Review for WWE Crown Jewel 2021

With many of the Covid restrictions being lifted, it was time for WWE to head across to Saudi Arabia for their usual sketchy PPV that is either a great step or a step back depending on your opinion. This one featured two women's matches, a number of key matches and surprisingly wasn't as awful as I thought it might be.

The Hell in a Cell between Edge and Seth Rollins was possibly match of the night. This was one of the few times when it really did feel like the stipulation meant something and the feud between the two was just amazing. It is shocking that Edge can still be this good, but with Rollins, he was even better.

The match between hometown boys Mansoor against Mustafa Ali was fine, nothing special, but felt more like what a Kickoff match would be like. However, this was followed by a very entertaining tag match with RK-Bro defending their Raw Tag belts against AJ Styles and Omos. I have really grown to like the RK-Bro team and it almost has a Rock n Sock Connection feel to it.

The first Queen's Crown Tournament Final was between Doudrop and Zelina Vega in a nothing match. The King of the Ring final between Finn Balor and Xavier Woods was much better and at least given enough time to mean something.

The No Holds Barred match between Bobby Lashley and Goldberg was actually quite enjoyable. Maybe it was the stipulation or maybe it was just the way it was all presented, but compared to his previous matches, this was a surprisingly great Goldberg match.

If the Hell in a Cell hadn't been on the same show I would have said the WWE Championship match between Big E and Drew McIntyre was match of the night. I was stunned by how good this match was. Big E was always too goofy for me, but the way he worked in this match was just great and both had enough moments to almost feel like anyone could have won.

The second women's match was a great Triple Threat for Smackdown Women's Championship match between Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks. I was surprised that they were allowed to go as long as they did and that all three put on a great showing.

Finally, we have the 'Ok' match between Roman Reigns defending his Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar. The reason why I say it was just 'Ok' is that the build really felt like something big was going to happen. Much was made about whether Paul Heyman would turn on Reigns or that The Usos would. Instead it was just a very by the numbers match and nothing special.

As there are two disks, we got a number of special features with this PPV, which is nice. The Kickoff Match between The Usos and The Hurt Business was entertaining, but nothing very memorable. From the Supersize Smackdown we have three Promos from Edge, Seth Rollins and Brock and Roman's contract signing. This last one was just perfect. Also included is a match between Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. This was a good match and at least (after the squash at Summerslam) showed that Lynch could still work a match.

Crown Jewel 2021 was not the awful PPV I was expecting. If anything, it was one of the best PPVs of the year. There are only a few missteps during the show, but the shining jewels in this crown are very evident and this is definitely one worth getting.