“WWE SmackDown” closed out February’s weeklies on Friday, Feb. 27, as the Elimination Chamber’s final go-home show stopped through the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Championship gold changed hands, and a late audible occurred after Bronson Reed’s injury on Monday’s “Raw.”
Whodunnit?!
WWE loves its mysteries, and “SmackDown” was hit with the classic secret attacker angle when Jey Uso was found lying out backstage. The pivot to remove Uso from the Elimination Chamber match comes as a result of Reed’s torn bicep on Monday, after Reed was reportedly supposed to win his qualifying match.
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The first half of the night centered on the mystery, with wrestlers aplenty questioning who carried out the attack. Ultimately that mystery wasn’t solved, but it did lead to Jacob Fatu and Logan Paul pleading their cases and winding up in the impromptu main event to replace Uso.
Ideally, this whole thing should have led to Undisputed WWE Champion Drew McIntyre defending his title inside the Elimination Chamber match. He’s been antagonizing and affecting all the qualifier matches, including this one, so it seemed like a logical disciplinary reaction. Nope. Instead, the same formula played all over again, with McIntyre costing Fatu by clocking him with the belt late in the match to help secure Paul’s win.
The match was fine, but hurt by its overbooked finish, which included the return of the masked man. This time, he was unmasked, and it was … a guy. A dude. Your cousin. No one (expletive) knows. Oh well.
And new!
The night’s marquee matchup saw the Women’s Tag Team Champions RHIYO dethroned in their rematch against The Irresistible Forces. It was always a toss-up whether we’d see Rhea Ripley drop her title before her appearance in the Elimination Chamber match, but that was ultimately the route WWE took, opening the door for her to pursue Jade Cargill’s Women’s Championship.
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That being said, Ripley sold her injured back like crazy at the end of the match, giving her an easy out for a loss tomorrow night. Overall, the match was solid and leaves plenty of room for fresher, more interesting storylines.
👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑
It’s been decided. LA Knight and Trick Williams are them. The two most charismatic dudes in WWE, the most over dudes, the modern-day versions of The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. If WWE were smart, it would use this Elimination Chamber opportunity to springboard off into a generational championship feud.
With that in mind, will they? Of course not. But that doesn’t mean the first interaction between Knight and Williams wasn’t brilliant. These guys are already money by themselves — so together, there’s tons of magic to be made.
Meanwhile, the ongoing undertone of a rivalry between Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes is long overdue for exploration. But WWE also teased more of the Orton and Aleister Black program, which raises eyebrows after their one-off last week — and Sami Zayn is continuing to spiral amid his shortcomings. WWE has a lot of unique layers it’s sitting on. The right triggers are just desperately needing to be pulled.
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“The Ruler” is “Awesome”
Oba Femi did what Oba Femi does and destroyed The Miz in a squash match entirely similar to last week’s match against Kit Wilson. There’s a subtle brilliance to how WWE has set these up with notable names instead of the old tradition of big men against nameless jobbers. In this case, Femi has displayed his mic work and charisma in pre-match interactions. Destroying a former world champion like Miz is also simply better than Joe Ellis.
Sorry, Joe. No shame in being average.
“SmackDown” in Louisville was about as middle of the pack as it gets and there are still tons of questions left heading into Saturday. I give this show a crown score of: 👑 5/10 👑
WWE SmackDown full card results:
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Logan Paul def. Jacob Fatu
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Women’s Tag Team Championship: The Irresistible Forces (Nia Jax & Lash Legend) def. RHIYO (Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky) (c.)
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Jordynne Grace def. Candice Lerae
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U.S. Championship: Carmelo Hayes (c.) def. Matt Cardona
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Tiffany Stratton def. Kairi Sane
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Uncle Howdy def. Solo Sikoa
Recap “WWE SmackDown” with Uncrowned’s live blog:
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Drake Riggs
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Drake Riggs
They battle on the top rope with Paul seeking a Superplex. Fatu pushes him off to go for a Swanton Bomb. Paul gets his knees up, then lands a Blockbuster and a Lionsault. Fatu kicks out.
A Paulverizer attempt fails from Paul. He eats a superkick before the interference from Theory, and Heyman ensues. Fatu takes a low blow and a Frog Splash from Paul. He kicks out! The masked man returns to take out Theory, but Paul attacks him and gets unmasked. It’s just… some dude. OK. Sure. Meanwhile, Fatu hits the Samoan Drop and goes for the Moonsault. McIntyre appears, costing him by hitting him with the title! Paul rolls him up and wins it. Well, there we have it.
👑 Crown score: 2.75/5 👑
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Drake Riggs
They trade shots into the steel steps. Fatu launches Paul into the barricade with an arm drag before missing a hip attack. Theory attacked when the referee was distracted by Paul. Fatu takes a gutwrench suplex before kicking out of the pin. A Zig-Zag from Paul lands, failing on the pin. The Primetime Splash from Paul misses, allowing for the Super Kick and Handstand Moonsault from Fatu. No dice on the pin.
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Drake Riggs
Paul gets the early advantage thanks to the Theory distraction. It doesn’t last, however, as Fatu counters by hitting a back-shoulder attack. Fatu splashes Paul in the corner before clotheslining him out of the ring. A big Suicide Dive follows, as he takes control.
