WWE SmackDown 2/27/2026: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," where we're writing Jey Uso out of the men's Elimination Chamber on the go-home show and putting Logan Paul in there instead! Yeah, the WINC staff has thoughts about that, as well as other prominent occurrences from Friday night's three-hour spectacular, including Carmelo Hayes retaining the men's US title against Matt Cardona and the Irresistible Forces winning the Women's Tag Team Championship. Other things (like Candice LeRae vs. Jordynne Grace, for example) will go sadly unremarked upon here in this column, as we simply didn't have strong feelings about them.

Of course, if you need to catch up on all the blue brand happenings this week, you can do that via our "SmackDown" results page. If instead you're looking to know what the WINC crew thought of those happenings (or at least the ones that caught our attention, for better or worse) this is the place to be. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 2/27 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"

Read more: WWE SmackDown Stars: Meet Their Wives & Girlfriends

Hated: MFTs, Wyatt Sicks story somehow continues on

I wish I could say I truly can't believe we're writing yet another hated for the MFTs and Wyatt Sicks feud continuing, but I'd be lying, because I certainly can believe it, because this is "SmackDown" we're watching. I truly believed that tonight, Solo Sikoa taking on Uncle Howdy in singles action would be the end of it. And, for a brief, fleeting moment there, it truly looked like it was.

Howdy won clean with a Sister Abigail after a pretty decent match. At the end, he of course went for the lantern, which was set up on the ringside table like a championship belt, and the MFTs arrived to put a stop to that. Talla Tonga hit Howdy with a big boot, but the heels escaped before the rest of the Wyatts could arrive.

I know Nick Aldis is wrapped up in everything Undisputed WWE Champion Drew McIntyre has been up to leading into the Elimination Chamber, but he did meet up with the MFTs backstage after this all. While he did say he was going to set something up for Sikoa and Tonga to finally defend the WWE Tag Team Championships, he should have just made Sikoa give the freaking lantern back to Howdy. I really don't know how this all wraps up, but it would be awfully silly of WWE to just drop the whole fight for the lantern thing when it's in the hands of the MFTs.

While my patience with this was already running incredibly thin, there is no longer any iteration of that match I want to see, singles or tag team, after what has felt like months and months of the teams going back and forth. I really just wish we could put this feud to rest, but it kind of looks like the Wyatt Sicks are getting the tag championships back somehow, though I don't necessarily think they need them, along with the lantern. We probably have a few more weeks of this, at least, possibly FINALLY culminating on the final "SmackDown" before WrestleMania.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Loved: Tiffany Stratton wakes up SmackDown's women's division

Say what you want about Tiffany Stratton, but she knows how to revive a women's division.

Stratton's Royal Rumble return might not have resulted in the win she was hoping for, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been successful on WWE programming since — far from it. Stratton has shifted the landscape of the blue brand's women's division, week in and week out, and Friday's episode of "WWE SmackDown" proved to be no different. After laying out the challenge to Asuka, Stratton faced off against the Kabuki Warriors' Kairi Sane (after some loophole hullabaloo from the team's leader), all while Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre sat ringside. When was the last women's segment on "SmackDown" that wasn't circled around one of the titles? I'll wait.

Stratton's comeback to the WWE might (probably will) end up in Stratton obtaining gold. However, what she's doing right now — brewing in these personal tensions between Green and Fyre or The Kabuki Warriors — is what diversifies a wrestling division, and it's what makes the performance fun. The spectacle of the "SmackDown" women's division is on the rise again, and ought to stay that way! Yes, I want to see Green and Fyre interfere in the match because they have a personal vendetta against Stratton! Yes, I want to see the tensions between Asuka, Sane, and Stratton — or, even better, between Asuka and Sane — rise. I want this women's division to have drama, especially if it leads to violence! We just don't have that the "SmackDown" women's division is no more than a game of championship Hot Potato.

