Kasey, there is a point to non-title matches. MVP had his chance at the title at WrestleMania and dropped the ball. The idea here is that the champion or Teddy Long or who ever decided to go ahead with this match (in the magical Kingdom of Smackdown!... not in real life), thought that MVP needed to prove himself before getting another title match, which is completely legitimate. MVP just lost his opportunity at WrestleMania, why would he have another one a week or two later without really proving that he deserved one?
Granted he could be wrestling other people and working his way up the ladder, but it's completely understandable that the champion himself, who ever he might be, would give him the opportunity to prove himself.
The only problem I have with this particular non-title match is that Chris Benoit doesn't strike me as a person who wouldn't be defending his title in any case... but that could be explained rather easily, I would imagine, by a GM's reluctance to put a title match on the card that's doesn't have as much oomph or build-up, or meaning, as another one. So I don't see Benoit not defending his title as a problem with Benoit's character, but a higher-level decision, which is completely understandable.
(again, everything I said here takes place in the magical Smackdown! Kingdom and not in real life... as it would be explained fictionally on Smackdown!, or as I would imagine it would be)..
All this being said, and this is a separate point, the problem with WWE or any wrestling these days is that they don't have good enough storytellers... in the ring, behind the announce table, the writers... inclusively. The scenario, or explanation to certain events happening the way they do that I just explained needs to be provided to a lot of wrestling fans... and the lack thereof of these things is one of the main reasons WWE is suffering in the eyes of its "fans".