WWE Smackdown Live: The 10 for February 12, 2019

2. The Iiconics’ brilliant strategy

Just as on Monday’s Raw, Tuesday’s SmackDown featured the brand’s three teams vying for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship in the Elimination Chamber match facing off in a triple threat, with the losers joining Sasha Banks and Bayley as the first two teams to exit their pods and compete in the Chamber structure proper. The Iiconics, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville and Naomi and Carmella were the participants.

Naomi got the win for her team, pinning Rose following a split-legged moonsault, which means Rose and Deville will take on Banks and Bayley while the remaining four teams stay sealed in their pods waiting on the clock. But the more compelling narrative of the triple threat was the excellent display of strategy employed by the Iiconics.

By managing to stay out of the ring and out of the competition, the Iiconics therefore couldn’t lose. They instead let Carmella, Naomi, Rose and Deville to hash things out, to the point where they jumped off of the ring apron to avoid being tagged in. With Naomi dispatching Rose, the Iiconics then ambushed Naomi and Carmella, making them the only fresh entrant in the Chamber match on Sunday which is an obvious advantage.

Good job to the Iiconics and WWE for deploying a common heel behavior — scheming ways to not get beat up — and giving it a reason to occur. With nowhere to hide on Sunday, the Iiconics were the geniuses by staying out of the fray on Tuesday.