7 Ups & 1 Down From WWE SmackDown (14 Feb - Results & Review)

4. The Formatting Of That Opening Segment

If you've seen one WWE revolving door promo segment, you've seen them all. The company rarely deviates from the usual tropes (babyface welcomes fans to the show > heel interrupts > heel looks annoyed when someone else interrupts them etc etc), but such skits are fine if the characters involved are strong and have a connection with the live crowd. That was the case with Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu.

Cody addressed Elimination Chamber and Solo Sikoa before being interrupted by Drew. That, in turn, brought Fatu out with Tama Tonga, and there was a hot staredown tease between McIntyre and Jacob before the big Scot bailed. Drew rightly pointed out that he already had his spot in the Chamber match wrapped up, so he wasn't interested in fighting Fatu until he’d qualified later that night (which he didn't). Interrupting an interruption, Solo showed up on the tron and Jacob marched off to get an explanation from him as to why he walked out post-Raw on Netflix debut.

This was all formatted in such a slick way. Of note, it's also very interesting that Cody said last week’s Samoan Spike from Sikoa wasn’t for him. Maybe everybody, including this writer, jumped the gun on being disappointed that they’re running back Rhodes vs. Solo. The jury's out on the need for it to happen at Chamber though.

A lively crowd helped motor things along here, but Cody, Drew and even Jacob all had valid things to say on the mic. Last week, McIntyre's appearance was stricken by some seriously weak material. That wasn't the case this time, thankfully.