WWE Crown Jewel 2021: Results, Reigns retains, full recap and analysis

The Tribal Chief's glory run continues. At Crown Jewel during WWE's return to Saudi Arabia, Roman Reigns managed to defeat Brock Lesnar to retain his Universal Championship. He was ostensibly helped by Paul Heyman, but Heyman's true allegiances weren't made crystal clear. The way it shook out, expect a rematch between these two: The Reigns-Lesnar saga is not over.

Overall, it was a far better show than previous Saudi events. The best match of the night was the opener, which saw Edge defeat Seth Rollins in an excellent Hell in a Cell bout. The WWE Championship contest, in which Big E successfully defended against Drew McIntyre, was also strong. 

Elsewhere, Goldberg defeated Bobby Lashley and Becky Lynch was able to retain her SmackDown Women's Championship. Xavier Woods is the King of the Ring, while Zelina Vega won the Queen's Crown. Scroll down for full results and analysis from Crown Jewel 2021. 

Roman Reigns beats The Beast 

Roman Reigns is still your Universal Champion.

Lesnar dominated at first, as you'd expect. In a clever strategy, Reigns resisted Lesnar's suplexes by lingering close to the ropes and clinging each time Reigns attempted a German, though eventually one did connect. Eventually the tide turned when Reigns clocked Lesnar with a Superman Punch onto the outside, then laid him out with a beautiful over-the-top-rope dive. He cut Lesnar down with a Spear for a two count.

Reigns blitzed Lesnar with a series of Superman Punches, then went for another Spear. Lesnar, being the freak that he is, leapfrogged over Reigns, who crashed into the turnbuckle. The whole crowd loved this. Lesnar finally took Reigns to Suplex City, hitting him with three more German Suplexes. Lesnar landed an F5, but only got a two.

Lesnar attempted a second F5, but Reigns countered it into a Guilottine, which Lesnar was able to power out. Lesnar manages to land a second F5, but inadvertently knocks out the referee. Lesnar, in his own gentle way, tries to prod the ref -- by lifting him up by the belt and plopping him on the ground. When he turns around, he eats another Spear from Reigns.

Heyman throws the Universal Championship into the ring, right in the middle of Lesnar and Reigns. They get into a tug-of-war, then the Usos interfere by hitting a double Superkick onto Lesnar. Reigns then clobbers Lesnar with the Universal Championship for the pinfall.

Rating: 3 stars. Michael Cole assured us Brock Lesnar wouldn't forget this night, and with the screwy finish it's assured that these two will have a rematch. That makes sense, because this match wasn't wrestled like a blowoff -- it felt like an appetizer to another main event on a different stage. 

Also important to note: Heyman's allegiances remain unknown. On paper, Heyman helped Reigns retain the title by lobbing the Universal Championship into the ring. But Heyman threw the title precisely between Reigns and Lesnar, and it could be only by storyline chance that it worked in Reigns' favor. This is not over. 

Becky Lynch is still SmackDown Women's Champion

Becky Lynch retained her SmackDown Women's Championship after a whirlwind triple threat. 

The audience was heavily into the finish to the WWE Championship match, but this is by far the most excited they've been for anything on the show. All three women were given superstar reactions as they were announced. 

This triple threat moved at about a million miles an hour. There were plenty of creative spots with almost no relent, like when Lynch attempted a leg drop from the top rope but was caught by Banks and Belair, one leg each. Typically, there would be a series of spots between the three before one would get thrown out, and the other two would trade pinning attempts. 

The finishers started to come out as Banks and Lynch simultaneously locked their Banks Statement and Disarmer holds on Belair. Later, Lynch spiked Banks with a Man-Handle Slam, but Belair broke up the pin -- and Lynch momentarily locked both Belair and Banks in a Disarmer at the same time. 

In the match's final moments, Belair hit a Kiss of Death finish on Lynch. Banks prevented Belair from pinning Lynch, and Belair and Banks then scrambled to pin Lynch. Banks managed to knock Belair out on the outside, but when she got to Lynch, she rolled Banks up and grabbed the ropes for the win.

Rating: 3.5 stars. These three work incredibly hard, but maybe a bit too hard. I said the same thing about the Young Bucks versus Penta and Fenix tag team match from AEW's most recent PPV: I know I saw many creative spots, but I couldn't remember any of them after the match -- it was total nonstop action, so nothing resonated. Still, there were many creative spots and this was fun. 

