WWE SmackDown live results: Elimination Chamber qualifiers, Giulia vs. IYO SKY
The Elimination Chamber qualifying matches continue tonight from Fort Lauderdale’s Amerant Bank Arena with only a week to go until the eponymous event unfolds in Chicago.
On the men’s side, U.S. Champion Carmelo Hayes, Trick Williams, and Damian Priest will compete to see who joins Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, LA Knight, and Je’von Evans inside the Elimination Chamber next week.
Meanwhile, Nia Jax, Charlotte Flair, and Kiana James square off in a qualifier, with the winner joining Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, Asuka, and Tiffany Stratton in the women’s Chamber match.
Other matches announced for tonight include Ilja Dragunov vs. Tama Tonga. Also, Giulia vs. IYO SKY was announced for SmackDown the day of the show. This match comes after Giulia and Kiana James were unsuccessful in challenging Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY for the women’s tag titles two weeks ago.
We will also see Oba Femi and Kit Wilson go one-on-one in a rematch from February 6.
Our live coverage kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern.
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– From the home of the NHL’s Florida Panthers, we were welcomed to the show by Joe Tessitore. We saw RHIYO walking backstage, spotting the mysterious crate and paying no mind to it. Tonight, Rhea Ripley subs in for IYO SKY as she fights Giulia. Elsewhere, the three men and women competing in their respective Elimination Chamber qualifying matches were shown.
– A recap of last week’s Cody Rhodes/Jacob Fatu/Sami Zayn Elimination Chamber Qualifier match was shown, notably showing Drew McIntyre’s involvement in the finish.
Cody Rhodes kicks off SmackDown
“The American Nightmare” made his way to the ring to open our show. He entered to a good reaction from the crowd.
“What do you wanna talk about?” started Rhodes in his customary manner. However, before he could say anything of note, he was interrupted by Jacob Fatu.
The man screwed out of the Elimination Chamber Qualifier win last week by Drew McIntyre entered the ring and addressed Rhodes. Fatu said that Rhodes wouldn’t even be out here speaking about Elimination Chamber if it wasn’t for the aforementioned McIntyre. Fatu talked about how he had Rhodes and Sami Zayn beat last week, but his concern at the moment wasn’t about Rhodes.
Fatu talked about how his concern at the moment was strictly about Drew McIntyre as he called out the Undisputed WWE Champion so he could “dogwalk his ass” all over Ft. Lauderdale. Instead of McIntyre, Nick Aldis interrupted Fatu.
Aldis said that he knew that Fatu wanted a shot at McIntyre, so he decided to give McIntyre a night off. There was too much at stake with Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania around the corner. Aldis offered to speak with Fatu backstage so that Rhodes could have his allotted mic time.
Speak of the devil, as Drew McIntyre himself was in the building. He said that he loved SmackDown so much that he bought his own skybox to watch the show. McIntyre taunted Fatu, which caused the irate Samoan to try and go after him. Security tried to stop Fatu, but they were thrown around, which prompted Aldis to stop him. The SmackDown GM encouraged Fatu to calm down as he instructed the security to get McIntyre out of the building. Aldis mentioned that he was willing to talk to Fatu about wanting his hands on McIntyre as the two left.
McIntyre said that the whole world was after him because he was the champion. Rhodes corrected him as he got the last word and called McIntyre an “asshole”.
At this point, the idea of a (likely) Rhodes vs. McIntyre title match at WrestleMania does not move me in the slightest. I’m more interested in the McIntyre vs. Fatu feud at this point.
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– Carmelo Hayes and Ilja Dragunov were backstage talking about their respective matches tonight. Hayes encouraged Dragunov to take care of his business against Tama Tonga, while Dragunov wished Hayes luck in his Elimination Chamber qualifying match.
– Nick Aldis chatted with Jacob Fatu and promised him to give Drew McIntyre, but just to have a little patience. Fatu warned Aldis that he wasn’t going to wait much longer as he left the building.
Tama Tonga (w/ The M.F.T.s) vs. Ilja Dragunov
Dragunov started off by blasting Tama in the corner with chops a-plenty. Tama responded with a hard elbow as he then pummeled Dragunov in the corner with punches to the face. Dragunov struck back with headbutts, as he and Tama traded strikes. Tama threw Dragunov into the middle turnbuckle hard, but missed with a running attack.
Dragunov hit Tama with a running boot, followed by a German suplex. With Tama stunned in the corner, Dragunov struck him with a running boot that sent him out of the ring as we took a break in the action.
WWE SmackDown recapper. Former NXT PLE/WWE Saturday Night's Main Event/fill-in recapper.