WWE Smackdown Review: 5 Things We Learned from Tonight's Episode (April 20)

Well, we certainly saw a lot of things happen on tonight's episode of Friday Night Smackdown.

Ryback squashed yet another opponent, Cody Rhodes interfered in Big Show's match against Alberto Del Rio to cost him a victory, Darren Young and Titus O'Neil made their Smackdown debuts in a tag team match and former ROH star Claudio Catasagnoli made his WWE debut as Antonio Cesaro.

That was just the tip of the iceberg, though, as Smackdown was a pretty newsworthy show once again tonight.

The question isn't what we saw throughout the episode, however, it's what we learned from all of it.

Let's examine some of the major occurrences/announcements on tonight's episode of Smackdown and discuss five things that we learned from it.

5. Randy Orton vs. Kane in a Falls Count Anywhere Match at Extreme Rules

Ugh. I guess this feud must continue.

The rivalry (if you can call it that) that has been going on between Randy Orton and Kane over the last two months or so has been pretty terrible, to say the least, and I was really, really hoping that it would end at WrestleMania 28.

That didn't happen, though, as we got another match between them on the post-Mania edition of Smackdown, a No DQ bout that actually turned out to be pretty damn good.

Was that the end of all this Kane-Orton nonsense, though? Of course not.

The feud continued, and it got ridiculously cheesy on last week's Smackdown when Orton's father got involved. Now it's still going on, as it was announced tonight that Orton and Kane would face off in a Falls Count Anywhere Match at Extreme Rules.

This should and (I think) will be the end of their feud.

The series is tied 1-1, so Orton should win the rubber match and then move on to a feud that more than seven people will care about.

4. New Superstars Will Continue to Be Brought in

The 2012 version of the "New Superstar Initiative" is clearly in full effect.

It's happened on Raw with Lord Tensai, but it's definitely more evident on Smackdown, where we've seen Ryback, Damien Sandow and now Antonio Cesaro all make their main roster debuts.

I think that this will continue, as it was hinted at during that backstage segment with Cesaro on tonight's show.

Now is the perfect time to do it, too, because the WWE's annual spring cleaning is likely coming up soon, and there are several FCW talents who are ready to be called up in the near future.

Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and others are right on the cusp of being brought up to either Raw or Smackdown, and given the way things have gone over the last several weeks, I'd expect that to happen sooner rather than later.

And I like it. It's about damn time to breathe some new life into the main roster and try to create some new stars.

3. Alberto Del Rio Is Now a Smackdown Superstar, Apparently

OK, so Alberto Del Rio is a Smackdown superstar now? Apparently so.

I guess we're just never going to get a legitimate explanation as to why ADR was simply allowed to flip-flop brands like that, and I hate, hate, hate that crap.

While I know that the brand extension means next to nothing these days, it's a bit ridiculous that the WWE just moves a superstar to a different brand without giving us a reason for it.

Maybe I shouldn't be complaining, though.

I'm pretty indifferent when it comes to Del Rio, but I also think he's better suited on the Smackdown brand, where he doesn't have to be the WWE's top heel (like he's often been booked) and can draw in some more Hispanic viewers (a big target audience for the blue brand).

2. The WWE Is Trying to Improve Its Tag Team Division

Yeah, I'm jumping the gun here and will probably regret it. But oh well.

Though the WWE Tag Team Champions, Epico and Primo, jobbed on Monday's Raw, it looks like the WWE is at least attempting to improve the tag team division on Smackdown.

On last week's show, we saw Heath Slater and Tyson Kidd take on the Usos, and on tonight's show, the Usos competed once again in a losing effort against Smackdown's newest tag team, Titus O'Neil and Darren Young.

Two tag matches involving an actual tag team two weeks in a row? Woah. That's a shocker.

If we can get Epico/Primo, the Usos, Kidd and Justin Gabriel as well as Young/O'Neil to stick around for a while, we may get something that slightly resembles a tag team division.

Of course, I'm not going to bank on this happening. But it is a nice sign to see at least some indication of rejuvenated tag team wrestling in the WWE.

Now we just have to keep it going.

1. It's Also Sorely Lacking in Top Baby Faces

You know what's a really bad sign for a brand? When The Great Khali is considered to be one of your top four baby faces.

Although I know Khali didn't actually compete in the six-man tag team main event, the fact that he was even scheduled to at one point is absolutely ridiculous.

Perhaps more specifically, though, it's a pretty good indication that the WWE doesn't have enough main event-caliber baby faces.

On Smackdown, there's Sheamus, Randy Orton and Big Show (kinda), and then on Raw, there's CM Punk, John Cena and I guess Rey Mysterio when he's healthy.

Yep, that's it.

The WWE has always been heel heavy in recent years, but it's even more noticeable with the extreme lack of top-tier baby faces that the company currently has.

This is why I maintain that a top or mid-card heel, someone like The Miz or even Dolph Ziggler, has to turn face to even out the face/heel balance.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-to-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring or Twitter, and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.