The 2021 Crown Jewel () was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by the American company WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the third Crown Jewel and took place on Thursday, October 21, 2021, at Mohammed Abdu Arena on The Boulevard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event was held as part of the city's annual Riyadh Season festivities and aired live at 7:00 p.m. Arabia Standard Time (12:00 p.m. Eastern Time). It also hosted the finals of both the 22nd King of the Ring tournament and the inaugural Queen's Crown tournament (renamed Queen of the Ring in 2024), with the last King of the Ring tournament held in 2019.
This was the sixth event that WWE held in Saudi Arabia under a 10-year partnership in support of Saudi Vision 2030. It would also be WWE's first event to be held outside the United States since the last Saudi Arabian event, Super ShowDown in February 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which suspended WWE's touring schedule, requiring all events between mid-March 2020 and mid-July 2021 to be held behind closed doors at venues in the U.S. state of Florida, with the exception of WrestleMania 37 in April 2021, although it was held at a reduced venue capacity before WWE resumed live touring with full capacity crowds in mid-July. As a result, this was the first Crown Jewel held since 2019, and it was also the first Crown Jewel to livestream on Peacock in the United States following the shutdown of the American version of the WWE Network in April.
Ten matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar to retain SmackDown's Universal Championship. In other prominent matches, Becky Lynch defeated Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair in a triple threat match to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship, Big E defeated Drew McIntyre to retain Raw's WWE Championship, Goldberg defeated Bobby Lashley in a No Holds Barred Falls Count Anywhere match, and in the opening bout, Edge defeated Seth Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match. Additionally, Raw's Xavier Woods defeated SmackDown's Finn Bálor to win the King of the Ring tournament, while SmackDown's Zelina Vega defeated Raw's Doudrop to win the inaugural Queen's Crown tournament.
In contrast to WWE's earlier events held in Saudi Arabia, the 2021 Crown Jewel was met with positive reviews from critics, with much praise being directed to the Hell in a Cell match between Edge and Seth Rollins.
Production
Background
In early 2018, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE began a 10-year strategic multiplatform partnership with the Ministry of Sport (formerly General Sports Authority) in support of Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia's social and economic reform program. Crown Jewel was then established later that same year, subsequently becoming the main recurring event in this partnership, held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, in late October–early November, which became part of the city's annual Riyadh Season festivities that launched just prior to the 2019 event. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that began affecting the industry in mid-March 2020, WWE had to suspend its touring schedule and hold all of its events behind closed doors at venues in the U.S. state of Florida, with the exception of WrestleMania 37 in April 2021, although it was held at a reduced venue capacity. This resulted in the cancellation of a Crown Jewel event for 2020 due to pandemic-related travel restrictions.
After WWE resumed live touring in mid-July 2021, the company announced on August 16 that it would be returning to Saudi Arabia for the third Crown Jewel, and sixth overall event in the Saudi Arabian partnership, which would also be WWE's first pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event to be held outside the United States since the last Saudi Arabian event, Super ShowDown in February 2020. The event was scheduled for Thursday, October 21, 2021, at Mohammed Abdu Arena on The Boulevard and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. In addition to airing live at 7:00 p.m. Arabia Standard Time (12:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on PPV worldwide and via livestreaming on the WWE Network in international markets, it was the first Crown Jewel to livestream on Peacock in the United States following the shutdown of the American version of the WWE Network in April. The official theme song for the event was "Take My Breath" by The Weeknd.
Storylines The event comprised ten matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
After Roman Reigns retained the Universal Championship at SummerSlam, he was confronted by a returning Brock Lesnar in his first appearance since WrestleMania 36 in April 2020. On the September 10 episode of SmackDown, Lesnar again appeared to confront Reigns and claimed that his former advocate, Paul Heyman, who had been serving as Reigns's special counsel since August 2020, knew Lesnar would be present at SummerSlam in an attempt to cause dissension between Reigns and Heyman. Lesnar then challenged Heyman to accept a match against Reigns for the Universal Championship. Later that night, an irate Reigns accepted the challenge. On September 16, WWE announced that the match would occur at Crown Jewel, though not necessarily for the Universal Championship, as before Crown Jewel, Reigns had a scheduled title defense against "The Demon" Finn Bálor at Extreme Rules. Reigns retained at that event, thus officially making his match against Lesnar at Crown Jewel for the Universal Championship.
At SummerSlam, Bianca Belair was scheduled to defend the SmackDown Women's Championship against Sasha Banks, however, before the match began, it was announced that Banks could not appear for unknown reasons. Becky Lynch then made a surprise return in her first appearance since the Raw after Money in the Bank in May 2020. Lynch challenged Belair, who accepted, and Lynch defeated her in 26 seconds to win the title. At Extreme Rules, Lynch defended the title against Belair, however, Banks ambushed both Belair and Lynch causing the match to end in a no contest. On October 1, a triple threat match between the three women for the SmackDown Women's Championship was scheduled for Crown Jewel. On that night's SmackDown, Banks and Belair had their one-on-one match, where Banks won after interference from Lynch.
