WWE SmackDown: 2/11/2022

We’re slowly stopping at the Elimination Chamber payperview, which is one week away! So far, WWE has been consistent with the quality of their weekly shows; though often times it does appear that there are some hiccups along the road to WrestleMania but this week was a solid week for WWE and what better way to conclude it than with SmackDown!

Segment 1: Goldberg’ing Goldberg

The Tribal Chief did a sit down interview with Michael Cole to talk about Reigns’ upcoming match at the Chamber against Goldberg for the Universal title, and wow I really love hearing this version of Roman talk and cut promos. Reigns has always had his moments of bizarre promos but since turning heel and aligning himself with Paul Heyman, the man really has improved and has that aura in which everything he says just sounds so convincing and real that you’d often forget that you’re watching a wrestling program in which it’s scripted. The line of Roman saying that he’s going to “Goldberg” Goldberg (pretty much another way of saying he’s going to obliterate and destroy the hall of famer) just suited him really well and it adds to the excitement to this match!

Match 1: Natalya vs Aliyah. (Rating: 1.75/5)

I really want this feud to be done now. Nothing new happened, no moments to leave the fans stunned or speechless, it was just the same match that we’ve been getting; except this time there was a definitive clean win with Natalya locking in the Sharpshooter and making Aliyah tap out to said move in about roughly 10 minutes. Rematches aren’t necessarily a bad thing at all, some competitors really do well against one another and have great chemistry. It leaves room for growth between both opposing sides so the next encounter would feel even more special, and while neither Natalya nor Aliyah are “bad” wrestlers, the chemistry seems to either not be there or be lackluster. It’s okay to have Natalya at least win once because Aliyah’s already beaten her three times at this point but I just hope after this both women can move to new things.

Match 2: Happy Corbin vs Cesaro. (3.5/5)

This was short, sweet, straight to the point; and I really wanted to see much much more. This was a really fun match, and honestly it should’ve just gone longer! Both Happy Corbin and Cesaro are phenomenal athletes, so it was fitting seeing these two go ahead and do what they do best and having it against each other. With one End of Days to the Swiss Superman, Corbin picked up the pinfall win after a back to back contest with Cesaro. With Corbin still being undefeated (under the “Happy Corbin” monicker), I’m hopeful that the eventual match with Drew McIntyre would be great.

Segment 2: Goldberg’s Agenda

Now it’s time to hear from the challenger, Goldberg! Similar to Reigns, Goldberg’s promo skills have drastically improved during these last few WWE runs compared to his WCW run and original WWE run back in 2003. Actions definitely spoke louder than words with Bill as he basically was undefeated for the longest time in WCW, but I’ve always wanted to see him at least talk a bit more and also sound convincing. Thankfully that’s happened and Goldberg not only said that he doesn’t care about what the fans think about him getting undeserved championship matches (which they are, even if those matches are fun to watch) but he also vowed that he’d beat Reigns in Saudi Arabia next week and then main event WrestleMania to, once again, defeat Brock Lesnar. Obviously Reigns is definitely winning against Goldberg but I do remain hopeful that the hall of famer sticks around and has one final WrestleMania match.

Main Event: SmackDown Women’s Championship Match; Charlotte Flair (c) vs Naomi. (Rating: 4/5)

This almost made the storyline between Naomi and Sonya Deville feel worth it, because this was such an amazing way to close a show with two of the best women wrestlers SmackDown has to offer. With Charlotte facing Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania, it did seem obvious that Flair was going to retain against the former champion Naomi, but there were certain points that I would’ve though Naomi was going to win the title and she’d be the one facing Rousey instead. Both women do know each other extremely well due to their previous encounters throughout the last couple of weeks but it definitely was the better of the other encounters due to there being an actual finish instead of having Deville somehow screw Naomi out of a win. Flair won via pinfall with the Natural Selection and Sonya did come down and attacked Naomi with Charlotte helping her when Ronda Rousey showed up and evened out the playing field. It was made official following SmackDown that at Elimination Chamber, Deville and Flair versus Rousey and Naomi in a tag team match would be happening and I couldn’t be even more excited as this is going to be Rousey’s first official match following the Royal Rumble win!

Final rating: 3.75/5