It is time for another SmackDown In A Nutshell, and this week, we get contract signing fallout Friday.
That’s a mouthful of a Nutshell, is it not? Of course it is.
But, after the ending of last week’s SmackDown, we’ve got to see what the contract signing fallout brings this Friday.
If by chance you haven’t watched…we were supposedly getting Roman Reigns versus Finn Balor.
As the contract was about to be signed, down-on-his-luck Baron Corbin tried to steal the chance.
And that created the opening for John Cena, giving us one of the headline attractions for SummerSlam.
Corbin shouldn’t be an issue…but there seems to be a good chance we will have an upset Finn Balor.
That right there is all the contract signing fallout we could possibly hope for this Friday.
And that is just one part of the show!
There should be plenty more fun on this SmackDown In A Nutshell, given that we are just a few weeks away from SummerSlam.
So, without any further delay, it seems like a good time to get to the main event…
SmackDown In A Nutshell: Contract Signing Fallout Friday
Let’s crack open this Nutshell and get into it!
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Best Match of the night:
Not going with a match tonight.
For me, the best segment of the evening belongs to Seth Rollins and Edge.
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Edge was live in the flesh, with Rollins “live via satellite”.
The two cut good promos, and for me was the highlight of the show. Should be a strong match at SummerSlam, too.
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Honorable mention to Sasha Banks and her promo, which was really good tonight as well.
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Worst match of the night:
Apollo Crews versus Shinsuke Nakamura.
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A couple minutes and a DQ finish? Honestly, at times, I feel like I forget Crews is even the Intercontinental Champion, and matches like this do not help.
Crowd Chants of the Night:
I am sure there were others, but I heard a bunch of Cena chants.
Star of the Night
I am going to go with Edge and Seth Rollins tonight.
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Spot of the Night:
Nothing crazy, but I was impressed with it.
During the 2 on 1 attack by The Usos on Finn Balor…it looked like Finn was setting something up…and I was right.
Balor, about to be splashed by one Uso, instead did a nifty drop toe hold to have the other Uso take the splash.
Perhaps it’s been done before, I can’t recall it myself.
Jobber of the Night:
I guess I could go a few directions here.
Maybe Tamina? I honestly feel like picking a name out of a hat, because we had some short matches but I can’t decide which one deserves it.
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Upset of the Night:
Nothing really feels like an upset this week.
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
For me, it wasn’t related to SmackDown.
This broke during SmackDown, and took the cake.
Truly a head-scratching set of moves…some I get because they were not good (Kona), but others were just in the title hunt, or held a title…
In all, WWE released
-Bobby Fish
-Bronson Reed
-Jake Atlas
-Ari Sterling
-Kona Reeves
-Leon Ruff
-Stephon Smith
-Tyler Rust
-Zechariah Smith
-Asher Hale
-Giant Zanjeer
-Mercedes Martinez.— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) August 7, 2021
Botch of the night:
I’d go with the early goof of Michael Cole on commentary. He fumbled the Banks/Belair/Vega match, leaving one out.
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LOL Moment of the night:
I guess I’d go with the reaction from Shotzi to firing her tank mid-match.
It was a really short match, which I think works OK in trying to limit things while Natalya is out.
Noteworthy Moment:
Not much to pick from, I guess.
I will say, I am impressed and kind of happy to see Zelina Vega hanging around the title picture.
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It seems like she might just be window dressing, with Belair and Banks being the key players.
However, considering the what the last 12 months has been like for her, having her come back and enjoy that kind of a push?
It’s nice to see. The bummer, of course, is that Aleister Black is not in WWE anymore…but that’s a different discussion.
Overall lowlights:
I felt the show was a little lacking on the matches, especially really good matches.
We had a few sub-5 minute matches. Would have been fine to see less matches if it meant one of those matches could be longer and better.
Also, not related to the show, but it’s very alarming to learn of the NXT releases. Some make sense, but many are bizarre.
One can only hope that Triple H is traveling to see Nick Khan, preparing to Pedigree him out of his executive post.
It’s hard to explain how you release a promising recent North American Champion, a recent number one contender for the Women’s Championship…and someone who was just debuted as part of The Diamond Mine.
If anyone needed further proof that something crazy is going on with roster cuts…here it is.
Overall highlights:
The highlights this week were all talking segments. Banks, Belair and Vega for one.
Edge and Rollins for another.
Even Reigns and Balor, even if the Uso attack from behind was too predictable. I am curious to see where WWE takes this one though.
Seems like Finn will get a match at some point. Can’t see WWE making that one a triple threat…though it would be one way to give Cena a win, without it being over Roman specifically.
After the final bell:
Not the best show, not the worst.
That’s this SmackDown in a nutshell.
In terms of contract signing fallout on Friday, we did have some. Balor isn’t going away, and I am intrigued where it could go.
But, the contract signing happened, and we are assured of at least getting Cena and Reigns.
Will we get Balor inserted into it? Tune in to next week’s SmackDown In A Nutshell to find out, I guess?
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