Smackdown Results: Cody Weighs His Decision

March 1, 2025 John Kleinchester NEWS, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: WWE

February 28, 2025
Scotiabank Arena – Toronto, OR

By: John Kleinchester

WWE Smackdown Results

  • Tiffany Stratton over Chelsea Green via DQ in 6:30 
  • US Championship #1 Contender’s Tournament: Jacob Fatu over Andrade via Jump-Up Moonsault in 8:21 (Recommended)
  • US Championship #1 Contender’s Tournament: LA Knight over Santos Escobar via BFT in 11:37
  • US Championship #1 Contender’s Tournament: Carmelo Hayes over Braun Strowman via DQ in 1:30
  • Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez over Bianca Belair, Naomi & Bayley via Pop Rocks in 8:51
  • US Championship #1 Contender’s Tournament: LA Knight over Jacob Fatu and Carmelo Hayes via Nothing But Net in 12:24

 

Courtesy of The Final Boss

Elimination Chamber Weekend from Toronto kicked off with Smackdown emanating from the Scotiabank Arena. Cody Rhodes was shown arriving at the arena when two men approached him directing him to his locker room, courtesy of The Final Boss. A little later, Cody was shown with a big spread of food and champagne. R-Truth appeared taking part in the food and suggested that Cody should consider The Rock’s offer.

 

What Year Is It?

Toronto’s own Trish Stratus was out to the ring to kick off the show and received “Thank You Trish” chants while wearing a Maple Leafs jersey with “Trishy” on the back. Stratus wondered what year it was with Lilian Garcia introducing her, The Rock back in the mix and herself wrestling tomorrow. Trish noted that her kids would be able to witness her match for the first time and she was excited to mix it up with the next generation of talent, then introducing WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton.

Stratton was also wearing a Maple Leafs jersey that said Tiffy on it. The pair then removed their jersey and threw them into the crowd. Trish said they were in sync because they’d been training together and she and Stratton would beat Nia Jax and Candice LeRae tomorrow night.

This brought out Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, with Green dressed in half American hald Canadian flag gear and Niven was dressed as a Mountie. Green said American people were better and Stratton challenged Green to a match. Green tried to bail but a referee ran down and the match was on. After the first commercial break, Chelsea Green was in control with Wade Barrett explaining that Piper Niven got involved behind the referee’s break giving Green the advantage. Stratton regained control and had Green in position for her moonsault finisher but Niven pulled her out. Nia Jax and Candice LeRae then appeared and caused the disqualification. The four opponents for tomorrow night brawled and Jax saved LeRae from the Prettiest Moonsault Ever. 

United States Championship #1 Contender’s One-Night Tournament

Even though it was pretty clear that LA Knight would be the next challenger for Shinsuke Nakamura, Nick Aldis announced a one-night #1 Contender’s Tournament featuring LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar, Carmelo Hayes vs. Braun Strowman, and Andrade vs. Solo Sikoa. 

Backstage, Solo Sikoa approached Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga and Fatu said last week was an accident. Solo said that their family would win the United States Championship but instead of him it would be Jacob entering the tournament. This led to the first match of the tournament with Fatu and Andrade. Early in the match, Andrade hit an incredible-looking spot moonsaulting off the top turnbuckle over the ring post and onto Fatu on the floor below. 

After a commercial break, Fatu went for his pop-up Samoan Drop but Andrade countered with a Poisonrana. Fatu recovered and hit a Spiked Impaler DDT followed by the Jump-Up Moonsault for the win. 

 

Street Profits, Los Garza, DIY, and Pretty Deadly

Footage was shown from earlier in the day with Nick Aldis asking what was going on with the Street Profits. They said that they were out for three months and still hadn’t received their tag team title shot. Legado del Fantasma approached and demanded their apology for falsely accusing them of taking them out but the Profits declined. Aldis made a match between the Profits and Los Garza and reminded Escobar that he had a match in the tournament against LA Knight he should prepare for. 

Los Garza came down to the ring for the match but DIY jumped the Street Profits before the match could start. This led to all three teams brawling until Pretty Deadly joined the fracas, followed by Motor City Machine Guns. This brawl lasted for what felt like ten minutes before finally cutting away.

You Already Sold Your Soul, Cody

Backstage, Drew McIntyre approached Cody Rhodes and said if he were in Cody’s position he wouldn’t know what he would do.  Drew wondered what The Rock will do when Cody finally says yes but Rock discovers that Cody sold his soul a long time ago.

Promo Parade

After the commercial break, a John Cena promo package was airing when Drew McIntyre interrupted, telling “Lee” to cut it off or he’d come to the production truck. McIntyre called Cena a hypocrite, positioning himself in the “pipebomb” position on the announce desk and running Cena down.

This brought out Damian Priest. Priest said that all McIntyre does is complain and R-Truth makes more sense than him. Priest noted pinning McIntyre twice over the last year because of Drew’s “weird obsession” with CM Punk. Priest and McIntyre were about to fight when Seth Rollins interrupted and said the other two didn’t have a chance. This brought out CM Punk. Punk said he was obsessed with going to Wrestlemania and said that John Cena decided not to show up tonight. Then each man rotated through one-liners until John Cena’s music hit. Only it was Logan Paul trolling instead. Paul joined in on the promo parade with someone just off the mic saying “We signed the wrong brother”. Finally Punk ran Logan off ending the segment. 