At SummerSlam, Bobby Lashley defended the WWE Championship against WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg. Lashley was declared the winner after the referee called off the match due to Goldberg injuring his knee and rendering him unable to continue. Following the match, as Lashley continued to attack Goldberg, his 15-year-old son Gage came out and jumped on Lashley's back. Lashley then applied the Hurt Lock on Gage only to release him and flee due to Goldberg aiding his son. Goldberg was then off television due to his (kayfabe) injury while Lashley lost his championship to Big E. Goldberg returned on the October 4 episode of Raw and proclaimed that he would kill Lashley for what he did to his son. Lashley came out and stated that his attack on Gage was a misunderstanding, which Goldberg refused to believe. Lashley then stated he would face Goldberg at Crown Jewel on the condition that the match was a No Holds Barred match, which Goldberg gladly accepted. The day of the event, it was announced that the match would have an added stipulation of Falls Count Anywhere.
On the September 27 episode of Raw, after Big E retained the WWE Championship in a Steel Cage match, he was attacked by Drew McIntyre, who wanted a shot at the WWE Championship. The following week, after McIntyre and Big E's match, Big E accepted the challenge and the match was scheduled for Crown Jewel.
On the October 1 episode of SmackDown, WWE announced the return of the King of the Ring tournament, following the last tournament in 2019, as well as the establishment of a female counterpart called the Queen's Crown tournament. Both the 22nd King of the Ring and inaugural Queen's Crown tournaments, each consisting of eight wrestlers evenly divided between the Raw and SmackDown brands, began on the October 8 episode of SmackDown, with the finals of each being held at Crown Jewel.
At Money in the Bank, Seth Rollins cost Edge his match for the Universal Championship as Rollins felt he deserved to be in the title match, and that Edge cut in line ahead of him. This led to a match at SummerSlam that Edge won. Unsatisfied, Rollins challenged Edge to a rematch that occurred on the September 10 episode of SmackDown that Rollins won. Rollins was still unsatisfied, however, as he continued to taunt Edge over the next few weeks due to Edge not announcing his retirement. Rollins challenged Edge to appear on SmackDown and accept another rematch. On the October 1 episode, Edge appeared to confront Rollins, however, as Rollins thought that Edge would not appear, he instead went directly to Edge's house and proceeded to make himself at home. The following week on SmackDown, Edge attacked Rollins and challenged him to a Hell in a Cell match, which was scheduled for Crown Jewel.
At SummerSlam, RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) defeated AJ Styles and Omos to win the Raw Tag Team Championship. On October 4, a championship rematch between the two teams was scheduled for Crown Jewel.
On the October 11 episode of Raw, after Mustafa Ali and Mansoor won their match, Ali shoved Mansoor and said that he was sick of losing. A match between the two was subsequently scheduled for Crown Jewel.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsMichael ColeCorey GravesByron SaxtonArabic commentatorsFaisal AlmughaisibJude AldajaniRing announcerGreg HamiltonRefereesJessika CarrDan EnglerEddie OrengoChad PattonCharles RobinsonInterviewerKevin PatrickPre-show panelKayla BraxtonMatt CampPeter Rosenberg
Pre-show During the Crown Jewel Kickoff pre-show, SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) fought the newly reformed Hurt Business (Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin) in a non-title tag team match. In the end, Jimmy performed an Uso Splash on Alexander to win the match.
Preliminary matches The actual event opened with Edge facing Seth Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match. At the start, Edge started to attack Rollins in corner with right hands, but Rollins reversed and then did it himself, but Edge reversed and did it a second time. Throughout the match, the two used various weapons, including a steel pipe, steel chair, a ladder, tables, and the steel steps. One notable moment included Rollins performing a sunset bomb from the top of the ladder on Edge through a table, but it resulted in a nearfall. Towards the end, Rollins placed Edge's head onto a chair and attempted a Stomp, however, Edge countered. Edge performed multiple superkicks of his own on Rollins. Edge untangled the chain around Rollins' foot and applied the Crossface on Rollins using a steel pipe. In the end, Edge performed a Stomp of his own on Rollins onto a chair to pin him and win the match.
Next, Mansoor faced Mustafa Ali. During the match, Mansoor performed a Moonsault on Ali, however, Ali countered into a submission on Mansoor, who reached the ropes to break the submission. In the end, Mansoor performed a neckbreaker on Ali to win the match. Following the match, as Ali attacked Mansoor, he was confronted by karateka Tareg Hamedi, who kicked Ali in the head. Hamedi and Mansoor then celebrated with the crowd.