WWE Crown Jewel 2024 Predictions: Wrestling Inc. Picks The Winners

WWE returns to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this Saturday for the latest installment of Crown Jewel, and you can tell WWE really cares about these Saudi shows because of how many matches are on the card! For the first time since WWE SummerSlam 2024, a WWE PLE lineup has seven matches listed, including a women's tag title match, a U.S. title match, and two matches to determine the brand new men's and women's Crown Jewel Champions. In addition to the contests being fought for gold, there's also a grudge match between Seth Rollins and Bronson Reed, another one between Kevin Owens and Randy Orton, and the first official installment of Bloodline (original flavor) vs. Bloodline (new and improved). In other words, there's a lot going on, and Wrestling Inc. is once again here to predict everything that happens.

Sadly, our once-illustrious 2024 record continues to fall off. We only went 3-2 at "WWE NXT" Halloween Havoc, bringing our overall 2024 total to 122-24-6, which means we are firmly lodged at an 82% hit rate for the year. Even so, 122 correct picks out of 152 isn't nothing — though Crown Jewel might turn out to be one of the most difficult set of picks we've ever done. For the first time ever, the WINC staff didn't hit 80% agreement on ANY match, so just know going forward that we are internally divided about literally all of these. With that in mind, let's get to the picks!

While the Wrestling Inc. staff has generated a solid consensus for most of the matches on the Crown Jewel card, this one has us nearly split. Just barely, Rollins has the edge in our eyes. After all, it's hard to bet against the former World Heavyweight Champion, especially because it'll be Rollins' first televised match since July, and only his seventh across all of 2024. As one of the biggest stars in the company, we'd be a little shocked if he were to lose his return match.

Additionally, GUNTHER currently holds the World Heavyweight Championship, and as we all know, it's not up for grabs in his match against Cody Rhodes. The Austrian is going to need believable challengers for that title, and who better than Rollins? Along with being a former champ, Rollins has never faced GUNTHER in singles action, making it a good time to start pushing the former SHIELD member, as long as he is healthy once again.

All that being said, it makes some sense that our team is split here. Bronson Reed is being pushed as the next big thing, and a loss against Rollins could easily cut him off at the knees. While Reed has been punishing various members of the WWE roster with his Tsunami finisher, he has yet to pick up some of the signature wins he'll need to advance to the company's next tier. Since his push began over the summer, Reed has traded wins with Sheamus, picked up two victories over The Miz, and had a mini-feud with Braun Strowman that he lost.

It's safe to say Reed could use the win over Rollins if he wants to continue being taken seriously as a heel. Additionally, it would serve as a way to keep the feud going; if Rollins takes the first win, it becomes difficult to see why he would continue giving Reed any of his attention.

Still, sometimes the timing for a push just isn't right. The margin might be narrow, but we feel that now is the time for Rollins to step back into the spotlight, starting with a win against Reed.

Written by Nick Miller

Despite Paul "Triple H" Levesque warning Randy Orton that facing Kevin Owens at Crown Jewel might not be in his best interest, Orton got the match he wanted for the Saudi Arabian show last Friday on "WWE SmackDown," and 79% of us here at WINC agree that Owens will be the one to emerge victorious. After Owens decided that Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes was the one to turn heel on him after teaming with Roman Reigns at Bad Blood against the Bloodline, "The Prizefighter" hasn't been the same. You can joke about Owens' inability to keep friends in the WWE, but when he feels slighted, he's a dangerous man, and we don't think Orton stands a chance, though a few of us are holding out hope.

Owens wasn't initially upset with Orton, until Orton ran down to the ring to protect Rhodes from Owens back on October 11. Despite being banned from the arena, Owens had something to say and interrupted a women's tag team match, bringing out security and producers from the back to hold him back. Owens seemingly accidentally hit Orton in the scuffle, and "The Viper" punched him back in retaliation. It was Orton's plan to get things under control, but Owens left Orton lying backstage after a violent attack. Since then, Orton has been begging for the match from General Manager Nick Aldis, before he pulled out the big guns and summoned friend Triple H to the ring to get what he wanted.

Orton may think he wants this match, but 79% of us here are predicting against him and sticking with Owens. There's much more to the story of this heel Owens to be played out, especially ahead of Survivor Series, so we don't think things look too good here for Orton.

Written by Daisy Ruth

One of the traditional titles being defended at this year's Crown Jewel is LA Knight's United States Championship. Knight will defend in a Triple Threat, with Carmelo Hayes and Andrade stepping up as challengers. The Wrestling Inc. team is split between Knight and Hayes — each receiving 47% of the vote — as the winners of this match, with Andrade lagging well behind in votes.

As the current champion and a fan favorite wrestler, it's not hard to pick Knight as the winner of this bout. He already successfully defended the title against Hayes in a singles match earlier this month, and he did the same against Andrade a short time before that. Not counting live events, Knight is on a win streak that extends back to July, and you can go all the way back to May if you don't count his Money in the Bank loss. The man is on a roll, and less than three months into his title reign, there's no reason to end it now.

However, this is a Triple Threat match we're talking about, meaning Knight could lose his title without even getting pinned. Additionally, it feels inevitable that Hayes is going to be a major star for the company in the years ahead, and a United States Championship reign could be the next stepping stone in his ascent.

