World champions collide at WWE Crown Jewel, but there's more than a ceremonial title at stake for Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn. They are set to unearth years of Bloodline baggage in Saturday's main event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Reigns and Zayn, Raw and SmackDown's respective world champions, were in a very different place nearly four years ago.
In February 2023, Zayn, the underdog fighting in his backyard, nearly dethroned Reigns for the undisputed WWE world heavyweight championship. He fell short of that career-defining moment. Zayn eventually won two world titles and can tie up one more loose end by finally beating Reigns.
That's not the only Crown Jewel championship set for this weekend. Women's world champion Liv Morgan and WWE women's champion Chelsea Green clash for the women's crown. Similar to Zayn, Green had never won a world title before this year.
She shocked the world by winning the interim WWE women's title in a ladder match before graduating to full-time champion. Morgan is one win away from becoming the only person, man or woman, to win a Crown Jewel title twice. Rounding out the card is a Last Man Standing match between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, who were pupil and mentor, respectively, nearly two decades ago in The Legacy faction, and a world title tag team title match.
With so much action set for Saturday, the CBS Sports wrestling experts sat down to make their picks for who will emerge victorious at Crown Jewel. WWE Crown Jewel Championship -- World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns vs. Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn: Run 100 simulations and Zayn beats Reigns once.
There was genuine fan appetite for Zayn, who'd reached new heights after splitting from The Bloodline, to dethrone Reigns at Elimination Chamber in 2023. Invigorated by his hometown crowd in Montreal, Zayn nearly delivered. But WWE was never pivoting from having Rhodes beat Reigns at WrestleMania two months later.
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