WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Live Grades, Highlights Before Elimination Chamber

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE SmackDown on February 28.

This was the final episode of WWE television before the Elimination Chamber PLE on Saturday, so it was the last chance management had to make any additions or changes to the show.

Cody Rhodes is set to meet The Rock on Saturday to decide whether he wants to sell his soul to the Final Boss. This may sound like the plot of a video game, but it's a wrestling storyline.

Trish Stratus also made an appearance on the blue brand this week to hype her tag match with Tiffany Stratton, Nia Jax and Candice LeRae this weekend.

Let's take a look at everything that happened on Friday's episode of SmackDown.

The Toronto crowd welcomed Trish Stratus with a warm reception to kick off the show after a brief recap video from last week's episode. She spoke for a few minutes before welcoming Tiffany to the ring.

Chelsea Green and Piper Niven interrupted so the women's United States champion said she was glad she no longer lived in Canada. Tiffy challenged Chelsea to a match and Nick Aldis sent a ref down to make it official.

We returned from a break to see the match already in progress. Green scored a two-count right when the show came back.

They traded control back and forth several times to make this bout feel competitive. Stratton had a slight power advantage but not enough to make it feel uneven.

Sadly, the match ended prematurely when Jax and LeRae interfered, so there wasn't enough meat on the bone for this contest to be anything special, especially with a DQ ending.

Result: No Contest

Grade: C

Notable Moments and Observations

—Trish looked a little choked up at some of the chants for her.

—Niven keeps killing it with the outfits she has been choosing.

—The bump Green took from a spinebuster did not look fun.

—Tiffy's swanton from the top rope to the floor almost ended badly.

Aldis announced a series of matches to determine the No. 1 contender for the United States Championship. The first featured Solo Sikoa giving his spot to Jacob Fatu so he could face Andrade.

Fatu caught Andrade off guard with his offense at first, but El Idolo quickly regained his footing and took over.

Fatu is portrayed as a massive powerhouse, but he and Andrade aren't that different in size, so this felt like an even matchup in a lot of ways. Fatu had the strength, but El Idolo had the agility and speed.

This was a very physical and highly entertaining match. Both guys were working their butts off to make this as exciting as possible.

The Samoan Werewolf picked up the win with his signature moonsault, and he did it clean without help from anyone in his group.

Result: Fatu defeated Andrade

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

—R-Truth being in Cody's dressing room was hilarious.

—Andrade's hurricanrana over the top rope looked awesome.

—The reverse rana also looked great. Fatu sold it like a champ.

As Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins were making their entrance to take on Angel and Berto, they were attacked by DIY. Los Garzas, Pretty Deadly and Motor City Machine Guns joined the fight, too. The match never started because security was unable to get control of the situation.

During a video package for John Cena, Drew McIntyre interrupted so he could rant about how he is sick of it. Damian Priest came out and told McIntyre to get over it. Seth Rollins joined them and kept the trash talk going. A few moments later, CM Punk arrived.

The biggest surprise came when John Cena's music hit, but then Logan Paul came out instead to troll the crowd.

The segment ended with Paul running away from Punk. The only man from the match who did not show up was Cena.

The second match in the No. 1 Contender's tournament saw LA Knight take on Santos Escobar.

They started off with a basic lockup followed by a sequence of holds and counters. It took a couple of minutes before they started using strikes.

These two have very different styles of wrestling, but both men are so versatile that it took them no time at all to find their groove.

They fought through a break into the next segment and put on a solid performance together. It feels like we don't get to see enough of Escobar these days, so it was great to see him get more ring time.

Knight caught Escobar with a BFT in mid air to score the pin and the win.

Result: Knight defeated Escobar

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

—McIntyre and Rhodes had a respectful exchange backstage before McIntyre spent 20 minutes complaining at ringside.

—The little wings on Escobar's boots are hard to notice unless you really look for them.

—The way Knight sold being sent into the steel steps looked fantastic. He made it look like his face hit right on the edge.

Sami Zayn came out and invited Kevin Owens to the ring, but KO was not at the arena. He was at the venue for Elimination Chamber standing in the middle of an empty ring. He said this is all Zayn's fault and he is going to end his career.

The final qualifying match for the U.S. title No. 1 Contender's triple threat featured Carmelo Hayes taking on Braun Strowman.

The Monster Among Men used his significant size advantage to take control right away. He didn't let Melo take a break and ran him over like a freight train.

Tama Tonga tried to distract the ref while Solo Sikoa attacked Strowman with a chair, but the big man brushed it off and took out both men.

Hayes pulled an Eddie Guerrero and made the ref think Strowman used the chair on him to get him disqualified. This was barely a match, but it made Melo look like a good opportunist.

Result: Hayes defeated Strowman

Grade: Incomplete

Notable Moments and Observations

—The Miz and Hayes are surprisingly funny together.

—Strowman no-selling the chair shot was a fun moment.

Most of the women who will be competing inside of the Elimination Chamber were in action this week in a six-woman tag match.

Bianca Belair, Naomi and Bayley took on Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez. The only Chamber participant not in the match was Alexa Bliss.

Naomi and Morgan began throwing hands as soon as the bell rang, and it didn't take long for all six women to start brawling.

This was a pretty standard six-person bout. We saw every combination of opponents work together. Perez got the win for her team with her Pop Rox finisher.

This was a decent match that had a good amount of time, but Bliss showing up to attack Perez at the end might have been the most interesting part. A couple of sloppy moments kept this from being as good as it could have been.

Result: Perez, Morgan and Rodriguez defeated Naomi, Bayley and Belair

Grade: C

Notable Moments and Observations

—Morgan's head almost hit the announce table when Bayley took her down with a suicide dive.

—Wade Barrett was working hard to plant the seeds that Morgan and Rodriguez are not the ones who took out Jade Cargill.

—Belair got some good hang time on her crossbody.

Sikoa was shown giving Fatu a quick pep talk before he walked to the ring for the main event. Hayes was the freshest competitor due to his match being the quickest, but all three men looked like they had no lasting effects from their earlier bouts.

Hayes tried to form a partnership with Fatu that was ignored by The Samoan Werewolf. Knight tried to take Fatu down with a bulldog, but it had no effect.

While there were no alliances, it felt like Knight and Melo were both fighting an uphill battle against the physically dominant Fatu.

All three men had moments to shine, but the match was at its most fun when they were doing spots with everyone involved.

Knight ended up stealing the win by pulling Fatu out of the ring after he hit a moonsault on Hayes. This allowed The Megastar to run in and get the pin to earn a shot at the U.S. title.

Result: Knight defeated Fatu and Hayes

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

—The way WWE has presented Shinsuke Nakamura during this run has been amazing. Every vignette has been great.

—The way Knight scooped up Melo for a powerslam was impressive. It looked like it took no effort at all.

—Fatu fell while trying to catch Hayes in a crossbody. It was awkward but Knight made everyone forget about it with a springboard crossbody to the floor.

This week's show ended with Michael Cole interviewing Rhodes about what he will do with The Rock's offer. The Rock had a custom truck sent over as a gift for Cody.

The Rock ended the show with a video saying he knows Cody will make the right decision this weekend.

Friday's SmackDown spent a lot of time hyping Saturday's Elimination Chamber PLE, but it also included a lot of storylines that won't be part of the event.

Fatu vs. Andrade was easily the best match of the night. They had the crowd on its feet with an exciting performance. Fatu came up short against Knight later in the show, but he made a big impression.

Saturday's Chamber event only has four matches scheduled to take place, but with two of them being inside the Chamber, WWE should have more than enough action to fill up a few hours.

Overall, Friday's SmackDown felt a bit long at times, but it wasn't a bad episode by any means. It just didn't do much to stand out either.

Grade: B