Friday Night SmackDown aired tonight on Syfy from inside the Amerant Bank Arena in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This week, we discovered who the blue brand’s final female entrant was for the Elimination Chamber match on Saturday, February 28th.
Zelina was the first woman we saw tonight, as she interrupted Randy Orton’s interview about his participation in the Elimination Chamber one week away. Bringing up his close friend Cody Rhodes, who will also be participating, Vega says that Orton knows there is only one road left to take. Aleister Black and Orton then exchanged words, leading to a match between them later on in the main event.
Byron Saxton interviewed Nia Jax and Lash Legend. Jax says it is the biggest time of the year for the biggest Superstars, and tonight she has a match to qualify for the Elimination Chamber, and once she wins that, they will be on their way to a Women’s Tag Team Championship match next week against reigning champions Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY. Legend wants Saxton to know that her and Jax are coming for it all, and if he or anyone else has the slightest doubt that they run the women’s division, that doubt will be erased at WrestleMania.
The WWE Women’s Champion, Jade Cargill came out to cut a promo in the ring. Cargill says she’s not going to tell us again; she defends her title on her time. Jordynne Grace tried her best last week, but her best just wasn’t good enough. Everybody’s so bold backstage, everybody’s so loud online, but when they step to her, they all fold. She knows Liv Morgan is watching and is going to make her decision of choosing her WrestleMania opponent this coming on Monday on Raw in Atlanta, and lucky for Jade, Atlanta just so happens to be where she resides, so she’s coming to hear that decision face-to-face, and whether she chooses her or whoever comes out of the Elimination Chamber, whether that be Charlotte, IYO, Alexa, Tiffany, Nia, or Rhea, at the end of the day, come WrestleMania, she’s still coming out the WWE Women’s Championship because she’s still that bitch.
As Cargill walked away, the music of Charlotte Flair interrupted, as she was set to compete against Nia and Kiana James. The Storm tried talking to Flair, who walked away, but when Cargill caught up to her and tried to talk to her again, The Queen warned her to get out of her face and gave a “WOOO!!!” to Cargill as referees pulled the champion away.
As for the actual match, once it got underway, Jax dominated Flair and James with repeated hip attacks. Later on, Flair began to gain momentum as she hit a high crossbody on James before hitting multiple chops to the chest of both opponents and following it up with a walkover clothesline to James. James notably hit a Samoan drop on Jax with ease, which helped elicit “KIANA!” chants from the Fort Lauderdale crowd. Flair nearly got a victory, before she was pulled out of the ring by Jax and thrown into the ring post. Flair did end up getting back in the ring and tried to put James into the Figure Eight submission hold before Jax hit a leg drop on her. The Irresistible Force then hit the Annihilator on James, with the commotion resulting in a “This is awesome!” chant.
After some trash talk between Charlotte and Nia, Flair put Jax in the Figure Eight, but Kiana, ever so smart, snuck right under and pinned Flair to get the win. She now joins Tiffany Stratton, Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, and Asuka in entering this year’s Elimination Chamber match. As Flair expressed shock, James took to Twitter to tell off the WWE Universe for underestimating her.
NOTE: Same video, but starting at 8:16 for the segment after the match.
Backstage in the locker room, Rhea and IYO SKY were watching the match from a monitor when Byron Saxton walked up to them for an interview. Asking them for their thoughts on Kiana’s victory, Ripley responded by sarcastically saying it was so sad that Nia didn’t win tonight, but congratulations to Kiana for pulling off quite an upset, but as SKY adds to that conversation, her partner won’t be so lucky tonight, referring to Giulia. Ripley tells Saxton she’s going to wipe the floor with Giulia tonight, and then this coming Monday on Raw, IYO will win her Elimination Chamber qualifying match, so they’ll be seeing Kiana in the Chamber a week from tomorrow.
When Saxton asks if they feel like their preparation for next week’s tag team title defense has been clouded due to the Chamber, Ripley says they are focused on the Chamber, but her and SKY are the Women’s Tag Team Champions for a reason. They know how to deal with the pressure of WrestleMania season and next Friday, it’s gonna be no different. SKY lastly says that Nia and Lash don’t stand a chance, and as for Elimination Chamber, may the best woman win.
After recent run-ins with the now-injured Chelsea Green both in the ring and backstage, Tiffany Stratton took on Green’s Secret Hervice slaygent, Alba Fyre. Stratton started things off with a headlock to Fyre, and maintained control over the early goings. Fyre only started to get some offense in right before the commercial break, much to the delight of Green, still confined to a wheelchair and a kneebrace for her foot.
