The wrong man won at WWE Crown Jewel 2025

WWE Crown Jewel PLE started on a high note with Roman Reigns losing the bout to Bronson Reed in the Australian Street Fight match. Later, Stephanie Vaquer defeated Tiffany Stratton to win the Crown Jewel Championship.

However, it was the John Cena and AJ Styles' match that stole the show. Both the wrestling legends brought out their best in their final wrestling match. After a poor show at Wrestlepalooza, John Cena stunned the fans in Australia at Crown Jewel. He executed finishers of popular superstars like Randy Orton, The Miz, Bray Wyatt, Chris Jericho, Rusev, and, at last, The Undertaker. And in the end, Cena defeated The Phenomenal with Taker's Tombstone Piledrive and his own Attitude Adjustment.

And that's where WWE supposedly went wrong. Since this was Cena's second-to-last match in WWE, the company could have booked him to lose against Styles. He lost the Undisputed Championship match to Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam, and then lost a big match to Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza. Losing against Styles wouldn't have done any harm, since this is already The Champ's last few days in wrestling.

Further, it would have immensely benefited Styles, and he could have officially kicked off his retirement tour from here. The company could have gotten him to win another WWE title at WrestleMania 42 next year. Styles has already said that he will retire from wrestling in 2026.

At the Crown Jewel Kickoff Show, he confirmed that 2026 will indeed be his last year in wrestling, and he plans to hang up his boots soon. The TNA legend said that he knows that he is getting old, and he doesn't want to embarrass himself by wrestling further at an old age.

“I’m getting old, folks. Listen, if I could find the Fountain of Youth and take a couple of sips, I would wrestle for the rest of my life. But, you know, I am getting older. The fear of embarrassing myself is getting closer. And you know what? There comes a time in a man’s life when he has to take care of business. But when business is done, it’s time to take care of his family. I need to spend time with my family. The whole idea with wrestling and having an amazing future in this business is to be able to retire one day. And in 2026, I will retire," AJ Styles said. [Cagesideseats.com]

Therefore, it should be AJ Styles winning against John Cena at Crown Jewel.

AJ Styles and John Cena shook hands after the match at Crown Jewel

Styles and Cena have a rivalry only inside the ring, and apart from that, they have enormous respect for each other. It was John Cena who wanted to wrestle with Styles at Crown Jewel, and The Phenomenal also agreed.

Therefore, after losing the bout, Cena shook hands with Styles, showing respect towards the TNA legend. Styles later walked out after shaking hands with Cena.

It will be interesting to see his next opponent on RAW after this match. Will he once again go after Dominik Mysterio's Intercontinental title, or will he take a sabbatical for the time being? We will find out soon.

Edited by Mohammad Bilal