Edge vs. Rollins and Belair vs. Banks at SummerSlam, More WWE SmackDown Fallout

Friday's SmackDown was a decent show, but for anyone who was on social media during the program, the night was marred by the news of several releases. 

The blue brand opened with a promo from Sasha Banks talking about how she is the only reason Bianca Belair is relevant as the SmackDown women's champion. The EST and Zelina Vega both voiced their opinion, and it led to Belair and Vega squaring off later in the show. 

The feud between families continued this week when Dominik Mysterio battled Jey Uso in singles competition. Rey Mysterio and Jimmy Uso were at ringside to support their family members.

It appears Shinsuke Nakamura has his sights set on the Intercontinental Championship again, and his quest began with a match against the current champion, Apollo Crews.

We also saw Seth Rollins and Edge make their SummerSlam match official this week. Let's take a look at what happened on Friday night. 

The Boss opened the show with a promo and bragged about taking out Belair last week. She said she needs to save the SmackDown Women's Championship and took credit for all of Belair's accomplishments. 

It only took a few minutes for The EST to make her presence known. She refuted everything Banks said and mocked her for taking four months off after losing at WrestleMania. 

Belair said if Banks wants a title shot, she can have it, but Zelina Vega wanted to make sure her name was in the conversation for a shot at the gold. Belair agreed to fight Banks at SummerSlam and Vega on Friday. 

Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville told Vega that if she could beat Belair, she would get to challenge whoever leaves SummerSlam as the SmackDown women's champion.

That stipulation ended up being pointless because The EST defeated Vega. It looks like Banks vs. Belair is official for SummerSlam. Vega, meanwhile, is still trying to get a win since returning to WWE last month. 

If we didn't know any better, it almost seems like WWE brought back Vega just so they could bury her for comments she made after her initial release in November. 

Dominik was looking to get a mental advantage over The Usos by challenging Jey to a singles match this week, but Rey warned him to keep his head on a swivel. 

Jimmy used an opportunity to hit Dom with a cheap shot to give his brother the upper hand. Rey continued to cheer on his son as he tried to recover. Unfortunately, the younger Mysterio was unable to get the win.

It's clear The Usos and Mysterios are going to be the main teams fighting over the tag titles at SummerSlam, so it makes sense to book matches like this to keep building the feud.

However, we've already seen this combo quite a few times. With teams like Alpha Academy and The Street Profits on the roster, WWE could book a fun triple threat or Fatal 4-Way title match for the PPV and give fans something different from what we saw at Money in the Bank. 

At least Roman Reigns will be happy Jey picked up the win. Who knows how The Tribal Chief would have reacted if he lost to a rookie like Dominik. 

Crews battled Nakamura in a non-title bout this week. As usual, Commander Azeez and Rick Boogs were there to provide support for their respective allies.

The King showed off his veteran experience by controlling the pace early on. His kicks were precise, his punches were stiff and his takedowns were smooth.

Unfortunately, Azeez decided to cut this short by interfering to cause a disqualification, which gave Nakamura the win and the ammunition he will need to request a shot at the Intercontinental Championship. 

If we are being totally honest, this will feel lazy if it's what WWE decides to do. Nakamura getting a title shot because someone else cost Crews the match is uninspired and illogical.

Ever since WWE went back on the road, the intercontinental champion has felt almost irrelevant. He holds one of the most prestigious belts in all of pro wrestling and WWE is booking him like a scrub. He deserves better. 

After weeks of the two attacking each other, Edge and Rollins were able to have a non-violent confrontation this week thanks to The Messiah choosing not to appear in the arena.

The Rated-R Superstar called Rollins a lite version of himself, which upset The Drip King enough to accept his challenge for a match at SummerSlam.

We all knew this was what would happen after Rollins cost Edge the Universal Championship at Money in the Bank, but now it's official.

WWE has two more episodes of SmackDown before the biggest PPV of the summer, so it needs to find creative ways to keep the storyline going.

Edge is technically a part-time performer, so he may not even be there every week, which would allow Rollins to have a few throwaway matches to show his dominance before he battles the Hall of Famer on August 21.

During Friday's SmackDown, the news broke that WWE has released 12 Superstars, most of them being from NXT. Here is a full list, courtesy of Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp on Twitter. 

• Bobby Fish
• Bronson Reed
• Jake Atlas
• Ari Sterling
• Kona Reeves
• Leon Ruff
• Stephon Smith
• Tyler Rust
• Zechariah Smith
• Asher Hale
• Giant Zanjeer
• Mercedes Martinez

Denzel Dejournette, known in WWE as Desmond Troy, announced his own release on Twitter later in the evening to bring the number of releases up to 13. 

The most surprising part about all of this is how several of these names have been featured on TV recently. Martinez, Fish, Atlas, Sterling, Ruff, Rust, Hale and Reed have all been either used in random matches or heavily involved in storylines.

Reed and Ruff were both recent North American champions. Rust was part of the Diamond Mine stable that just debuted, and Martinez was in a feud with Tian Sha before she was diagnosed with a concussion. 

Releases happen, but the number of people who have been let go in 2021 is much higher than usual. WWE was hoarding talent for years, and now, management is cleaning house. It's one of the saddest parts of the business, but doing it during one of the weekly shows seems like a bad business decision.