WWE Crown Jewel 2021 Preview And Predictions
For the first time since February 2020, WWE returns to Riydah, Saudi Arabia Thursday for a mega international event.
The 2021 WWE Draft in early October shook up the entire landscape of Sports Entertainment. Many tag teams were disbanded, and many rivals were casted into different waters, meaning many matches at Crown Jewel have high stakes with Survivor Series implications looming.
Since WWE has started performing in Saudi in 2018, many legends have appeared on the shows for one-off matches, and the events have felt more like big house shows than actual Pay-Per-View’s, but that is not the case this time. Many of the matches that will take place on Thursday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time are Wrestlemania worthy matches.
Roman Reigns (C. W/ Paul Heyman) vs Brock Lesnar. Universal Championship
Speaking of Wrestlemania worthy matches, it doesn’t get more Wrestlemania worthy than Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar. The two have competed in two separate one-on-one Wrestlemania encounters in the past, and they have also done battle inside a steel cage in the very same arena in which they are going to duke it out Thursday for the biggest prize in the industry at this time.
Their Wrestlemania battles did not go the way of the then-”Big Dog”. Their first match occurred at Wrestlemania 31 in 2015 when then-Royal Rumble winner Reigns challenged Lesnar for the WWE Title. In the middle of the classic fight, Reigns’ former Shield brother Seth Rollins intervened and cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase, turning the main event in Levi Stadium into a triple threat match. After a Spear to the then-WWE Champion, Rollins would stomp Reigns into the mat, cover him and pull off the “Heist of the Century”.
Three years later in New Orleans at Wrestlemania 34, Lesnar would finally put Reigns down and retain his Universal Championship but not without taking multiple spears from Reigns. A month later, as mentioned above, Reigns would once again try to prye the Universal Title out of the hands of the “Beast” in Saudi at the Greatest Royal Rumble by Spearing him through a steel cage wall, but Lesnar’s body hit the floor first, meaning he retained the title.
Later on that summer at SummerSlam, after three years of trying to slay the “Beast” Reigns ended Lesnar’s 504 day run as Universal Champion. It would be the last time those two combatants would share the ring until SummerSlam 2021 when Lesnar would shockingly interrupt Reigns after successfully defending his Universal Championship against John Cena. It was Lesnar’s first WWE appearance since losing the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre in the main event of Wrestlemania 36.
A lot has changed since Lesnar and Reigns last shared a WWE ring. Reigns is no longer the “Big Dog”. He is the “Tribal Chief” and the “Head of the Table”. He’s been Universal Champion for over 400 days, and he and his cousins — the Usos — have dominated SmackDown for the last 14 months. Meanwhile, Lesnar now looks like a cowboy with his big ponytailed hair!
As for Paul Heyman, well, he’s on Reigns’ side now… sort of!
Reigns changed from the “Big Dog” to the “Tribal Chief” in August 2020 following a four month hiatus from WWE due to COVID-19 concerns. One of the biggest reasons for Reigns’ character turn was Heyman, who was left out to dry and didn’t know where to turn once Lesnar left WWE after Wrestlemania 36.
Reigns helped revitalize Heyman’s career. He is not in the same role as he was as Lesnar’s advocate. He is the Universal Champion’s “Special Counsel”. He doesn’t speak for Reigns. He just makes sure everything is the way Reigns wants it to be. He’s like his support coach.
Well, now that Lesnar’s back, Lesnar wants a shot at Reigns and the Universal Title, and he made that clear when he showed up in Madison Square Garden on the Sept. 10 episode of SmackDown and almost gave Heyman an F-5 and would have if it wasn’t for Reigns and his “Bloodline”.
Trying to get into the head of the “Head of the Table”, Lesnar has been telling Reigns Heyman knew about his return all along over the last month. He also told the world Heyman helped him secure free agency status in WWE. Heyman has vowed to Reigns he has no communication with Lesnar anymore, and that Lesnar is just trying to throw Reigns off his game, but Reigns has been hesitant to believe his “Special Counsel”.
