Friday Night SmackDown Review - February 17, 2012

Superstars fight for a spot in the Elimination Chamber.

Decent tag team match with Big Show and Great Khali defeating Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett. Of course, anything containing Khali will be extremely limited, but it was fine for what it was. I hate the fact that neither Barrett nor Rhodes have gotten any momentum going into Sunday, which will hinder their chances of winning the Elimination Chamber.

Big Show going crazy was interesting since we don't usually see this from his character. I wouldn't necessarily call this a heel turn, but it's what's expected going into the Chamber. However, I do have a feeling a heel turn is imminent to set up a WrestleMania match with Shaq.

Good match from Ted DiBiase and Hunico, but it just felt like much of the same from last week. I'm glad they're involved in a program together, but they haven't done the best job promoting it or properly building it. Both Superstars need wins, and I'd rather see them move on in separate directions.

Fun tag team match with WWE Tag Team Champions Primo and Epico defeating the Usos in a very high-paced bout. The ending moments were incredibly suspenseful and almost had me thinking the Usos might just pick up the victory. These two teams work really well together, so I hope this isn't the last time we see them collide.

Excellent match between World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan and Sheamus. Originally, I wasn't happy we were seeing this on SmackDown when it can instead be saved for WrestleMania, but the ending gave Bryan a victory while also protecting Sheamus. This could have been a possible preview of what's to come between the two, so I'm excited we'll be seeing more from them in the near future.

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World Champ Daniel Bryan spits in the face of Sheamus.

Throwaway match with Jinder Mahal defeating Ezekiel Jackson. If they want to maintain Jinder's heat, then they should consistently book him in a dominant fashion and not have him lose the very next week. It's pathetic to see Jackson once considered a monster face a few months back and now jobbing to the enhancement talent on the roster.

Fine Divas tag team match that shockingly exceeded sixty seconds. The main focus here was giving Tamina more momentum into her Divas Championship match on Sunday, and they were successful in that aspect. However, Natalya's antics in this were absolutely ridiculous and a further disgrace to her character.

Wasteful battle royal to close the show that saw Santino Marella secure a spot in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber for the World Heavyweight Championship. The fact that they announced the winner three days prior on WWE.com did not help matters by any means. Very few Superstars, if at all, had credibility to begin with, so I never bought into the chance of anyone here coming out victorious. If Santino is the best choice they have for the Chamber, then that says a lot about the lack of depth of the roster these days. It was also sad to see David Otunga being treated as the biggest threat in this match, whereas he hasn't accomplished anything in ages. 

Overall, a good episode that did its best in heavily hyping the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view for this Sunday, but also featured some decent action as a whole. Having the battle royal was the only true flaw with this show since we already knew who was going to win, but it was easy to shrug off.

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