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Drake Riggs
Main event time. I’m still holding out hope that McIntyre gets thrust into a defense situation, likely at the end of this match. Expect an attack on Fatu.
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Drake Riggs
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Drake Riggs
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Drake Riggs
Sky tags Ripley in, who instantly drop-kicks Legend and headbutts Jax. She hits the Riptide! Legend comes behind her for the Lash Extension to score the win! And new! There we have it, folks. RHIYO’s run ends at the hands of Legend.
👑 Crown score: 3.75/5 👑
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Drake Riggs
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Drake Riggs
Sky goes at Legend, getting reverse leapfrogged, and hitting a DDT on Jax. She goes up top, hitting Legend with a Missile Drop Kick, followed by the emote. Jax takes a Suicide Dive for good measure. Bullet Train Attack Meteora hits Legend in the corner. Over the Moonsault lands for Sky! She nearly gets the pin, but Jax breaks it up. Jax hits the Annihilator on Sky. Ripley pulls Legend off and out of the ring.
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Drake Riggs
Jax begins to take over, sending Ripley out of the ring before tagging in Legend. Ripley gets sent face-first into the post by Legend. Jax follows it with a Samoan Drop and chest chop on Ripley on the announce table. Legend splashes onto Ripley back in the ring, followed by a big Chokeslam. No pin. Instead, Jax tags back in to hit a middle rope leg drop. Sky breaks up the pin. Sky goes after Legend, while Jax looks to shoulder Ripley in the corner, missing and hitting the post. Ripley makes the tag, going after a re-tagged in Legend.
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Drake Riggs
Ripley gets caught working between the two opponents while Sky is down. On the top rope, she delivers a Missile Drop-Kick to Jax. She kicks out. Legend prevents the tag, pulling Sky off the apron. In the ring, Jax seeks the Annihilator, but takes too long, giving Ripley a big powerbomb opening. Jax kicks out again.
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Drake Riggs
Legend and Sky start the match. It feels like Ripley legit has never started one of these matches. However, she quickly gets the tag in, opening some quick team moves from the champs, with Ripley lifting Sky up for an elevated splash. Legend finds a tag to Jax, who gets drop-kicked by Sky after a tag back in. Legend re-enters the ring to take a drop-kick from Ripley. On the outside, RHIYO lands baseball slides, but the Forces counter with tandem upside-down barricade slams.
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Drake Riggs
We were waiting for a Zayn appearance tonight. Backstage, Zayn confronts Fatu to point out that he might have been the one to attack Uso, especially given that he’s getting the Paul match tonight. Fatu didn’t take kindly to it. Zayn countered by highlighting that they have a common enemy in McIntyre. Fatu noted that McIntyre took out both him and Rhodes in their match with Zayn, pointing out that Zayn had the opening to win, which led Zayn to cower and back down once again. He then lost his cool again, flipping a table.
There’s a descent into madness angle playing out here with Zayn. It seems like a fun time to bring back Karrion Kross, doesn’t it?
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Drake Riggs
Is it time for a last-minute title change? At worst, hopefully, we at least get a real finish to this rematch as opposed to the bogus no-contest WWE pulled in their first match. Jax and Legend make for a very serviceable team to hold tag gold, but there are plenty of directions to take with all of these wrestlers — except for maybe Jax, who has run her course in the SmackDown roster crop.
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Drake Riggs
Lerae gets distracted by Gargano sitting up on the table, starting to walk away. She turns around to eat a spinning back elbow and a Pumphandle German Suplex. Wow. That finish and finisher were pretty awful. Grace does not need a distraction finish to defeat Lerae. And with that move, it completely looked like a double pin. That was weird.
👑 Crown score: 1.75/5 👑
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Drake Riggs
Grace instantly hits a Spinebuster and a trio of arm-pull Clotheslines. Lerae finds an opening to trip Grace into the corner and seek some quick pins. Kicking at Grace’s head, Lerae locks on a chokehold. The camera continues to pan to Johnny Gargano planking on the announce table.
Lerae gets flipped around and out of the chokehold to trade pin attempts. Lerae finds a single leg Codebreaker. She goes to the top rope, only to get met with a European uppercut. Grace starts to lift Lerae for a delayed Superplex followed by a Jackhammer-like Suplex. Lerae kicks out.
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Drake Riggs
Realistically, this should be another squash match. It feels like ages since we last saw Candice Lerae wrestle. Probably because it has been, dating back to literally one year ago against Tiffany Stratton on Feb. 22, 2025.
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Drake Riggs
Hayes misses Nothing But Net and gets hit with a Rough Ryder! Hayes kicks out. That was a beautiful sequence. Still working, Cardona seeks the Unprettier, they trade pins, and Hayes counters with a First 48 for the win. Somewhat anticlimactic finish, especially with Cardona getting up immediately to shake Hayes’ hand. But a solid match nonetheless.
👑 Crown Score: 3.25/5 👑
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Drake Riggs
Hayes has started to take control with a big Springboard Clothesline and La Mistica. Cardona finds an opening, landing a huge Double Underhook Powerbomb. That for sure could have been a finishing move. Hayes kicked out, but remained in trouble before a big Hurricanrana off the top rope sent him across the ring. No dice on the pin from Cardona.
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