It's not that title feuds in and of themselves are boring; they're the crux of this business. However, when you have a division that is just title feuds (not even defenses, just feuds), you can't expect it to be engaging. This critique of "SmackDown's" women division is not new. You can find complaints of Jade Cargill not defending her WWE Women's Championship enough just about anywhere. You'd find more of the same about Women's United States Champion Giulia if she was on television more. Even if those two were defending their titles constantly, however, building a division around gold is lazy and shallow. Yes, championships are important. However, the spectacle of professional wrestling is not limited to gold; pro wrestling storylines are built on injury, and the reparation after said injury. If you take the drama out of professional wrestling — bloodthirsty heels, bruised-ego babyfaces, and battles of heralded honor — then you don't have professional wrestler. You have predetermined combat sports.

Will Stratton be strapped up again soon? Absolutely. However, while she is titleless, let her be a bit messy. Let her get into some non-title feuds. It'll be fun.

Written by Angeline Phu

Hated: A direction-less title picture

Back when Carmelo Hayes won the US Championship from Ilja Dragunov, just less than two months ago, he promised Dragunov that he would continue defending the title in a weekly open challenge. He remained true to that promise for a grand total of five weeks, taking a break for a stakes-less singles match with The Miz, teaming with a bunch of his babyface peers against the MFT, and losing a three-way qualifier for the Elimination Chamber. But this week, the challenge returned, and at last after interference from The Miz marred their first title rematch, Hayes and Dragunov were set to run it all back.

Dragunov then, quite rightfully so if we're being honest, said that he felt he didn't deserve the opportunity because he had lost last week to Tama Tonga. So it was back to being an open challenge with all the excitement that comes with a mystery challenger. That challenger, that one from the vaunted pantheon of WWE Superstars on this one night, was Matt Cardona. And not only was the challenger Matt Cardona, instead of Dragunov bear in mind, but he spent the majority of the match as the dominant competitor. Cardona's certainly solid in the ring, he's certainly got a lot of belief in himself, but there just isn't much fun to be had with him answering the open challenge.

The thing is, objectively I can see the idea behind using the US title match to platform Cardona and make use of a talent signed and present. It's not my cup of tea personally, but I get it. The issue here is that the United States Championship picture has become such a jumbled mess, along with the midcard altogether, it's increasingly hard to track what's going on. MFT apparently wants it and will stop at nothing to get the title, but then doesn't answer any of the open challenges and continues to feud with the Wyatt Sicks. Dragunov wants the title but has been held back by the fact Tama beat him, thus MFT is holding up Dragunov. And quite literally no one else, outside of when they appear and challenge for the US title on occasion, is saying they want the title. There very clearly is no plan, and it makes everything feel meaningless.

Written by Max Everett

Hated: That's it, huh?

I'm not even really mad that Nia Jax and Lash Legend are women's tag team champions — not really. They're a fun enough team and I appreciate the company pushing Lash. The problem for me here is that Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY, ostensibly the two biggest stars in the women's division on either brand, got such a crummy title reign.

I mean seriously, that was it? That was all WWE had for this act? They were champions for a month. They got three successful defenses, one of which came via no contest. Two of those defenses happened on "SmackDown" and one happened on "Saturday Night's Main Event" — they didn't even get a PLE match. They didn't get to wrestle Lyra Valkyria and Bayley for the titles, or Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss for the titles, or even the Kabuki Warriors (again) for the titles. Beyond that, the story of RHIYO wasn't advanced in any way — they didn't have any misunderstandings with each other that caused them to fall apart as a tag team, and they didn't have a long enough reign for them to really grow closer as a tag team. They didn't grow or change as characters in any way during their reign, and their reign didn't end for any reason other than "they got beat." Friday's match was really good (should have been the main event) and I love that it got a clean finish, but there was no "why" behind it. It just happened.

