Friday Night SmackDown aired this week on USA Network from inside the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, just 24 hours away from Elimination Chamber in Chicago, Illinois. Now that Liv Morgan has officially challenged the WWE Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer to be her WrestleMania opponent, all eyes on the Elimination Chamber are now set firmly on claiming the WWE Women’s Championship and standing on the mountaintop of the SmackDown women’s division.
Cathy Kelley interviewed women’s Elimination Chamber participant, Tiffany Stratton. Mentioning the attack that sidelined men’s Chamber participant Jimmy Uso at the start of the show, Kelley asked Stratton if it changed her thoughts on entering the Elimination Chamber tomorrow. Stratton said that what happened to Jey sucked, but honestly, every single woman in that locker room knows better than to come for her right now. It is WrestleMania season and she is ready to get her WWE Women’s Championship back, and that starts by winning Elimination Chamber.
The interview soon gets interrupted by The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane). Asuka says Tiffy Time is over, and at Elimination Chamber, no one will be ready for Asuka. Stratton, however, feels like she is ready for Asuka, and challenges her to a match tonight. Sane meanwhile, pulls on a tassel in Stratton’s dress and curiously asks if she is a jellyfish, before Asuka yells at her.
A short while later, Cathy interviewed the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY. Asking if Ripley feels her focus might be fractured ahead of their title defense against the tandem of Lash Legend and Nia Jax, the Eradicator says that as much as she should be focusing on Elimination Chamber, she has to take it one step at a time, and tonight, it’s about IYO and her retaining the Women’s Tag Team Championships.
SKY adds that tomorrow, she has no doubt that Rhea will win the Chamber and become the new WWE Women’s Champion at WrestleMania. Rhea lastly mentions that they will win tonight, because they are on the same page and have each other’s backs.
Speaking of the WWE Women’s Championship, Jade Cargill walked in to mock their partnership, calling it “cute” and saying that nobody is going to have Rhea’s back at Elimination Chamber, which should be her focus, so hopefully tonight, she doesn’t hurt herself before tomorrow. Cargill walked off as Rhea and IYO stared at her in anger.
Alba Fyre and Chelsea Green came out to do guest commentary for the match between Asuka and Tiffany Stratton. Asuka brought out a microphone to repeatedly call herself smart; she will be resting before Elimination Chamber tomorrow, and instead, Kairi will be wrestling in her place. In the words of The Empress, it’s not Tiffy Time, it’s Kairi Time.
Sane entered the ring, and the match promptly began with the two going at it. Green, on commentary, said it was beautiful to be sitting front row to watch “Tacky Time” get beat up. In the ring, Sane took control of the match throughout the commercial break, repeatedly pounding on Stratton, who was punted by Asuka outside the ring and mocked by Green as having “great hair, but not a great brain”. With Sane now putting Stratton in a headlock, Green mentioned to Wade Barrett her plans to expand the Secret Hervice by adding The Undertaker as “Secretary of Dark Affairs” while also intending to go after WWE management for her foot injury, singling out general managers Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce.
As the show returned from commercials, Stratton finally began to take control, turning a cartwheel into an Alabama slam; Sane, however, regained her footing when Stratton missed an attempt at executing the Prettiest Moonsault Ever, hitting a double stomp on the Buff Barbie.
Near the end of the match, Stratton pushed Sane off the turnbuckle, squarely hitting Fyre on the outside, who fell to the floor and pissing off Green, who yelled at Stratton and got up from her wheelchair. Stratton ducked out of a dropkick from Sane and instead hit Green, who fell to the ground herself. Stratton then successfully hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever to win the match, shocking Asuka and upsetting Fyre and Green.
Later on, during the show’s second hour, Candice LeRae took on Jordynne Grace; this came after LeRae took exception to Grace wanting to speak with Nick Aldis backstage during last week’s episode. LeRae’s husband Johnny Gargano accompanied her, but still feeling very despondent to the point that he laid face down on the commentary desk.
The match then started with Grace practically ragdolling LeRae in its initial moments, but The Poison Pixie soon fought back with aggression. The two then quickly tried to pin each other several times, with Grace even hitting an impressive vertical suplex from the top turnbuckle to the mat and following it up with a slam, which would likely put any other opponent away, but not Candice, who kicked out of it.
Gargano soon got up, but began to walk away from the ring all the while looking down at himself. This led to Grace taking advantage and pinning LeRae with a Pumphandle slam/German suplex combination.
NOTE: Same video, but starting at 6:38 for the next segment.
Cathy Kelley returned to conduct an interview with another women’s Elimination Chamber participant, this one from the Monday Night Raw roster: Raquel Rodriguez. Kelley mentioned that Raquel’s Judgment Day partner Liv Morgan alluded to them both walking out of WrestleMania as world champions. Calling Kelley “tonta” (“dumb” in Spanish), Rodriguez says that Liv and her being champions of both brands would obviously mean that The Judgment Day runs WWE, as it should be, but for now, she’s focusing on what she needs to do to win.
Jade Cargill again interrupts, warning Rodriguez that she needs to focus on herself, because she can promise her, Liv isn’t worried about her friend. She made a good choice in choosing Stephanie Vaquer, but damn sure set Raquel up because if she wins tomorrow night, Cargill is going to embarrass her. Rodriguez promises, “Nos vemos muy pronto, campeona…” (“We’ll see each other soon, champ…”) before walking away.
