Dave Meltzer Breaks Down 'Mixed Reaction' To WWE Crown Jewel 2024

Despite the lineup for WWE Crown Jewel 2024 looking stacked going into the event, the show was met with mixed reaction from the audience with many fans praising matches on the card — such as Cody Rhodes vs GUNTHER and Seth Rollins vs Bronson Reed — and others criticizing WWE for lack of storytelling as well as having Roman Reigns pinned during his six-man tag team match with The Bloodline. Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter has since provided his thoughts on WWE's 12th PLE from Saudi Arabia as well as what possibly caused the varied reactions from the fans who watched the show. 

"Overall, the show got a mixed reaction. My feeling was that the wrestling was good throughout and it was an easy nearly three hours to watch. They tightened it up without the long breaks between matches. Rhodes vs. Gunther was very good, but we do see matches of that caliber every week. WWE is also about storyline advancement, and aside from the Sami Zayn angle teasing his joining the Bloodline that everyone expected but got over great, there wasn't much in the way."

Meltzer also touched on the scheduled Kevin Owens vs Randy Orton match that ended up not happening due to both men brawling before the bell rang. He suggested that WWE may have avoided having the match take place to shield Owens from being pinned so soon after his heel turn, or to protect Orton from a loss, especially if the plan is for "The Viper" to challenge Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship in the near future. 

Meltzer continued by diving into the show quality of Crown Jewel, explaining that while most of the matches on the card were enjoyable, the event as a whole was below WWE's past standards for PLE's. 

"The one thing this does show is how the standards for a show are such that a show with mostly good matches, a major storyline advancement that has been built up and make sense, but no matches of the year and other than the one thing, no real storyline advancement, get only a mixed reaction. And clearly, from a match quality standpoint it was good by past standards but it was below most WWE and AEW shows this year. It did feel like if you missed it, you didn't miss anything major, but if you watched it, you saw a good show."

Meltzer also reported that Crown Jewel had 28 percent more viewers than last year's show, but crucially mentioned that Peacock subscriptions have increased by 38 percent throughout 2024 possibly due to the Summer Olympics, resulting in WWE gaining more viewers for their premium content. However, Meltzer did note that the interest level and buys for the event failed to match some of WWE's most previous PLE's, explaining that Crown Jewel is down 37.7 percent from Bad Blood, which had 17,000 buys and is down 9.8 percent from Bash In Berlin. 

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.