Big E Defeats Drew McIntyre, Retains WWE Title At Crown Jewel 2021

Big E defeated Drew McIntyre at Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday to retain the WWE Championship.

Remarkably, the titleholder managed to kick out of a Claymore and eventually hit the Scot with the Big Ending to score the pinfall victory.

The unexpected rivalry between the two men started one week before the WWE draft. Following E's successful title defense against Bobby Lashley inside a steel cage, McIntyre emerged and stared down the former New Day member.

On the ensuing episode of SmackDown, McIntyre was drafted from Raw to the blue brand, which led to some doubt over whether a match between them would occur.

Big E cut a promo addressing The Scottish Warrior on the next episode of Raw, leading to McIntyre responding and making it clear he wanted to get his hands on the WWE Championship again.

The two forged a brief alliance when they were interrupted by Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode and went on to beat The Dirty Dawgs in a tag team match on the Oct. 4 edition of Raw. It wasn't without controversy, though, as McIntyre tagged himself in during the latter stages, much to Big E's chagrin.

Big E is only a little over a month removed from becoming WWE champion for the first time after cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on Lashley.

Although he beat The All Mighty in a rematch, it can be argued Crown Jewel marked his first title defense of true significance, as McIntyre was his first new challenger.

The Scottish Warrior is one of WWE's top stars, which always makes him a threat to prevail, although there weren't many who believed he had a legitimate shot against Big E.

That is primarily due to the fact that a SmackDown Superstar winning Raw's top title just before the WWE draft results take effect would have created a muddled situation.

With that in mind, WWE had Big E retain at Crown Jewel, and he is now free to enter into some new and exciting rivalries on the red brand.

         

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