Friday Night SmackDown Review - April 10, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro Attacked Universal Champion Braun Strowman

Strowman's first promo as Universal Champion was fine albeit unspectacular. Then again, him winning the title in the first place was unspectacular, so I can't say I'm surprised. I was looking forward to seeing who would step up to him and hearing Nakamura's music was disappointing. Look, I like Nakamura, but they gave up on him years ago as a world championship caliber competitor, so despite their feud from a few months ago being brought up, this didn't interest me at all.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross def. The Kabuki Warriors

Although the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship are allowed to be defended on any brand, I'm pretty sure only the champions can appear anywhere, not the challengers (The Kabuki Warriors are on the Raw roster). Nitpicking aside, this was another quality contest from the two teams. It wasn't anything I'll remember a week from now, but the effort was there. I was worried Bliss and Cross would drop the belts right back to Asuka and Kairi Sane, but thankfully, that was not the case. Dana Brooke and Carmella (who are officially out of quarantine) challenged them to a match afterward backstage, so at least that's one more tandem for the women's tag team ranks that short on teams.

Elias Sang About Money in the Bank

I'm actually glad Elias beat King Corbin at WrestleMania 36 considering he's never had a "moment" at 'Mania before. Better yet, it looks like his feud with Corbin won't be revisited. I realize Corbin wasn't on this show, so it's entirely possible it isn't over yet, but this also would have been the time to attack Elias again, so here's hoping a rematch isn't in the cards. Elias' shtick was the same as always. I honestly wouldn't mind him in the Money in the Bank Ladder match coming off his WrestleMania win, but there may be others from Raw who deserve that spot more.

Dolph Ziggler def. Tucker

Before the bout, Tucker put pictures up on the big screen of Otis and Mandy Rose working out together to prove to Dolph Ziggler and Sonya Deville that they're a happy couple (are they officially an item or no?). Ziggler got himself intentionally disqualified against Tucker last week, hence why they faced off again here. It was serviceable while it lasted. I'm more excited for what the fallout will be between Mandy and Sonya on next week's SmackDown.

The Usos and The New Day Crashed SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison's Performance on The Dirt Sheet

I'm starting to think the SmackDown Tag Team Championship scene doesn't consist of anyone else but Miz & Morrison, The Usos and New Day. Granted, they're the brand's three top teams, but New Day and Usos have no reason to go for the gold after already losing at Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania. They made the most of a bad situation at WrestleMania when Miz couldn't compete and it turned into a standard Triple Threat instead, but now that Miz is back, they shouldn't be doing another one-on-one-on-one match for the tag titles if they don't have to. It was fine at WrestleMania, but it's ridiculous to do it again with the other three competitors.

The Forgotten Sons def. The Lucha House Party

We have officially reached the point where the main roster is scrapping the bottom of the barrel for call-ups from NXT. The black-and-gold brand's tag team is depleted as it is, but I doubt moving Forgotten Sons to SmackDown will make much of  a difference. I guess it's better than calling up Undisputed Era in an empty arena, but that's probably out of the question right now anyway with Adam Cole still the NXT Champion. The match was perfectly fine, but I have no interest in these guys in the SmackDown tag team division. I guess The Usos and New Day need a new team to beat.

Tamina Interrupted SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks

When Bayley started going off about how she's beaten everyone in SmackDown's women's division, I expected one of two things to happen: Either Banks was going to ambush her from behind or a fresh face from NXT was going to arrive to challenge her. Unfortunately, neither of those things happened. Instead, Tamina emerged to stake her claim at a title shot, despite being the first one eliminated from the Fatal 5-Way elimination match at WrestleMania. The story they're telling with Bayley and Banks is compelling, but Tamina entering the title picture gets two thumbs down from. They couldn't have plugged anyone else into that spot?

Sheamus def. Cal Bloom

I recognized Bloom as I believe he's been a top prospect at the Performance Center for a while now. He has a good look, but his sole purpose here was getting squashed by Sheamus. I didn't understand why Sheamus wasn't a part of WrestleMania, but I read a report that said he was in quarantine up until recently. Here's hoping they follow through with his push this time and move him into a real rivalry sooner rather than later. His first foe may very well be Jeff Hardy based off how he reacted to Michael Cole mentioning his name on commentary.

Universal Champion Braun Strowman def. Shinsuke Nakamura (Non-Title)

This was no different than their Intercontinental Championship clash a few months ago in that it was on the shorter side, which was probably for the better, yet it offered absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Nakamura was never positioned as a real threat to Strowman. Rather, the match merely existed so Bray Wyatt's post-match promo on Strowman could happen. I like the idea of a feud between the two as it's fresh and there's a ton of history there from their Wyatt Family days, but both guys need wins right now and I don't see a scenario where Wyatt regains the Universal Championship this early, especially from Strowman.

Overall Show

A video aired highlighting the rise of Jeff Hardy and we were told at least one more video will air next week. That's a smart way of bringing him back into the fold full-time. I also appreciated that they advertised a ton of stuff for next week, including Money in the Bank qualifying matches. Otherwise, this was as mundane as Monday's post-WrestleMania edition of Raw. Sheamus returned (even though he's only been gone a month) and Forgotten Sons were called up (oh joy), but I can't shake the feeling that nothing really matters on SmackDown. Strowman vs. Wyatt has potential and the story with Bayley and Banks is progressing nicely, but the two hours are not worthwhile on the whole. The brand still needs a lot of help, particularly in terms of depth. Roman Reigns being gone reportedly for the foreseeable future doesn't help their cause, either.