DM Hunk is here to save WrestleMania

SmackDown airs tonight (Feb. 23) with a taped show (spoilers here) emanating from Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is the final episode of SmackDown during the four week build towards Elimination Chamber 2024, which takes place early Saturday morning (Feb. 24)

DM Hunk is here to save WrestleMania

Raw star Drew McIntyre showed up backstage at SmackDown last week and accurately referred to himself as the savior of WrestleMania. LA Knight happened to be standing nearby and confronted Drew, leading to some spicy trash talk and a main event match booked for tonight. It will be McIntyre vs. Knight in a singles match in Utah on Friday night, hours before they clash again Saturday morning in Australia as part of the men’s Elimination Chamber match.

DM Hunk has all the momentum in the world right now. He ended CM Punk’s WrestleMania dream, he beat Cody Rhodes’ ass on Raw, and now he has a chance to put Knight on the injured list alongside Punk. Make no mistake about it, the primary goal of this match isn’t necessarily to win, it’s to damage the other man ahead of the men’s Elimination Chamber match.

This is the Elimination Chamber go home show, which means there’s a decent chance that other participants in the men’s chamber will ruin the end of this fight and close out the show with a giant brawl. So keep an eye out for Randy Orton, Logan Paul, Kevin Owens, and Bob Lashley, because some or all of them will almost certainly try to overshadow the main event match and make a final statement before the chamber.

The rest of the card

After weeks of delaying the inevitable, the Authors of Pain finally face the Street Profits tonight in a tag team match. Will Karrion Kross, Scarlett, and/or Paul Ellering provide enough outside interference and distractions to assist AOP to victory?

Bron Breakker officially signed with SmackDown last week, and tonight he makes his in-ring debut. I feel bad for the poor sap who is standing across the ring from Bron and is only there to get speared out of his boots.

Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate are challenging Judgment Day (Finn Balor & Damian Priest) for the undisputed WWE tag team titles Saturday morning in Australia at Elimination Chamber. In order to tune up for the title fight, Dunne and Bate are battling Judgment Day’s B-squad tonight in the form of Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh. Will Priest and Balor be hanging around somewhere looking to ambush the babyfaces after the match is over?

Other stuff to keep an eye on

– This episode of SmackDown was taped last week, which means The Rock and Roman Reigns could theoretically appear on TV again. Will there be a backstage confrontation between Triple H and the Tribal Chiefs of The Bloodline, or is WWE saving that for after Elimination Chamber?

– Tensions were building last week in a backstage segment with Liv Morgan, Bianca Belair, and Tiffany Stratton, as they all prepare to do battle inside the women’s Elimination Chamber match. Will Stratton have to back up her trash talk by facing either Morgan or Belair on SmackDown tonight?

– Cedric Alexander and Ashante Thee Adonis are trying to escape jobber status by forming a new tag team. Good luck with that!

– How are negotiations going between Jade Cargill and SmackDown GM Nick Aldis?

What will you be looking for on SmackDown?