WWE SmackDown 2/23/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that had to be taped last week because the Elimination Chamber event in Perth, Australia, starts in like, three hours. That's not a lot of time between WWE shows, so let's get to it! You know the drill — can't cover everything, we have our results page for that, just our strongest opinions, yadda yadda yadda. And preemptive apologies to the two tag team matches on this show, which were both very good but which won't be discussed here.

It's the go-home show for Elimination Chamber, possibly in the truest-ever sense of the term! Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 2/23/24 episode of "WWE SmackDown."

In a show that's only two hours along, the women's division is often forgotten about entirely, or pushed to the middle of the card — not quite 9:30 pm, but along those lines. So having a match between Liv Morgan and Tiffany Stratton, with Bianca Belair at ringside, to open the show was a pleasant surprise.

Opening matches set the bar for any show, and Morgan and Stratton set that bar pretty high in an energetic back and forth contest. Neither woman was booked to look weak or strong — perfect, considering they will both be competing in the Elimination Chamber in a few hours' time. Morgan showed the WWE Universe some new and innovative offense that perfectly matches her revenge tour, cry-about-it rebrand, while Stratton continued to solidify her brand with a tried-and-true moveset. The two women moved seamlessly together, and had excellent chemistry in their match. Morgan and Stratton had a decently long match which did them so many favors, as no segments felt particularly rushed, and each woman had the opportunity to show off what they had before their anticipated performances in the Elimination Chamber.

The finish was something to be expected on the go-home show of a big event with a multi-person match. Stratton instigated outside interference in her own match when she unceremoniously (and comedically) slapped a ringside Belair, and Belair, eager to, as she says, get her lick back, attempted to swing at Stratton. Morgan took advantage of the chaos to get a roll-up pin on Stratton, and if it weren't for a distracted referee, Morgan would have got the pin. Stratton reversed Morgan's roll-up with one of her own, and it was this pin that received official recognition. The finish did everything it should have done: it protected Morgan, it made Stratton strong and strengthened her as a heel (as if it was up to interpretation before, but you never know), and it allowed for Belair and Morgan to have tensions going into the Elimination Chamber match.

Was tonight's contest a contender for Match of the Year? Maybe not. Did Morgan and Stratton's match do everything it could to hype up their Elimination Chamber match? Definitely.

Written by Angeline Phu

I feel like I've used this gimmick before but I don't even care: My somewhat misleading "hate" this week is that I hate how much I love watching Logan Paul on WWE TV.

Paul was fine during the "SmackDown" main event, don't get me wrong. His banter with Kevin Owens on commentary was entertaining and I enjoyed the post-match brawl after the main event featuring all six men's Elimination Chamber participants. But the real Logan Paul gem on this episode was his backstage segment with Austin Theory and Grayson Waller.

For one thing, it's hard to imagine any other celebrity just hanging out with his friends backstage, being like the fourth most important person in the segment. I think one of the reasons Paul is enjoyable is that he genuinely seems to be having fun as a wrestler, and that includes little moments like this, where he and Theory and Waller are just standing around talking about how good they all look before Kevin Owens shows up to make fun of them for it. His confusion about why the three of them didn't just jump Owens before he walked away was priceless, as was his reaction to Waller being called away by Paul Heyman. ("I want to get talked to by the Tribal Chief!") And then he and Theory just go right back to complimenting each other. What more could you want?

Don't get me wrong — I find the idea of liking Logan Paul extremely annoying. I don't like that I like him, that's why this is a "hate." But I just can't help myself — the dude is actually putting in the hours and becoming a compelling wrestling character. As much as I want to hate him, I can't. And I hate that.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

The feud between LWO and Legado del Fantasma has been one of the most entertaining storylines on "SmackDown" for me to watch play out, and the backstage segment involving the two stables tonight did nothing but further cement my feelings.

Angel and Berto attacked Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde backstage on the orders of Santos Escobar, and got some help from Elektra Lopez in distracting them. She warned the duo that they had made a mistake in not siding with Escobar, and Escobar appeared to make sure that they heard her message. Part of the beauty in the feud between LWO and Legado del Fantasma is that it uses the past encounters of the members and their history with one another to progress the story rather than try to retcon it. Del Toro and Wilde were allies of Escobar for years, so it makes sense for his character to feel as though they should've followed him when he separated himself from LWO. They also had a level of familiarity with Lopez that was felt in the segment, given that she had been an ally of theirs in the past.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Bron Breakker had his first match as main roster talent tonight, and to call him anything less than a speeding train would be pure disrespect. Breakker absolutely blew through Dante Chen — rest in peace, sorry that had to be your main roster debut — in maybe a minute and a half. The finish of this match was a no-brainer from the beginning: Breakker would take the win, and he would do it with brutal efficiency.

Still, approximately ninety seconds of in-ring action, and winning over an "NXT Level Up" performer? That's it?

To make things clear, I don't think Breakker should have had a back and forth match with Chen. Breakker is an absolute menace; the WWE Universe knows that by now. Still, going from his Royal Rumble performance, where he eliminated five people and snapped Gunther in half, to his "WWE SmackDown" debut, where he crushed a next-to-nobody (again, sorry Chen) performer in less than five minutes, is the definition of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, from a booking perspective. You're telling me the guy who took out Jimmy Uso, a member of WWE's most powerful faction, and Finn Balor, a former Universal Champion and a member of WWE's second most powerful faction, couldn't get a lengthier debut match, or a more prestigious opponent? This booking feels hot and cold, and that worries me.

Remember those Veer Mahaan matches that ended with Mahaan manhandling someone and winning in less than five minutes? There are more similarities between those finishes and tonight's finish than I would like to admit. Breakker was fun to watch — I have never seen someone run the ropes faster in my life — but it was a victory that was almost too obvious. It didn't mean much, and it was a literal "blink and you'll miss it" moment.

Obviously, Breakker is new to wrestling on the main roster, and despite being a second-generation wrestler, he still has a name to make for himself. I can see the reasoning behind giving him a squash match against some guy. However, I don't particularly enjoy the outcome of that reasoning, and sincerely hope that Breakker will get more airtime soon.

Written by Angeline Phu

Cedric Alexander has been left floundering around for months. He seems to have no sense of direction since Shelton Benjamin was released, which is a shame because Alexander is incredibly talented. Ashante "Thee" Adonis has had some of the same issues since his own partner, Top Dolla, was released.

In December, Adonis and Alexander picked up a win over Pretty Deadly in a dark match on "Tribute to the Troops." A couple weeks ago, they had a video package and talked about teaming up. Adonis told the former "Raw" Tag Team Champion that he needed to dress better. On this week's "SmackDown," we saw Alexander trying on different outfits at Adonis' home. In true "Odd Couple" fashion, none of them were up to Adonis' standards — when he finally saw one he liked, Alexander quipped that he looked like "Will.I.Ain't." It's nice to see Alexander's personality and sense of humor.

While I prefer Alexander wrestling, I'm happy to have him back on television in any form. Once they have their 'fits on point, they'll be on the same page in the ring and can add more to the "SmackDown" tag team division.

Written by Samantha Schipman

I've said it in the past, and I'll say it again: WWE does way too many disqualification endings to matches. Friday's main event was no exception, and it unfortunately took away from the focus –- the Men's Elimination Chamber match.

Drew McIntyre and LA Knight put on a pretty good match, with Logan Paul and Kevin Owens both joining the announce desk. This, of course, means that both Owens and Paul got involved in the match, and it thus ended in no contest. I understand that the point of any of this for WWE was to create excitement for the match and get in some last minute promotion, but I just think there were better ways to go about doing it. I wouldn't have minded if Owens, Paul, Bobby Lashley, and Randy Orton had all appeared at the end of the show to brawl with one another rather than having two of them at ringside to cause the double disqualification due to outside interference. Belair had already got involved in the match between Tiffany Stratton and Liv Morgan earlier in the night, and having Owens do the same thing with a few tweaks to close out the show made things feel boring and repetitive — not the best of omens heading into Saturday's event in Perth.

Written by Olivia Quinlan