Friday Night SmackDown Review - August 19, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ronda Rousey Was Arrested

Much like last week, the way Rousey walking into the shot at the start of the show was really done, so props to Kevin Dunn, Triple H or whoever was behind that. Her promo was once again shaky, but I'm glad she's back to being a badass. This is how Rousey should've been booked from the moment she returned at the Royal Rumble. Ironically, now that she's a heel, the crowd is getting behind her fully (a la Roman Reigns). We've seen Superstars arrested countless times over the years, but I thought this was a nicely-executed angle.

Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jane) def. Natalya and Sonya Deville in a WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Match

NXT's Zoey Stark and Nikkita Lyons were originally scheduled to take on Natalya and Deville in the first round of the tourney, but Stark was reportedly legitimately injured on Tuesday's NXT Heatwave show and Lyons was said to be "medically unavailable" (make of that what you will), so they were replaced by Dolin and Jane. Hey, I'm not complaining. They're an actual tag team, and since Natalya is from Canada, she was basically the babyface in this match. Aside from one botch from Dolin early on, this was a solid outing and I liked that Toxic Attraction are headed to the next round (where they'll likely lose to Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah).

Hit Row Attacked Maximum Male Models and Performed

Maximum Male Models were booed until Hit Row quickly bounced them from the ring, so it looks like we're headed for Top Dolla and Ashante "Thee" Adonis vs. Mace and Mansoor one of these weeks. Hit Row proceeded to rap and it was a complete song. I can see this being a polarizing segment, especially since it wasn't the most amazing performance of all-time, but I actually enjoyed it. It's definitely different than anything we've seen on WWE programming before, which I think is a positive in this case.

Sheamus def. King Corbin, Ricochet, Madcap Moss and Sami Zayn in an Intercontinental Championship No. 1 Contender's Fatal 5-Way Match

This was a terrific Fatal 5-Way match. They were given plenty of time and the outcome wasn't predictable. Ricochet and Corbin canceled each other out, but any of the other three could have realistically won (yes, including Moss, who has been heavily pushed since becoming a singles star). The crowd being so hot for Montreal's own Sami Zayn was phenomenal and proved that Zayn will be a breakout babyface when the time comes for him to turn (which will hopefully be soon). They sounded a bit deflated when Sheamus won instead, but I have no issue with getting Gunther vs. Sheamus for the Intercontinental Championship at Clash at the Castle. That's going to be an absolute banger.

SmackDown Women's Champion Liv Morgan def. Shotzi (Non-Title)

This was easily the weakest part of the show due to not being anything special. They had a passable match, but it was wise to keep it on the shorter side. It was very telling that Morgan barely received a reaction when she made her entrance. She wasn't booed, but she's certainly not as over as she was even a month ago. That's bizarre to me and I'm not quite sure what the reason is. Shayna Baszler's post-match attack on Morgan was the best part about this.

Drew McIntyre Attacked Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn

A face-off between Reigns and McIntyre was promoted, but they didn't go face-to-face for very long. What we got was good, but it paled in comparison to what we got from McIntyre and Kevin Owens on Monday's Raw. Hopefully there's more to come from them before Clash at the Castle. Nevertheless, this effectively sent the message that McIntyre could beat Reigns as the show's closing visual was him holding both belts. Zayn taking the first Claymore for Reigns from McIntyre was another interesting development in his ongoing storyline with The Bloodline.

Overall Show

They made it a point to acknowledge how this was the 1,200th edition of SmackDown and I appreciate that they made the milestone feel important. It ended up being a great show. The Fatal 5-Way was far and away the highlight of the night, but truthfully, the Montreal crowd made this show so much fun. The opening and closing segments were well done and everything else held up as well, including The Viking Raiders' funeral for The New Day (is a Sarah Logan return imminent?) and the excellent Karrion Kross video package. Here's hoping SmackDown continue to improve with each episode flying by as quickly as this one did.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews