WWE Friday Night Smackdown preview and schedule: July 23, 2021

Fall-outs from an eventful Money In The Bank PPV will be gathered as the blue brigade commences its journey toward SummerSlam 2021 from tonight.

The occasion will be special indeed as two cornerstone figures are set for a face-off segment as John Cena makes his return on Friday Nights, intending to share the ring with the Universal Champion.

Also, the 2021 MITB Ladder Match winner is scheduled to feature in a match against the Intercontinental Champion while the SmackDown Women’s Championship will also be put on the line.

Plus, a bright female talent from NXT is also set to make her debut on the show that emanates simultaneously from the Rolling Loud festival in Miami, Florida, and the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio.

John Cena returned to WWE during the closing stages of Money In The Bank 2021 pay-per-view main event, which saw Roman Reigns retain his Universal Title against Hall of Famer Edge.

Cena then opened the next night’s RAW broadcast from Dallas to explain why he came back. In his promo, Cenation Leader clarified that he will go after Roman Reigns and his Universal Championship since the latter’s reign of terror has gone on for a long time.

A challenge for a title match showdown at SummerSlam 2021 has already been issued by him. Now Cena will be present on SmackDown to say it to the face of the Tribal Chief. This segment is being promoted to feature from Cleveland, the original home of this week’s Smackdown.

Roman Reigns was close to tapping out to Hall of Famer Edge at Money in the Bank but Seth Rollins saved the day for him. An unprecedented mid-match attack was the sole reason why The Rated-R Superstar couldn’t quench the thirst of holding his twelfth world championship in WWE.

So, seeds of a dream match between Rollins and Edge at SummerSlam 2021 have been planted and we expect this bout to become official tonight on SmackDown.

WWE has announced that the 2021 Money In The Bank winner Big E will compete against Intercontinental Champion Apollo Crews on tonight’s show.

However, it wasn’t confirmed whether the title will be on the line. This match airs, live from Rolling Loud festival as the two bitter rivals continue their feud that began all the way back during this year’s WrestleMania season.

Two weeks ago, Bayley went down with a torn ACL as WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair was suddenly without an opponent for the 2021 Money in the Bank PPV. WWE then decided to move Belair’s title defense to last week’s SmackDown episode against Carmella.

In the finishing sequence of that match, Belair whipped Carmella with her hair to gain some advantage and then hit the Kiss of Death finisher for the pin-fall win to retain. The self-professed “the most beautiful woman in all of WWE” was irate about this incident.

Carmella said six days of preparation wasn’t enough for a high-caliber title match and called Belair a cheater for using her hair in the match while also mentioning that things aren’t over between them. These comments were discussed on the latest edition of Talking Smack where the SmackDown Women’s Champion was a guest.

As the host Kayla Braxton brought out Mella’s complaints, Belair was quick to give her a rematch. Later, WWE made that match, official which will go down amid live attendance of fans inside the Rolling Loud festival.

For weeks now, WWE has aired vignettes around NXT Superstar Toni Storm who’ll finally make her main roster debut, this week. She’s expected to act as a babyface, per the reports while no exact plan around her has been revealed.

Will the former NXT UK Women’s Champion receive an imminent push to bring a ripple effect on the stale SmackDown Women’s Division? We’ll find out on this post MITB edition of the blue brand show.