3 Things We Hated & 3 Things We Loved

Welcome back to our regular rundown column, where we pinpoint the peaks and valleys of all your favorite pro wrestling programming. We’ve just finished the February 13 edition of “WWE SmackDown” and, as always, the Wrestling Inc. has some things to get off their chests.

We were mostly down on tonight’s episode, especially after the chaotic first hour and a barrage of strange booking decisions as the company barrels ahead towards Elimination Chamber and then WrestleMania. There were some solid matches in the mix tonight, though, so it wasn’t all terrible.

Perhaps the biggest consequence of tonight’s “SmackDown” was Cody Rhodes earning his way into the Men’s Elimination Chamber match later this month, and you can be certain we have some thoughts on that. Now, head on over to our results page for a more direct breakdown of the show, or continue on and learn what we loved and hated about the latest “SmackDown.”

I’m not the biggest Tiffany Stratton fan but credit where credit is due: she has made a lot of progress with the quality of her promos over the last year. It wasn’t that long ago that Stratton was frequently stumbling over her words and searching for ways to keep up with some of the company’s more experienced talent. Now, she comes across as a natural public speaker.

Stratton opened up tonight’s “SmackDown” by sharing her thoughts on the upcoming Women’s Elimination Chamber match, which she qualified for last week. She was soon confronted by Lash Legend and Nia Jax, with Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY soon coming out to set up the tag title match, while Stratton awkwardly disappeared.

She later showed up again backstage after being confronted by the injured Chelsea Green, and Stratton did a fine job here as well. On another positive note, it’s good to see Green continue to be used despite breaking her ankle.

There’s always room for improvement, especially in pro wrestling, but Stratton definitely deserves some recognition. It’s a good sign that she’s putting the pieces together as she gains more experience on WWE’s main roster, and she might be able to win over some of her detractors if she keeps it up.

Written by Nick Miller

If WWE are looking to figure out the reason that WrestleMania 42 sales have been down, then a good place to start would be assessing the content and storylines that they’ve been airing on their weekly shows. If they need somewhere to start, then look no further than the Women’s Tag Team Match between Nia Jax and Lash Legend, and titleholders Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY.

This was a match for the Women’s Tag Team Championship. In my opinion, a title match should NEVER end in referee stoppage unless there’s a very good reason for it and it has a purpose such as setting up a future match with incredibly high stakes. Yes, everyone did begin brawling on the outside but that’s basically become the norm for any and all tag team matches that WWE puts on these days. Nothing in the moments before the referee stopped the match indicated that things had become so intense that the match needed to be called off, and it felt super abrupt when it happened. It wasn’t necessary, was senseless, and made it feel like there wasn’t really much of a need to have the Women’s Tag Team Championship on the line in the first place when this would’ve been a fine (if not a little random) ending for a normal tag team match.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

I wasn’t sure where we were going with the Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss storyline after “The Queen” accidentally eliminated Bliss from the Royal Rumble almost two weeks ago, but we got a cute little backstage segment between the pair tonight where they made up. Flair made things good with her friend by asking if she’d be her “Galentine,” which I thought was really cute. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it here once again: this tag team with Bliss has done wonders for Flair’s character. I haven’t liked her this much in a long time. It’s all simple, cute, and effective, and she isn’t over-acting or trying too hard.

I don’t think I was ready for the pair to break up as a team, as I think there’s still a lot of story there, and the Rumble elimination seemed just a bit too obvious, even for WWE. Maybe it causes some dissension deep down within Bliss, but as of this moment, it doesn’t really look like it’s going that way. She seemed really chill about the entire thing and ready to move on.

Flair apologized to Bliss in her own, very Flair way, of course, by gifting Bliss a signed photo of herself alongside a bouquet of black roses, and it was all so very on brand. More importantly, however, Bliss acknowledged that everything was fine, as Rumble rules are “every woman for themselves,” but did add a comment about, “just like the Elimination Chamber.” Which makes me believe that both Flair and Bliss will be in the Chamber, especially after Bliss’ victory tonight, where she punched her ticket to the match in Chicago here very soon. Next week, it’s Flair to get her triple threat qualifier for the Chamber against Kiana James and Nia Jax, which I fully expect her to win.

While this was probably one of the most simple things tonight on “SmackDown,” I thought the entire show was pretty freakin’ strange and chaotic, so I took these small wins and ran with them, both the backstage segment where CharLexa made up, and Bliss’ win, one where Women’s United States Champion Giulia wasn’t the one getting pinned. There’s quite a bit of story left to be told between Flair and Bliss no matter what, and it’s always something fun to look forward to every week.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Jade Cargill made her first defense of the Women’s Championship in 105 days against Jordynne Grace this week.

