WWE Crown Jewel 2025 takes place today (Sat., Oct. 11) from from RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.
The show begins at 6 am ET with the free Countdown show leading right on into the main course at 8 am ET on the ESPN App in the United States, and on Netflix everywhere else.
Cody Rhodes doesn’t know he’s about to lose his spot in WWE
WWE Champion Cody Rhodes prides himself on being The Guy in WWE. He refers to himself as the QB1 who is leading the way on the greatest team WWE has ever assembled. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s about to lose that spot to World
Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins today in Australia when they fight over the meaningless men’s Crown Jewel championship.
For Rhodes, this match is about the unbeatable QB adding another ring to his fingers to go along with the one he earned last year by beating GUNTHER at Crown Jewel. For Rollins, there is so much more at stake. He is haunted by the three PLE losses Cody put on him after Rhodes returned to WWE in 2022. Seth can’t let that failure happen again. He has to prove that his vision is the future of the industry, and that means taking Cody’s spot as The Guy in WWE.
Paul Heyman didn’t sugarcoat things when he explained to Seth what a loss here means:
“If you lose to Cody Rhodes, you lose the locker room. You lose the faith of Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed that your vision is the one that leads us into the future. You throw away everything that we’ve built since WrestleMania. You throw away the fact that the entire Netflix era has been built around Seth Freakin’ Rollins, and you become nothing more in history than a de facto wannabe secondary champion. So, please, do yourself a favor and don’t lose.“
While Rollins is silent with self-doubt walking into this bout, Rhodes is supremely confident while referring to himself as the one wrestler who Seth simply can’t beat. It all seems to be a setup for Rollins to finally get that win over Rhodes, and there are multiple ways it can happen.
First there’s Randy Orton, who Paul Heyman has played mind games with lately. Will Orton finally turn on Rhodes and cost him this bout if he does a run-in to seemingly help fight off The Brons?
Then there is Brock Lesnar, the most famous Heyman client whose name has been in Cody’s mouth in recent weeks. Did The Beast make the trip to Australia to screw over Rhodes and help set up his role in a potential War Games match next month?
Finally there is Austin Theory, who…okay, I have to stop myself there, because that rumor about him is just way too funny.
The point is, there are multiple ways for Rhodes to lose this match due to outside parties getting involved, but he seems oblivious to it all because he’s convinced himself there are no circumstances in which Seth can actually beat him.
Will Seth Rollins finally beat Cody Rhodes on PLE and take his spot as the top guy in WWE in a match for a meaningless prize? Tune into Crown Jewel to find out.
The rest of the card
Here are the remaining four matches that are currently advertised for Crown Jewel:
Stephanie Vaquer vs. Tiffany Stratton for the Women’s Crown Jewel Championship
There isn’t much of a story here. Stratton is the WWE women’s champion and Vaquer is the women’s world champion, so they are contractually obligated to fight each other for the meaningless women’s Crown Jewel championship in Australia. They are both babyfaces and have remained non-violent towards each other while recently fighting off Kiana James and Women’s United States Champion Giulia.
Stratton is undefeated thus far in 2025, but Vaquer is the hot new star who quickly took over the women’s division on Raw. Is Stratton willing to cheat and take shortcuts if that’s what has to be done to keep her streak going?
John Cena vs. AJ Styles
There’s even less of a story here for one of the final matches of John Cena’s legendary career. John had zero WWE dates on his schedule between Wrestlepalooza and Crown Jewel, so AJ was left alone on Raw to build up the match after it was officially announced. He did so by saying they don’t need a story. I guess that means John Cena is now a dream match wrestler? It’s just the latest weird booking decision in a farewell tour full of them.
IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley vs. Kabuki Warriors
IYO tried to win the vacant women’s world championship without anyone’s help, but that decision backfired and didn’t sit well with Asuka. The Empress also didn’t appreciate IYO and Rhea Ripley coming to each other’s aid on more than one occasion. Tension built up for weeks until a frustrated Asuka finally turned on IYO after losing a match against Rhea. Kairi Sane was torn up about joining in to attack someone they consider family, but she ultimately gave in to Asuka’s vicious orders.
Ripley and IYO have both been laid out and covered in green mist on Raw by the Kabuki Warriors. Now Ripley returns to her home country to get revenge. But can she trust that IYO is fully committed to fight by her side while also viewing Asuka and Sane as the enemy? This is probably the best story going in WWE today, and expectations are high for the match itself.
Roman Reigns vs. Bronson Reed in an Australian Street Fight
Even though Roman Reigns defeated Bronson Reed at Clash in Paris, the OTC was brutally attacked by The Brons afterwards and stretchered out of the venue. In reality, Roman was off to Australia to shoot his scenes as Akuma in next year’s Street Fighter movie. He came back to the United States to help The Usos beat The Brons on Raw and then accept this Australian Street Fight with the Australian-born Reed for Crown Jewel. Now Roman is all the way back in Australia and has to worry about getting attacked by boomerangs, kangaroos, and cricket bats in this fight. It’s no wonder the guy feels like shit.
Summary
The Crown Jewel titles don’t mean anything, but that shouldn’t stop WWE from delivering a fun show given that most of these matches look pretty good on paper. The fans in Australia will also be fired up and loud, which always helps a wrestling event feel like a big deal. I’m sure WWE wants to put on a better show after the lukewarm critical response to its ESPN launch with Wrestlepalooza last month, so I expect they’ll turn things up a notch with bigger angles and better matches at Crown Jewel.
What will you be looking for at Crown Jewel?
