Friday Night SmackDown Review - April 23, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Daniel Bryan and Cesaro def. Jey Uso and Seth Rollins

Bryan making a case for why Cesaro should be next in line for a Universal Championship match is super cool. Cesaro is going to have to cut promos on his own eventually, but I have no problem with Bryan serving as his hype man for now, especially since it comes across as genuine. I loved Roman Reigns coming out and talking trash to Cesaro and Bryan before returning to the back, completely ignoring Rollins' presence the entire time. I hope WWE holds off on having those two interact at all until it comes time for them to feud down the road. The match itself was entertaining and the win gave the babyfaces a measure of momentum. It also provided a hook for the remainder of the show as to how Reigns would respond to Cesaro's challenge.

Tamina def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Nia Jax

This was a rematch from the SmackDown before WrestleMania 37, and it wasn't one I was clamoring for. I still have no idea why this tag team feud is still going on. I know the women's tag team division is depleted at the moment, but The Riott Squad would be better in the role of challengers. This wasn't very good and Tamina beating Jax virtually means nothing considering Jax and Tamina constantly lose in singles matches.

Intercontinental Champion Apollo Crews def. Kevin Owens

WWE simply said on social media coming into the show that Crews would be defending his Intercontinental Championship but didn't name an opponent. I assumed it would be an open challenge or some sort of surprise, but if it was always going to be Owens (which I was fine with because he's won his last few matches), then they should have advertised it in advance. At least it's a program they can go back to at some point if Crews holds onto the gold for a while. Nonetheless, this was a well-wrestled match that received plenty of time. The distraction finish was lame, but that didn't ruin it for me. I'm curious of what the endgame for Owens vs. Zayn will be given Owens has already beaten Zayn twice recently.

Rey and Dominik Mysterio def. Otis and Chad Gable

These teams have been feuding for about a month or so now, but you would never know because it hasn't received a ton of storyline support and I don't think any of them have gotten much mic time. That said, this was a quality contest, and I appreciated that they had as much time as they did. It feels like the Mysterios are building a case for why they should be next in line for a shot at the SmackDown Tag Team Championship and I assume they'll have to go through The Street Profits in order to get it.

Universal Champion Roman Reigns Challenged Daniel Bryan

This segment was built around Reigns giving Cesaro an answer to his challenge. In an intriguing turn of events, Reigns denied Cesaro a shot and instead turned his attention to Bryan. He said he'd defend his Universal Championship against him next week on SmackDown, and if he wins, Bryan will be banished from the blue brand forever. It's a hell of a hook for next week, that's for sure. My guess is that Bryan is headed to the Raw roster because they could use him more at this point, but it's disappointing that this likely means we aren't getting that rivalry with Edge I was hoping for coming out of WrestleMania. Either way, they have me extremely excited for whatever's going to happen on next week's show, not to mention that we know Reigns and Bryan have excellent chemistry together.

Overall Show

There was a ton that happened on this show that didn't go down in the ring. For example, Owens and Big E teased tension backstage, Bianca Belair and Bayley went face-to-face ahead of their SmackDown Women's Championship match at WrestleMania Backlash (which is now official), and Aleister Black finally returned with a cool vignette. The biggest issue with this show was that, once again, the women didn't get a ton of time (though I'm not complaining about Tamina vs. Jax being cut short), but that's about it. It was an above-average episode on the whole. In addition to Reigns vs. Bryan for the Universal title, next week we're also getting Crews vs. Big E for the Intercontinental title. It's amazing that SmackDown continues to be infinitely easier to watch than Raw, and not just because it's a two-hour show. Rather, the creative is actually compelling for the most part and the matches hold my interest. What a concept.