Which is actually a good way of summing up their reign overall: It just kinda happened. There doesn't appear to be any driving creative force behind it, they were just killing time until WrestleMania season. And while it initially seemed as though Ripley and SKY were elevating the women's tag division, in the end it just dragged them down to its level. Ripley is a popular favorite to win the women's Elimination Chamber on Saturday (which may have been the reason they dropped the titles) and yet she just got pinned clean by Lash Legend? That just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

But hey, it's WWE in 2026. Nothing the company does these days makes a whole lot of sense to me.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Loved: Charlotte Flair is fine

Following their loss of the tag titles to the Kabuki Warriors, Flair hasn't been her normal self. She claims she's fine, but no one believes her. We have seen Flair's comedic side. On Valentine's Day, Flair presented her tag partner with a bouquet of white roses spray painted black and a framed photo of herself. When Bliss pointed out that it was a picture of her, Flair said it was "for you." Bliss replied, "signed." Flair responded, "to you." Flair stated the best present was that she would be ringside for her bestie's match.

Bliss went on to win her Elimination Chamber qualifying match, while Flair did not. Flair has continued to descend into sadness, while claiming she's fine like Ross did when he found out Rachel was dating Joey. After The Irresistible Forces defeated RHIYO for the titles, Flair was backstage with three pints of ice cream, eating from one while it appeared another was empty. Flair continued to tell Bliss she was fine when Giulia and Kiana walked up. While they exchanged words, Flair cried into her ice cream. She cried more when Kiana said she & Giulia would win all the titles on "SmackDown". Kiana said Flair would have someone to eat ice cream with when Flair deadpanned, "you can't have any ice cream!"

This is the most light-hearted Flair has ever been in WWE. She's been a babyface before, but this is a new side of "The Queen". She's never really shown her comedic chops. Bliss brings out something different in Flair. Flair often touches Bliss's hair when they chat, as if she genuinely cares for her. Before her pairing with Bliss, Flair was often serious and stoic. Bliss allows her to show more of personality, which makes Flair more compelling onscreen. Flair has been wrestling for many years and we thought we'd seen every facet of her character. Bliss has uncovered a side that maybe wasn't there before or at least one that Flair wasn't vulnerable enough to share. I really hope her pairing with Bliss continue and we get this version of Flair because it's fun.

Written by Samantha Schipman

Loved: Paul makes it into the Chamber, but plot thickens for McIntyre & Fatu

I really loved how WWE started off the night in chaos rather than with a ton of in-ring promos with one guy interrupting the next. While we did sadly get the second half of that (though I actually thought it was pretty good tonight, thanks to Je'Von Evans and Trick Williams), the start of the show was finally a win in my book, and it only got better from there.

I was in the camp of believing Jey Uso shouldn't have been in the Elimination Chamber, but of course, what could anyone have done when Bronson Reed went down with his unfortunate injury on Monday. I think WWE recovered well, with a backstage angle where Uso was taken out. It started on social media a few minutes before the show went on the air, then when "SmackDown" started, it began with the chaotic scene of Uso being loaded into an ambulance with his cousin, Jacob Fatu, already at his side.

The current rumor is that the WrestleMania match for the Undisputed WWE Championship will be a triple threat involving champ Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes, and Jacob Fatu. I figured Fatu would just be added into the Chamber mix to somehow get us to that title bout, but we did actually get a qualifier main even match pitting him against Logan Paul.

I can't even necessarily say that I dislike Paul being in the Chamber match. The Chamber needed another heel, so it was kind of a must, and I do like Paul as an athlete. I thought actually having a match to determine the final entrant was a really nice touch, for once, and Aldis didn't just put Paul, who asked him first, in the match.

Paul didn't win clean, of course, and in the end, had help from McIntyre, only furthering the champion's story with Fatu. That still leads me to believe that somehow the 'Mania match will be a triple threat, though tomorrow's Chamber match may get messy if both Fatu and McIntyre get involved.

I also liked the backstage segment where Sami Zayn confronted Fatu about being right there when Uso was taken out. It plants the seeds that maybe Zayn was the one to take out both Fatu, who was beat down last year, and Uso. And, honestly, WWE has a story wide open. If they want Fatu as a heel, he could be revealed as Uso's attacker, and if they want him to be babyface, they can go with someone else. I really liked all of this tonight, and it adds some intrigue tomorrow. It was also a great pivot after Reed's unfortunate injury, something I can't say I expected from WWE at this point.

Written by Daisy Ruth

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