5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (27 Feb - Results & Review)

This week's SmackDown had multiple mission statements to tackle as soon as the show went live on the air. Firstly, get Jey Uso (who was already a replacement for the injured Bronson Reed) out of the men's Elimination Chamber match. Second, crown brand new Women's Tag-Team Champions. Thirdly, continue Oba Femi's impressive introduction as a main roster wrecking ball.

If they were adding in a fourth goal, then it probably wouldn't have been: 'Bore everyone senseless by sprinkling in a couple of crappy matches and R-Truth teaching his fellow superstars how to watch WWE PLEs via ESPN'. Sadly, as usual, there were some negatives to report coming out of the show.

The 'go home' edition was a fun ride for the most part, but it did expose the issues with tacking on a third hour to SmackDown. This was a 2-hour broadcast with heavy padding so it'd fit the 3-hour runtime. That's just the way it is, people. WWE will have a lot more of these once WrestleMania season comes and goes.

Reported major panic behind the scenes about the state of 'Mania 42 creatively and in terms of hype/ticket sales shouldn't detract from the good this company has to offer. The roster is insanely talented, they're working hard to build fresh stars (Oba, Lash Legend, Trick Williams etc) on the blue brand, and Drew McIntyre is still running around the place trying to book his own title reign like he's playing GM Mode in the upcoming WWE 2K26.

Here are all the plus points and downers from Friday's final push pre-Chamber.