WWE SmackDown - Best and worst - Roman Reigns and Goldberg's disappointing face-off, piped-in crowd cheers

Ronda Rousey attacks Charlotte Flair during contract signing; Roman Reigns and Goldberg come face to face
Ronda Rousey attacks Charlotte Flair during contract signing; Roman Reigns and Goldberg come face to face

Tonight's Elimination Chamber go-home edition of WWE SmackDown was quite a mixed bag, to say the least.

WWE Elimination Chamber 2022 is mere hours away. The WWE crew has already reached Saudi Arabia for the big event. This prompted WWE to tape tonight's episode of SmackDown after last week's show.

Aside from a major title change, the show had nothing much of note to offer to the WWE Universe.

Did you catch tonight's episode of SmackDown? Did you enjoy it, or were left underwhelmed? Sound off in the comments below!


#3 Best/Worst: Roman Reigns' face-off with Goldberg on SmackDown

Tonight, Roman Reigns and Goldberg had their last face-off before their first-time-ever outing at WWE Elimination Chamber.

As has always been the case, Paul Heyman did an incredible job on the mic and gave a grand introduction to The Tribal Chief. Heyman is possibly the biggest reason Reigns' current heel run has been a major success on SmackDown.

Over the past 500+ days, Heyman's mic work has helped Reigns a great deal when it comes to getting over in front of the WWE Universe.

The second half of the segment saw Reigns and Goldberg talking trash to each other. Goldberg stated that when it comes to the Universal title, he is next. He then dropped the mic and got in Reigns' face as the show went off the air.

Goldberg and Reigns' face-off wasn't one bit impressive, as this has happened at least a couple of times in the past. A quick brawl between the two would have probably saved this segment from being a let-down.

#2 Best: Drew McIntyre's intense promo targeting Madcap Moss

Drew McIntyre's feud with Madcap Moss on WWE SmackDown hasn't garnered much interest from fans. The two men are set to collide in a Falls Count Anywhere match at Elimination Chamber.

McIntyre spiced things up a little bit with a heartfelt promo on tonight's episode. The Scottish Warrior showed a replay from WWE Day 1, where Moss and Baron Corbin attacked him backstage. He also looked back at WrestleMania 36, where he defeated Brock Lesnar to become the WWE Champion.

McIntyre did a great job of hyping up a match that not many fans were interested in, in the first place.

Here's hoping WWE has a concrete plan for McIntyre for this year's WrestleMania.


#2 Worst: WWE needs to work on how it pipes in crowd noise

WWE has been piping in crowd noises for a long time now. The piped-in crowd noise made for a bunch of awkward visuals tonight as well. A short while ago, a clip made the rounds on Twitter showing Ronda Rousey's promo, with WWE piping in cheers from the live audience.

WWE mistimed the fake crowd noise, though, and fans blasted the company over the same on Twitter.

Things didn't improve tonight, as can be judged from the video above.

Have you noticed the fake crowd noise that WWE has been adding to its shows quite frequently?

#1 Best: Sami Zayn's WWE Intercontinental win over Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke Nakamura's Intercontinental title reign on SmackDown will go down as one of the worst in the history of WWE. He won the belt after defeating Apollo Crews in August last year.

The win was followed by Nakamura having two forgettable feuds with Crews and Jinder Mahal. Every single one of Nakamura's title defenses against Mahal took place at WWE live events. He recently kicked off a feud with Sami Zayn, who has been one of the most interesting acts on WWE TV over the past year or so.

Zayn defeated Nakamura on tonight's episode to win his third Intercontinental title. It looks like Zayn will be defending his newly-won belt against Johnny Knoxville at WrestleMania 38.


#1 Worst: WWE did a poor job of editing Charlotte Flair's no-sell

Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair were involved in a contract signing segment on SmackDown. The segment also featured Naomi and Sonya Deville. Rousey is set to team up with Naomi to take on Flair and Deville at Elimination Chamber 2022.

Footage from last week's taping was leaked on Twitter, and fans noticed that Charlotte no-sold Rousey's attack during the signing. Flair was heavily bashed by fans for the no-sell, and it was expected that WWE would edit out the botch.

WWE did edit the no-sell but did quite a terrible job at it. Check out the video below and judge for yourself:

Rousey and Flair will face off at WrestleMania with the SmackDown Women's Championship on the line. Many fans have already given up on the eventual match, and WWE's poor job of hyping it isn't helping matters at all.

Did you enjoy this week's edition of SmackDown?

Let us know in the comments below.

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