The “love triangle” between champion, challenger and manager got even more interesting on the Oct. 15 episode of SmackDown. During the contract signing for the match at Crown Jewel, Reigns had Heyman read the contract and make sure it was to Reigns’ liking. After looking it over, Heyman told the champion the details were correct, and that it was ok to sign the contract. Trusting his “Special Counsel”, Reigns obliged and signed the contract.
WWE Official Adam Pearce then passed the contract over to the “Beast”, who signed the dotted line without even looking at the contract. Befuddled by his actions, the champion called Lesnar a dumbass farmer. Lesnar laughed and told his Crown Jewel opponent that he did look over the details of the contract earlier in the day…with his advocate Paul Heyman!
Reigns stared back at a confused Heyman as Lesnar left the ring. There was no physical contact between the two bulls, and it was a perfect way to set up this match! These two have a very rich history. There was no reason for them to mix it up six days before the biggest match of the year.
WWE has been promoting this match as the “Two Best Universal Champions Ever”, and there’s no denying that stat. Lesnar is going to try to end the “Tribal Chief’s” 400+ day reign and prevent him from breaking his record while the champion is going to attempt to end his long-standing rivalry with the “Beast” for good.
There’s so many different options WWE could go here. Heyman could screw either man. There’s a very real possibility Heyman has prepped Lesnar all along to be the one to take out the “Head of the Table”. There’s also a very real possibility that Heyman was actually telling the truth to Reigns, and he takes the side of the future rather than the past. Then, there’s the very real possibility of Heyman screwing both men and walking out on his own confused as to who to cheer for, and they have a no-contest again.
If I had to predict an outcome, I would say Reigns survives with the championship in hand, but it’s because Heyman causes the ring to collapse somehow trying to help both men, and no one knows which side Heyman is on. It’s a way to keep this story going to Wrestlemania, where the ultimate payoff is Heyman finally turning on Lesnar and siding with the “Tribal Chief”. That’s the way I would book it at least.
Becky Lynch © vs Bianca Beliar vs Sasha Banks. SmackDown Women’s Championship
At Extreme Rules, Bianca Beliar attempted to take back her SmackDown Women’s Championship after her shocking 26-second loss to the returning Becky Lynch at the “Biggest Party of the Summer”. The two ladies put on a phenomenal match, and Beliar was closing in on the championship when the “Boss” Sasha Banks returned and took out both Beliar and Lynch. Banks — who was scheduled to compete in a Wrestlemania rematch against then-Champion Belair in Vegas — was unable to compete at SummerSlam at the last moment, so WWE Officials called the “Man” in to take her place.
The champ, now known as “Big Time Becks” believes both Beliar and Banks had their shots at the title, and she should be moving on to different challengers, but management doesn’t see it that way. They believe Banks never got her title match, and Beliar got robbed of the title at Extreme Rules, so a triple threat between three of the four top women in WWE was booked.
The caveat in this great matchup is Lynch — the current SmackDown champion — and Beliar were both drafted to RAW while Banks is going to be staying on SmackDown. Logic then suggests the booking of this dream match is spoiled, and Banks has to walk away the champ, but I’m not so sure logic applies here because of one person: Charlotte Flair.
The RAW Women’s Champion is involved here too. On the Oct. 18 episode of RAW, the “Queen” defended her title against the “EST” in an incredible main event. After back and forth near falls, Flair decided to get herself disqualified by sticking a chair into the throat of Beliar, making it so Flair heads to the blue brand as the red brand’s champion.
Well, at least Flair thinks that way, but I think WWE has a few potential twists to this match up their sleeve. One of the potential twists is inserting Flair into the match, making the match a Fatal-4-Way, where whoever pins or submits the champion (Lynch or Flair), the person that secures the fall is the champion. In this case, Beliar would pin Flair with the KOD to win the RAW Women’s Championship, and Flair would challenge “Big Time Becks” at Survivor Series for the SmackDown Women’s Championship and win thanks to interference from Banks and Beliar.
