Friday Night Smackdown preview: Quick thoughts about Feb. 24 episode

WWE Friday Night Smackdown comes live from the Bell Centre in Evansville, IN, tonight as the show dives into the fallout of Elimination Chamber and hits the gas towards Wrestlemania in five weeks.

As we prepare for another episode of Smackdown tonight, I’ll give some of my quick thoughts about the show and what’s in store on the card.

Sami Zayn

What a weekend that was for Sami Zayn. You don’t see a superstar have an entire pay-per-view built solely around them very often and that was the case last week. At both Smackdown and the Elimination Chamber, he got a hero’s welcome and a proper ovation as his hometown fans were properly behind him. That was an all-time moment for him on Saturday and he feels like a huge star now.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get the job done against Roman Reigns and although Kevin Owens came out to save him afterwards, KO still wants nothing to do with him. And you know what, that makes sense. One aspect of Zayn’s story that has been lost over the last month is the fact that he hasn’t truly paid the price for his involvement in the Bloodline all of those months. Sure, he took an ass-whooping at the Royal Rumble and proceeded to lose at Elimination Chamber, but that doesn’t cover the bridges that he’s burned with people that he royally screwed over.

Zayn is still committed to bringing down the Bloodline and he and KO are most likely on a collision course with the Usos at Wrestlemania. But he has just over five weeks to mend fences with his former best friend. We’ll see how that story develops in the coming weeks.

Bloodline

To add further drama to this story, the Usos defied Roman Reigns direct order and appeared at Elimination Chamber last Saturday. However, Jey Uso refused to use the steel chair on Sami and took an accidental spear from Zayn for his troubles. Jey has expressed his doubts about being fully part of the group in recent weeks and after a month of insubordination, he’s going to have to confront his cousin in the ring. Could we see him get casted out of his family’s group? Or will the “Tribal Chief” give his cousin another chance? The tension builds.

Charlotte Flair-Rhea Ripley

Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair has basically been in a holding pattern for the past month, but will finally go head-to-head with Rhea Ripley tonight ahead of their title match at Wrestlemania. We saw these two feud over the title just a few years ago, but Ripley is a dramatically different character. She is much more seasoned and refined than she was when she first faced Charlotte and I’m intrigued by how they will interact.

Rey Mysterio vs. Karrion Kross

Hey man, why does Karrion Kross care so much about the Mysterio family drama? And why does he keep pestering Rey about it and challenge him to these matches. You’re really messy bro. Go focus on, I don’t know, winning some of your own matches.