Friday Night SmackDown Review - June 25, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bayley and Seth Rollins def. SmackDown Women's Champion Bianca Belair and Cesaro

I enjoyed the verbal exchange between Belair and Bayley beforehand, but it's high time we move on from this feud. Their bad blood dates back to late last year, not to mention that Belair beat her decisively inside Hell in a Cell (you know, the gimmick match that's supposed to blow off rivalries) on Sunday. It's obvious WWE is just killing time with them at this point until Sasha Banks returns for SummerSlam. With all of that being said, this was a strong opening match with great work from everyone involved. Again, though, no one gains anything from Bayley challenging Banks for the title again and likely losing.

Shinsuke Nakamura Had a King's Coronation

This was probably the best coronation for a king that I've ever seen because it was short, sweet and straight to the point. It literally consisted of Rick Boogs playing his guitar while Nakamura's music played in the background and that was it. I hope he isn't referred to as King Nakamura going forward, but I'm afraid that's where we're headed. It's worth noting that Kayla Braxton referred to Baron Corbin by that name, but I have no desire to see that feud continue.

Big E def. Intercontinental Champion Apollo Crews to Qualify for the Men's Money in the Bank Qualifying Match (Non-Title)

Truth be told, this might have been the longest one-on-one match these two have ever had, and that's saying saying something considering they've had two pay-per-view matches this year and have been feuding over the Intercontinental Championship since January. This should have ended a while ago, but at least they consistently work well together and this was another enjoyable encounter from them. Big E was the right choice to qualify seeing as how a lot people are expecting him to win it this year for the men.

Sonya Deville Named Carmella as a Participant in the Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match; Liv Morgan def. Carmella

SmackDown's women's division literally consists of six or seven women at this point (and that's including Sasha Banks, Natalya and Tamina who I don't think will be in it), so that's why we saw Deville just give one of the spots to Carmella here. She made sure to point out that she wouldn't lose her spot to Morgan, but because she lost, it was intended that Morgan would join the field as well. I don't think that's been confirmed yet, and it's possible she may have to prove herself some more (even though she's now beaten Carmella twice). The match was perfectly fine while it lasted but too short to be anything special.

Jimmy Uso def. Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler was quite the random opponent for Uso. He and Robert Roode have been off SmackDown for the last month since losing the SmackDown Tag Team Championship and their absence wasn't explained here. I guess WWE simply had nothing for them to do until now. Uso and Ziggler had a well-wrestled match, but with Uso seemingly being a heel, it had an odd dynamic. I don't know if beating Dolph Ziggler in 2021 makes Uso main event material, but it doesn't hurt, either. I'm curious where this stuff with Jey is headed.

Edge Attacked Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Jimmy Uso

While Paul Heyman was running down everyone Reigns has beaten as Universal Champion over the last 10 months, I was expecting Dominik Mysterio to come out after what Reigns did to Rey in last week's main event. The Edge surprise was much cooler. We haven't seen him since his loss in the main event of WrestleMania 37 to Reigns, and although both he and Daniel Bryan were pinned in that match, I have no problem with WWE going the singles route with them since Edge never got a one-on-one opportunity after winning the Royal Rumble. This was an excellent angle to close the show.

Overall Show

I appreciate how SmackDown is taking their time with the qualifying matches instead of rushing into them like Raw did on Monday. It gives viewers more to look forward to in the weeks ahead, including Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn in a Last Man Standing qualifier next week. The Edge return was the obvious highlight of this episode, but it was a damn solid show on the whole and the matches mostly delivered. The blue brand needs to move in a different direction with a majority of their rivalries, but otherwise, it continues to be an easy watch every Friday night.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews