WWE Friday Night Smackdown preview and schedule: August 13, 2021

Bengaluru, August 13: WWE Universal Championship picture will be the focal point of this week’s Friday Night SmackDown when the current number-one contender for the title returns to the show after a week's hiatus.

Also on the show, rivalries around the already confirmed SummerSlam 2021 matches will pick up while we also anticipate new match announcements from the latest episode scheduled from the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Still upset from getting robbed of his Universal Championship opportunity, Finn Balor dared to step up against the Universal Champion Roman Reigns and subsequently suffered an ambush by The Bloodline last week.

Baron Corbin prevented Balor from signing a contract for the Universal Title opportunity at SummerSlam as The Prince sought redemption on him by scoring an easy victory with the Coup de Grace finisher.

In a post-match promo, the winner let knew of her grudge against John Cena, who signed the SummerSlam contract to insert himself in the PPV main event match.

Balor also said that he wants to challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal Title, and if he has to face Cena to do so then that's going to happen.

While John Cena wasn't in attendance for last week’s SmackDown, WWE has now officially announced him for this week’s show in Oklahoma for a face-off segment with Roman Reigns.

FRIDAY, @JohnCena comes face-to-face with @WWERomanReigns w/ @HeymanHustle!

📺: #SmackDown, Friday 8e/7c on FOX pic.twitter.com/uuuPNYn0oR

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) August 11, 2021

There have also been teasing for a Cena vs. Balor matchup for the show although it's yet to be made official. Meanwhile, Roman Reigns and SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos delivered a brutal triple-team attack on Balor and there should also be fallouts from this happening.

"At the end of the day, you're just Edge-lite, kid!" - @EdgeRatedR#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/dmFciKbi9Q

— WWE on BT Sport (@btsportwwe) August 7, 2021

After weeks of tensions between The Rated-R Superstar and The Architect, it was on last week’s Smackdown that the two have been booked in a dream bout for SummerSlam 2021.

Seth Rollins ambushed Edge and destroy him in a segment, the week before. In response to the vicious attack, Edge had some harsh words directing to his adversary. The 11-time world champion also accused his SummerSlam opponent of being "Edge-Lite".

Although Rollins didn't show up to face Edge in person, he emerged via satellite to engage in a war of words as felt instigated enough. This week, both these two are scheduled to make live appearances and things could go physical if they appear in the ring, together.

Official!@BiancaBelairWWE vs. @SashaBanksWWE 2 is going down at SummerSlam!#SmackDown #SummerSlam pic.twitter.com/vox1v9Yfum

— WWE on BT Sport (@btsportwwe) August 7, 2021

In the wake of Sasha Banks’ return and turning on the SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, the two did engage in a verbal war over an upcoming title match.

Zelina Vega emerged as she considered herself as another top contender for the title. Bianca then made it clear that she would take care of Banks at the August 21 pay-per-view, making the SummerSlam title match, official.

Sasha was more than happy to get the title match as she promised she will never let anyone take her spotlight again while also noting that Belair would be nothing without her.

Belair let the action spoke for herself though when she defeated Zelina Vega via clean pin-fall, later in the night. The interesting program leading to the next title match will continue on SmackDown.

Speaking of title matches, the Intercontinental Championship should also be on the line at SummerSlam 2021. King Shinsuke Nakamura was on the verge of picking up a non-title win over the champion, Apollo Crews when Commander Azeez pulled The Artist out of the ring and caused a disqualification to the match.

Since Nakamura already holds a pin-fall victory over the champion from a couple of weeks ago, it's likely that he’ll be getting the championship shot against Crews, eventually. The confirmation should arrive, tonight when SmackDown airs the penultimate episode on FOX before SummerSlam 2021.