Friday Night SmackDown Review - April 1, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Madcap Moss Won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

I actually arrived at the arena late, so I missed this match. Upon re-watching it back later on, I wasn't shocked to find out I didn't miss much. If you've seen one Andre Memorial Battle Royal, you've seen them all. Tommaso Ciampa being in there is worth noting as it's likely he'll be called up after WrestleMania 38. Finn Balor or Damian Priest really should've won this thing, but it's clear officials are high on Moss, so it is what it is. Five former winners of this trophy have since left the company, so it's not as if it's a guarantee Moss will be around in a year or two.

Intercontinental Champion Ricochet def. Humberto and Angel in a Triple Threat Match

In the span of a week, Ricochet has lost three matches: two singles matches to Los Lotharios last week on SmackDown and one against Austin Theory this past Monday on Raw. So much for that newfound push for him, eh? On the bright side, this was a really fun Triple Threat. I didn't think the title was truly in jeopardy of changing hands, but it was well wrestled and the crowd was into Ricochet. The fact this couldn't make the Kickoff show for either night of WrestleMania is pretty disappointing, though.

Sasha Banks and Naomi def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Carmella and Queen Zelina (Non-Title)

You'd think Carmella and Zelina teasing tension recently only to get back on the same page would have led to them scoring at least one win before WrestleMania, but apparently not. In fact, I don't think they've won a single match in months. Banks and Naomi are the ones with all the momentum heading into Sunday night and they remain my pick to win the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. This was a decent little match but nothing worth writing home about.

SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair Addressed Ronda Rousey

This was the grand go-home segment for the SmackDown Women's Championship match at 'Mania, and unfortunately, it wasn't very good. I was hoping Flair would hit a home run with her promo, but this was rather uninspiring. She's a much better talker than Rousey, but this wasn't enough to salvage their underwhelming program. Despite the build not clicking at all, I have confidence they can deliver in the ring when it matters most.

SmackDown Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso vs. Rick Boogs Ended in a No Contest; SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos and Austin Theory def. United States Champion Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura and Boogs

Uso vs. Boogs started out as a basic bout, but it wasn't long before Theory got involved and caused it to turn into a six-man tag team affair. That was much more enjoyable, but it couldn't have been more apparent that it was designed to kill as much television time as possible. I was fine with the heels going over, but Theory pinning Balor was laughable. Yes, Theory is on the WrestleMania card and Balor is not, but Balor losing so frequently as United States Champion devalues that title even more.

Drew McIntyre Crashed Happy Talk with Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss

I was hoping for a hotter show-closing segment than Corbin interviewing a damn sword, but sadly not. I'm sorry but this was beyond dumb. This feud overstayed its welcome a while ago, and although I applaud their effort to make the most of the material they've been given, Corbin's "joke" about McIntyre's deceased mother was a bit too far for me. Needless to say, this didn't get me any more excited for their 'Mania match than I was before.

Overall Show

This was referred to as "WrestleMania SmackDown", but there wasn't anything remotely memorable or special about it. Sure, we had an Intercontinental Championship defense and the annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but neither one of those things mean anything at this point. The rest of the show was pretty lame, especially for a go-home show. The video packages were beautifully produced, but you save that stuff for WrestleMania itself. All in all, this was a waste of two hours. I'm just glad I attended so I could stick around for the Hall of Fame ceremony, which was wonderful.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews