Friday Night SmackDown Review - August 20, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Edge Addressed Seth Rollins

There aren't many people, if any at all, who are better on the mic in WWE right now than Edge. He's always been a great talker, but I feel like he's been on another level since returning to the ring last year. He and Rollins have already said a lot going into SummerSlam, but I like how he referenced he had to go "darker" during his promo here. We obviously found out what that meant later on. It was a little similar to what he said before he faced Roman Reigns at Money in the Bank, but it was strong stuff, nonetheless. Edge's intensity is unmatched.

SmackDown Tag Team Champion Jey Uso def. Rey Mysterio

With this match, WWE has officially done every combination of The Usos and the Mysterios against each other since July. It hasn't bothered me as much as it has other people (because at least they're telling a story with the tension being teased between the Mysterios), but I totally understand people being tired of this feud. This was a quality contest that lasted longer than I thought it would. I'm surprised Rey has been getting pinned so much going into SummerSlam as I don't expect him and Dominik to get the belts back.

Baron Corbin def. Kevin Owens by Disqualification

Owens already beat Corbin to ensure he can't beg the audience for money anymore, so I'm not sure why we got a rematch. I know it was basically a backdrop for what they did here with him and Big E, but I don't think Owens needed to be the afterthought considering he came off like an afterthought. The match didn't last long and Corbin managed to escape with Big E's Money in the Bank briefcase yet again, so look for them to go one-on-one relatively soon.

Shotzi and Nox def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Natalya and Tamina in a Championship Contender's Match

These "Championship Contender's" matches are such a joke. This is literally the third one we've seen between these two teams in the last month. I know Natalya was out injured for a few weeks (and it's great she's back so quickly so she and Tamina don't have to relinquish the titles for their sake), but shouldn't have this been for the championship? Why we are still doing this non-title crap? The match was fine, but WWE needs to hurry up and put the belts on Shotzi and Nox already, whatever the hell they're worth at this point.

Edge Interrupted Seth Rollins

As much as I've been praising Edge's mic work throughout his rivalry with Rollins, Rollins has been doing some top-notch work as well. He did a nice job of responding to Edge's promo from earlier, though it wasn't long before he was interrupted by the awesome Brood music (or at least the very beginning of it). That was a serious "mark-out" moment for me as I never thought we'd hear that music on WWE TV again (and I barely count when The New Day came out to it on SmackDown back in 2018 because the crowd that night barely reacted). It's comical that the commentators had to call this a "Brood bath" because they couldn't use fake blood.

Otis def. Montez Ford

I thought this rivalry wrapped up when The Street Profits beat The Alpha Academy a few weeks ago, but apparently not. I'm actually glad about that as I thought it was too soon for the heels to get their comeuppance. Alpha Academy have been killing it as heels and this was a necessary win for them. I'd love to see them contend for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at some point, but I assume Street Profits will get the next shot once they beat Alpha Academy again.

Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs def. Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez

This marked Boogs' in-ring debut on the main roster. He's only been used as a hype man for Nakamura up to this point, but I have no problem with him wrestling the occasional match as he's not terrible. I thought we might see the heels win here to build to Nakamura vs. Crews in a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship, but I guess not. Rather, Boogs pinned Crews, so that tells you everything you need to know about how WWE views Crews at the moment. His push is officially over.

SmackDown Women's Champion Bianca Belair def. Zelina Vega (Non-Title); Belair def. Zelina Vega (Non-Title)

Interestingly enough, there was no sign of Sasha Banks on this show. WWE is acting like the SmackDown Women's Championship match for SummerSlam is still on, but there's been a lot of concern online that it will be cancelled because of Banks' current status. Instead, WWE killed time by having Belair beat Vega and Carmella in back-to-back bouts. Neither outing was remotely memorable as we've seen both of them before, but at least Belair came away looking dominant.

Universal Champion Roman Reigns and John Cena Engaged in a War of Words

Although this wasn't the best verbal exchange these two have had since Cena returned, it was still entertaining and they got a few funny jabs in there. Not all of the logic made sense, but the important thing is that the crowd was engaged and they probably sold a few more pay-per-view buys once it was over. The only thing I didn't like about this was Reigns saying he'd leave WWE if he lost the Universal Championship to Cena at SummerSlam. I realize they wanted to add some stakes by doing that, but all it did was make it more obvious that Reigns is retaining.

Overall Show

As a go-home show, I thought this edition of SmackDown did what it could to sell viewers on SmackDown's biggest bouts at SummerSlam. SmackDown has the stronger side of the card anyway compared to Raw, so they didn't need to do much to get me more excited than I already was. To be honest, I'm sure it was difficult for anyone to care about this show with CM Punk debuting on AEW Rampage right afterward, but at least the two hours were relatively easy to sit through.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews