Friday Night SmackDown Review - May 28, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Usos def. The Street Profits

I haven't seen a regular old match be made to feel this special in some time. WWE advertised it a week ago and then gave them mic time beforehand to hype it up, which was extremely effective in getting me more excited for the encounter than I already was. Better yet, it exceeded my expectations by being a terrific match. They were given way more time than I thought they would be, which I appreciated. The Usos were on the same page here and secured the victory, but how much longer is that going to be the case for? I'm looking forward to the eventual rematch(es).

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Natalya and Tamina def. The Riott Squad (Non-Title)

It's such a shame how underutilized The Riott Squad have been since moving to SmackDown. Other than WrestleMania 37, this marked their first tag team match on TV in many months. Unfortunately, despite scoring some offense against the champions, they lost in a matter of minutes. It was a perfectly acceptable match, but I'm not sure why you would give it away so quickly instead of saving it for a future championship clash. I'm not a fan of Natalya and Tamina being champions as it is, but now they've beaten half of the division.

SmackDown Women's Champion Bianca Belair def. Carmella (Non-Title)

This was another match I would have saved for down the road instead of throwing it on TV with no build. I'm not saying it's WrestleMania-worthy or anything like that, but Belair doesn't have a ton of potential challengers as it is, so I would have built Carmella up a bit more before feeding her to Belair. Nonetheless, they had a decent match. Bayley attempted to distract Belair from ringside and cost her the win but to no avail. They're obviously headed for a rematch, likely at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.

Seth Rollins Addressed Cesaro

Rollins is such a master manipulator (by the way, where's Edge at?) and an awesome heel. He came out making fun of Cesaro for missing the show because of the beatdown he gave him last week before blaming him for it. It was very well done. I could have done without the dumb noises from the "hospital," but otherwise, this was a great heel promo from Rollins. Keeping Cesaro off the show for a week to sell the beatdown was the right call. I'm just not sure what he gains from beating Rollins for a third time, but I'm happy he's remaining relevant, if nothing else.

Kevin Owens def. Intercontinental Champion Apollo Crews by Disqualification (Non-Title)

The opening match or Rollins' promo (or both) must've gone long before this was criminally short. Seriously, it was probably no more than a minute or two long. Owens quickly hit a Stunner on Crews and Commander Azeez interfered and hit him with the Nigerian Nail before he could win. Owens sold it like death, which was comical because it didn't even look that good. Hey, god bless them for trying to get the move over, but this just felt goofy to me.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Chad Gable

We haven't seen Gable and Otis in weeks. Then again, I guess if there's nothing for them to do and they won't be in the tag title hunt any time soon, there isn't any point in them being on the show. Nakamura vs. Gable could have been killer with more time, but it was fun while it lasted, even with the stupid shenanigans from King Corbin at ringside. On the bright side, it looks like Rick Boogs will be a regular part of Nakamura's act going forward, playing him to the ring during his entrance.

SmackDown Tag Team Champions Dominik and Rey Mysterio def. Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode

This followed the exact same formula that the WrestleMania Backlash bout did with one of the Mysterios being ambushed beforehand backstage and the other Mysterio having to fend for himself against Ziggler and Roode. This time, it was Rey who was attacked with Dominik defending the titles for the two of them. It was a quality main event, but with The Usos already staking their claim at the championship earlier in the evening, there was no way they were winning here. The distraction finish came off lazy, too. Mysterio vs. Usos next week should be a blast, but I'm guessing it will end in an angle and not a title win because I don't know why you wouldn't hold off on that until a pay-per-view if it's the latter.

Overall Show

Uhm, where the hell was Aleister Black? His return and attack on Big E at the end of the show last week had plenty of people talking, so the fact there was zero follow-up whatsoever was shocking. The women's tag team match or Nakamura vs. Gable could have easily been cut. At any rate, this was a solid show on the whole. Usos vs. Street Profits was easily the best part, but the women getting more television time than usual was refreshing and the stuff in the undercard served a purpose. SmackDown has another stacked show set up for next week between Crews vs. Owens for the Intercontinental Championship (with Azeez banned from ringside) and the Mysterio vs. Usos for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.

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