Friday Night Smackdown – Aug 27th 2021: Results & Review
Welcome to this week’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have the return of Becky Lynch and Brock Lesnar to deal with. Becky is rumored to be a heel now, but it all depends on how she is booked that is the real key here. Brock is supposedly a face, but Brock just beats the s–t out of people, so does it even matter what he is? I want nachos. SmackDown starts now…mucho grande now!
Match #1: Bianca Belair b. Carmella, Zelina Vega and Liv Morgan – Elimination Match
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Bianca Belair outlasted Liv Morgan, Carmella and Zelina Vega to earn the right to challenge Becky Lynch for the SmackDown Women’s Title in a heated impromptu Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match. After Belair eliminated Vega with the K.O.D.and Morgan eliminated Carmella by hurling her face first into the canvas, The EST of WWE overcame Liv wit ha second K.O.D. to cement her rematch with The Man.
The Verdict: 5 out of 10
Match #2: Cesaro b. Chad Gable via DQ
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Alpha Academy’s Chad Gable looked for some payback on Cesaro for nearly swinging him into orbit recently. When it looked as if The Swiss Cyborg was about swing his opponent yet again, Otis suddenly attacked and brought an end to the contest by disqualification.
The Verdict: 5 out of 10
Match #3: Shinsuke Nakamura/Rick Boogs b. Dirty Dawgs (Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode)
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
In the height of Intercontinental Champion King Nakamura & Rick Boogs’ matchup against the The Dirty Dawgs, The King of Strong Style’s “Head-Banging Herald” overcame Dolph Ziggler with the power slam.
The Verdict: 6 out of 10
Match #4: (Main Event) Sami Zayn b. Dominik Mysterio
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
The Legendary Luchador looked to help his son improve with a surprise singles matchup against Sami Zayn. In the height of the action, however, The Master Strategist overcame the hard-fought effort by Dominik with the Helluva Kick.
The Verdict: 6 out of 10
Final Verdict: 4/10
The wrestlers did a lot with what little they were given, but the booking didn’t leave them a lot of room on the card to actually wrestle. That’s the typical bit. SmackDown hasn’t been the wrestling show in a long while. Now, what can be said here that can’t always be said of Raw is that this didn’t have the goofy comedy to contend with. Our mediocrity to suffer through was just the matches going short. The opener seemed to get the most time and, while it was no classic in terms of wrestling, it performed the function of finding a contender and did so patiently. There were no major issues of the match being too much visually. The elimination stipulation was of great value here, as it provided us with a match that was organized, if sadly quite clumsy as well. It must also be said that without Sasha Banks or Becky Lynch by her side, Bianca felt like a mid-carder. Liv actually got a reaction on par with Bianca’s. Everyone involved with this felt like they were on an even keel instead of anyone being a star. That’s probably a big reason why it was so easy to put the title on to Becky Lynch right away. Speaking of Becky, she isn’t a heel. Becky is still being booked as a tweener and that’s the way it should be. Becky said a couple heel lines and got cheered like crazy for it, so that is where she is at in her career. Becky is a bad mother-f–ker. Moving on to the next match, it lasted two minutes and was poised for greateness, due to the fantastic grappling and clinches that Cesaro and Chad were implimenting. That being said, it all came to an end too quickly at around two minutes and ended with a DQ. Our third match saw Rick Boogs show a lot of potential as a technician, if only in spurts. Shinsuke looked as formidable as ever and Roode/Ziggler have the wrestling ability to make their mis-use almost criminal, especially considering how good they were here. Finally, our main event came and went, offering more of the same for Dominik and another solid return for Zayn, who continued his great work as a heel while bringing his tremendous athletic skills with him. Naomi returned to SmackDown in an angle where Sonya Deville didn’t know she was coming, who is mad at Adam Pearce for having her there without telling her beforehand. Edge is moving on from Seth Rollins and back toward the Universal Title, while Seth Rollins says he will become ruthless like Edge. Finn Balor challenged Roman Reigns to a prize fight next week, all while Paul heyman spent the show afraid that Roman hated him for Brock Lesnar returning, but since Roman still seems to like Paul, all is well. Well, there was wrestling here for a half hour on a two hour show, so I’m giving this a 4. Son of a b–ch. Vince Russo: Bro! How did you know? Me: I’ll see you next time.
