Friday Night SmackDown Review - April 8, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ronda Rousey Challenged SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair to an "I Quit" Match at WrestleMania Backlash

I liked that Rousey wasted no time in chasing a rematch for the SmackDown Women's Championship and I also liked how she didn't complain about getting screwed at WrestleMania 38. Unfortunately, she still doesn't come across the best during these interviews. I thought she'd improve on the mic on the road to WrestleMania, but she's still struggling and it's painfully apparent she needs a manager. Flair declining the challenge made sense, but I'm sure it will soon be made official, anyway. The "I Quit" stipulation is a nice touch.

Xavier Woods def. Butch

The New Day claiming beforehand that the records reset after WrestleMania got a good laugh out of me. What do they think this is, AEW? In all seriousness, this was a quality contest while it lasted. Pete Dunne being repackaged as Butch is still mind-boggling to me. Him losing here didn't kill his career as much as that dumb name change did. Speaking of name changes, Woods has already dropped the king moniker. I normally don't like that sort of stuff, but he was making the most of it and seemed to be enjoying it, so it's a shame they cut it short so quickly, especially seeing as how Baron Corbin called himself King Corbin for almost two years.

Gunther def. Joe Alonzo

Perhaps it's a positive thing that the former WALTER already had his name and music changed while in NXT so fans weren't upset that it happened when he arrived on the main roster. Okay, so Marcel Barthel was officially rebranded as Ludwig Kaiser here, but he's not going to be a main player, so that one doesn't bother me too much. At any rate, this was a dominant debut for Gunther as it should have been. I'd love to see him get a fair shot at success on SmackDown, but it's very possible Vince McMahon gets bored of him within weeks and releases him a la Karrion Kross and Keith Lee. I hope he fares better than they did.

Madcap Moss Attacked Happy Corbin on Happy Talk

Tension has been teased between Corbin and Moss for weeks, so the two going their separate ways following Corbin's 'Mania loss to Drew McIntyre shouldn't be too surprising. I was shocked the crowd actually chanted for Moss, but I'm curious if he's going to have that same crowd support when his feud with Corbin is over. This was a solid segment, but I can't say I care about a Corbin vs. Moss match. God bless Moss if he's able to get over with the audience, but he'll need a real name and gimmick change in order to be taken seriously as a babyface.

Drew McIntyre def. Sami Zayn by Count-Out

Zayn complained to Adam Pearce earlier in the evening and said he'd face the next person who walked out of the locker room. It just so happened to be Drew McIntyre. This wasn't much of a match, but the non-finish did set up a rematch for next week. That can be fun if given time. I'm curious if this will end there or if it will be dragged out for a bit because clearly McIntyre won't be next in line to challenge Roman Reigns for his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

Liv Morgan def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Sasha Banks

Rhea Ripley was not at ringside for Morgan, which all but confirms that she and Morgan will be splitting up sooner rather than later. For as deemphasized as Banks has felt for months, she has won a majority of her matches over the last year, so Morgan beating her was significant. They had a really nice match and Morgan needed the victory. Unfortunately, Morgan is bound to be a stepping stone for Ripley once Ripley turns heel.

The Bloodline Attacked Shinsuke Nakamura

This segment was advertised as Roman Reigns revealing his next step, though it had more to do with The Usos than anything. He made it known that he wants them to beat RK-Bro for the Raw Tag Team Championship so they can unify the tag titles. I don't know if that means WWE plans to end the Brand Split soon, but I'm honestly in favor of that move because the tag divisions on both brands are in shambles at the moment. Nakamura coming out was a pleasant surprise and I'm all for him being a filler feud for Reigns at Backlash, but the issue is we didn't have a chance to hear him speak. He just stood there and let Reigns hug him before The Usos laid him out like a loser. That was a flat ending to the show, but again, I'm looking forward to Reigns vs. Nakamura. He's not a threat whatsoever, but he's popular enough to where fans should be behind him.

Overall Show

This was a newsworthy show all things considered, even if the two hours weren't the most exciting. This reset is exactly what the blue brand needed. We got the debuts of Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser (ugh) and Raquel Rodriquez (f.k.a. Raquel Gonzalez) as well as the return of Lacey Evans as a babyface. Reigns vs. Nakamura appears to be where we're headed at Backlash, even if the program isn't off to the strongest start due to the lame way this show ended. Some other stuff happened as well, so compared to most editions of SmackDown, this was a slightly above-average show. We'll see if these fresh faces can inject some much-needed life into the program.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews