Perth’s WWE PLE Locked In- Crown Jewel Hits Australia
We were told we’d get further details in late April- well, it came around a couple of days late. Today, WWE and the West Australian Government confirmed that of the previously announced 3 shows to take place, one is indeed a PLE. It is named WWE Crown Jewel: Perth.
Australian WWE Superstars Rhea Ripley & Grayson Waller were on hand to make the announcement, alongside government officials. WA Deputy Premier- and Minister For Sport & Recreation- Rita Saffioti expressed her excitement about Perth once again hosting WWE, while acknowledging that other states “may be a little bit jealous that Perth has secured these events”. She “hopes and trusts” that fans from around the country will once again make the trip across Australia to watch WWE, just as they did for Elimination Chamber in 2024.
Rhea expressed her excitement about returning to Australia, speaking glowingly of Perth and the love she received from the Aussie fans last year. Grayson ripped on Perth in classic Waller fashion, and called out John Cena, saying he’d stand over him “drinking a shoey”. He then more sincerely talked about the Aussie fans and how supportive they were, as well as the importance of Australian wrestling to the careers of both Rhea and Grayson- Rhea a product of Riot City Wrestling, while Waller cut his teeth in Sydney’s Pro Wrestling Australia.
The press conference video can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CGVhq8pM6
All three events will take place at Perth’s RAC Arena, first with Friday Night Smackdown on October 10th, then Crown Jewel: Perth on Saturday October 11th, and finally Monday Night Raw on October 13th. Rhea Ripley and Grayson Waller also took to Instagram, posting a video hyping the shows and reiterating that it will be John Cena’s final Australian appearance. Grayson made a point to highlight Aussie fans showing up to support their own, whether that be Waller himself- who had a featured role in the Grayson Waller Effect segment at Elimination Chamber last year- or “Mami”, Rhea Ripley, who headlined the last Perth extravaganza, defeating Nia Jax in the stadium show main event.
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Thoughts: Obviously a huge deal for Australian WWE fans. Hosting Raw and Smackdown in particular is a long time coming, it’s crazy to think it’ll be the first time those staples of WWE programming have ever happened in Australia.
Crown Jewel as the event name is a bit left field as well. Every other Crown Jewel event has been a Saudi show. I also noticed that Rhea was careful to say that John Cena was making “an appearance”. It would be a little wild if Cena came all this way to Australia and didn’t wrestle, but Cody Rhodes did that for Chamber last year (As did Seth Rollins, but he was injured. Cody was healthy and in fact wrestled Grayson Waller on the very next episode of Raw).
Any updates regarding major matches, particularly for Australian stars, will be reported on here in the coming weeks and months on PWDownunder.
A man who loves his wrestling, MMA, and has been known to dabble in karaoke. Previously wrote for Snap Mayors Media and ran The Arena Media for several years. As many wrestling fans do, he often envisioned becoming a pro wrestling superstar, but having Cerebral Palsy makes that dream a tough one to attain. Did do a brief referee spot for Rock N Roll Wrestling and he’d love to do more non-wrestler roles if laying the Smackdown is out of his reach, but until then, he’ll be hitting you with some refreshing writing like an F5!
Long over due