WWE Smackdown Live – Feb 12th: Results & Review
Welcome to this week’s review of Smackdown LIve, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have a Gauntlet Match with the six WWE World Heavy-Weight Title competitors for the Elimination Chamber Match at the Pay Per View of the same name. Also, here comes the sun…it’s all right.
Match #1: Naomi & Carmella def. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville and The IIconics – Rose & Deville enter first in the Elimination Chamber Match
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
The three teams representing Team Blue in the Elimination Chamber Match to crown the first-ever WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions this Sunday faced off in a pressure-packed Triple Threat Match. Much like on Raw last night, the team that suffered the defeat in this bout would join Raw’s Sasha Banks & Bayley as the first two teams to begin the contest this Sunday.
With the stakes so incredibly high, all three teams were laser-focused on prevailing and making sure they weren’t the ones defeated … well, at least two of them, as The IIconics never actually tagged into the contest. In the pivotal moments, Naomi finally got to release weeks of frustration on Mandy Rose, and The Glow connected with the Split Legged Moonsault on God’s Greatest Creation for the win, ensuring that Fire & Desire would kick things off inside the Chamber on Sunday. However, Fabulous Glow would not be able to celebrate for long, as The IIconics finally made their move, blindsiding the victorious Naomi & Carmella with a brutal assault, leaving them laying outside the ring and making their own major impression ahead of Sunday.
My Take: 2.5 out of 5 – There was nothing wrong with this match, but it was pretty much a by the books type of thing. The women here worked hard, but the idea of the teams trying to avoid being tagged in by another team threw the wrestling off. It was hard for the three tag teams to get any-where beyond just getting to the finish line, as it were. Overall, this was fun for what it was.
Match #2: (Main Event) Randy Orton won the Gauntlet Match to earn the right to be the last to enter the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber Match this Sunday
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
WWE Champion “The New” Daniel Bryan and his intellectual peer Rowan arrived at the onset of this Gauntlet Match that would determine who would enter last in the WWE Title Elimination Chamber Match this Sunday with a very simple and direct message: Bryan was trying to inform the WWE Universe about how he was a martyr for competing in the Elimination Chamber Match this Sunday, but he was soon interrupted by his first opponent in the Gauntlet Match, Kofi Kingston. Kofi was chosen as The New Day member to replace Mustafa Ali after Ali was injured by Rowan in last week’s melee between the Elimination Chamber Match participants.
Bryan and Kingston went at it ferociously, with Bryan trying to wear Kingston down and Kofi pulling out all the stops to take down the WWE Champion. In the clutch, after several brutal exchanges, Kingston survived the LeBell Lock and interference from Rowan (who was quickly neutralized by Big E & Xavier Woods at ringside before the official threw them both out) and then hit a picture-perfect Trouble in Paradise to eliminate Bryan. Kofi couldn’t bask in the shocking moment for too long though, as next out was Jeff Hardy. The two dynamic competitors went back and forth, but an exhausted Kingston put him down for three with the SOS.
Kingston would then attempt to continue his hot streak against Samoa Joe. The Samoan Submission Machine used his fresh legs to wear down the New Day member, but Kofi somehow countered the Coquina Clutch into a pinning attempt that shockingly defeated Joe. Samoa Joe viciously attacked Kingston after his elimination and once again trapped him in the Coquina Clutch on the outside of the ring. However, Kofi’s next opponent AJ Styles came rushing out to get Joe off The Dreadlocked Dynamo, chased him off and then checked on the downed Kingston.
Even with all the damage he had suffered, Kingston insisted on carrying on with the Gauntlet Match. A hesitant Styles complied after a passionate Kofi aggressively got in The Phenomenal One’s face, shouting “Fight me! I’ve been doing this for too long!” and shoving him in the face. Kofi gave it everything he had, battling through fatigue at every turn, but when Styles applied the Calf Crusher with nowhere for Kingston to go, he was forced to tap. The New Day came rushing down to pick up what was left of the drained Kofi. Styles then waited for the arrival of the final entrant, Randy Orton, but The Apex Predator never made the walk down the ramp. No, instead, Orton came from behind The Phenomenal One, hitting an RKO out of nowhere to claim the victory in an absolutely unbelievable match.
My Take: 4.5 out of 5 – Now this was some great stuff. Each of the individual matches contained in this gauntlet had great wrestling, not just for the quantity of action, but the quality of that wrestling as well. The big story here was that Kofi had a career renaissance by not only qualifying to take the injured Mustafa Ali’s place, but Kofi was also able to beat Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe to do it. Kofi’s performance was one of the best things to happen to the WWE all of this fiscal wrestling year and I’m glad he got his shot to show what he can do. Randy getting a surprise victory in the last minute of the match was a good way to go, as it makes Randy into some-one that can win at the drop of a dime.
News Of The Night:
1. Charlotte Flair cut a dull promo on being better than Becky Lynch.
2. Randy Orton and Mustafa Ali are now in a feud, thanks to Ali’s injury being booked as Orton’s fault.
Final Verdict: 4/5
The main event saved a decent show and made it a great one. These gauntlet matches are becoming the best thing in the WWE, so perhaps they ought to have another big one before Wrestlemania?