Well, call me a sucker, but now that the champion vs. champion matches in WWE are actually framed properly and have stakes other than “my television show brand is better than your television show brand,” I find the Crown Jewel events intriguing and valuable for WWE.
The 2025 edition of the show and the champion vs. champion matches that headlined it delivered and then some. Zack Heydorn may have been one of the only critics to like Wrestlepalooza last month — I’m not wrong — but Wrestlepalooza this was not.
Crown Jewel 2025 felt bigger. The crowd was on it’s game in Perth, the wrestlers worked better matches across the board, and the finishes lead to some interesting storyline scenarios moving forward.
Here are my Brass Ring Ratings for the event and here’s how they work … I call it like I see it and grade accordingly. Period.
Roman Reigns vs. Bronson Reed - Perth Street Fight
A strong opener that gave the audience a ton of high-impact action all the way through. Reed lived up to his potential in the match and Reigns was over strong as a babyface. The story is the finish. Reed beating Reigns with the help of The Vision is a big deal. It gives Reigns a mountain to climb, but also sets up more Bloodline drama between him and The Usos. Intriguing.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO
Stephanie Vaquer vs. Tiffany Stratton - WWE Women’s Crown Jewel Championship
A very good showcase match between two of the top young stars in WWE. Vaquer was a lot smoother in this match and is clearly the better wrestler of the two women, but Stratton hung with her when she had to. As a new champion in WWE and someone that is being built up right now, it made perfect sense for Vaquer to secure the victory.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO 1/4
John Cena vs. AJ Styles
Such a blast of a match and the match of the night. Cena and Styles always have had effective chemistry together and they showed it here. The best part of this match was that they didn’t try and replicate or have the same match as they did eight years ago. This was a match between two smart wrestlers who knew their limits and used other tools in their toolbox to get a strong reaction. Cena and Styles both using the finishers of wrestling legends like Bray Wyatt was a cool touch that kept the fans on the edge of their seat. As I’ve said, it’s hard to believe that John Cena was a heel just a little over two months ago.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOOO 1/4
Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky vs. The Kabuki Warriors
Yes, this was your prototypical WWE-style tag match and yes, it worked in a big way. The entire bout was built around getting heat on Iyo Sky and making her fight for the hot tag to Ripley. Sometimes that’s all it takes. They hit a home run with that strategy and the roof blew off the place when the tag finally happened. Nothing special here, but a good match that kept the audience’s attention.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO 1/4
Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins - WWE Men’s Crown Jewel Championship
This felt like an epic clash that the storyline called for. It felt like a big-time fight and both Rollins and Rhodes dropped in enough near-fall drama to capture the crowd early on. So, the wrestling? Thumbs up. The story? Thumbs way down. Rollins thought about using his watch to beat Rhodes, but thought better of it only to change his mind, use it, and win? That’s extremely heelish and it wasn’t treated as such by any of the supporting cast. The commentary team barely mentioned it and Triple H handed Rollins all of the Crown Jewel bling without even a look of disappointment. WWE has to be more buttoned up on proper follow-up if they want people to invest in their stories.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO 1/2
What did you think of WWE Crown Jewel 2025? Let us know in the comments!
Subscribe to the Brass Ring Media YouTube channel HERE.
Become a Brass Ring Media member HERE.