Smackdown Results - April 11, 2008

Interview Segment
Big Show, Great Khali

This segment was extremely entertaining. Plus, it gave the Great Khali a bit more character as opposed to just being a big tall guy.

The Great Khali tried to make peace with the Big Show by giving him gifts. Not just any gifts, though. He gave him a chicken, some alcohol, and a goat.

Big Show fakes forgiveness, but ends up knocking out the big man. Great Khali sells the punch like a champ by going straight down. Probably the best sell that he's ever done in the company.

John Morrison & the Miz vs Shannon Moore & Jimmy Wang Yang

Pretty entertaining match that would have had a higher rating if there was a reason why these two teams are constantly fighting. A feud is pretty useless if there's not a storyline behind it.

Using the Dirt Sheet to promote this storyline might drive a little more traffic to the website, but it does nothing for these guys with the fans that don't watch their online show.

Winners: John Morrison & the Miz

Finlay vs Matt Striker

Decent match. The comedy aspect of the match was more geared towards the younger audience.

After destroying all of Finlay's momentum, the writers are now going to try to build him back up. Having a match against a guy that spends much of his TV time as a manager isn't going to restore that momentum whatsoever, though.

Winner: Finlay

Victoria vs Michelle McCool

This match was basically to introduce Natalya Neidhart. It might have also introduced a feud between her and Michelle McCool as well, but we'll have to wait and see on that one.

Prior to the match, Natayla Neidhart cut an extremely generic promo that was obviously scripted out by the writers.

Michelle McCool was a bit sloppy at times in this match, but fortunately, Victoria was in there to keep things flowing. It's easy to underestimate how valuable it is to have a veteran like her involved in a match.

Winner: Victoria

Interview Segment
Batista, Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels once again visits Smackdown to confront Batista. They basically said the same thing as they have been saying. The only difference this time was that they actually got into a brawl. That made it more entertaining.

This feud is definitely the top feud in WWE right now. It should be the main event at Backlash, but that's not going to happen.

Vladimir Kozlov vs Matt Logan

If there's one thing that needs to be changed about WWE's formula is that debuting stars that beat up random jobbers aren't building any momentum whatsoever. If they keep doing this with Vladimir Kozlov, he'll get sent back down to developmental once again.

Winner: Vladimir Kozlov

Matt Hardy vs Chuck Palumbo

Basically, WWE just needed someone for Matt Hardy to wrestle while MVP does commentary. It's a pretty good move, too.

MVP was flat out entertaining on the mic. He increased the rating of this match with his work as a color commentator. If WWE can harness this guy's natural charisma, then we may have ourselves a brand new main event talent.

The match itself was solid, but you should already expect that when Matt Hardy is involved. He's the consumate role player in WWE.

Chuck Palumbo has become simply irrelevant again. Putting him in this match was a good start since it was against someone that the audience actually pays attention to.

Winner: Matt Hardy

Undertaker vs Festus

The match itself wasn't anything great. However, it did do a lot for Festus.

By being in the main event with someone like the Undertaker, Festus has gained a lot more credibility and momentum. Even though he lost, this is still better for him than beating random jobbers left and right.

Still not a big fan of the Undertaker using a submission move as his finisher. Plus, it would have elevated Festus even more if he had been beaten with a move that came out of nowhere as opposed to tapping out.

Winner: Undertaker

Entertaining show that would have been a lot better if the filler segments weren't so subpar.

The Great Khali segment, the confrontation between Batista and Shawn Michaels, and MVP's commentary made the show enjoyable.