Big E retains WWE Championship

These two huge men threw each other all over the place. McIntyre was particularly impressive: We've seen a lot of weapons and high spots on the show, but McIntyre hit a belly-to-belly suplex on the outside that made me wince harder than anything else so far. He followed it up with a nice spinebuster in the ring.

WWE is building a new main event star in Big E, but the crowd was more into McIntyre for much of the match. There were consistent chants of "McIntyre!" 

There was a nice false finish when Big E did a backslide pin on McIntyre, but McIntyre rolled out and countered into the Futureshock DDT. McIntyre attempted a Claymore, but Big E countered and moments later landed a Big Ending for a two count. Big E tried to plant McIntyre with a Big Ending from the turnbuckle, but McIntyre reversed it into a top-rope bulldop. 

After McIntyre missed another Claymore, he rolled onto the apron. Big E attempted his trademark Spear, where he tackles his opponent through the middle rope onto the floor, but McIntyre rushed into the ring and landed the Claymore for a two count. The crowd is way into this. The crowd chanted "one more time," but Big E managed to tilt-a-whirl McIntyre into a Big Ending for the win.

Rating: 4 stars.

Xavier Woods wins King of the Ring

Xavier Woods has been petitioning for a King of the Ring return on social media for months, and now he is the King. 

This was a nice match, but the crowd was tired. There were still chants, but only from sections of the audience. (There's a pocket of fans determined to make "this is awesome!" chants happen.) Most of the stadium was quieter than bouts, which makes sense three hours into the show.

Balor worked as the heel for the bout, and though it was nice to see Xavier get his moment, Finn came off as the match's bigger star. He's just such a great wrestler: Everything he does is so crisp and tight. Ultimately, he ate the pin after a top-rope elbow drop from Woods.

Rating: 3 stars.

Goldberg beat Bobby Lashley

This was a No Holds Barred, Falls Count Anywhere match. The buildup centered around each man wanting to literally kill each other, so violence was assured. Goldberg ultimately won by Spearing Lashley off the stage. 

The first thing that happened in this showdown was Lashley surreptitiously pulling a thick chain out of his tights and wrapping around his fist. He clocked Goldberg with it at the outset, causing immediate blood. Lashley then barraged Goldberg with chair shots and set a table up in the corner.

Before doing anything with said table, Lashley tackled Goldberg's leg, which he storyline injured at SummerSlam. Lashley wrapped Goldberg's leg in a chair, jumped off the middle rope and stomped on it. That set up a Spear through the table, but Goldberg dodged it so Lashley crashed through the wood.

Goldberg managed to land a Spear of his own and a Jackhammer. He didn't go for a pin though, which makes sense since he promised to leave Lashley without breath. Goldberg pushed Lashley outside, then Speared him through the barricade. Goldberg laid Lashley down on the steel steps, then tried to guillotine him by slamming another set of steel steps on Lashley's head, but Lashley rolled away. Phew. 

As Lashley tried to retreat up the ramp, the Hurt Business came to Lashley's aid. They brought Kendo Sticks, and then ran at Goldberg. Goldberg was able to swat them away and followed up by Spearing Lashley off the stage for the win.

Rating: 3 stars. This was more entertaining and varied than most Goldberg matches. 

Zelina Vega is the Queen of the Ring

Zelina Vega won the Queen of the Ring -- although it's not being called the Queen's Crown tournament all of a sudden -- by pinning Doudrop.

The finish was the only memorable moment in the otherwise unremarkable match. Vega landed a Code Red on Doudrop, impressive given their size disparity. After the match, Vega took the crown on the stage and legitimately looked very happy, which is nice to see.

Rating: 2 stars. No need to watch this. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing special about it either. The Queen of the Ring tournament hasn't been presented as anything meaningful or important, so the stakes felt low.

Randy Orton and Riddle retains tag titles

RK-Bro successfully defended their Raw Tag Team Championships against AJ Styles and Omos in an OK match. 

In what will surely be the best moment of the night, or maybe even the year, Riddle ran to the back in the middle of his entrance with Orton, only to return riding a camel to the ring. Amazing. 

This match had a slow start and felt like a standard TV bout for a while. This was especially true when Omos was in the ring, as Omos slowed things down -- and he was in the match more than average. But it really picked up when Riddle and AJ were in the ring together. They had a hot sequence of trading blows and countering moves, but it was short-lived. 

Riddle tagged in Orton, who was able to knock Omos off the apron and then counter a Phenomenal Forearm with an RKO. Riddle then landed a Floating Bro for the pin.

Rating: 2.5 stars. This felt like filler. A match with three wrestlers as great as AJ, Orton and Riddle shouldn't, but we've already seen these guys wrestle so much -- and this was shorter and less impressive than previous bouts. Riddle's entrance did rule, though.

Mansoor beats Mustafa Ali

This match was all about highlighting Mansoor, WWE's first wrestler from Saudi Arabia. It was a good match, better than most Raw matches and even most midcard pay-per-view bouts, but that's mostly thanks to Mustafa Ali.

It was hard to get into this match, because it felt thrown together for the simple purpose of getting a hometown hero on the show. That's completely fine, except it's doubtful that WWE will do much with Mansoor between now and the next Saudi Arabia show.

After the match, Ali attacked Mansoor while a man in a gi and Keffiyeh slowly made his way to the ring. He took off the Keffiyeh to reveal himself as Saudi Arabian silver medal Karate player Tareg Hamedi. He kicked Ali, then posed with Mansoor for the crowd.

Rating: 2.75 stars. A fine match, but it was more about pleasing the local crowd (and the Saudi sports commission that pays for the event) than anything else, as made clear by the postmatch showdown.

Edge pins Seth Rollins

Crown Jewel opened with a match that will be very hard to top. Edge defeated Seth Rollins after a lengthy Hell in a Cell match, one that saw both talented performers pull out a bag of tricks -- as well as numerous weapons. Edge won the match by Curb Stomping Rollins onto a chair.

The match started hot. Rollins moments in attempted a Suicide Dive on Edge on the outside, but missed Edge and caught the red Hell in a Cell cage instead. Edge then brought chairs into the ring, so weapons were integrated almost immediately. Edge broke the chair apart and tried to use a chair part to lock Rollins in a crossface, as he's done in the past, but Rollins scurried out. 

Eventually, Edge did manage to get Rollins in a crossface, but Rollins grabbed part of the chair and jabbed it in Edge's eye. He then hit a Frogsplash for a two count -- the first of many near-misses.

Rollins setup a table on the outside and tried to powerbomb Edge over the top rope through the table, but Edge wriggled out. Rollins planted Edge with the Unprettier, Christian's finishing move, for another nearfall. Rollins scaled the top rope, but Edge pushed him off the turnbuckle and Rollins crashed through the table.

With Rollins down, Edge set up the steel steps in the middle of the ring. Edge planted Rollins with an Edge-o-Matic, and then, with Rollins splayed across the steps, did a flying elbow drop with the steel chair from the top rope. Two count. 

Edge then went for a spear, but Rollins countered with a Superkick and a Pedigree for a two count. Rollins then attempted a Curbstomp, but Edge caught him and reversed it into a Buckle Bomb, then hit Rollins with a Spear for a great two count. The crowd showered them with a "This is Awesome!" chant. It really was.

Edge introduced more weapons into the match, bringing out a ladder and another table. They'd be used in spectacular fashion, when Rollins hit a Sunset Flip Powerbomb over the ladder, through the table. Another two count. Rollins brought out a bag of tools into the ring, pulled out a thick chain, wrapped it around his boot -- and superkicked Edge with the chained-up boot. 

Rollins tried to Curb Stomp Edge with the chained-up foot, but Edge moved out of the way and shoved a chair up Rollin's crotch. Edge barraged Rollins with superkicks and locked him in a crossface using a wrench from the aforementioned toolbag. Pretty gnarly. Before Rollins can tap out, Edge broke up the hold. He planted a chair underneath Rollins, hit him with the Curb Stomp and pinned him, 1-2-3.

Rating: 4.25 stars. I feel bad for whoever has to follow this. Some of this bordered on preposterous, with each man kicking out of things that should have left them dead. Still, to use an overused phrase, it felt epic in a way that few WWE matches have in the last year.

Kickoff Show results

The Kickoff Show saw The Usos face the newly reformed Hurt Business. This short match ended when Jey Uso pinned Cedric Alexander following a top-rope splash.