Friday Night SmackDown Review - February 16, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kevin Owens def. "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio to Qualify for the World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender's Elimination Chamber Match

This was a good match without anything out of the ordinary about it, though both guys being as over as they are in their respective roles (and it being positioned as the opener) resulted in it being very well received by the live crowd. I liked the finish with Mysterio telling R-Truth he's a member of The Judgment Day (so he could bring him a chair) and Truth refusing because Judgment Day was adamant that he's not.

Tiffany Stratton def. Zelina Vega to Qualify for the Women's World Championship No. 1 Contender's Elimination Chamber Match

I like Vega and feel she's really broken out in the last year, but Stratton simply makes way more sense to be in the Chamber, especially having just debuted on SmackDown. It's too early in her main roster run for her to be losing. They had a well-worked match and I appreciated that Vega's out for losing was being distracted by Legado del Fantasma in the crowd. I'm hoping Stratton shines inside the Chamber and possibly eliminates Bianca Belair to set that up as a WrestleMania matchup.

Authors of Pain def. Javier Bernal and Beau Morris

Authors of Pain had their team name shorted to just AOP years ago and it looked like it'd stay that way once they returned to the company. Well, they were introduced as Authors of Pain here, so that's encouraging. Bernal is an NXT regular, whereas Morris is a Performance Center prospect (I'm not sure I've even seen him on Level Up). This marked AOP's first WWE TV match in almost four years and it was a quick squash for them as it should have been.

United States Champion Logan Paul def. The Miz to Qualify for the World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender's Elimination Chamber Match (Non-Title)

This was a rematch from SummerSlam 2022 and was Paul's first non-premium live event match in WWE. I enjoyed their original encounter and this was along those same lines. The roles being reversed this time made for a different dynamic and they went for a while. Paul winning (relatively) clean was a nice touch, too. The men's Chamber consisting almost entirely of SmackDown Superstars is pretty funny considering a shot at Raw's top title is on the line. That virtually guarantees a Drew McIntyre victory.

Naomi def. Alba Fyre to Qualify for the Women's World Championship No. 1 Contender's Elimination Chamber Match

Naomi is still doing the "glow" shtick, but her new entrance theme sounds a lot like the one she was using in TNA during her time there and that's really cool. Shotzi was her original opponent before she got hurt during NXT TV tapings on Tuesday night (though she was never going to advance, anyway). Fyre is great, but she won't be taken seriously as long as she's teaming with Isla Dawn. She really needs to be on her own again. This could've been better, but they didn't seem to click.

Nick Aldis Introduced NXT Tag Team Champion Bron Breakker as SmackDown's Newest Superstar

Breakker and Jade Cargill were shown with Aldis backstage earlier in the episode. We still don't know where Cargill will end up (I'm thinking Raw at this point), but Breakker has officially put pen to paper with the blue brand. I expected him on Raw, but I have no complaints about him joining SmackDown instead. That just means my idea of Gunther vs. Breakker for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania isn't happening, but it's not like Gunther doesn't have other options. At any rate, it was wise to make a big deal over Breakker signing with SmackDown the way they did.

The Rock Declared Himself a Member of The Bloodline

Man, what a breath of fresh air it was to get Rock back in heel mode for the first time in over two decades. This was a total nostalgia trip, sure, but it was entertaining as all heel. Will it work with every promo he cuts going forward? I don't know, but he did a tremendous job trash-talking the crowd this week and establishing his new character. This was a blast, and I loved the show-closing visual of Rock standing side-by-side with the rest of The Bloodline.

Overall Show

Similar to last week, this edition of SmackDown was a success because four of the five matches had Elimination Chamber stakes. Granted, there were no shocking outcomes, but the right people advanced in each qualifier. The best part of the show was obviously the final segment with Rock going full-fledged heel. That's what we've been waiting for and it definitely delivered. I'm excited for what the rest of the road to WrestleMania will bring along with Elimination Chamber next weekend in Australia. Next week's go-home show will be taped in advance (immediately following this episode, in fact), but they advertised some stuff that I'm looking forward to, particularly McIntyre vs. LA Knight.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews