Friday Night SmackDown Review - September 24, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bianca Belair Attacked SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch

I maintain that turning Lynch heel when she could have been brought back as one of the most popular babyfaces in the company was a dumb idea. That said, Belair and Lynch have managed to have an awesome feud in their current roles. The crowd is still very much behind Belair while Lynch's top-tier mic work is making her easy for fans to dislike. It's made for a wonderful dynamic and their latest verbal exchange was another example of that. Belair was able to get one over on Lynch this week, which makes me think Lynch is retaining the title come Sunday.

Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura def. Apollo Crews

This was a rematch from when Nakamura beat Crews to win the Intercontinental Championship last month before SummerSlam, though I'm not sure how Crews earned another shot when he hasn't won a single match in months. That said, this was enjoyable while it lasted and the crowd was into it. Nakamura is incredibly over at the moment, but he's in need of a meaningful feud as champion. Hopefully he'll getting one coming out of the Draft next week. Speaking of which, I get the feeling Crews is Raw bound.

Zelina Vega def. Liv Morgan

This was designed to be a warm-up of sorts for Morgan before she faces Carmella at Extreme Rules. As you could probably expect, there wasn't much to the match, nor did it last long. What we got was fine yet nothing you'll remember by next week. I assumed Morgan would win, but I have no problem with Vega winning instead. That marked her first victory since returning to WWE almost three months ago, and it's not like Morgan is contending for a championship at the pay-per-view. As long as she beats Carmella, then this was acceptable.

Happy Corbin and Riddick Moss Attacked Kevin Owens on Happy Talk

Happy Talk is a lame name for a talk show, and I don't think anyone was clamoring for WWE to have yet another talk show segment, but I'm willing to give it a chance. This was entertaining enough and was effective in furthering the feud between Corbin and Owens. We also got the return of Moss to WWE TV after almost a year away. If you forgot he was still on the roster like I did, I don't blame you whatsoever. He's still extremely generic to me and I don't see this alliance with Corbin changing that.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Nikki A.S.H. def. Natalya

As a result of becoming WWE Women's Tag Team Champions on Monday night, Nikki and Rhea Ripley can now appear on both brands, which is much better than Natalya and Tamina appearing on both brands. I'm sorry but they're abysmal. Natalya bores me to tears personally, so while I want to see longer women's matches on SmackDown, this being so short didn't bother me. I'm more interested in Shotzi and Tegan Nox finally getting involved in the title picture again. They're obviously owed a shot after beating Natalya and Tamina three times when they were champs.

Sonya Deville Interrupted Naomi

The blue brand's women's division has been a sore spot for SmackDown for a while now because outside of the title picture, there wasn't a whole lot going on. I was digging the tension being teased between Deville and Morgan going into Money in the Bank, but that was dropped after the pay-per-view. This newfound feud between Deville and Naomi has been great and I hope they stick with it. Naomi showing some aggression has been excellent and Deville has also played her role well. If this leads to Deville finally returning to the ring, then I'm all for it.

Universal Champion Roman Reigns def. Montez Ford (Non-Title)

Well, this was a bit of a random match. Reigns doesn't wrestle on SmackDown often and thus I feel this should have been announced in advance, but WWE seems to be in this phase right now where they like throwing big matches out on TV without advertising them first, I assume because they want to give the vibe that anything can happen at any time. That isn't to say Reigns vs. Ford would have headlined a pay-per-view any time soon, but a Reigns match on TV at this point still feels special. Nonetheless, this was an entertaining main event with Ford looking credible in defeat. Many people (myself included) have said it for years, but Ford will undoubtedly be a breakout singles star someday and this was a nice preview of that. Demon Balor attacking The Bloodline afterward was a simple way to build toward Reigns vs. Balor at Extreme Rules.

Overall Show

Last week's edition of SmackDown was a definite downgrade from the week prior emanating from Madison Square Garden, but I thought the blue brand was back to its normal level of quality this week. There was some solid and straightforward build for Extreme Rules on Sunday, the main event was a treat, the opening segment was strong, and Nakamura and Crews delivered once again. Granted, I couldn't have cared less about the return of Moss, but the Happy Corbin stuff still has my interest. I'm curious to see what the landscape of SmackDown will look like coming out of the Draft that is set to start next Friday.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews