BRM Reviews the 2/12/2019 Smackdown (KOFI!)

[Big Red Machine]

CHARLOTTE FLAIR PROMO- very good heel promo saying exactly what you’d expect her to say in this situation. Also, she’s got a “front row ticket” to Elimination Chamber so she can watch Ronda Rousey vs. Ruby Riott. Why does she need a ticket? She WORKS FOR THE COMPANY!


Tom Phillips tells us that the match to determine who enters the Elimination Chamber first is up next and Carmella & Naomi make their entrance… so of course when we get back from a commercial break, we see New Day backstage, discussing which of them will be replacing Mustafa Ali in the Elimination Chamber. Why does New Day even get to choose? Shouldn’t management be choosing someone? And having management choose “a member of New Day” for New Day to decide amongst themselves makes it feel like management really doesn’t care that much.

IICONICS PROMO- The same one we saw on both last week’s SD and last night’s Raw.

FIRE & DESIRE PROMO- this was the same promo they cut last night on Raw.

NAOMI & CARMELLA PROMO- They argue that they have an advantage because there is very little tape of them teaming. Fine.

LOSING TEAM ENTERS THE ELIMINATION CHAMBER FIRST: Naomi & Carmella vs. The IIconics vs. Fire & Desire- 4/10
Stuff happened. Naomi pinned Mandy, then The IIconics jumped Naomi & Carmella and ran both of their shoulders into the ring post.

BAYLEY PROMO FROM AFTER LAST NIGHT’S RAW- She is certain that Sasha will be at Elimination Chamber despite her injuries because they’re always there for each other.
If one of these two turns on each other after all of this I will be VERY pissed off.

NIA JAX & TAMINA PROMO- Tamina kept trying to talk but Nia just kept plowing through her. I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be relevant or if they just didn’t shoot another take.

RIOTT SQUAD PROMO- meh

MUSTAFA ALI PROMO- an excellent promo, but it’d be nice if he give us a specific injury that is keeping him out of action. Just being “banged up” really isn’t enough based on what we see in WWE on a weekly basis.

MCMIZ TV WITH SPECIAL GUESTS THE USOS- bad
This was a dull segment that heated out of nowhere via contrived comments and actions. Eventually The Usos laid the champions out with superkicks.

DANIEL BRYAN PROMO- dull

GAUNTLET MATCH TO DETERMINE WHO ENTERS THE ELIMINATION CHAMBER LAST: Daniel Bryan (w/Erick Rowan) vs. Kofi Kingston (w/New Day) vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton- 8.75/10
Okay… but how did you determine the equally important order of entry for this Gauntlet Match?
They had Kofi run through Bryan, Jeff, and Joe, which was not only important in establishing that Kofi actually does belong in this match rather than just being a fill-in for the injured Mustafa Ali, but also actually managed to get the people to both cheer Kofi and buy the fact that he could pin AJ Styles, so props to WWE and to Kofi for that.
AJ did eventually defeat Kofi after almost an hour in the ring. Then Orton’s music played, but Randy came out of the crowd for the RKO out of nowhere. This was a good heat finish.


A fine go-home show from Smackdown, capped off by a match that will make you a believer in Kofi Kingston again. That being said, I was quite surprised that nothing was even announced for the US Title, Women’s Title, or Rey vs. Almas. The card for Elimination Chamber is shockingly light, with Charlotte, Rollins, Asuka, Rusev, Nakamura, McIntyre, the US Title, the Universal Title, and the hot Rey vs. Almas feud not on the card (we’ll give WWE a pass on Becky for kayfabe reasons, and on the Raw Tag Titles because they were just defended- and changed hands- on Raw).

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Tom Phillips opined that fifty-two minutes might have been the longest time someone ever wrestled on Smackdown.
Kurt and Brock had a pretty darn famous sixty-minute Ironman Match on Smackdown. Was it fifteen and a half years ago? Yes. But it’s also the only time such a thing has ever happened on Smackdown and was also a world title change, so there is no excuse for forgetting it.

[KILLdozer]

The commentary was so grating to me personally I had to give it its own topic...I couldn't wait for the review!