United States Championship #1 Contender’s One-Night Tournament Continues

Next up was LA Knight taking on Santos Escobar in the one-night tournament. Wade Barrett called this a “hastily thrown together tournament” and believed that Nick Aldis put it together to avoid the “chaos” of the Tag division. The two competitors fought back and forth before Escobar hit a Superana off the top rope on Knight for a two-count. Knight then hit a BFT out of nowhere as Escobar came off the top rope. Knight moves on to the tournament final later tonight. 

Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens Simulcast

Sami Zayn came out to the ring and called out Kevin Owens but Owens revealed himself to be in the ring at the Rogers Centre instead. Owens said that he wasn’t the bad guy and that anything that happens tomorrow night is deserved. Owens then said that once Zayn is in a wheelchair, he won’t help Sami’s family at all. Zayn said that he was nervous about what he was going to do to him and that Owens’ family wouldn’t be able to forgive him. 

Awes-Him

Backstage, The Miz was hyping up Carmelo Hayes for his match against Braun Strowman and Hayes was starting to get into it. Cody Rhodes then approached and Miz tried to talk Cody into accepting The Rock’s offer and if he doesn’t take it, maybe someone else will.

 

US Championship #1 Contender’s One-Night Tournament Continues

Next up was Carmelo Hayes taking on Braun Strowman. Less than one minute into the match, Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga interfered behind the referee’s back and hit Strowman with a chair which he no-sold. Hayes then pulled an Eddie Guerrero and convinced the referee that Strowman hit him with a chair so the ref called the match a DQ. Afterward, an irate Strowman beat up Tama Tonga. 

6-Woman Tag Team Match

The next match of the night was the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez teaming up with Roxanne Perez taking on Bianca Belair, Naomi, and Bayley. Both teams went back and forth with Bayley taking early control.

The match broke down with all competitors laid out on the outside leaving just Bayley and Roxanne Perez in the ring. Perez hit the Pop Rocks for the pinfall victory over Bayley. After the match, Alexa Bliss appeared and hit the Abigail DDT on Perez. After that, Byron Saxton interviewed Charlotte backstage who said that she would be waiting for Tiffany Stratton at Wrestlemania no matter what happened in her tag match with Trish Stratus. 

Nakamura Promo

Another Subtitled Shinsuke Nakamura promo aired simply saying that he will embarrass whoever wins the tournament.

 

A #1 Contender is Finally Crowned

Backstage, Sikoa told Fatu that he had taken out Strowman and it was time for Fatu to finish the job. Fatu started heading to the ring and Tonga went to follow but Sikoa stopped him. 

Finally, we had our triple threat match to determine the #1 Contender to Shinsuke Nakamura’s United States Championship. The crowd was firmly behind Fatu as he dominated his two opponents. Fatu then missed a splash on both men by the timekeeper’s area, crashing and burning fantastically. Carmelo Hayes hit the First 48 simultaneously as LA Knight hit Fatu with the BFT for a near fall. LA Knight then hit a springboard crossbody onto Fatu who crashed into the announce table. Carmelo Hayes hit Nothing But Net but Fatu hit a Swanton for the save. Fatu then hit the moonsault on Hayes but Knight dragged him out of the ring and scored the pinfall for himself. 

 

Young Cody and Young Punk

Backstage, CM Punk told Cody Rhodes that he was happy he never got the offer from The Rock, but he suggested Cody take Rock’s offer and stick it up his “part-time Hollywood candy ass”. 

Cody Speaks Before He Decides

Michael Cole interviewed Cody Rhodes in the ring to ask about the decision that he will make tomorrow night at Elimination Chamber. Cole explained that if he accepts, he would have all the money in the world, he could have a seat on the board, no more events in small towns and he could be home whenever he wanted. They then rolled in a Cody Rhodes-branded pickup truck. Then footage was shown of The Rock in a similar truck at an airport and he said that he and Cody have been talking all week and to enjoy his gift. Rock then said that he had been “talking” to Dusty all week and he knew Cody had too. 

The Rock said he wanted Cody’s soul and he would make all of Cody’s dreams come true. Rock then revealed a weight belt that said Cody’s Soul with the date of June 11th, 2015 on it – the day that Dusty died. With that, the show ended with Cody looking dumbfounded. 

Final Thoughts

Yet another episode of Smackdown that felt like a two-hour episode stretched to three. So many run-ins, distractions, and nonfinishes. The promo segments did very little to fuel Elimination Chamber tomorrow night. The most compelling storyline is the Fatu/Sikoa storyline but that’s just a blip in the 180 minutes we’re subjected to every Friday night.

About John Kleinchester 222 Articles
John Kleinchester is a wrestling reporter from New Jersey, covering the sport since 2022. He is a graduate of Ithaca College and can be reached at jkleinchester@gmail.com.
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