{"id":92180,"date":"2021-05-21T14:00:11","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T18:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=92180"},"modified":"2021-05-21T10:25:26","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T14:25:26","slug":"preview-wwe-smackdown-card-05-21-21-crews-defends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/05\/21\/preview-wwe-smackdown-card-05-21-21-crews-defends\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: WWE SmackDown Card (05\/21\/21) \u2013 Crews Defends"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s that time again &#8211; <strong>Friday Night SmackDown<\/strong> is upon us once more. Once again, <strong>WWE<\/strong> have only billed one match in advance of this show, though we can expect plenty of fallout coming out of last week&#8217;s<strong> WrestleMania Backlash<\/strong> event which saw <strong>Seth Rollins<\/strong> lay a beat-down on<strong> Cesaro<\/strong>, following the Swiss Superman&#8217;s failed attempt to capture the WWE Universal Championship from everybody&#8217;s favorite Tribal Chief, <strong>Roman Reigns<\/strong>. Roman Reigns dominated the match and won clean, so who is next for the Head of the Table? <strong>Jimmy Uso<\/strong> may just be ready to challenge Roman&#8217;s family dominance. Let&#8217;s dive in to the preview!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Apollo Crews defends the Intercontinental Title in a colossal Fatal 4-Way this Friday\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fiEANMqqnVU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Uso Implosion Continues<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-91149\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/05\/Jimmy-Uso-Roman-Reigns-Jey-Uso-e1620533887502.jpg\" alt=\"Jimmy Uso Roman Reigns Jey Uso\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Jimmy Uso dons a t-shirt stating &#8220;Nobody&#8217;s b***h&#8221; for a reason. Whereas twin brother Jey has long since fallen in-line following his initial rebellion against Roman at the tail-end of 2020, Jimmy isn&#8217;t buying it. Roman&#8217;s tightening hold over the family &#8211; including his brandishing himself the &#8220;Tribal Chief &#8211; does not sit well with the slightly older Uso. This feud was to be expected; Jimmy was never going to roll over and fall in-line on his immediate return to the WWE following a lengthy injury-inflicted absence. Now that he is back and Cesaro is seemingly in Roman&#8217;s rear-view, it might just be time for Jimmy Uso to get the same main event run which elevated his brother. Whilst it is expected Jimmy will succumb to a similar fate, the ride is going to be enjoyable. Uso vs Uso, anyone?<\/p>\n<h3>Intercontinental Championship Fatal Four-Way: Apollo Crews (c) vs Kevin Owens vs Big E vs Sami Zayn<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-92181\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/05\/Fatal-Four-Way.jpg\" alt=\"SmackDown Fatal Four-Way For Intercontinental Championship\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/05\/Fatal-Four-Way.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/05\/Fatal-Four-Way-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This is going to be a great match, if done right. All four men involved &#8211;<strong> Apollo Crews<\/strong>, <strong>Big E<\/strong>, <strong>Kevin Owens<\/strong> and <strong>Sami Zayn<\/strong> &#8211; are elite level workers. The agility of Crews pitted against the strength of Big E, the sheer ability of Zayn and the complete package that is Owens makes for an exciting affair which will no doubt deliver. Crews&#8217; days as Intercontinental Champion do look numbered in this match. As the WWE loves to say (over and over): the champion does not need to be pinned to lose the championship. <strong>Commander Azeez<\/strong> may just try to get involved and secure the win for his Nigerian Prince, but for some reason, it feels as though the assistance might not be enough. It is difficult to make a prediction given the stars involved and their almost equal footing on the roster, so who knows. That being said: it will be a fun match. Tune into Friday Night SmackDown on FOX at 8\/7c to catch it!<\/p>\n<h3>Not Announced But Expected For Friday Night SmackDown<\/h3>\n<p>&#8211; Seth Rollins versus Cesaro continued with Seth&#8217;s post-match assault on Cesaro at <em>WrestleMania Backlash<\/em>. Honestly, this has been a welcomed addition to SmackDown in recent months. Rollins has done a tremendous job of assisting Cesaro in his ascent towards the upper echelon of the SmackDown card. With <em><strong>Hell in a Cell<\/strong><\/em> just around the corner, it feels as though there is no match stipulation more fitting for an increasingly personal feud.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Bryan Alvarez reported on Wrestling Observer that <strong>Bayley<\/strong> and <strong>Bianca Belair<\/strong> may be heading towards a hair versus hair match. This feud appears to be far from over, so anticipate its continuation tonight.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Aleister Black<\/strong> is still cutting enigmatic backstage promos. Expect another.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Baron Corbin<\/strong> and <strong>Shinsuke Nakamura<\/strong> appear to be heading towards a King (of the Ring) vs King (of Strong Style) style match somewhere down the line. Maybe tonight will reveal more.<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Network<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peacock<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/boards\/index.php\" target=\"_self\">LWOS Boards<\/a>\u00a0to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s that time again &#8211; Friday Night SmackDown is upon us once more. Once again, WWE have only billed one match in advance of this show, though we can expect plenty of fallout coming out of last week&#8217;s WrestleMania Backlash event which saw Seth Rollins lay a beat-down on Cesaro, following the Swiss Superman&#8217;s failed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2482,"featured_media":92181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smackdown","category-wwe-universe"],"modified_by":"Niklas George","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}