day to face the duo and AJ Styles in a six-man tag team match at Crown Jewel. The O.C. accepted after Gallows and Anderson’s victory over Alpha Academy.
On Friday Night Smackdown, Braun Strowman challenged Omos to a match at Crown Jewel after the Nigerian Giant and his associate, MVP called out the Monster of all Monsters last week.
Omos then proceeded to shove Strowman out of the ring with ease, indicating to his opponent that he is the next big thing and the Monster may be vulnerable.
Meanwhile, Drew McIntyre ordered to face Karrion Kross in a steel cage match at Crown Jewel following Extreme Rules and the events of the latter’s car crash last week.
The Scottish Warrior attacked Kross after the incident, which forced his rival to be withdrawn from the number one contender’s match for the Intercontinental Championship.
Sheamus potentially written off television
Friday Night Smackdown this week commenced with a high quality contest between Sheamus and Solo Sikoa, after both of their respective parties involved themselves in last week’s fatal-four-way Intercontinental Title number one contender’s match.
While Sikoa was able to claim the win, there was commotion on the outside when Jimmy and Jey Uso were brawling with Butch and Ridge Holland.
The Usos bested the Brutes and piled the announce table on top of them, which distracted Sheamus and allowed for the Street Champion to take advantage of the situation.
After the match, The Celtic Warrior was outnumbered and suffered a devastating assault from The Bloodline. The faction delivered multiple chair shots to Sheamus’ already-injured arm, which WWE then confirmed resulted in a non-displaced fracture near the elbow for the former world champion.
It is not known how long Sheamus will be absent from television for if it is the case, while the win for Sikoa strengthens his credentials even further as a legitimate force of not only The Bloodline, but also Smackdown’s mid-card.
Bray Wyatt sends cryptic message and ‘Uncle Howdy’ teased
Bray Wyatt’s return to WWE has been the buzz of the company and on Smackdown, he had a backstage segment where he intended to finish what he was saying last week. Wyatt eventually said that he is going to do “horrible, horrible things”, and that he will “never feel sorry for them”.
Later on Smackdown, there was a vignette involving the same character that interrupted Wyatt last week in the white mask he appeared with at Extreme Rules. This segment also featured a QR code, which lead to a psychiatric evaluation that said Wyatt has a psychological history of having a difficulty to show remorse and empathy.
Finally, there was a close-up shot in the vignette of what seemed to be a cowboy who said “howdy”. Fightful reported two weeks ago that WWE had filed trademarks for the terms ‘Uncle Howdy’ and ‘Uncle Harper’ with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Whether this character is an associate of Wyatt or one of his personas, this storyline has become intriguing within a matter of weeks that has continued to leave the WWE Universe with more questions than answers.
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