WWE Smackdown Live: The 10 for February 12, 2019
10. Top takeaways
Even if it doesn’t lead to tag title gold on Sunday, we now know who is the smartest tag team of the WWE Women’s Division. And with the Iiconics’ being one of the only actually established teams in the company (versus being two singles competitors recently paired up with one another, like Naomi and Carmella), it’s only a matter of time until that happens.
It also feels like a matter of time until Kofi Kingston gets a one-on-one shot for the WWE Championship, whether it is held by Daniel Bryan or someone else. What is curious is how this match got made in the first place. Who decided that The New Day would be the replacement for Mustafa Ali, and who decided that Kingston would be the one to represent them and, from there, for Kingston to last an hour after a last-minute rewrite? Those people who made Kingston’s performance the solution to the problem of losing Ali are rather genius.
Still, an hour-long six-man match on a two-hour show is going to leave a lot of Superstars with nothing to do. It makes sense — Elimination Chamber is, by design, a narrow-focus event centered around two gimmick matches — but it also means that we didn’t get to enjoy the works of Rey Mysterio, Andrade, Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura and others.
They’ll all be back next week. But what about Asuka? The SmackDown Women’s Champion has nothing on the plate for Elimination Chamber and there is nothing yet being set up for her at WrestleMania, either. That should all change, soon, though, with WrestleVotes reporting that there is a WrestleMania program in place for Asuka and that the lack of a story in the immediate-term is a combination of creative not having anything for her and timing:
Been getting a ton of Asuka questions. As far as I know, they do have a plan for Mania. Just wasn’t wise for Asuka to be featured the last few weeks. WWE doesn’t want excessive “brand jumping” prior to WM, leaving only Lana or Vega for Chamber. That’s not a PPV matchup WWE wanted
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) February 13, 2019
And when, oh when, is WWE Shop going to start selling replicas of Daniel Bryan’s recycled-hemp-and-wood title belt? Who knew the frenzy of consumerism the anti-consumerist Bryan would unleash? I suppose it serves us all right (and proves him right) if we never have the opportunity to get one of our own.