Friday Night SmackDown Review - February 23, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Tiffany Stratton def. Liv Morgan

This stemmed from Stratton striking Morgan during that Raw segment on Monday. Morgan is fresh off returning from from injury and Stratton just made her main roster debut, so neither should've lost here, but Morgan is such a strong babyface that she'll have no issue bouncing back from this loss. Plus, this was a fun, well-worked opener, so Morgan hardly loses anything in defeat. I remain confident there's a chance we get Stratton vs. Bianca Belair at WrestleMana 40 based on the interactions they've had in the last month.

NXT Tag Team Champion Bron Breakker def. Dante Chen

This marked Breakker's in-ring debut as a SmackDown Superstar. Interestingly, he didn't come out with his NXT Tag Team Championship belt, which must mean his reign is going to be short-lived. Chen is NXT's resident jobber, for those wondering. This was a pretty straightforward showcase for Breakker as he hit all of his signature moves and went over in dominant fashion. He has a bright future on SmackDown and I'd love to see him involved in some sort of a high-profile match at 'Mania.

Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne def. The Judgment Day (JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio)

Was there any doubt Bate and Dunne would win before they challenge Finn Balor and Damian Priest for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship at Elimination Chamber? Mysterio and McDonagh have been firmly established as Judgment Day's "B-team" by this point, but that doesn't mean this wasn't a well-wrestled match with strong showings from all involved. Bate and Dunne have clicked as a tandem since joining forces and I'm glad they've had a chance to build real momentum with a string of wins.

Authors of Pain def. The Street Profits

It's worth noting that the Profits came out to their old entrance music. I know they're back to being babyfaces, but the new music helped add to their repackaging with Bobby Lashley. At any rate, I was pleasantly surprised how competitive of a contest this was. They have history from their time in NXT years ago. This was decent and received some time. While I'm glad AOP went over, I doesn't feel like many people care about this faction warfare currently.

Drew McIntyre def. LA Knight by Disqualification

This was the first singles match McIntyre and Knight have had in WWE and hopefully it won't be the last. They had great chemistry and delivered an entertaining main event. McIntyre just handed Cody Rhodes his first pinfall loss in nearly a year on Monday's Raw, so I figured he would win, but I had no issue with the non-finish because it protected Knight, too. All of the men's Elimination Chamber combatants took each other out afterward, and although it played out predictably, the crowd ate it up.

Overall Show

This show was taped immediately following last week's, hence why the crowd noise sounded piped-in at times. It's also why there was an abundance of vignettes and video packages, with Elimination Chamber airing in mere hours, that sort of stuff was expected. Despite all of that, I ended up enjoying this edition of SmackDown on the whole. Next week looks loaded on paper with Bayley and Dakota Kai taking on The Kabuki Warriors, Carlito vs. Santos Escobar in a Street Fight, and The Rock appearing.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews