Dominik Mysterio VS Kevin Owens: World Heavyweight Championship Number 1 Contender’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match
Friday Night SmackDown this week started with a Qualifying Match for the Men’s Elimination Chamber as Kevin Owens took on “The Judgment Day’s” Dominik Mysterio. This was a totally fine match, but it wasn’t anything special. It also felt fairly obvious when it came to who was going to get the win plus R-Truth’s appearance at ringside felt a bit unnecessary. In the end, Truth refused to hand Dominik a chair and that ultimately resulted in KO dropping Mysterio with a Pop-Up Powerbomb to get the win.
Grade: C+
Tiffany Stratton VS Zelina Vega: Women’s World Championship Number 1 Contender’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match, A.O.P in Action, Logan Paul VS The Miz: World Heavyweight Championship Number 1 Contender’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match, Alba Fyre VS Naomi: Women’s World Championship Number 1 Contender’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match
Drew McIntyre and LA Knight got into a heated debate backstage before Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate talked about their plans for winning the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships at Elimination Chamber next Saturday. Dominik Mysterio then walked in so Dunne called him “a Muppet”. It was then time for a Women’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match as Tiffany Stratton took on Zelina Vega. This was a decent contest, but it did feel slightly rushed. What I mean by this is the action was good, but it all kind of came to an end when Zelina Vega tossed Elektra Lopez over the barricade. This served as a distraction for Vega which ultimately allowed Tiffany Stratton to hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever to get the victory. So far, my prediction of the final 6 women in this year’s Royal Rumble match being in the Chamber is going pretty well.
Grade: C+
AJ Styles and Karl Anderson nearly got into it backstage before we got a cool video promo from Damage CTRL. It included Asuka warning Dakota Kai of what was to come. The Final Testament then made their way down to the ring as A.O.P. were about to take on the team of NXT Superstars Javier Bernal and Beau Morris. There really isn’t much to say about this other than The Authors of Pain won in about a minute after receiving zero offense against them. Fine, I guess, at least it was nice to see Javier Bernal back on tele!
Grade: C
Logan Paul made it crystal clear that he’s winning the Elimination Chamber Match in Perth, Australia in order for him to go and beat Seth “Freakin” Rollins to become a Double Champion before it was time for the United States Champion to face his former mentor, The Miz. This was a decent match, I thought Logan Paul looked good, but it also wasn’t anything that would blow me or you away. Once again, Logan’s buddy Jeff showed up and I have to question now why he’s not being banned from all arena’s?! Anyway, LP got the victory in the end to complete a pretty stacked Men’s Elimination Chamber field!
Grade: C+
Tiffany Stratton walked into Nick Aldis’ office to trash talk Bianca Belair and Liv Morgan which very much annoyed Jade Cargill. Bron Breakker was also here. Grayson Waller was then seen talking to Paul Heyman which is pretty interesting before it was time for the Main Event match of the night as Alba Fyre went one-on-one with Naomi. To be honest, I thought this was a bit scrappy. For whatever reason, Naomi and Fyre just didn’t click and yeah, it wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. In the end, Naomi got the predictable victory with a submission, but even that seemed a bit too complicated.
Grade: C-
Roman Reigns and The Rock Appear
After Bron Breakker was officially announced as a SmackDown Superstar and Dakota Kai caught up with Bayley backstage, Roman Reigns arrived as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion had some things to say. Roman started off by calling the people of Utah “dumb” before Reigns said that it was finally time to officially embrace The Rock as a member of The Bloodline. This brought out Rocky who tore the crowd and Cody Rhodes apart before Dwayne made it crystal clear that he will do whatever he can to make sure Rhodes loses against Reigns at WrestleMania 40. The show then ended with The Bloodline seemingly on a united front, as dominant and as dangerous as ever. This was pretty good, especially as what The Rock said felt more than just character work. However, my only concern about all of this is WWE cannot let The Rock overshadow Roman Reigns. If WWE can avoid that from happening, this will be a home-run feud.
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