WWE SmackDown, February 21, 2014: 5 talking points

This episode of SmackDown was the go home show to the Elimination Chamber and it featured 4 of the 6 men participating in the Elimination Chamber match involved in matches against each other, and Wyatt Family faced Rhodes Brothers and Rey Mysterio in an exciting encounter. Apart of these matches, there were some more segments in the Emma/Santino and Summer Rae/Fandango and Titus O’Neil and Darren Young storylines, and one half of The Usos defeated one half of The New Age Outlaws…again.

With all that the show ended with the following talking points:

1. Why isn’t anything new happening in the Daniel Bryan/Kane storyline?

The show started with a match between the #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship, Jack Swagger, and the fan-favorite, Daniel Bryan, with the “Flying Goat” winning it with a roll up. Entered SmackDown GM, Vickie Guerrero, and the Director of Operations, Kane, who ordered Bryan to face Cesaro next. Kane, as expected, interfered in the match and chokeslammed Bryan, the follow up was a Neutralizer from Cesaro.

This whole segment was just like any other segment between Kane and Bryan from past few weeks, where Kane enters the ring and attacks Bryan from behind, before chokeslamming him in middle of the ring. In fact, Kane’s role is still unclear, he isn’t involved in the Elimination Chamber, he isn’t facing Bryan at WrestleMania XXX, then what are these monotonous attacks all about? Nobody knows if anything exciting would unfold in this feud. In fact, right now I don’t even see an end to it.

2. The Wyatt Family is heading into Elimination Chamber as the team to beat

In past many weeks, The Shield has been involved in many exciting and thrilling matches (and even wins) against some of the best wrestlers in the WWE, the only negative aspect has been the lack of communication between Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. On the other hand, the Wyatt Family hasn’t always wrestled with the top guys (for instance, they faced Los Matadores and Sin Cara on Monday), but their winning streak (which continued on SmackDown with a win over Rhodes Brothers and Rey Mysterio) will give them the edge over their opponents and in addition, the Wyatt Family’s members aren’t dealing with any egotistical issues among them.

A big win over top mid-carders like Goldust, Cody Rhodes and Rey Mysterio, on SmackDown, is all they needed to look like the team which can (actually) defeat The Shield.

3. The entertaining feud between Emma/Santino and Summer Rae/Fandango continues

Emma won a dance-off against Summer Rae on SmackDown, which further intensified the rivalry between Emma and Summer Rae and their respective partners, Santino and Fandango. The WWE Universe also took hints of a budding romance between Emma and Santino which is going to add some more spice to this comic feud. The Santino-Emma love angle is a good move as they both compliment each other’s fun and comic personality. The crowd’s cheers for this feud will definitely increase every night and WWE will most probably repeat that funny mixed tag team match between these four from NXT some months ago, when the crowd even chanted “This Is Awesome.”

4. Titus O’Neil and Darren Young have made a good mid-card feud

Former Prime Time Players, Titus O’Neil and Darren Young, are going to face each other at Elimination Chamber. This match would have never happened if WWE Creative didn’t think of giving importance to a mid-card feud between two former tag team partners and these two have done their part in making this feud good enough to be watched. On SmackDown O’Neil lost to Dolph Ziggler after distraction caused by Young who climbed on the announce table and blew his whistle at his former tag team partner.

It will be good to see how these two vent out their frustration on each other on Sunday. Many might even argue that WWE is gambling by making a ppv match between two former low mid-card tag team partners who have never won any title, but only time will tell if the decision is right or not.

5. Christian has got no momentum heading into the Elimination Chamber match

It was the main event match of the night as Christian faced Sheamus only to lose again to an Elimination Chamber opponent. No win against any Elimination Chamber opponent and being the only guy who lost to Randy Orton in past three weeks has Christian standing in a vulnerable position. This losing streak only means that it’s time for a heel turn for the former World Heavyweight Champion who actually thrived in that role, even if it was for a short time. And before the Canadian retires we would like to see him return to his old heel days, that would make him a top star for a while and he deserves to be there before retiring.