The other scenario is letting Lynch win the triple threat clean and keeping both titles on Lynch and Flair until Nov. 21 in Brooklyn, where they compete one-on-one with both belts on the line, and they double pin each other, and each lady takes the other’s belt.
The former is more likely. Either way, I think the booking of this match is setting up Lynch vs Flair — the two biggest women stars in the company — at the November tradition.
Edge vs Seth Rollins. Hell in a Cell
This rivalry dates back seven years when the then-leader of the Authority tried to Stomp a then-retired “Rated R Superstar” into a wheelchair for life. Fast forward almost a decade, and Edge has cut in front of Rollins for a Universal Championship match at Money in the Bank. Not liking the move by the “Ultimate Opportunist” with the referee down, Rollins would kick Edge in the head off of a Spear to Reigns, allowing his former Shield brother to deliver his own Spear to Edge to ensure Edge didn’t walk out of Fort Worth, TX Universal Champion.
Edge responded after Money in the Bank by telling Rollins he would have done the exact same thing when he was younger in his career. Edge told Rollins he sees himself in the “Drip God”. He even called him “Edge Lite”, but the difference between Rollins and Edge is Edge learned from his mistakes while he was away and retired, and Rollins needs to do the same thing. In a classic match at SummerSlam, Edge would make Rollins tap out with a Sleeper Hold. Edge thought he had toughened the respect out of Rollins. He thought he was done with him, but what he didn’t realize is Rollins wasn’t done with Edge.
On the Sept. 3 episode of SmackDown, Rollins challenged Edge the way Edge’s best friend Christian would, to One More Match! Edge accepted, and the match was made for the Sept. 10 episode of the blue brand in Madison Square Garden. Accepting the match may have been Edge’s biggest mistake because when the referee’s back was turned, the “King Slayer” would deliver a low blow to the “Master Manipulator”, followed by multiple kicks to the face and an eventual Stomp to the back of Edge’s neck that not only ended the match, but it sent the 11-time World Champion to the hospital on a stretcher.
The following Friday night, Rollins declared he still wasn’t through with Edge. He told the WWE Universe he doesn’t want to just send him to the hospital. He wants to end his career!
He challenged Edge to another match, but Edge didn’t answer. On the Sept. 24 SmackDown, it was deja-vu all over again for Rollins, who said if he didn’t hear from Edge by the Oct. 1 SmackDown, he was paying him, his wife — WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix — and his kids a visit at his house.
Edge showed up to the Royal Farms Arena on Oct. 1 and called out the “Drip God”, but Rollins appeared on the tron in the arena. When the camera focused on the outside of Rollins’ location, it was revealed he did make good on his promise, and he was at Edge’s home!
Edge sprinted to the back, called Phoenix and told her to go to her brother’s house with the kids while the “Architect” took a tour through the Copeland’s home, drinking orange juice and relaxing next to the fireplace. The next week on SmackDown, during the main event, Rollins called Edge out, insisting he still hasn’t given him an answer on their last match. Edge showed up to the SAP Arena in San Jose and beat the hell out of Rollins. He then grabbed a microphone and said these four simple words to his Crown Jewel rival: “HELL IN A CELL!”
The stipulation was shocking, considering Hell in a Cell matches generally only take place at the annual PPV, but it made sense here because the hatred for each other between Edge and Rollins is through the roof! On the Oct. 15 SmackDown, Edge sat down in a steel chair and threatened Rollins that he was going to rip his heart through his soul because that’s how pissed off Rollins has made him. He’s brought out the “Rated R Superstar”, and this feud has to end inside the cell Thursday.
I believe the “Ultimate Opportunist” when he says he will rip Rollins; soul apart! This is going to be a brutal cell match. Rollins started it in 2014, and Edge is going to finish it in 2021, though both these men are heading to RAW after Crown Jewel, so their paths may intertwine again.
Big E © vs Drew McIntyre. WWE Championship
It says something about how strong the previous three matches are build wise that this Wrestlemania caliber matchup is fourth down on the most important of the Crown Jewel card. It’s nothing against new WWE Champion Big E, or the “Scottish Warrior”; it’s just the Universal Championship match, the SmackDown Women’s Championship match, and Edge-Seth Rollins have so much history behind them, something E and McIntyre lack.
The former “Heavy” of Dolph Ziggler cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on then-WWE Champion Bobby Lashley on the Sept. 13 episode of RAW. E called his shot earlier in the day, and following a brutal championship match between Lashley and Randy Orton, Lashley injured his knee slamming Orton through the announce desk, opening the door for E to take advantage of. After a short back and forth, E would hoist Lashley up and slam him with the most impactful Big Ending of his career to date. E had finally won the big one, just like his New Day brother Kofi Kingston did at Wrestlemania 35 in 2019.
E would defend his WWE Championship against the “All-Mighty” to open up the Sept. 27 RAW. After interference between New Day and the reformed Hurt Business caused a disqualification, Pearce and Sonya Deville booked a steel cage between E and Lashley for the title later in the night, a match E would score the deciding fall by executing a Big Ending off the top of the cage. Following his successful title defense, McIntyre would interrupt E and point his sword named Angela at him to end the broadcast.
The next week, McIntyre would get drafted to SmackDown in the draft while E would take the WWE Title to RAW. Realizing this could be his last shot to get back his WWE Title, McIntyre challenged E to a match at Crown Jewel, and E graciously accepted. The duo would team together later in the night and knock off Ziggler and Robert Roode of the Dirty Dawgz, but it didn’t come without hesitancy as McIntyre would tag himself in as E was looking to nail Ziggler with the Big Ending. McIntyre would Claymore Ziggler for the victory instead.
On the Oct. 11 RAW, McIntyre and E would go face-to-face. McIntyre told the champ he will do whatever it takes to take his baby back with him to the blue brand. E responded by saying he respects the 2-time WWE Champion, but he won’t be giving up the belt in Saudi. The Usos interrupted and caused more dissension between the two, leading to a tag match in the main event, which in the closing seconds, McIntyre would stop E from attempting a Big Ending on Jey Uso, pull him out of the ring, and the two began to brawl outside the ring.
Their fighting caused them to get counted out, but they didn’t care. They threw hands all the way to the announce table side, where the Usos would take them out with a suicide dive. For a moment, McIntyre and E got on the same page, taking out the “Bloodline”, but when they got back in the ring, McIntyre put down the champion with a Claymore.
On the Oct. 18 RAW, champion and challenger once again put down the Dirty Dawgz via a Big Ending from E to Ziggler. On that night, E and McIntyre co-existed fine, and McIntyre seemed to have earned the respect of the champ.
Both these superstars are main-event studs, and while there’s no way E drops the title to McIntyre, they’re going to tear the house down in Riyadh, and it’s going to be a good first feud for E to overcome. As for McIntyre, it’s a good match to get him back in the title picture after he was banned from competing for the WWE Title after Hell in a Cell while Lashley was champion. This match will make him look like a player again at the top of the men’s card as he ascends to eventually challenge Reigns for the Universal Title.
Goldberg vs Bobby Lashley. No Holds Barred
OLDBERG tried to prove he was GOLDBERG and not OLDBERG at SummerSlam when he tried more than a Jackhammer and a Spear against Lashley (a scoop slam is the best he could do!). OLDBERG had some success and was looking to close in on the “All Mighty” and the WWE Title when he set up for a Spear in the corner, but MVP hit OLDBERG in the back of the knee with his cain, setting up the rest of the match. OLDBERG couldn’t stand once Lashley put more pressure on the knee, and the match was called in favor of the then-champion.
Lashley wasn’t through yet though. He powered up the 54-year-old and locked in the Hurt Lock. Then, all of a sudden, Gage — the son of OLDBERG — jumped in and tried to help his dad, but Lashley, feeling somebody on his back, threw down Gage’s dad and began tossing Gage like a ragdoll in the Hurt Lock.
Ever since, OLDBERG has been threatening Lashley. So much so that on the Oct. 4 episode of RAW, he challenged Lashley to a No Holds Barred match at Crown Jewel, so he could literally murder him!
I have a feeling here OLDBERG is going to go over because he is loved overseas, and Gage may make an appearance and help his dad since he hasn’t been seen since that fateful Aug. 20 night in Vegas. I don’t love it for Lashley’s character. For him to be a dominant presence again, it would be nice if he goes over OLDBERG, but nonetheless, I won’t be too upset if OLDBERG goes over here. A No Holds Barred match between two bulls like this will be entertaining regardless!
RK-BRO © vs A.J. Styles and Omos. RAW Tag Team Titles
In another SummerSlam rematch, Styles and his colossus are going to look to take back their RAW Tag Team gold from Randy Orton and Riddle, with whom they’ve been feuding with dating back to when RK-BRO started teaming together the night after Wrestlemania 37. All four of these men have great chemistry, and this match will be great, but the challengers have no shot of walking out of Saudi with the belts. With the Street Profits and the Alpha Academy now on RAW, there’s new challengers for RK-BRO to explore, and their reign as RAW Tag Team Champions is not going to end till at least 2022, when Orton eventually turns on the “Original Bro” to set up their Wrestlemania 38 match.
Xavier Woods (W/ Kofi Kingston) vs Finn Balor. KOTR Finals
For months, the third member of the New Day clamored WWE management to bring back the prestigious King of the Ring tournament, and now that they have listened, he is obsessed with getting his hands on the crown. He went through Ricochet and Jinder Mahal to get to this moment, where as Balor had to defeat Cesaro and Sami Zayn.
Woods is the only member of the New Day not to have held the WWE Championship. As a matter of fact, he’s never had a singles run in his nine year career in WWE. This is the closest he’s ever gotten to a singles push, and it’s his time.
WWE had Kingston lose to Mahal in the first round for a reason. They didn’t want the New Day brothers to go one-on-one in the semifinals and tease any sort of dissention because Kingston needs to support Woods’ quest for the KOTR the way Woods supported E and Kingston during their stays on top of the marquee. Balor may have the “Prince” as his nickname, but in a matchup that should be a good one, the “Prince” will not become King.
Doudrop vs Zelina Vega. QC Finals
Unlike the KOTR, the booking of the inaugural Queens’ Crown Tournament was questionable at best. On the SmackDown side, Carmella shockingly knocked off fan favorite Liv Morgan in the first round while Zelina Vega pinned Toni Storm, setting up a heel vs heel matchup in the semifinals. In said match, after punching the “Most Beautiful Women in WWE” square in the nose, Vega would take advantage of Morgan distracting Carmella to move on to the finals.
On the RAW side, Shayna Baszler quickly demolished Dana Brooke while Doudrop did the same to Natalya. In the semifinals, Baszler locked in the Kirifuda Clutch on Doudrop, but Doudrop was able to shift her weight and pin the “Queen of Spades” shoulders to the mat.
I thought Baszler was destined to win this tournament, considering she is now working with Deville on SmackDown in her feud against Naomi, but WWE has other plans. Those other plans probably include Doudrop winning. The company seems like they are giving her a push.
Either way, this tournament — unlike the KOTR — flopped. The average match time between the quarterfinals and semifinals was four minutes. I’m just hoping whoever wins the tournament has a good reign as Queen.
Mustafa Ali vs Mansoor
These two were teammates at one point, but when they started losing, Mustafa Ali kicked Mansoor to the curb. The Saudi Arabian-born superstar is going over here. The only question is going to be whether this match stays on the main card. With eight matches already on this stacked show, this one might be best to get moved to the Kickoff Show to give the Saudi crowd the early hometown pop.
