Crown Jewel | |||
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Promotion | WWE | ||
Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown | ||
Date | October 21, 2021 | ||
City | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | ||
Venue | Mohammed Abdu Arena | ||
Attendance | 22,000 | ||
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WWE in Saudi Arabia chronology | |||
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Crown Jewel chronology | |||
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The 2021 Crown Jewel was a professional wrestling event produced by the American company WWE. It was the third Crown Jewel and took place on October 21, 2021, at Mohammed Abdu Arena on The Boulevard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as part of Riyadh Season. The event aired via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming, marking the first Crown Jewel to air on Peacock in the United States, and featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.
It was the sixth event that WWE held in Saudi Arabia under a 10-year partnership in support of Saudi Vision 2030. It was also WWE's first PPV and livestreaming 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. The event also saw the finals of both the 2021 King of the Ring tournament and the inaugural Queen's Crown tournament (renamed Queen of the Ring in 2024).
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, Xavier Woods won the King of the Ring tournament while Zelina Vega won the inaugural Queen's Crown tournament, 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.
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.