Friday Night SmackDown Review - August 18, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Austin Theory and LA Knight Interrupted The LWO on The Grayson Waller Effect Hosted by Grayson Waller; Theory def. Knight in a United States Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

Waller acknowledging that Rey Mysterio essentially stole Santos Escobar's title shot had to be by design, right? Hopefully that leads to Escobar turning on Mysterio sooner rather than later. The segment played out predictably, especially once Theory interrupted, but Knight coming out was a pleasant surprise. The impromptu match between Knight and Theory was solid but had a predictable finish. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, as Knight should be focused on Miz for now and Theory can get a rematch with Mysterio on an upcoming episode of SmackDown.

Bianca Belair and Charlotte Flair def. Damage CTRL (Bayley and WWE Women's Champion IYO SKY)

Since becoming Head of WWE Creative, Triple H has had a tendency to tease things, move away from it for a while, wait a number of months, and go back to it eventually (or forget about it entirely in certain cases). That's been the case lately with Belair and Flair as well as Damage CTRL. Belair and Flair were at odds heading into SummerSlam, but they were able to coexist and pick up the victory here. Bayley and SKY, on the other hand, were teasing tension pre- and post-Money in the Bank but have been a cohesive unit since SummerSlam. This was a really good match and I appreciated it got as much time as it did.

The Street Profits def. The O.C. (Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows)

This was Street Profits' first match since aligning with Bobby Lashley a few weeks ago. They still have the same entrance theme and attire (which I'm not totally opposed to since their song is awesome), but they definitely kicked their in-ring intensity up a few notches. The O.C. just exist at this point, so them taking the loss hardly mattered. The match was what it needed to be with Street Profits going over decisively.

Edge def. Sheamus

WWE did everything imaginable to give this a big fight feel and they were successful. Toronto treated Edge like a rock star and was provided an amazing atmosphere for this match. For a first-time-ever encounter, this was excellent, even without anything being on the line and both guys being babyfaces. They created some strong drama down the stretch with a few great nearfalls and it honestly could have gone either way. It isn't confirmed Edge is definitely done in the ring or with WWE, but if he is, he went out on a high note.

Overall Show

This was the perfect show for The Bloodline to miss as it was all about celebrating the career and 25th anniversary of Edge. There were plenty of video packages and comments from various Superstars throughout the night playing up his importance to WWE and heavily implying that this was it for him. I wasn't convinced of it a week ago, but I am now, though there seems to be a chance he isn't retired yet and instead they wanted to make his anniversary show memorable. The rest of SmackDown was enjoyable and meaningful, making for a thumbs-up episode on the whole for the second straight week.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews