WRESTLING REVIEW: Crown Jewel III

With only two matches on the women’s division present on the card, Saudi Arabia from the looks of things looked to be getting shortchanged. Starting with the finals of the Queen’s Crown tourney, that presumption slowly but surely eroded into what would become some of the best pay-per-view matches from WWE’s women this year.

Zelina Vega vs. Doudrop was David & Goliath by script, but visually stunned more than a story ripped out the christen-dom mythos ever could.
I don’t know how many times Zelina played leapfrog to lock in her Tarantula submission, but every time she kicked to strategically chop down Doudrop’s legs or just to stay in the tournament, I could almost thank Saudi Arabia for their strict clothing policy for the female contenders – because, honestly, who could wear a pair of tights better? But being captivated by Vega’s beauty was far from the only draw for the matchup as Doudrop scored some painful looking cannonballs and elbows, plus her selling game was on point – something oft overlooked in the performances of these Superstars. Of course, Doudrop’s sells had to be up to par since she lost the tourney to Zelina and finally after years of being stuck in mid-card and jerked around by WWE, Zelina’s hard work finally paid off. With her now being essentially Queen of The Ring, there is no way that WWE Creative can screw up a possible story with Zelina stripping Flair’s title away from her (both in name and belt) somewhere down the line.
And though Doudrop lost another tournament match, this could be the spark that launches her back into the Piper McNiven character that once went toe-to-toe with Kay Lee Ray. A competitor worthy of the match this was, not some silly flunky for a woman who after all these years of hiatus still cannot even wrestle.

The Triple Threat match should have been called Demolition Derby, to keep with the alliteration on the bill because that was the spirit of this Smackdown Women’s Title match. The draft a few weeks ago made the decision far from surprising, but the lead up featured replay worthy spots that made the journey to the predictable end worth every second. Belair went for a one-arm press and powered out of two Horsewomen finishers simultaneously. Banks, gorgeous as ever, went the distance even though she ate the pin – there wasn’t an ounce of weakness showed in her defense. At this point Banks’ knees are WMD’s, and the fact that she has now repurposed Eddie Guerrero’s “Amigos” into “The Three Amigas” is yet another testament that this sex symbol is a future Hall of Famer. As for the cherry on top : the constant “don’t play with my hair” spot, that countless wrestlers since Bayley have failed to make fresh as they capitalized on Belair’s Achilles; Banks was able to turn into one of the brightest spots within the match-up, and the flips that she took to the resounding bump was worthy of its replay and was enough to bring about an exclamation from me as I sat at a table for one in an otherwise quiet restaurant in the landscape of South Orlando.

The Mom (I refuse to call this woman Big Time Becks) was annoying as ever, deeply seeped into her heelish ways. Becky dominated this match, spamming attacks like this was Tekken. I wanted to see her do more, but by the way Becky played out her strategy, her most simple attacks prior to her maternity leave now carry a boss-level type power behind them, and that ominous aura behind her Legdrop’s and Disarmher’s make it all the more comedic when these attacks within her arsenal do not connect. Don’t ask me why Saudi Arabia had Lynch going over, perhaps such fanfare had something to deal with the absolutely seamless transitions as these women constantly collided, crashed, burned and got back up to do it all over again. This triple threat had the pacing of a men’s division match but the fluidity if that very male match was viewed at twice the speed.

The Smackdown Women’s match at Crown Jewel ’21 was a joy to see, but that finish of a small package roll up was enough to leave my mouth open like Banks. How can a match this destructive and fast- paced end with a period and not an exclamation point or two? With the way these women performed and the circumstances leading up to this blow off, I expected more of a bang at the end; perhaps a post-match beatdown on Lynch from the two contender’s who appeared to have been mending some broken bridges would have been nice.

Alas, what the audience was given at Crown Jewel was a technical triple-threat that had the tools to be a clinic, but fell short with it’s deflated finish. But, with the events that occurred on Smackdown just a day after building heat for the inaugural Survivor Series, that disappointing finish of an otherwise great match drew more attention to the fact that Zelina Vega, yeah the manga nerd who rocks BlackCraft, she has a crown now and the potential behind her next feud after receiving an award with this prestige is the best way to hook viewers in until the next Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia to the world over. And whether that was the intention or not of WWE Creative, that makes this year’s Crown Jewel a job well done.

Score : 3/5