Friday Night SmackDown Review - October 31, 2014

Dean Ambrose and Cesaro reek Halloween havoc.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Nikki Bella Won a No. 1 Contender's Halloween Costume Battle Royal for the Divas Championship

The Diva costume contests are always a treat every year, but not when they come in the form of Battle Royals. The wrestling was absolutely atrocious, but that didn't come as much of a surprise given who was involved. It didn't overstay its welcome, thankfully, but it wasn't the best way to kick off the night. If nothing else, Paige and Alicia Fox furthered their feud and Nikki is a logical contender to AJ's Divas title. Expect Brie to cost her sister the title match at Survivor Series. This feels like John Cena joining The Nexus all over again.


Kane def. Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler (Non-title)

I enjoyed their match from Monday's Raw and this bout was much of the same. Kane isn't the greatest technical wrestler at this stage of this career (not that he ever really was), but he held his own against Ziggler who carried him to a good match. Although I hated how Ziggler lost a non-title match, at least it came following a cool finish of Kane catching Ziggler in mid-air for the chokeslam. Kane needs wins, but they shouldn't come at the expense of someone who also needs them.

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Kane sets up the chokeslam on Dolph Ziggler.

Seth Rollins def. Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler (Non-title)

As if the Intercontinental champion losing one non-title match wasn't bad enough, he lost two of them back-to-back! I was hoping WWE was done doing that after the strong set of wins Ziggler picked up at Hell in a Cell and on Raw, but no such luck. On the bright side, it gives The Authority members more heat, but it's all about the follow-up. If Ziggler doesn't join John Cena's Survivor Series team now (though I'm confident he will), all of this will have proven to be pointless.


Ryback def. Heath Slater

As noted in my Raw review, it's great to see Ryback back to doing his "Feed Me More" gimmick. The fans were very receptive to it on this show and it made for a fun matchup with Slater. I really liked how this wasn't your typical squash match but rather comedic filler at its best. Slater is awesome in this role and Ryback showed personality here as well. Does this mean Slater Gator is no more? Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself by writing that.


The Miz Hosted 'Miz TV' with Mark Henry

For those curious, yes, this was supposed to occur on this week's Main Event and there was no explanation as to why it was switched. Expect nothing less from WWE! Regardless, Miz and Damien Mizdow were fine in their roles as always and Henry cut a good promo. He didn't show as much fire as I would have hoped, but maybe that comes later. I'm not at all looking forward to a potential feud between Henry and Big Show (again), but Henry is most comfortable when heel and I have hope it'll reignite his career.


Los Matadores def. WWE Tag Team Champions Gold and Stardust (Non-title)

After seeing it on paper, I figured this was going to be another glorified squash match for Gold and Stardust, but apparently not. It ended up being a lot better than expected. See what happens when you strip all the stupidity away from the Los Matadores act and just let them wrestle? Now if they can only get rid of the masks... Anyway, as it currently stands, Los Matadores are jokes and jobbers, so WWE will have to do quite a bit to build them up as credible contenders to the WWE Tag Team titles if that's where they are headed.


Rusev def. The Great Khali

When was the last time Khali was in action before this match? I couldn't even tell you to be honest. That said, why is he even still around? Is he really that necessary of an asset to WWE? Nevertheless, the match was kept short and sweet and was a nice follow-up to Rusev's big (no pun intended) win at Hell in a Cell. The best part about this segment was the start of the feud between Rusev and Sheamus. I've been anxiously awaiting for this rivalry for a while now and it might be exactly what Sheamus needs to make his character interesting again.


Bray Wyatt Addressed Dean Ambrose

This was an improvement over the promo Wyatt cut on Monday's Raw. That's not a knock on Wyatt's promo ability whatsoever. It's just that he didn't reveal much of anything in that Raw promo and at least he made an attempt to garner heat from the fans by insulting them in this promo. It tied in nicely to Halloween and made me belief that this Wyatt-Ambrose feud will have legs after all. However, it's up to WWE to not screw it up.


Dean Ambrose def. Cesaro in a Trick or Street Fight

This was one of those matches that you either loved or your hated, and I happen to fall in the former category. Maybe it has something to do with how big of a "mark" I am for Halloween, but all the Halloween-themed weapons and pumpkins at ringside were great. Heck, even the name of the match was clever! Obviously, Ambrose and Cesaro could put on an instant classic in the ring, but in this kind of environment, they thrived. It meshed well with Ambrose's crazed character and the action was entertaining. What more could one ask for?


Overall Show

Most of the show consisted of comedic filler and forgettable matches, but what do you expect on a holiday show? As noted, I love Halloween more than anyone, so I thoroughly enjoyed all the holiday-themed aspects of this episode. The main event was a lot of fun and everything else was solid enough to keep me interested, so it made for an enjoyable two hours on the whole. Happy Halloween, folks!

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