5 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Feb 28)
Ups...
5. Turmoil In The Women's Division
Naomi's injury at Elimination Chamber put SmackDown's writers in a tight spot. Everything pointed towards the former Funkadactyl carrying the Women's Championship into her Orlando hometown at WrestleMania 33, but her knee issues threw those plans to the shredder. WWE have been forced to come-up with something new on the fly, and it started coming together last night.
Mickie James inadvertently struck the interfering Alexa Bliss during her match with Becky Lynch, which should sow seeds of discontent between the supposed rivals. Shortly after, Bliss addressed Becky, Naomi, and dropped a flimsy Oscars joke before Natalya interrupted her interview. Fresh off winning her rivalry with Nikki Bella, Nattie made her championships aspirations known and if we connect the dots, it looks like the women are heading towards a multi-person match at WrestleMania.
It's slightly disappointing as Raw's division is almost certainly heading in the same direction, but it's a good way to tie everyone together. With Carmella still messing around with James Ellsworth and Bella now out of the picture, this throws all four of the division's most prominent competitors into the title scene. Most fans would prefer a straight-up one-on-one contest, but these four are more than talented enough to make it work, and it'll keep Bliss well-occupied in Naomi's absence.