Throughout the commercial break, Green became noticeably more vocal in her insults to fans and referee Charles Robinson at ringside, as Fyre still held the advantage over Stratton inside the ring. Ultimately trying the Prettiest Moonsault Ever, Stratton was pushed off the ring post by Fyre onto the floor. Green got off the wheelchair, with the distraction helping Fyre take control outside the ring, but it wasn’t long before Stratton successfully hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever to win the match, enraging Green who Stratton smiled at afterwards.
As several of the SmackDown tag teams were speculating over the contents of the wooden crate that is to be opened at Elimination Chamber on the 28th, Candice LeRae walked in with Nick Aldis to complain to him, only to find Johnny Gargano lying on top of the crate, still depressed. Aldis states that he is the general manager, and Gargano will need a psychiatrist.
The Poison Pixie says this is the fault of Aldis for not letting her be at ringside weeks ago, and that had she been ringside, they would still have Axiom’s blue mask. Jordynne Grace walks up to the two, with LeRae telling her that there is important business happening and to wait her turn. Grace, however, warns that she is going to have a bigger problem than her “shell of a husband” if LeRae talks to her like that again. Questioning why Grace is even present, Aldis sees that the two clearly have some frustrations, so why not take them out on each other in a match next week. LeRae orders Gargano to get down as she says they are going home, and walks off. Aldis remarks to Grace that Gargano is not feeling too great, ending the segment.
Jade Cargill was snapping some pics for a photoshoot when she ran into the returning B-Fab, unseen for several weeks since her and Michin were both injured wrestling Cargill at house shows. When Cargill asks if she wants a shot, The Fab Female says she is actually behind two others. Also back is Michin and her kendo stick, questioning if Cargill forgot that she injured her, making her sit at home for months, and thought she was just going to disappear, even making her flinch with the slight movement of the kendo stick.
B-Fab pulls Michin back to say that maybe it’s better if she doesn’t see it coming, with Michin saying that they both just want to see her scared – it’s better if they bruise that ego, hurt that pride, take that title, and then Cargill won’t have to worry about WrestleMania. Cargill walks off.
Our final women’s match of the night featured the Women’s United States Champion, Giulia going up against Rhea Ripley. Giulia was originally scheduled to face IYO SKY, but was replaced by Ripley for unexplained reasons. From the beginning, Ripley tried to dominate using her strength, with Giulia refusing to be overpowered. A vertical suplex from Ripley only earned a 1 count as the two continued to battle for supremacy before Ripley hit her shoulder into the ring post and fell out onto the floor, which Giulia took advantage of before the commercial break.
The Beautiful Madness continued to dominate with aggression during commercials, stretching Ripley into submission. The Eradicator soon found her footing after several minutes, but Giulia still tried to fight her off with an underhook suplex on the turnbuckles. Going into position for Riptide, Nia Jax and Lash Legend attacked Ripley during the match, prompting both a disqualification and IYO SKY to come out and save her, with the champions wiping out Nia and Lash from the ring.
Now backstage in the locker room, Charlotte Flair had a look of hesitation on her face as her tag team partner Alexa Bliss walked up to her, saying that she knew she lost the Elimination Chamber qualifying match, and told her to take a minute because she knows this is hard for Bliss, but she’s going to be okay. Bliss tells Flair it’s okay to be upset, but The Queen maintains that she is fine, because she is famously evolved – she is wearing studs.
Kiana James walks in, mockingly asking Bliss if she’s going to be okay being in the Chamber all by herself, feeling that Bliss and Flair have become codependent on each other. Bliss bites back and says that James wanted Giulia to be a triple champion, but yet she is the one in the Chamber. James replies and says that they don’t worry about petty issues like that; they understand that this is a working relationship. Bliss and Flair might be best friends, but her and Giulia are the most powerful duo on the roster, causing Bliss to laugh and tell them to prove it. This upsets Giulia, who screams at Bliss but must be taken away by James.
Lastly, in the main event match between Randy Orton and Aleister Black, Zelina attempted to get on the ring apron and distract Orton, although referee Dan Engler noticed her presence quickly; the distraction helped Black attack Orton from behind. Near the end, as Black was faceplanted on the commentary desk, Vega tried to get in Orton’s face from a distance, but Orton still a hit a DDT on Black to the floor anyway. Zelina went home happy as Black ended up winning the match when Orton was attacked by WWE Champion Drew McIntyre.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week, returning to USA Network from inside the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Here is what’s set to take place:
- Candice LeRae vs. Jordynne Grace
- Women’s Tag Team Championship: RhIYO (Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY) (c) vs. The Irresistible Forces (Nia Jax and Lash Legend)
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below.