B-Fab and Michin walk up from behind and poke fun at Jade for “making friends everywhere”. Everyone is coming for Jade’s title, including Michin, the “Hardcore Princess”. Michin tells Cargill not to get ahead of herself, as she might not even be champion by WrestleMania. Cargill bites back and says that if she’s gonna do something, then do it. B-Fab restrains Michin from getting physical, telling her friend that she’ll get her chance, as Cargill walks off again.
In what was by far the most hotly anticipated women’s match of the night, Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY put their Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line against Nia Jax and Lash Legend, now known under the name of The Irresistible Forces. RhIYO had the early advantage, using teamwork to throw their opponents off their game, but the tables turned shortly afterwards in favor of Nia and Lash, who slammed them both in the barricade.
As the show returned from commercials, Legend gave SKY a boot to the face and rammed her leg against SKY’s throat near the ring ropes. The Genius of the Sky was soon able to tag in Ripley, with Legend also tagging in Jax. The two women then went at it, with Ripley making a point to strike at Jax at any opportunity. Jax kicked out of a missile dropkick, and when Ripley was about to walk over and tag in SKY, Legend pulled her off the ring apron. Jax then executed a Samoan drop, and was priming herself for the Annihilator when Ripley got up and turned Jax’s positioning on the turnbuckles into a powerbomb that still wouldn’t put the challengers away.
After a second commercial break, Lash and Nia took control, with Jax hitting a second Samoan drop on Ripley onto the commentary desk. Their offense stayed focused on her, especially with the foreknowledge of Rhea still having to compete in the Elimination Chamber tomorrow. About to ram herself into Ripley in her team’s corner of the ring, Mami would duck her way out of it and it led to Jax going through the ring post. SKY and Legend were now the legal participants for their teams, and while SKY remained agile throughout this portion of the match, Legend and Jax refused to give up.
The end of the match came when Nia hit the Annihilator on IYO. Lash then pinned IYO, only for Rhea pull The Boujee Bully’s leg out from under the ropes. Ripley was in excruciating pain and being tagged into the match, struggled to find the energy to take her opponents down. In trying to hit Riptide on Jax, Legend took advantage of Ripley’s pain and hit the Lash Extension for The Irresistible Forces to capture and become the new Women’s Tag Team Champions.
NOTE: Same video, but starting at 6:40 for the next segment.
Backstage in the locker room, Charlotte Flair was eating her second of the three small tubs of ice cream she had in her hand, sadly mentioning to Alexa Bliss that Nia and Lash were the new champions. Flair says it’s fine… it’s totally fine. Bliss still feels that Flair is upset over not being in the Elimination Chamber match and tells her that it is fine not to be fine. Flair, however, could not think of a finer situation, as Bliss, her best friend, might be going to WrestleMania. Kiana James and the Women’s United States Champion, Giulia, then enter the room and says that this situation is not fine, hoping that Alexa is as good of a competitor as she is an actress, because her ability to pretend that this is fine is truly commendable.
Bliss bites back and questions if she’s okay that Giulia’s not in the Chamber, because when she screamed in her face last week, it seemed like she was really well adjusted, but The Beautiful Madness argues that she’s just passionate, which James agrees with – passionate about things that matter, like still being the Women’s United States Champion, James becoming WWE Women’s Champion, and the two of them becoming the Women’s Tag Team Championships. They’ll have all the gold and Bliss will just have someone to eat ice cream with, although Flair buts in to say James can’t have any of the ice cream.
The four women begin to argue when Jade Cargill arrives, calling them “messy” and telling them she just came to say good luck, before walking away. Flair, still in a sad mood, said she was fine, ending the segment.
Cathy Kelley spoke with Nia Jax and Lash Legend, both evidently very overjoyed at being the new Women’s Tag Team Champions. While Kelley congratulated them positively, Jax quickly shut her up and mentioned that she is now a three-time Women’s Tag Team Champion (her previous two reigns being with Shayna Baszler), and wishes good luck to anyone who tries to take it from them, and to her partner Lash, for winning her first championship in WWE.
Legend says it is her first of many, and to best believe that they are going to celebrate in the biggest and baddest way next week on SmackDown. When Kelley says it’s exciting and that she can’t wait, Jax informs her that she is not invited, with the two snapping their fingers at her. Cathy says “rude…” and moves on with mentioning the main event match.
Finally, Zelina appeared with her husband Aleister Black to confront Randy Orton as the two have increasingly been at odds in recent weeks. While Black questions if the Black Mass in last week’s main event woke up something inside of Orton, Vega wonders if it may have been anger, to which Black says to his “dear wife” that if it is anger, he hopes Orton utilizes it well in the Elimination Chamber tomorrow.
Elimination Chamber airs tomorrow night on Saturday, February 28th at 7 p.m. Eastern Time / 4 p.m. Pacific from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on the ESPN app in the United States and Netflix internationally. Two women’s matches will be part of the card for tomorrow night’s show:
- Women’s Elimination Chamber: Tiffany Stratton vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka vs. Kiana James vs. Raquel Rodriguez – the winner will earn a title shot against Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 42.
- Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. AJ Lee
The event will also be preceded by the WWE Countdown pre-show at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time / 2:00 p.m. Pacific, and the post-show after the end of the event. Both will be streamed across the ESPN app and WWE’s social media accounts.
Friday Night SmackDown will be airing next week from inside the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.
Make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s episode of SmackDown, plus your Elimination Chamber predictions, in the comments below.