WWE Crown Jewel 2024 Preview: It's finally time for Cody Rhodes to lose again

WWE Crown jewel takes place today (Sat. November 2) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It starts at 11:00 a.m. ET with the countdown show, moving on to the main course at 1:00 p.m. ET on Peacock in the US, WWE Network everywhere else or your local cable pay-per-view provider.

It's finally time for Cody Rhodes to lose again in WWE

No one in WWE has been able to beat Cody Rhodes in a singles match since he won the Undisputed WWE Championship from Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40. The list of men he has since defeated on TV and PLE includes Solo Sikoa, Kevin Owens and AJ Styles, Carmelo Hayes and YouTube idiot Logan Paul. But Cody's luck could change today in Saudi Arabia when he takes on World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER in a singles match.

Why is today a good day for Cody to lose? Well, that's mostly because Cody and GUNTHER are fighting over a meaningless prize, the newly created and very colorful Crown Jewel Championship. Triple H introduced the belt last month and said that going forward, the top men's and women's champions on Raw and SmackDown will compete for it every year at Crown Jewel. The winner doesn't get to take this hideous thing home, so the whole thing is kind of stupid and pointless. But hey, WWE is perfectly fine with continuing their disgusting business dealings with the Saudi government, so I guess this is one way to pick a bone for them.

It makes sense for GUNTHER to win the meaningless Crown Jewel belt because he's a heel who can add it to his list of accolades while also boasting that he's the true champion of all champions in WWE. Cody can take the loss here because he has Kevin Owens breathing down his neck, and this is a good place for KO to last Rhodes without costing him the WWE Championship.

But will things actually turn out that way today, or will WWE decide to sign Cody as heavily as possible by adding GUNTHER to its casualty list? If the idea is for Cody to face The Rock at WrestleMania 41 next year, then perhaps even a single loss along the way is too much to bear.

Who will become Crown Jewel Champion when Cody Rhodes takes on GUNTHER in Saudi Arabia? To find out, you need to turn on Crown Jewel.

The rest of the map

Here are the six remaining games, which are also advertised Crown jewel:

Roman Reigns & The Usos vs. Solo Sikoa's Bloodline

Jimmy Uso returned to WWE last month and helped Roman Reigns (and Cody Rhodes) defeat the new bloodline at Bad Blood. Solo Sikoa's group subsequently increased their aggressiveness and used the numbers game to confront Roman and Jimmy at every opportunity.

Jimmy asked his twin brother Jey for help. Jey tried to talk Solo out of further dividing the family, but that only resulted in The Bloodline ousting him from the Intercontinental Championship. Jey returned the favor by ousting The Bloodline from the WWE Tag Team Titles and then reunited with Jimmy for a warm hug. A week later, Jey told Roman that the only way they could squash their beef was to be treated as equals, to which Roman responded with a YES.

Now that the old bloodline is back on the same level, does Solo Sikoa need to bring another family member to his side to maintain the advantage at Crown Jewel?

Liv Morgan vs. Nia Jax for the Crown Jewel Championship

Just like Cody and GUNTHER, the top women's champions on Raw and SmackDown will compete to win a “giant” ring and bragging rights as the Crown Jewel Champion. The additional criticism is that Tiffany Stratton threatened to cash in on her Money in the Bank contract in Saudi Arabia. But which championship will she aim for? Raquel Rodriguez and Dominik Mysterio could also be at ringside in Liv's corner for this fight, making it much more difficult for the referee to keep things under control.

Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens

Randy Orton tried to make peace between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens after they got into a fight in the parking lot after “Bad Blood.” However, a miscommunication led to Owens and Orton also coming into conflict with each other. Owens couldn't believe Orton would side with Cody after Rhodes decided to actually team up with Roman Reigns. After Randy was knocked out in a similar backstage incident, The Viper went straight to Triple H to request that match with Owens at Crown Jewel. Triple H gave Randy what he wanted, but warned him that there was something wrong with Owens and he was more dangerous than ever. Will we find out exactly what that means at Crown Jewel?

LA Knight (c) vs. Andrade vs. Carmelo Hayes for the US Championship

There was no definitive winner in the seven-match series between Andrade and Carmelo Hayes, as LA Knight was the special referee in their final match and awarded BFTs to both. General manager Nick Aldis decided to punish the megastar for his selfish actions by rejecting him for a triple threat title match, and Carmelo said he couldn't think of a better place to become U.S. champion than Saudi Arabia . I doubt Knight will sweat too much in this match since he has already retained his title in separate title matches against these two guys.

Seth Rollins vs. Bronson Reed

Bronson Reed got tired of waiting for WWE to do something with him, so he took matters into his own hands and destroyed Seth Rollins with six Tsunami splashes on Raw after SummerSlam. Reed's Tsunami Attack eventually led to a Last Monster Standing match against Braun Strowman, where Seth came back to screw him over. These two boys now want to tear each other apart, and they will succeed in this one-on-one fight at Crown Jewel. This is Rollins' first televised match since early July, for what it's worth.

Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair (c) vs. Damage CTRL vs. Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson vs. Piper Niven & Chelsea Green for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship

Cargill and Belair dominated the women's tag team division, successfully defending the title against most teams in this match. However, it is worth remembering that their first championship reign came to an end in June when another team lost in a triple threat match. Does the same unfortunate fate await Belair and Cargill in this fatal four-way battle at Crown Jewel?

Summary

“Crown Jewel” is the latest event that is part of WWE’s despicable business dealings with the Saudi Arabian government. The card features a total of seven matches instead of the typical five matches that have become the norm for a B-level PLE. In that sense, WWE views this show as a bigger deal than most other PLEs. However, the main hook of the two Crown Jewel championship fights isn't particularly interesting, as the new prize has no meaning and even the Civil War fighting game Bloodline makes it seem like it's time to wait until we get to War Games later this month come to reality.

What will you pay attention to? Crown jewel?