WWE Smackdown May 21, 2021 Review

Photo Credit: World Wrestling Entertainment

Smackdown this week was definitely a one up from last week. The show was stacked, with a good opening tag match, a surprising debut, and an epic fatal 4 way in the main event. WWE once again, nailed it out of the park with this one. 

GREAT: We open the show with WWE Official Sonya Deville already in the ring. She began talking about the announcement that was made earlier in the day, which was that WWE will begin live touring once again in July! She calls for a “Parade of Champions” and introduces the champions of Smackdown one by one. Once she got to Roman Reigns, instead of The WWE Universal Champion, she got greeted with his special council, Paul Heyman. Heyman called everyone on stage, “title holders”, and that the only real champion on the blue brand is Roman Reigns himself. He then declared that Roman would have his own “Parade of Champion” later in the night. Once Paul finishes talking, Sonya continues with her speech with lastly introducing WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion, Bianca Belair. Before she could get started, Bayley interrupts Deville and asks for to acknowledged as she is the longest reigning WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion in history. Bayley demands Sonya take the title off Belair and give it to Bayley, causing Bianca to come down to the ring. Bianca tells Bayley to take the title but Bayley says “it’s not time” and while she has Bianca distracted, Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax come from behind and blind side Bianca. Then, Natalya and Tamina come down to even the odds but are quickly beaten down, leading to a 6 women tag match.

GOOD: In the first match of the night we got the WWE Bianca Belair, Natalya, and Tamina going against Bayley, Shayna Baszler, and Nia Jax in a 6-Woman Tag Team match. This match was actually really solid. With some great back and forth action and solid storytelling, this definitely gets a thumbs up from me. Shayna Baszler won the match for her team after locking in the Kirifuda Clutch om a distracted Natalya. Now I don’t mind the heels winning however, it’s not a good look to have your champions losing television matches.

Result: Bayley, Baszler, and Jax wins via submission

Tyler Miller WR Star Rating: 3.5

GOOD: Up next we have a pre-match promo with King Corbin. Corbin, who is still upset over Shinsuke Nakamura taking his crown last week, tells the crowd they’ll never know what it’s like to be a king. That real kings wear $40,000 dollar watches, drive around in Ferraris, and has the hungry dogs of war and not some “fat, shabby, tabby cat.” He ends the promo by saying he’s gonna punish Nakamura by grinding his face into the ring. Then as we wait for Shinsuke to come out, RICK BOOGS DEBUTS. He comes out playing his guitar and says he’s ready to rock with the “Real King of Smackdown”, Shinsuke Nakamura. Rick then plays Shinsuke down to the ring.

GOOD: In the second match of the night we got Shinsuke Nakamura vs Baron Corbin in a rematch from last week. This rivalry is definitely starting to grow on me and I cannot wait to see where it goes. After about 7-8 minutes of action, Corbin appeared to have the match won, before Boogs distracted him causing Shinsuke to roll him up and win the match.

Result: Shinsuke Nakamura wins via pinfall

Tyler Miller WR Star Rating: 3.5

GREAT: Before I start talking about this segment I would like to apologize, as I left this part out last week by mistake. But anyways next we got another chapter in Aleister Black’s book. This chapter being titled, “Beautiful Pain”. He says his father’s lessons are painly etched onto his body, the pain serves a purpose, and that pain is honest. I won’t spoil everything he said in this promo in case you want to watch it for yourself, but I cannot wait to see where this character goes. 

GREAT: It was then time for Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman’s Parade of Champion. Roman’s first order of business was getting Jimmy Uso, who had talked to Sonya Deville and gotten the Usos a tag team match against the Street Profits next week, to the ring. Instead of Jimmy Uso the Tribal Chief got Cesaro in a cast. Cesaro says that he’s tired of hearing Reigns’ “annoying yapping” before challenging The Head of the Table to a match at Hell in a Cell. Before anyone could continue, Seth Rollins showed up and just absolutely beat the shit out of Cesaro. Seth returned to attacked Cesaro again not one, but twice. I am absolutely loving this crazed heel Seth Rollins and I hope they take this character and run all the way home with it.

GOOD: In the semi-main event Robert Roode took on one half of the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions, Dominik Mysterio. The story behind this match is that Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler don’t believe Dominik belongs in WWE, and that his and Rey’s win last Sunday at WrestleMania Backlash was a mistake. Dominik picked up a win against the Glorious One after hitting a 619 and a frog splash.

Result: Dominik Mysterio wins via pinfall

Tyler Miller WR Star Rating: 3.75 

MUST WATCH: In the main event we got Apollo Crews taking on Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Big E in a fatal four way match for the Intercontinental Championship. These four men have great chemistry with each other. The fact that this match got held off of the PPV for fucking zombies, absolutely disgusts me. Everyone in this match did something special. Kevin Owens showed off his agility, Zayn showed off his strength, Apollo showed just why he might be the best rising star in WWE today, and Big E proved once again why he is the most underrated wrestler on the Smackdown roster. In fact towards the end of the match it appeared Big E had the match won. But the lights dimmed, and out of a cloud of fog walked Aleister Black. Black hit Big E with a Black Mass, causing Apollo to take control and win the match. This was a surprise ending to a great match and it left everyone with a lot of questions.

Result: Apollo Crews ends via pinfall

Tyler Miller WR Star Rating: 4.5

Overall Smackdown was really good. It usually is. WWE hit it out of the park this week with the opening promo, the debut of Rick Boogs, and the fatal four way main event. So much happened this week that left me super excited to see what happens next. 

Overall Show Rating: 7.8