And as though that was not damning enough of an indictment on the care given to her title reign, the actual match between Cargill and Grace was interrupted and then shared screen time with a date between Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio – as well as Raquel Rodriguez.

Morgan is the Women’s Royal Rumble winner and thus has the right to challenge either the Women’s Champion of “SmackDown” or the Women’s World Champion of “Raw,” and it would make sense for her to want to keep an eye on the match.

Though it was the way that everything was presented, the fact that the match was interrupted by really obnoxious – I do get that is the point – promos and then sat down for a date at ringside.

Then as the action got underway in the ring it was interrupted by constant camera cuts to them at ringside, the crowd was obviously distracted by them and clearly didn’t much care for the title match in front of them – which is just a shame for them. It just feels like Grace and Cargill were set up to fail and become irrelevant side pieces to the Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio show.

This is also happening while Morgan is also on Monday nights taking out Stephanie Vaquer and teasing choosing her for WrestleMania. So it feels like whichever way she goes, there is going to be a champion and an entire division being held back for a single wrestler.

When all was said and done Cargill had Grace beaten rather unceremoniously with Jaded and a pinfall. She got in Morgan’s face and said that, “If you choose me, that will be you.” And that was all she wrote, the first title defense in the books for Cargill and it was an ad for a WrestleMania match she might not even get.

Morgan and Mysterio are obviously huge names and having them out there was always going to hurt the title match between someone as green as Cargill and someone relatively new to the roster like Grace. Maybe that communicates a lack of faith in Cargill as the Women’s Champion. In any case it communicates a lack of care for the Women’s Championship, and thus the women’s roster as a whole.

Written by Max Everett

Last week, I loved how Trick Williams continued his momentum by interrupting Drew McIntyre the third time the Undisputed Champion attempted to cut a promo that night, and this week, on what was a way too messy episode of the blue brand to find much enjoyable, I have to say, I once again loved Williams continuing to get himself out there to remind fans he’s exactly who he says he is.

I’m a big fan of this current iteration of “WWE NXT,” especially the class that Williams came up from, as it lets us watch a lot of talent who, unlike the independent stars of the “black & gold” era, are working their way around a ring and microphone for the first time, on a major stage, with no practice, or at least not a lot of it, from the indies behind them. Williams is one of those stars who I’ve really enjoyed watching his career come together, and hearing the crowd absolutely lose it during their “Whoop That Trick” chants during his entrance is pretty awesome. Williams has so much star power it’s crazy, and even though he wasn’t confronting McIntyre once again or doing anything too major tonight, he’s still just so effortlessly cool and over, despite being a heel.

Instead of just talking, though he did do some of that ahead of the match, Williams faced off against Rey Fenix following a verbal altercation backstage last week, and got the victory. The win, a clear one, at that, keeps up his momentum going in to his Elimination Chamber qualifier match against Carmelo Hayes and Damien Priest next week. While I’m not 100 percent sure who emerges victorious from that bout, I know how well Hayes and Williams work together from their “NXT” days, and adding Priest is never going to be a bad idea, so I expect a fun match next week, and it’s something to look forward to.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Drew McIntyre screwed both Jacob Fatu and Sami Zayn a shot at the Elimination Chamber match when he meddled in the main event. Rhodes wanted to win the Royal Rumble to get a rematch against McIntyre since he denied him one. Winning the Elimination Champion would give him another opportunity. Although this could’ve been the plan all along, it very much feels like Paul Levesque panic booking due to allegedly being under fire by TKO for the low WrestleMania ticket sales.

Since CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns has been made official as a WrestleMania main event, WWE has been hyping it every chance they get. They probably think McIntyre vs. Rhodes is just as big, even if we’ve seen them wrestle more than a half a dozen times since 2024. If they main event the other night, then it blocks a women’s main event. The winner of the Royal Rumble match gets a title match and usually gets a headlining spot, if you’re a man. Women haven’t closed WrestleMania since 2021 and even then, the fans had to beg for it online. I wasn’t holding my breath for this year to be any different, but McIntyre vs. Rhodes would squash any sliver of possibility there was.

A fellow writer suggested WWE could potentially add Zayn to McIntyre vs. Rhodes, a la Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania XXX. Sikoa potentially be added and made a Fatal 4-Way, but that isn’t a ‘Mania main event. WWE will most likely go the boring route and stick with Rhodes and McIntyre, even though Zayn being added and winning the title would be more satisfying.

Written by Samantha Schipman