With one week (and a day) until the 2026 Elimination Chamber PLE live from Chicago, tonight’s WWE SmackDown looks to lock in those final narratives while pushing plotlines based on recent developments. Fort Lauderdale hosted the Friday night broadcast on the SYFY Channel as opposed to the USA Network because of the Winter Olympics, though tonight is the final show scheduled for change—right in time for next week’s ‘go home’ edition of SD.
Two more spots remained in each of the men’s and women’s Elimination Chamber qualifying matches before the night began, with four already qualified, but we would be down to one by the time the episode cut to black.
ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFIERS: Men’s (Already Qualified: Cody, Orton, Knight, Je’Von)
Damian Priest vs. Trick Williams VS Carmelo Hayes—Triple Threat
Winner: Trick Williams
It was a missed opportunity on Monday for both WWE and the recent NXT call-up that has caused quite a splash on the main roster. After all, Williams’s ‘Whoop That Trick’ calling card originated in the movie “Hustle and Flow,” set in Memphis—the exact town RAW was live from this week. The crowd broke into a ‘whoop that trick’ chant several times throughout the show.
However, there is no question that tonight’s big win over both Priest, who he pinned, and the current U.S. champion in ‘Melo’ Hayes. Priest walked into this match as the only former champion amongst the upstarts, but Trick has been a force and ruffling all the veteran feathers he can find.
After Je’Von Evans won on Monday, this qualifying victory by Trick sets up a potential narrative pitting veterans like Cody and Orton against a rookie and a sophomore in Evans and Williams—all vying for a title shot at Mania. Everything is being plotted in a way that makes Cody the obvious favorite, but maybe the young stars can shake up the entire title landscape.
ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFIERS: WOMEN’S (Already Qualified: Rhea, Auska, Liv, Stratton)
Charlotte Flair VS Kianna James Vs Nia Jaxx—Triple Threat
Winner: Kianna James
Kinna James pulled off the shock win against two former champs in Flair and Jaxx. It was not an expected outcome when you consider the bevy of storylines that existed between either a Flair or Jaxx qualification.
James was able to pull off the win by pinning Flair from the crucifix position after the former champ locked in the ‘Figure-8’ submission hold on Jaxx.
WORLD TITLE WORRIES
The booking for the WWE world title is usually the main focus by the time the ‘road to Mania’ rolls around, but this year is the opposite. While RAW’s HW champ, CM Punk, has secured his Mania main event (likely for night 2) against the winner of the 2026 Royal Rumble in Roman Reigns. The lack of hesitation in Roman’s decision made the match feel much bigger; a theme of ‘who to choose’ is one WWE usually drags out for weeks.
If you are going based on storytelling, then a triple threat match for the world title between champion Drew and challengers Cody Rhodes and Jacob Fatu is the expectation. However, only Cody is qualified for the EC match that could earn him a shot at the world title against McIntyre.
Cody, who initiated the promo, was interrupted by Jacob, who was interrupted by GM Nic Aldis, who was, of course, interrupted by the champion. We were told McIntyre was given the night off, but he ended up ‘buying out a suite’ just to ‘watch the show.’
Drew attempted to goad both men, telling Fatu that instead of his ‘all gas, no breaks’ catchphrase, it should be ‘all bark no bite,’ in a very cheeky line from the Scottish native. Aldis was able to get cooler heads to prevail after telling Fatu to come back with him to ‘discuss’ his title aspirations.
SAMI CALLS OUT CODY… BOTH MEN ‘ON THEIR HEELS’ AROUND EACH OTHER?
Later, Cody would run into Sami Zayn—the man he pinned last Friday to earn a spot in the Chamber match. Sami told Cody that he should be ‘ashamed’ of himself after Cody utilized the distraction from Drew to punch his ticket. Cody attempted to gaslight Sami by claiming that the narrative was his “perspective” of what happened.
Cody told Sami that the reason he has not become WWE champion is that he has yet to ‘jump on’ opportunities when they are in front of him—excusing his behavior last week as ‘seizing the moment.’
