This week's episode of WWE SmackDown was the go-home show to Extreme Rules on Sunday and included a main event match between Roman Reigns and Montez Ford, the return of Riddick Moss, Naomi escorted out by security, and Bianca Belair getting one-up on Becky Lynch. The show was acceptable, but it certainly didn't live up to what fans should expect of a go-home show and it didn't measure up to this week's Raw, which outshined the blue brand in every major category.

The show did set up Extreme Rules. That said, the pay-per-view doesn't have a lot of positive buzz two days out and that affected a lackluster SmackDown show.

Here are the winners and losers for SmackDown, September 24, 2021:

Winner: Lynch vs. Belair Promo

Becky Lynch kicked off the show and showed a video of how she got the upper hand on Belair last week. Belair then came out and got the final shots in on the champion who she vowed to beat on Sunday. Lynch said she'd embarrass the EST, while Belair said there was no way this Sunday would go the same way SummerSlam did.

To be honest, this segment didn't do much to further the rivalry. At the same time, this feud didn't necessarily need it. This is one of the better-booked sagas heading into Sunday and might be the most anticipated match on the card. All Lynch and Belair had to do here was keep the momentum rolling. They did that, successfully cutting promos that kept things status quo.

Loser: Apollo Crews

Just when it appears Crews could be on the road back to some sort of prominence, he suffers a clean loss to Shinsuke Nakamura in an Intercontinental Championship Match. The best anyone can do at this point is say, 'Oh well.'. Crews did his job and he had a great match with Nakamura, but it's clear he's an afterthought now. The character had a ton of potential but it certainly doesn't seem like he's going to realize it.

The silver lining here was Rick Boogs who looked impressive taking out Commander Azeez. Perhaps the line of the night was when Michael Cole asked Pat McAfee what he would do if Nakamura and Boogs got drafted to Raw. McAfee said, "I might cry, I might poop my pants, but, I'm going to enjoy it for right now." McAfee might not be the only one who cries if those two head to the red brand and he can't dance during their entrance anymore.

Loser: Liv Morgan vs. Zelina Vega

This match was too short to really grade, especially since most of the focus was on Carmella who came down to ringside and sat on the announce table during the bout. She wanted to only talk about herself but got involved in the match when Morgan sent Vega into the turnbuckle in a similar fashion to how she almost broke Carmella's nose last week.

A lot of fans are going to argue that Morgan losing here does absolutely nothing heading into her match on Sunday. That's not really the problem here. The issue is that few people care about this match outside of hoping Morgan finally picks up a win and goes on a bit of a run. Friday's loss wasn't a great way to suggest anything other than she'll probably win now.

Related: Early Extreme Rules 2021 Betting Odds Revealed

Winner: Naomi and Sonya Deville

This program took a very entertaining turn on Friday and might have been the segment of the evening. Naomi came out for a match, even though she wasn't scheduled for one and reminded everyone that she'd demanded action, only to be ignored by Sonya Deville. Deville came out and told her that's not how things worked, to which Naomi said, 'Then go ahead and make the match.' She got a chant started and when Deville cut her mic off, the crowd continued it. Deville called for security who ushered The Glow to the back.

This was a great tease to a future match, especially when Deville said, "Everyone knows I'd smack the GLOW right off your face, but that's not going to happen because I'm no longer a competitor." Naomi voluntarily made her way to the back, but will she next time? This segment did wonders for Naomi and Deville really comes off as the bad guy here.

Loser: Riddick Moss Is Back

The fact that Moss is back is all well and good. That WWE used the build-up towards a future match between Kevin Owens and Happy Corbin to get Moss over feels like a short-sighted booking decision. Technically, these two aren't even slated for Extreme Rules so it feels like the wrong time to focus on something like this, especially if creative plans to run this rivalry are meant to go long-term and Moss is the reason. Owens being dragged through this storyline is starting to grow old.

Corbin is entertaining, but this Happy Talk show wasn't good, while Owens feels like he's being fed Corbin and a character reinvention he's not really a key part of any longer.

Winner: Montez Ford

Technically, Ford came out a loser on Friday. Still, this was a strong showcase for a WWE Superstar many fans feel has a bright future as a singles wrestler. Ford showed he can absolutely be that down the line for Vince McMahon and it was a fresh match that the WWE Universe hasn't seen over the course of Reigns' year-plus run as Universal Champion. No one expected Ford to win here, but that wasn't the point.

Balor's appearance was predictable, but there's certainly a good chunk of the fanbase that gets excited every time that music plays and the lights go out.

SmackDown Match Results

* Shinsuke Nakamura defeats Apollo Crews by pinfall to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Boogs takes out Azeez at ringside.

* Liv Morgan gets pinned by Vega with a Canadian Destroyer after being distracted by Carmella.

* After some ringside confusion and chaos, Natalya fell into a small package from Nikki A.S.H. and lost. This could have been easily included as a loser on the night. This segment was a total waste of time, including the appearance by Shotzi and Tegan, even if it was good to see them again.

* Roman Reigns applied a guillotine on Ford to get Montex to tap out.