'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFQABAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQf/2gAIAQEAAAAAGmv/xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAC/9oACAECEAAAAF//xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAE/9oACAEDEAAAAGf/xAAhEAACAQMDBQAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgQDBREABhMVIUJDcv/aAAgBAQABPwDcsAX/AGzbZlvpx4qcJSmKgYkoyUyqnBwO9ML866NL9sxOTywmRnX/xAAZEQABBQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACAAQTgbH/2gAIAQIBAT8AZAMI3q//xAAbEQABBAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAIDBSFhsf/aAAgBAwEBPwCxzO4nXAv/2Q=='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
With WWE Elimination Chamber just a few days away, The Miz made a blockbuster announcement on WWE RAW and opted out of the Elimination Chamber match. Kofi Kingston competed against The A-Lister later in the night and earned the spot that Miz wanted to award to John Morrison instead.
Will Kofi be able to win the Elimination Chamber match on Sunday and have another big WrestleMania moment as the WWE Champion? Also, will WWE need to replace Keith Lee if he is unable to compete in the United States Championship match?
On WWE NXT, Kyle O’Reilly wanted answers from Adam Cole. Instead, he got a beating from his former friend at the end of the night that knocked him out. Will Cole challenge Finn Balor for the NXT Championship next, or is Pete Dunne still not done with The Prince?
WWE SmackDown had a few big segments. Seth Rollins addressed the WWE Universe and blamed several people for his failed return. He also sent a warning to Cesaro on SmackDown.
Will The Messiah target The Swiss Cyborg in the weeks to come? Could Cesaro win the Elimination Chamber match and go on to face Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship?
Let’s take a look at the five biggest questions from this week’s WWE RAW, NXT, and SmackDown.
#5 Was taking The Miz out of WWE Elimination Chamber and adding Kofi Kingston a pre-planned decision?
WWE had made Mr. Money in the Bank, The Miz, a part of the WWE Championship match for Elimination Chamber. Some fans were confused by this decision as Miz already holds the MITB briefcase that he can cash-in for the title at any time.
After some backlash, WWE decided to change things around on RAW this week. The Miz decided to pull himself out of the match for Sunday, and wanted to award his spot to John Morrison. However, things got difficult for him when he was put up in a match against Kofi Kingston to determine who’d take the spot at Elimination Chamber.
Kofi defeated The Miz to take his spot for Elimination Chamber. The New Day member will likely run into Mustafa Ali before or during the Elimination Chamber match.
Did WWE decide to change the participants of the match after the fans expressed their displeasure, or was it always the plan? It looks like KofiMania 2.0 is in effect, and the creative team now has the chance to make a bigger story out of it.
Ali and RETRIBUTION could get a major push if they manage to ambush Kofi at Elimination Chamber. As a result, the anti-WWE faction's members may steal his spot or cost him the opportunity at the upcoming PPV.
#4 Why didn’t Keith Lee team up with Riddle on WWE RAW?
Riddle has had a long rivalry with Bobby Lashley and the rest of The Hurt Business on WWE RAW. Riddle has scored victories over MVP but failed to overpower the United States Champion. Last week, Riddle competed against Keith Lee for a chance to become the number one contender to the United States Championship on RAW.
Even though The Limitless One won the match, WWE added Riddle to the match for Elimination Chamber to make it a Triple Threat contest. This week on RAW, Riddle teamed up with The Lucha House Party to take on MVP, Cedric Alexander, and Shelton Benjamin.
Riddle and The Lucha House Party defeated The Hurt Business to make a statement before Bobby Lashley attacked Riddle once again.
Why didn’t WWE team Riddle up with Lee on RAW to take on Alexander and Benjamin? If The Hurt Business had to lose the match, why didn’t WWE take advantage and put both Riddle and Lee over?
The angle would have helped the creative team push Riddle and Lee as a tag team if both men would have failed at Elimination Chamber. WWE creative team seems to have missed a big opportunity on RAW.
#3 Will Lacey Evans let go of her WWE RAW Women’s Championship opportunity?
Lacey Evans has been in a rivalry with Charlotte Flair on WWE RAW for some time now. Evans has partnered with Ric Flair on RAW and has been mocking The Queen of WWE. Their rivalry overshadowed Asuka and Flair’s WWE Women’s Championship reign, and the two women lost the titles to Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler.
This week on RAW, Asuka, and Flair teamed up to take on Evans and Peyton Royce. During the match, The Sassy Southern Belle made a big announcement that turned the women’s roster upside down.
Now that Evans has revealed that she is pregnant, will she still compete against Asuka for the RAW Women’s Championship? The match is still being advertised despite the pregnancy announcement.
It will be interesting to see where RAW heads with this storyline, especially with Elimination Chamber this Sunday. WWE RAW's creative team has failed to build a big storyline for Asuka and her title. If Evans is taken out of this match, then it will be a big blow for The Empress of Tomorrow's title reign.
#2 Why didn’t WWE build towards MSK’s NXT Tag Team Championship match this week?
WWE NXT Tag Team Champions Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan defeated Breezango at the end of October 2020 to win the titles. Since then, the NXT Tag Team Champions have only defended their titles twice.
The two Superstars have not defended their titles in WWE even once since the beginning of 2021. It looks like their first defense this year will come against MSK in March. MSK won the Dusty Rhodes Classic Cup and will challenge the Champions for the titles on March 3.
WWE has failed to give the NXT Tag Team Champions any storyline of their own for some time, and they should have built towards their first title defense of the year starting this week. Why did WWE choose to continue Burch and Lorcan’s storyline with Pete Dunne instead?
The NXT Tag Team division has some of the best tag teams in the world. So it’s odd that the higher-ups have been keeping Lorcan and Burch out of title defenses for so long. Instead of continuing their alliance with Dunne and targeting Finn Balor, the Superstars should have started targeting MSK this week.
A weak buildup will break the entire point of getting the winners of the Dusty Rhodes Classic a shot at the NXT Tag Team titles.
#1 Did WWE SmackDown reveal too much this week?
WWE SmackDown kicked off with a segment involving 2021 Royal Rumble winner Edge and WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. Soon after, Sami Zayn entered the picture and was conveniently attacked by Jey Uso.
Zayn also tapped out to Daniel Bryan at the end of SmackDown to lose a six-man tag team match for his team. Zayn’s value ahead of Elimination Chamber has been diminished, and it seems like he will be making a quick exit out of the match on Sunday.
However, that wasn’t the biggest spoiler for the night. Edge and Reigns had an exchange earlier in the night as if there was no Elimination Chamber match waiting to take place on Sunday to decide the fate of the Universal Championship.
Reigns delivered a Spear to Edge to close the show, and the angle seems to have nearly sealed the deal for WrestleMania. Does this show that Reigns will retain his Universal title at Elimination Chamber?
Edge did not show much interest in the NXT Championship following TakeOver: Vengeance Day. He did not even show up for RAW before the upcoming pay-per-view. It looks like SmackDown has already started to build towards Edge vs. Reigns on the Road to WrestleMania 37.
