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WWE SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Aug. 6, 2021) with a show emanating from the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view (PPV) set for later this month in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Last week’s episode featured Sasha Banks returning to WWE and turning her back on Bianca Belair. The Boss is back, and tonight we should get some kind of explanation for her heinous actions.
We should also get the follow-up to John Cena stealing Finn Balor’s match against Roman Reigns at SummerSlam, At the very least, it is giving us a match tonight between Balor and Baron Corbin.
Come right back here at 8 pm ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on FOX. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR AUG. 6
Tell me, how do I read you when all I see is a stare? How do you look for the signs when nothing is there? So you think when the water won’t cut the flame, and the anger drives you insane, that I’ll liveblog this here pro wrestling show for you? Well you’re right!
The show opens with Sasha Banks making her entrance.
She gets on the mic and greets the crowd and says it’s Boss Time on SmackDown, and she came back for her spotlight that she deserves. She’s back for the spotlight that she created, and she promises us that she’ll never let anyone steal that spotlight ever again.
A recap plays and she continues, claiming that Bianca Belair would be nothing without her, and she goes on for a beat before—
Enter Bianca Belair.
She says Sasha isn’t going to be standing or talking when she gets in the ring, and the last time she checked, Banks was literally begging her to choose her so they could main event WrestleMania together. She says she’s been shining and slides in the ring, which leads the Boss to run away and stand on the announce table.
Sasha says she can do whatever she wants, because when you’re legendary you always stand out. Belair says she’s one of the greatest to ever lace up the boots, so if she wants a title shot, it’s on.
Enter Zelina Vega.
She asks Bianca if her braid is too tight or if she’s lost, because she can help her in this situation. Last week— Belair warns her not to step into the ring and Vega agrees to stand on the apron instead. But her point is before Banks swooped in like a vulture, Bianca accepted her challenge, so what you wanna do?
Sasha asks mockingly what Belair is gonna do, and Bianca says she wasn’t talking to Banks, she was talking to her, because she’s the champ. So she’ll see Sasha at SummerSlam, and she ain’t forgot about the word she gave Zelina, so she’ll fight her tonight.
A recap of the latest Mysterios/Usos business follows.
Rey Mysterio confronts his son Dominik backstage and berates him for taking a match against Jey Uso when they already have their title match at SummerSlam, and they have to be more strategic now and they can’t risk a loss destroying their momentum. Dom says he gets it and he doesn’t need his dad’s help tonight.
The Usos make their entrance and we go to break.
Dominik Mysterio vs. Jey Uso
Jey with a headlock, shot off, shoulder block, drop down, leapfrog, dropkick lays Uso out! Jey comes back, big slam, big right hand, action to the floor. Smashing Mysterio’s face into the apron, he leapfrogs up, slingshot dropkick, off the ropes, low dive into a sunset flip powerbomb into the barricade and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Uso is in control with a rear chinlock, calling for it, Ode to Rikishi but Mysterio sidesteps! Fighting out of a Samoan drop, jumping neckbreaker, cover for two! Quebrada follows, duck and enzuigiri, Rey fends Jimmy off but Jey is too fast for a dive and nails Dominik with a superkick! Up top...
Jey Uso wins by pinfall with a diving splash.
Edge is interviewed backstage.
He calls Seth Rollins a bastard and says the issues between them go way further back than the past few weeks, and when Seth gets here tonight, he’ll meet him in the ring and show him what a bastard he can be.
Rick Boogz plays Shinsuke Nakamura in to send us to break.
Back from commercial, commentary hypes up Jungle Cruise and The Suicide Squad based on the Rock and John Cena’s performances, respectively.
Apollo Crews vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Crews ducks some kicks, whip revrsed, duck a roundhouse, shoulder block! Apollo with a lariat, scoop and a slam, cover for one. Nakamura back in with a dropkick, a two count, inverted exploder blocked, Olympic Slam denied, Shinsuke hits the Go 2 Sleep and follows it up with kicks... BUT COMMANDER AZEEZ PULLS HIM OUT OF THE RING!
Shinsuke Nakamura wins by disqualification.
Post-match, Nakamura fends off an attack by throwing Crews into Azeez and Boogz plays him out.
We get a recap of last week’s Universal Championship contract shenanigans, which remain the worst way you could have gotten to Reigns/Cena.
Paul Heyman accosts Kayla Braxton who was hoping to speak to Roman Reigns.
He scoffs at the idea of being asked about the contract signing and makes an analogy to real sports contracts and highlights the absurdity of him signing to a $75 million football player’s contract and calls the idea that John Cena should wrestle Roman Reigns meritless.
As he goes to leave, he runs into Mr. Money in the Bank, Big E, who is giggling something fierce.
And so we go to break.
Tamina vs. Tegan Nox
Nox slips out, uppercuts in the corner, fired up, she charges in and Tamina takes her out with an axehandle! Headbutt follows, drawing Tegan up, throwing her in the corner, Snuka charges in but nobody’s home! Nox with a dropkick, putting boots to her in the corner, big senton follows! Another senton, cover for two, Tamina fires a superkick, fireman’s carry, Shotzi shoots at her with the tank cannon and there’s the distraction...
Tegan Nox wins by pinfall with a folding press.
Zelina Vega is backstage with 5-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville.
Pearce tries to tell her that they can’t just run a title match without advertising and Vega asks how, if the champion has accepted her challenge twice, they can justify denying her a title match. They hem and haw and Pearce offers her a non-title match instead and she accepts and why do the rules change from story to story why do we have to do things this way is a little consistency too much to ask come ON, y’all.
With that editorialization-driven breakdown out of the way, Edge makes his entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary hypes up a local sports team.
Edge is in the ring and gets on the mic.
From his understanding, Seth Rollins isn’t here tonight, go figure. He’s nowhere near here, apparently, and Edge doesn’t blame him, because if Seth were here, what he’d do to him would land the Rated-R Superstar in jail. He was content to let the past be the past until Rollins cost him his match at Money in the Bank, but here’s the thing, he can’t blame him.
When he looks at Seth, he sees a mirror of his past, and both of them would know that this doesn’t end well for them, and it would end tonight.
Rollins appears on the tron via satellite, laughing and clapping. He says Edge should have seen the attack last week coming, because they really are a lot alike, drawn together in this inevitable dance, but that’s where the similarities end. If Edge was half the man he is, he’d know that you always, always have to have a plan B.
Edge says he has a plan B, and pitches Seth on a match at SummerSlam. Rollins says he’s eating out of the palm of his hand and he calls the shots around here, not Edge. SummerSlam? He’ll think about it, he’s got a lot going on. But while he’s mulling it over, maybe Edge should think about it, too. What are you getting yourself into? You know what it’s like to have Seth’s boot on the back of your neck.
What happens when he stomps a neck that’s been fused three times? His little comeback will be over, his career done, and he doesn’t know what kind of future Edge would have as a husband or a father. This gets Edge’s hackles up and he calls Seth a blend of televangelist and Colonel Sanders, but this infatuation of his will get him nowhere.
Edge eliminated him from two Royal Rumbles running, and all because he didn’t take Edge out in 2014 when he had the chance. What really bothers Rollins is that he walks in Edge’s footsteps but he knows he can’t fill them, because he’s just Edge Lite. This gets Seth mad and he tells Edge he’s better than him in every way and he knows it.
Rollins accepts the SummerSlam challenge!
Finn Balor is interviewed backstage.
He’s sour about Baron Corbin sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong and he’s gonna teach him a lesson tonight, the hard way. And when he’s done with Corbin, he’s got a bone to pick with John Cena.
Street Profits make their entrance to send us to break.
Dirty Dawgz (Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode) vs. Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
Ford and Roode to start, Montez turning the speed up but Robert cuts him off with a low kick. Whip to the corner, up and over, backflips into a dropkick, dropkick takes Ziggler off the apron but Roode hits a true uranage... NOPE! Dawgz in control, Dawkins tags in and comes in hot, Dolph counters a powerbomb into a sunset flip for two!
Angelo with Drill Bit... ROODE BREAKS IT UP! The match breaks down, Ziggler with a roll-through into the Fameasser... NOPE! Up top...
Street Profits wins by pinfall with a frog splash from Montez Ford.
Bianca Belair makes her entrance to send us to break.
Bianca Belair vs. Zelina Vega
Vega sidesteps Belair into the post, corner knees, cover for one. Mounted punches, Bianca gets back into it, Glam Slam lift, walking her around the ring but Zelina slips out and puts her into the ropes for a rope-hung crucifix neck crank for the entire length of referee Dan Engler’s count! Action to the floor, scooping Vega up, Sasha Banks interrupts while Belair holds Zelina up in a military press!
Vega to the apron, diving Frankensteiner, back inside, cover for two to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Vega has a Japanese stranglehold locked on, Belair hosses out of it, shoves her aside, picks her up, tijeras into a cartwheel and Bianca runs her over! Zelina with a crucifix, spun out into a headscissors that Belair counters to a pin, deadlift, Vega slips out and Bianca slams her face-first into the mat!
Scoop and a slam, handspring into a the moonsault... NOPE! Zelina with a sleeper hold, Belair rams her into the corner to break, Vega right back on it but Bianca reverses into a suplex! Rolling through, delayed vertical but Zelina reverses to a suplex of her own! A knee in the ropes, dive off the apron, Belair swings her into the barricade!
Back inside...
Bianca Belair wins by pinfall with KOD.
Roman Reigns is stewing backstage.
Paul Heyman rolls up and tells him that Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin is up next, and Roman says he’s interested.
Finn Balor makes his entrance to send us to break.
Baron Corbin vs. Finn Balor
Corbin immediately goes for the ropes and demands a microphone. He begs off and says what happened last week wasn’t cool but he’s desperate and he just wants to apologize. Finn doesn’t accept the apology and waffles him wiht a forearm to the face! Shoulder thrusts in the corner, leg kicks, chops in the corner, sidestepping the charge but Baron smashes his face into the post!
Suplex back inside, throwing forearms but Finn hits the Pele kick! Double leg into grounded forearms, double stomp, Baron grabs a goozle but Balor comes right back with Sling Blade! Lining him up, shotgun dropkick, up top...
Finn Balor wins by pinfall with Coup de Grace.
Post-match, Finn gets on the mic and says three years ago he would have smiled and accepted losing the Universal Championship match, but this Finn is different, and he’s not smiling. If he has to go through John Cena to get that match, he’s willing to do it. Name the place, name the time—
Enter Roman Reigns to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman get in the ring with Finn Balor.
He says Heyman has already addressed his position on last week, and he understands why Finn is upset and even why he’s out here running his mouth about John Cena, but you gotta remember, he tried to help Balor by giving him an opportunity, so he should keep the Head of the Table’s name out of his mouth.
He throws the mic at Finn and turns to leave, but Balor shoves him through the ropes... ROMAN LANDS ON HIS FEET! Balor makes finger guns at him, Reigns approaches... AND THE USOS ATTACK FINN FROM BEHIND! POP-UP SAMOAN DROP!
Roman turns and leaves as his cousins continue to pick Finn apart, but when one of them goes for a diving splash he rolls away and turns the tide! Putting boots to both Usos, Reigns turns and realizes the situation has changed and Balor dumps Jey... TOPE CON GIRO TAKES BOTH OF THEM OUT!
Roman turns and heads to the ring, where Finn meets him with a front kick! They brawl, off the ropes... SLING BLADE! The Usos come back and pick Balor off, and then Reigns chokes him out with the guillotine!
Roman stands tall with the title and his cousins.
That’s the show, folks.