7 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (28 Feb - Results & Review)

2. LA Knight Was Always Winning, But…

…WWE's agents did a neat job sowing seeds of doubt with Jacob Fatu’s involvement as a late Solo sub and how good Carmelo Hayes looked during the main event Triple Threat. That's all anyone can reasonably ask for when it's fairly clear who's about to become number one contender. LA Knight had been chasing down Shinsuke Nakamura before Friday's episode of SmackDown, after all.

Sadly, Shinsuke announced via X that a man he considered an older brother (Osamu Nishimura) had passed away before WWE's latest TV made air. Pivoting away from a planned Shin vs. Knight bout, the company gave Nakamura time off to grieve and GM Nick Aldis announced a one-night mini-tournament of sorts to thrash out who'd challenge for the United States Title next. That gave them some breathing room, and it was the right thing to do.

Some things are more important than pro wrestling.

Back to the Triple Threat. Fatu hit his moonsault finish (it'd still be good if WWE came up with something for him, 'cause it's the same finisher Tiffany Stratton uses), then Knight pulled him out of the ring and stole the pinfall. Sure, Knight was probably always winning this one night affair to crown a new number one contender for the United States Title, but we had some fun along the way and Nakamura got time to reflect and mourn.

Fans there live for SmackDown seemed to enjoy following along with the quasi-qualifiers and they popped when LA nabbed Fatu's thunder. That was risky due to Jacob's popularity, but it worked out well.