Hayes winning could also lead to his next feud being against Knight, especially if the challenger pins Andrade to pick up the win. That would also allow Hayes to put a bow on his long-running feud with Andrade, which recently saw their best-of-seven series end in a draw due to Knight's interference.

Written by Nick Miller

Wrestling fans aren't entirely sure which combination of Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and/or Jacob Fatu will be facing Roman Reigns and the Usos on Saturday, but Solo, Jacob, Hikuleo, that cocky little Zilla Fatu, doesn't matter who is on the lineup at Crown Jewel, 71% of the Wrestling Inc. staff thinks that the new incarnation of the Bloodline will best the older version of the Bloodline.

It's not just a simple case of "new" being "better," as much as it is a story of teamwork. Reigns, Jimmy Uso, and Jey Uso, all have plenty of reasons to distrust each other, their union is fragile, and anything other than total victory feels like it could upend any of the progress the three men have made in their relationship with each other. There is no such friction in the new Bloodline. It is a cold, calculating, violent pack of thugs who seem primed to exploit any little chip in the armor of the original Bloodline.

Whichever man gets left off the team is sure to make an appearance, as this is not a group that plays by the rules. Fighting one, two, or three of them means you're technically fighting all four, and once again Reigns and the Usos don't look prepared for that kind of dominance.

Written by Ross Berman

Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair are preparing to defend their WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against Piper Niven and Chelsea Green, Damage CTRL's Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane, and Meta-Four's Jakara Jackson and Lash Legend this weekend at Crown Jewel, and they will surely be hoping to fare better than the last time they defended their titles against more than one team at an international PPV. Even with the numerical disadvantage, the poll put to our Wrestling Inc. staff reflects a 79% belief that the champions will be able to right that wrong in Riyadh. That belief could be affirmed by the fact that Cargill and Belair have dispatched of two of their challenging teams in recent weeks, in matches that together amount to fewer than 15 minutes. 

But it also feels a little too soon after they won their titles back from the Unholy Union at Bash In Berlin for WWE management to take the titles off of Belair and Cargill this weekend, surely? While it made for a moment of hometown glory for Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre to win the titles in the three-way at Clash at the Castle, there was always this sense that the belts were due to return to the former champions at a later date. Now they have, and it's not like there is a hometown team for Crown Jewel to necessitate a title win, and there doesn't appear to be an obvious direction for the titles if not staying on the waists of Belair and Cargill at this moment.

Written by Max Everett

While we all try to make heads or tails of these new WWE Crown Jewel Championships, at least this one has logical story beats behind it and isn't just "I'm better." "No, I'm better." As WWE Women's Champion Nia Jax rolls on with a pair of relevant challengers in line for her title (and maybe a wild card or two), whether she wins over WWE Women's World Champion Liv Morgan here or not almost doesn't even matter. Oddly, that's a good thing, because it means there's meaning to her arc. Bayley and Naomi remain in the title picture and with Jax sidekick Tiffany Stratton the current Money In the Bank briefcase holder, there's always that card too. And who knows when Charlotte Flair might come back. Point is, Jax's reign is less than safe but for now (at least technically), we still see this one going her way. 

Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez may have thwarted a Ripley appearance at Crown Jewel with the parking lot attack that left "Mami" bloodied on "WWE NXT" but despite her absence, outside interference could still be a factor. Morgan is also usually accompanied by Dominik Mysterio, who has mastered both the art of being a heat-seeking missile type of heel as well as becoming adept at screwing things up at the worst time. He could do as much here for Morgan as well, who would surely say it's okay, and then cheer him up with chicken tendies and video games.

Either way, we see Jax coming out on top. A potential wild card exists with Stratton, and though the doubt that a Money In the Bank cash-in would take place in Saudi Arabia is logical, if the card needs a happy moment, say if it's a little too heavy with heels on top, maybe this could be that. Still, that would probably only happen after a Jax win, which makes our prediction in this one safe as can be (we think).

Written by Jon Jordan

Cody Rhodes sells t-shirts, makes money, does interviews, and carries the Undisputed WWE Title like the franchise face of TKO Group Holdings' sports-entertainment product. In every way that a guy could be "The Guy," Rhodes is seemingly there, and yet WWE has a second world champion (no, not NXT), World Heavyweight Champion Gunther, and while Cody Rhodes has been mainly winning his matches with help from legends like The Undertaker or scorned Bloodline members like Roman Reigns, Gunther has been mainly a dominant figure on "Raw."

For this reason, 79% of the Wrestling Inc. staff feel that Gunther will topple "The American Nightmare" and win the WWE Crown Jewel Championship. Gunther is in danger of becoming a secondary champion, despite his World Champion billing. He rarely main events shows, the last WWE PLE didn't feature him as he was scheduled to defend the title the next night on TV instead. Gunther needs a big win to help him bridge the gap between himself and Rhodes. Saudi Arabia has already been good to Gunther, who won the King of The Ring tournament there by besting Rhodes' mentor Randy Orton, earning him the title shot that resulted in him being crowned champion. Now he will return to Saudi Arabia to prove his dominance once again.

Written by Ross Berman