Friday Night SmackDown Review - October 31, 2008

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

John Morrison and The Miz def. WWE Tag Team Champions Carlito and Primo (Non-title)

Morrison and Miz were set to do battle days later on the 800th episode of Raw against D-Generation X, so it was wise to protect the duo by having them win on this show. That said, they couldn't have put up against any other tag team? It was completely pointless for them to beat the WWE Tag Team Champions without earning a title shot, making the champs look weak in the process. On the bright side, these teams always worked well together, so this was a quality contest as expected.

John Wayne Yang def. The Brian Kendrick by Disqualification

Kendrick was on a roll prior to Unforgiven, but that was pretty much the peak of his push as a singles competitor. He mostly went on to face enhancement talent for the remainder of the year, including Yang on a number of occasions. The match was fine while it lasted, but it was weird that Kendrick couldn't beat Yang on his own and needed help from Ezekiel Jackson. I guess it was supposed to trigger a feud between the two, but it didn't do anything to boost Kendrick's stock on the brand. On a side note, Yang dressed as John Wayne for the Halloween show, hence the one night name change.

The Great Khali Presented Khali Kiss Cam

Ah, the Khali Kiss Cam, one of my least favorite recurring segments in my near-decade as a WWE fan. They were beyond stupid, served no purpose and made only one person in the back laugh (Vince McMahon). Khali was basically a babyface by this point, but I believe the turn was cemented days later on Raw. Of course, the woman dressed up as a witch that Khali kissed was clearly a plant. This was a waste of time.

Jeff Hardy, ECW Champion Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio def. MVP, Mark Henry and Kane

This all-star outing featured talent from all three shows, and if wasn't already evident, the Brand Split meant nothing by late 2008. Don't get me wrong, this was a very fun six-man tag team match and the crowd was hot for the babyfaces, but why not just wait until the big supershow that Monday on Raw to do something like this? It was also an odd assortment of talent considering The Hardyz were no longer feuding with MVP and Henry. Only Mysterio and Kane had an ongoing rivalry at the time.

WWE Champion Triple H Confronted Vladimir Kozlov

Kozlov cut a promo about how the fans voted against him vying for the WWE Championship at Cyber Sunday and that he deserved a shot at the strap. I can't believe anyone ever bought into him as a potential main event player because this was brutal stuff. Kozlov was painfully boring as a character, and pairing him off with Triple H in a feud wasn't going to help matters. Despite that, this did plant the seeds for them clashing for the championship at Survivor Series.

Divas Champion Michelle McCool, Maria and Brie Bella def. Maryse, Natalya and Victoria

The Divas had their Halloween costume contest at Cyber Sunday the week prior, so they wrestled in those same costumes for this match. Unsurprisingly, this was on the same level as every other women's match from that era (meaning it was a total throwaway), but it did tease tension between McCool and Maria when Maria tagged in unbeknownst to McCool. That would plant the seeds for a future heel turn for McCool.

The Undertaker def. Chavo Guerrero in a Casket Match

It was obvious as soon as this match was announced that Undertaker was winning, it was simply a matter of how many hoops he'd have to jump through to get there. This wasn't a competitive contest in the slightest, but Big Show interfered at various points to further their feud and tease Chavo scoring the win. Of course, that wasn't the case, and Undertaker emerging victorious by slamming the casket lid on Chavo was a sign of things to come for Show in their Survivor Series Casket match.

Overall Show

There were certainly elements of Halloween on this show, but it might have been for the best that the holiday silliness was kept to a minimum. The Casket match was a nice touch, though it wasn't too memorable and mostly everything else was forgettable with the exception of the six-man tag team match. If nothing else, there was some decent build for Survivor Series as well as hype for the following week's episodes of Raw and SmackDown.