14 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Mar 19)

10. Cesaro Softens Kofi Up

Last night's gauntlet match was good. It wasn't quite on the same level as the Elimination Chamber prelude or last year's Raw bout, but Kofi Kingston's performance was superhuman and each part of it hit the required notes, though only one was truly excellent.

It's perhaps surprising that Cesaro's part was the least effective, given 'The Swiss Superman's' talent. This was primarily a runtime issue. His and Kofi's scrap was the second shortest at just over seven minutes. They didn't quite have enough time to work to the level one might normally expect from them, and that Kingston had already fought Sheamus forced them into a one-sided layout the likes of which Cesaro isn't best suited too, but they worked a fun little fight regardless, culminating in Kingston's victory.

It came when the European was on the verge of crushing his opponent with the Neutralizer. Kofi countered out, hit the S.O.S., and that was that. The Bar had been felled, and Kingston moved on...