Sami responded by calling Cody the ‘golden boy’ and claiming it was ‘easy’ for the “QB1” to say that to him. Sami said he had been trying to ‘finish his story’ for 10 years before the two blew up at each other. Trick Williams entered the frame just as Sami started to crash-out.
After that, Sami ran to apologize to Cody, and the live crowd booed audibly. He claimed it was a matter of when, not if, Cody wins the world title again. The entire segment offered a clearer, more compelling storyline than anything on the Friday show since Drew won the belt. It might be much more effective if they didn’t tease Sami’s heel turn last year.
This might come down to Sami’s interference at the Chamber, but will he beef with Trick or Cody?
JADED ON THE CHAMP’S RUN? CAN CARGILL FIND A WAY TO ‘LIV’ ON?
Jade cut a rather generic promo calling out the class of superstars that make up next week’s women’s Elimination Chamber match while finding a way to fit Liv Morgan in during her time on the mic despite the lack of time she received. In fact, her entire segment lasted two whole minutes before Charlotte Flair’s entrance cut her walk to ‘Gorilla’ short.
There was an interesting moment between Flair and Jade. The heat felt real, and though there is nothing that connects them from a storyline angle, you can sell Kayfabe heat between these two superstars. It also made Flair seem like the target, a common issue throughout Jade’s reign.
TALA TONGA VS ILJA DRAGUNOV—Singles Match
Three separate interferences made this match a herculean task for the former U.S. champion in Dragunov as the MFT faction won both the bout and the numbers game. Dragunov had enjoyed some terrific singles success, and it seemed like WWE was going to take this upstart seriously in his further bookings. It feels like he has either dropped out of favor or his ‘push’ ended until his next one.
Solo took credit for Tonga’s win before telling the crowd he was serious about this latest push to the top—that is when the numbers game was hit with the ‘reverse uno’ card.
The Wyatt Sicks popped up on the ‘Titantron’ and delivered a haunting promo for the ‘next time they see’ Solo and his faction. Unfortunately, this feud is both beyond the due date and lost the cool factor.
It is hard to blame Uncle Howdy and the gang, especially when you go full-blown capitalism on the artistry that is the Bray Universe. How do you kill a cool faction? Answer: Stick them in an Arby’s commercial—and that’s exactly what WWE did to the first post-Taker ‘spooky’ character arc.
Other Tidbits
- The main event of tonight’s show ending up on a ‘tibits’ graf does not bode well for the blue brand’s larger landscape. Tonight’s show was solid in many narratives, but Orton is lost right now with no real direction. He is not positioned to win the Mania title shot opportunity, especially if he’s beefing with a mid-carder just a week out from the Chamber. Aleister Black would beat Orton in singles action after McIntyre hit Orton with his world title belt before being chased off by Cody.
- Oba Femi received a contract offer from RAW this past Monday to go with the SD offer he received a week prior. Tonight, he squashed Kit Wilson after a couple of weeks of ‘toxic masculinity’ storytelling led to this matchup. Perhaps this will end his initial call-up run and get into a proper feud—Rusev seems to be first up for Oba. The Miz approached Oba in a backstage segment where he offered to ‘show him the ropes.’ That prompted Oba to ask for a match against Miz.
- WHAT IS IN THE BOX-In years past (mostly the Vince years), WWE would throw out a random storyline that resulted in a comedy angle. With Mania coming up and Chamber next up, this ‘big box’ angle was initiated on Monday, where GM Pearce decided to ‘send it to SD’ despite orders not to open until the EC PLE. Aldis sent it right back to Monday (I guess nobody thought to send it to NXT?), and it will likely get sent somewhere else until next Saturday.
- Tiffany Stratton defeated Alba Fyre in singles action after landing her ‘Prettiest Moonsault’ finisher. Chelsea Green watched ringside from her wheelchair, still nursing her ankle injury. It shows how valuable they see Green to be, given that she is being used in non-physical TV roles.
- Rhea Ripley won by DQ against Giulia after Jaxx and Lash Legend caused the interference. Iyo Sky came out to help out her co-tag partner ahead of their title defense against Lash and Jaxx next week in Louisville.
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