Cody Rhodes Starts the Show, Chelsea Green VS Naomi: Women’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match
Cody Rhodes came out to start this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown as Cody talked about the Men’s Elimination Chamber participants and his potential challengers for WrestleMania! Cody also brought up Solo Sikoa before Drew McIntyre interrupted as The Scottish Psychopath told Rhodes that things are now personal between the two of them! Before anything could happen, though, Jacob Fatu arrived to make it crystal clear that he intends on bringing the Undisputed WWE Championship back to The Bloodline!
Grade: C+
Jacob Fatu just beat up a random guy on his search for Solo Sikoa before Trish Stratus confirmed that she will be at Elimination Chamber! Speaking of Elimination Chamber, it was time for a Qualifying Match on the women’s side of things as Chelsea Green took on Naomi! This was a decent match I thought, minus the one slip, it was all pretty smooth sailing and I thought it was enjoyable! However, even though Naomi winning made sense, it’s now another match where a Women’s mid-card Champion has been pinned, and it’s honestly stupid! But anyway, Chelsea did well here!
Grade: C+
Motor City Machine Guns VS Los Garza, LA Knight VS The Miz
After Sami Zayn cut a video promo saying this turn from Kevin Owens was a lot worse than previous ones, it was straight into some Tag Team action as Motor City Machine Guns clashed with Los Garza! This was another decent match, both teams are talented in-ring performers so it flowed well, but it also felt like it was over pretty quickly too. Despite Angel and Berto trying their best, the MCMG were able to get the win with Skull and Bones as they continue their strong SmackDown winning run!
Grade: C+
Damian Priest got his own video package before Jacob Fatu finally found Solo Sikoa! Solo told Jacob that he needed some time off, but now he’s back, and it’s time for the Family to start taking over again! Shinsuke Nakamura then arrived to say that there aren’t any worthy challengers for his United States Championship, but both LA Knight and The Miz came out and had very different opinions! A back-and-forth promo between LA and The Miz then led us into a match that got quite a decent amount of time, and I thought it was alright. The Miz was clearly just here to give Knight a win, but what I liked is The Megastar wanted to make a statement which is why following a BFT, LA Knight went to the top rope and hit the Megastar Elbow Drop to get the win before him and Shinsuke had a stare-off!
Grade: C+
Carmelo Hayes VS R-Truth, Tiffany Stratton VS Nia Jax: WWE Women’s Championship
Alexa Bliss had an interesting backstage interaction with Nia Jax and Candice LeRae before Andrade told The Miz that he’d happily teach him a lesson! Miz then had a great line saying him and Carmelo Hayes should team up as “Melo Don’t Miz” (which I now want on a t-shirt) before Melo headed down to the ring to go one-on-one with R-Truth! This match really didn’t last very long at all, Truth got in all of John Cena’s greatest hits before Hayes just nailed Nothin’ but Net to get the win! I still have no idea what WWE are doing with Carmelo Hayes, but at least we’re hearing his entrance theme twice!
Grade: C
The Street Profits once again put the SmackDown Tag Team Division on notice before DIY told Pretty Deadly that they will punish them next week! Kevin Owens then cut another car promo where he told Sami Zayn to come find him at Elimination Chamber before it was time for Tiffany Stratton to put her WWE Women’s Championship on the line against Nia Jax! This match should’ve been on a much bigger stage, it arguably could’ve been on WrestleMania, but instead, it wasn’t even the Main Event of an episode of SmackDown which just isn’t good enough honestly! However, the in-ring action was pretty good as both Tiffany and Nia put on a show like they’ve both done in the past! This also could’ve gone either way, both women had their moments where it looked like they had the win in the bag, but in the end, interference from Candice LeRae resulted in the match being thrown out before Trish Stratus arrived to make the save! However, Queen Nia was still able to flatten Stratton before Charlotte Flair arrived and announced Tiffany as her WrestleMania opponent!
Grade: B
Braun Strowman VS Damian Priest VS Jacob Fatu: Undisputed WWE Championship Number 1 Contender’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match
After some backstage segments (including a stupid one with Bianca Belair and Naomi), it was Main Event time as Braun Strowman, Damian Priest, and Jacob Fatu collided for an opportunity to head into the Elimination Chamber! As expected, this wasn’t a traditional wrestling match, more just a scrap, but I thought it was fun because it was something different. Also, every interaction between Damian and Jacob were really good, and Braun’s shoulder tackle to Priest over the announce table was one of the best spots of the night! Towards the end, it looked like Jacob Fatu was going to get the win thanks to a Samoan Spike by Solo Sikoa, but Cody Rhodes ran down to even the odds before Solo accidentally nailed Tama Tonga with a Samoan Spike! Damian Priest was then able to take advantage of all of this as he took out Fatu before he dropped Strowman with a South of Heaven to get the win as the show went off the air with Priest and Rhodes looking at each other! Damian Priest winning here made sense so I’m glad he did!
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