Key storylines heading into Crown Jewel 2022

The WWE will return to pay-per-view today with Crown Jewel coming live from Mrsool Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The show will begin at noon ET and will be streamed on Peacock.

A lot has happened in the buildup to this event and we should get a pretty solid show overall. If you haven’t paid attention the Raw or Smackdown over the past month, we’ll get you caught up with how these Crown Jewel matches came to be below.

Crown Jewel 2022 storylines

Undisputed WWE Universal Championship - Roman Reigns (c) vs. Logan Paul

This marquee title showdown came about in September when Reigns went on Paul’s ‘Impaulsive’ podcast and the two started trading jabs on social media afterwards. A match for Crown Jewel was made official later that week and the two participated in a press conference in Las Vegas to promote the clash.

Over the past month, the two have cut promos on Friday Night Smackdown and have even come face-to-face a few times. The emphasis has been on the underdog Paul landing just one lucky punch to pull the upset, demonstrating that when laying out Jey Uso a few weeks ago. The champ, in turn, has waved off any concern over losing to the social media star, emphasizing that his two-year reign of dominance will continue.

Raw Women’s Championship - Bianca Belair (c) vs. Bayley (Last Woman Standing match)

Belair and Bayley have been feuding since SummerSlam, with Belair partnering with Alexa Bliss and Asuka to battle Bayley’s Damage CTRL faction of Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai. The two clashed in a ladder match at Extreme Rules last month, a match where the champ retained her title.

That setback didn’t deter Bayley as with the help of Nikki Cross, she picked up a pinfall victory over Belair on Monday Night Raw a few weeks ago. That set up this title showdown where whoever can put their opponent down for a 10-count will be declared the victor.

Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley

This epic hoss fight came about the night after Extreme Rules last month when Lesnar made a surprise return and attacked Lashley, who was set to defend his United States Championship against Seth Rollins that evening. An injured Lashley ending up losing the title, setting in motion for him to exact revenge on the “Beast”.

In recent weeks, the two have gotten into pull-apart brawls on the show as each have tried to establish dominance heading into Crown Jewel. This will be the second time they’ve fought on ppv this year, the first coming at the Royal Rumble in January.

Drew McIntyre vs. Karrion Kross (Steel cage match)

Kross has targeted McIntyre with numerous attacks since debuting on Friday Night Smackdown a few months ago. They met in a strap match at Extreme Rules and with the help of Scarlett macing McIntyre in the face, Kross picked up the victory.

The newcomer was scheduled to participate in a No. 1 contender’s match for the Intercontinental Championship the following week before McIntyre attacked him in the parking lot and rendered him unable to compete. From there, this steel cage match was set up as the blowoff for this feud.

Other matches

• Alexa Bliss and Asuka captured the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship from Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai during this past episode of Raw. They’ll run in back in a rematch.
• The Usos along with the rest of the Bloodline have targeted the Brawling Brutes in recent weeks, putting Sheamus on the shelf with a brutal attack. Butch and Ridge Holland have vowed to avenge their leader and will try to dethrone the Usos for the WWE Tag Team Championship at Crown Jewel.
• Braun Strowman has been on a rampage since returning to WWE in recent weeks and Omos has stepped up to challenge the “Monster Among Men”. The two have tried to one-up each other in recent weeks and we’ll see these two titans finally clash.
• The Judgement Day has hit another gear in recent weeks with the addition of Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley returning to action. A.J. Styles recently returned to continue the fight against the faction and brought back Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to reform the O.C. These two teams will collide in a six-man tag team match in Saudi Arabia.