WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, News And Notes On August 21, 2020

WWE Friday Night SmackDown featured the debut of The ThunderDome as WWE used its renowned production to create a mini-arena inside Florida’s Amway Center, rife with virtual fans.

SmackDown, which opened with a brief confrontation between The Fiend and Vince McMahon, was also centered around Sonya Deville. Deville recently went through a troubling kidnapping situation, and WWE acknowledged this incident without directly referencing it.

Last week’s broadcast of SmackDown was up with 2.002 million viewers.

• August 21, 2020—2.002 million viewers
• August 14, 2020—1.962 million viewers
• August 7, 2020—1.894 million viewers
• July 24, 2020—1.924 million viewers
• July 17, 2020—1.893 million viewers

WWE Friday Night SmackDown—Key Competition

• MLB Regular Season Slate
• NBA Playoff Season Slate

Pro Wrestling Bits—WWE ThunderDome and all the Short-Term Gimmicks Used to Boost Ratings

WWE SmackDown Total YouTube Viewership Last Friday

9,440,966 views (Down from 11,011,247 )

• Most-Viewed: Braun Strowman uses Alexa Bliss to Entice “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt (3,980,112 views) 
• Least-Viewed: King Corbin takes Matters into his Own Hands with Matt Riddle (165,730 views)
• Median Viewership: 541,667

WWE Friday Night SmackDown Results: Friday, August 21, 2020

WWE ThunderDome with Vince McMahon, The Fiend and Braun Strowman

I’m just glad The Fiend got out of a segment with Vince McMahon without having to sell for him.

Judging by what Braun Strowman did to Alexa Bliss last week, everybody should have cleared the ring when he snapped, but to the credit of the women wrestlers, they held their ground.

Corey Graves said “who let [RETRIBUTION] into The ThunderDome?!” as if WWE Security would somehow be up to the challenge of doing its job due to a venue change.

It’s far too early for RETRIBUTION to run scared from the SmackDown locker room, but at one point I was almost convinced they would be fed to Braun Strowman and The Fiend and that would have been far worse.

Big E def. Sheamus

WWE will not rest until everybody knows how “underrated” Sheamus is. They constantly hammer that point home and it always comes across as a backhanded compliment.

During this segment alone, I heard the term “locker room leader” enough times for an entire three-hour episode of Raw.

WWE is doing everything right with Big E, but if he doesn’t have a match at SummerSlam, that’ll be its first misstep.

Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura def. The Lucha House Party—WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship

This match became a backdrop for more miserable puns from Miz and Morrison.

Gran Metalik took a very scary bump to the outside while appearing to be attempting a hurricanrana.

Kalisto insisted on wearing two contact lenses and it felt like he was taunting Rey Mysterio.

In order for people to care about a storyline where The Lucha House Party breaks up, WWE needs to make people care about The Lucha House Party to begin with.

Corey Graves Interviews Sasha Banks and Bayley

Corey Graves started this interview by asking if Sasha Banks and Bayley are splitting up, then moments later the two started bickering who gets to wrestle Naomi first. This breakup has zero subtlety.

Things are either trending toward another angry night on Twitter, or a big night for Naomi should WWE put her over its two top female stars in the same night.

Sasha Banks def. Naomi—Beat the Clock Challenge

Sasha Banks winning this match tonight tells me she’ll be the first to lose her title in the No. 2 position.

WWE is loving this #GiveNaomiAChance hashtag so much but they’d be fools to have her lose twice in one night because of it.

If Bayley does indeed retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship, Naomi should be next in line, and if Sasha Banks turns on Bayley in that match, Naomi could be your next SmackDown women’s champion.

Naomi def. Bayley—Beat the Clock Challenge

Every second that went by in this match, fresh off Naomi losing by submission, Bayley looked weaker, then she lost.

Between having Lashley beat Apollo and this, WWE has established a pattern of putting talent over its champions despite said talent not even scheduled for SummerSlam.

Sonya Deville Challenges Mandy Rose to a Loser Leaves WWE Match

Judging by Mandy Rose’s promo, and how difficult it would be to present Sonya Deville as a heel right now, I was certain Mandy Rose was headed for a heel turn. After Deville’s promo, however, this hardly seems to be the case.

Sonya Deville upped the ante by challenging Mandy Rose to a “Loser Leaves WWE” match, but she wasn’t clear as to whether or not the Hair vs. Hair stipulation was cancelled.

AJ Styles vs Jeff Hardy–WWE Intercontinental Championship

Jeff Hardy was selling his ankle by being treated in a trainer’s room through this broadcast. WWE doesn’t go anywhere close to these lengths to protect most of this generation’s babyfaces.

Jeff Hardy being cleared for action, only to limp to the ring, really made that WWE doctor look silly.

If this same exact scenario—a hobbled babyface beating AJ Styles for a championship—played out with any of the feuds between Styles and an up-and-comer over the past year, they would have immediately become a star.

Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Fun House

Bray Wyatt’s monologue about love was too much for most adults to handle, let alone the A.I. child viewers in his studio.

This segment proved to be Part 1 of a two-part main event and a total of three segments given to this match on the go-home show for SummerSlam.

Braun Strowman Attacks Bray Wyatt

Earlier in the night, Nikki Cross said she feared something bad was going to happen to Alexa Bliss, yet Bliss wasn’t seen or heard from for the rest of the night.

Poor Adam Pearce had to scream 100% of his dialogue.

Bray Wyatt transforming into The Fiend while in the ambulance felt like a given, but it still made a great visual.