Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: recaps, Smackdown, wrestling, wwe
WWE Smackdown Review 8/27/2021: Who Needs Brock Lesnar Anyway?
Sorry, folks. I realize that this review of WWE Smackdown is a day late, and I have no excuses. The truth is… Smackdown this week was so boring that I fell asleep watching it on Friday night and didn't wake up until Sunday morning. I know, I know. I have no one to blame but myself for watching live WWE television without first pinning myself down in one of those Clockwork Orange chairs. I promise it won't happen again… unless it does.
WWE Smackdown Review 8/27/2021
Becky Lynch started WWE Smackdown this week to explain her return and her actions at SummerSlam… by refusing to apologize. Becky is ostensibly supposed to be a heel now according to the dirt sheets, but this seems like her usual Tweener schtick. Maybe Becky is a genius who realized that in order to avoid the incompetence of traditional WWE babyface booking, she had to convince WWE she was going to be a heel only to do the same thing she was doing that got her over in the first place.
Anyway, Bianca Belair wanted a title match, but so did Carmella and Zelina Vega, because demanding and then losing title matches is pretty much their gimmick now. Liv Morgan also wanted one. So all four women fought in an elimination match. Belair eliminated Vega. Morgan eliminate Carmella. Belair eliminated Morgan to win.
The booking at SummerSlam was an absolute mess. WWE had two hugely over stars in Becky and Belair going into that match, and one slightly less over star and one quite damaged star after. But at least they're trying to build Belair back up, and the crowd still likes her.
Backstage, The Usos accused Paul Heyman of being in cahoots with Brock Lesnar.
Cesaro beat Shorty G by disqualification when Otis interfered to beat down Cesaro. Pass.
Baron Corbin came out to the ring, and now he is rich because he won a bunch of money gambling in Vegas. He called out Big E and tried to buy the Money in the Bank briefcase from him, but Big E declined. Who the hell knew that 2021 would be the year Baron Corbin became a breakout star and create must-watch segments on WWE Smackdown?
Backstage, Edge and Seth Rollins reflected on their SummerSlam match and then Roman Reigns arrived at Smackdown.
Rick Boogs and Shinsuke Nakamura beat Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode in a match. No one has figured out how to tune Boogs' guitar yet.
Backstage, the WWE creative process was exposed on TV when Sonya Deville admitted creative had nothing for Naomi.
Rey Mysterio booked Dominik Mysterio in a singles match against Sami Zayn hoping to kickstart his singles career by putting him against a jobber, but it turns out Dominik was the jobber all along and Sami won.
Dominik was hurt to learn he's the jobber after the match.
Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Paul Heyman came to the ring for the main event talking segment, but before they could say anything too interesting, Finn Balor interrupted and a brawl broke out that saw the Street Profits join, Roman retreat, and Jey Uso eat a Coup de Grace. Lesnar didn't show up because why would he? Balor will face Reigns next week for the title.
Despite my jokes at the beginning of this article, I have to admit, this week's episode of WWE Smackdown was less bad than usual. Even after the SummerSlam nonsense, they still have a good feud potential with Becky and Bianca. Baron Corbin's gimmick is great and will mesh well with Big E in their feud. And pretty much everything Roman is involved in is good. The rest of the stuff is just there, but at least it's not offensively bad like the booking of SummerSlam.