Match Ratings For 5/14/2021 WWE Smackdown From Sean Ross Sapp
WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles
Tamina & Natalya defeated Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (c) to become champions
5.5/10
I love them showing Bret Hart’s tweet to promote the women’s tag title match. Reginald gets ejected quickly. “Natalya’s been getting hear ASS BEAT during the break”- bless you Pat McAfee. Natalya gets worked over hard, but German Suplexes Shayna outside. Tamina wins on Nia with a Superfly Splash. Good for Tamina. This is by far the best run of her career. Reinvented herself, switched things up and got rewarded. Very cool for her and Natalya. Smackdown’s active women’s division officially has 8 women in it right now.
Rey Mysterio (w/ Dominik Mysterio) defeated Dolph Ziggler (w/ Robert Roode)
5.25/10
Dolph Ziggler does a reverse powerslam to Rey, and it looks great. This match is rest-hold heavy early, but really picks up when Mysterio hits a DDT. We go into Ziggler’s signature spots, the Fameasser and a superkick off a 619 attempt. Mysterio small packages Ziggler for the win.
A ceremony
We get a really, really bad Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez segment that is interrupted by Big E, then Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. They all brawl, and this is going to set up a four way match. Sami Zayn has only won one match since losing the IC title in December. It would have made a lot more sense for him to get the pin last week instead of Corbin if they’re going into an IC Title program. Adam Pearce confirms the four way for next week.
Bianca and Bayley
We got a short in-ring promo from Bianca Belair, but Bayley pops up on the screen teasing her. Bayley says the next time they face each other will be in the ring at Backlash.
King Corbin defeated Shinsuke Nakamura
5/10
I think it’s time to get a new King of the Ring. Nakamura would actually be a cool King of The Ring. This is a good, short match. Corbin pins Nakamura in the middle of a triangle armbar. They mentioned the King of The Ring about 7200 times tonight. Nakamura then beats up Corbin, because he can’t just get a win and beat him. So we’ll be doing this again. Why couldn’t Nakamura just win the match and do this? He picks up the crown after the match. It wasn’t a very babyface move to beat up a person who just won fair and square. This was fine, though.
Other stuff
- Aleister Black vignette airs. I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS.
Cesaro defeated Jimmy Uso via DQ
5/10
That Roman Reigns theme keeps sounding better. We see the Reigns and Uso crew come out. Jimmy Uso has a “Nobody’s bitch” shirt on. Jimmy says Reigns is a part of the family, not all of it. Roman Reigns tells Jimmy Uso to prove he can beat Cesaro. Jimmy agrees. Everyone in this Reigns-Usos program is killing it. Cesaro accepts the challenge.Uso said backstage he didn’t even want to do this, but has to prove a point.
Uso is wearing a huge knee brace and is favoring the knee in the match. The action is really good, but Roman Reigns runs in and causes a DQ. Jimmy Uso isn’t happy about it always being about Roman Reigns. Cesaro attacks Jey Uso. Reigns tries to help, but Cesaro ends up doing a Neutralizer to Jey twice.
Rating Guide
10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor
Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a “star rating,” which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive “TV match” lands at a 5. The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.
These are opinions, and incredibly inconsistent ones that may change upon a second viewing, or sitting on the match for a period of time. Don’t take them too seriously, and have (and share) your own! Our opinions mean exactly the same amount as yours.
