Friday Night SmackDown Review - April 4, 2014

Titus O'Neil takes control of Dolph Ziggler.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Dolph Ziggler def. Titus O'Neil

O'Neil has charisma, but there's still room for improvement when it comes to his in-ring skills. Thus, Ziggler carried him to a decent match, but it came off as filler more than anything else. It was intended to serve as hype for the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but it's hard to care when there aren't many rivalries between the participants going into the matchup. This was a fine enough match and Ziggler's win kept his recent momentum going strong.


The Real Americans def. Los Matadores

I was surprised by how long this match ended up going, and while I'm usually an advocate for longer matches, this one felt unnecesairly lengthy. Los Matadores are great in the ring, but the gimmick is just so stupid that it's hard to take seriously. Nevertheless, they worked a good match with The Real Americans that featured fun action down the stretch. I was glad to see The Real Americans go over, getting their win back from Monday's Raw. Crowds are very much behind Cesaro, so I think it's only a matter of time before WWE pulls the trigger on his highly anticipated babyface turn.

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Hulk Hogan makes his return to SmackDown!

Hulk Hogan Addressed the WWE Universe

Hogan's appearances are always enjoyable (especially any time that I get to hear "Real American"), but this one was so brief that it felt pointless. Granted, it was cool to see him back on the blue brand for the first time in nearly a decade, but he predictably discussed the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania. This promo was no different than the inital promo he did announcing it a few weeks back, and although the bout is Hogan's creation, it still feels meaningless. On a two hour show, you'd like Hogan make a longer appearance or at least do something a bit more worthwhile.


Overall Show

The final SmackDown before WrestleMania is always filled with recaps and video packages promoting the event, so anyone who didn't tune in live (like me) didn't miss much. Neither of the matches nor Hulk Hogan's appearance aren't worth going back to watch, but a handful of the vignettes and interviews from Batista and Randy Orton (even the Raw recap from Monday) were excellent and only furthered my excitement for Sunday. It's mind boggling to me why none of these were shown on Raw, but I guess it's a case of being better late than never.

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