10 Ups & 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Feb 19)
4. A Fine Main Event
An all-star six-man SmackDown main event saw the Elimination Chamber's babyface participants (Kofi Kingston, Jeff Hardy, and AJ Styles) teaming against the heels (Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, and Samoa Joe), and while there was little to chose between this and the other two men's matches on the show, the headliner was probably the weaker of the three.
It was a good match. Very good, in fact. Continuing the dynamics establish in last week's gauntlet match and inside the Chamber, they concocted a layout designed to highlight Kingston, who shone throughout. Kofi is making a habit of this. Having stolen the spotlight on three consecutive shows, he suddenly feels like a bigger deal than at any other point in his WWE career, and he deserves immense praise to seizing the opportunity granted by Mustafa Ali's ill-timed injury.
Rowan got involved on Daniel Bryan's behalf, though Kingston took him out by diving onto the WWE Champion and his henchman. This led to the Troulbe in Paradise and the finish. In scoring the three, Kofi gained his second major pinfall over Bryan in as many weeks, setting up the Fastlane main event in the process, though we'll get to that in a bit.