Sami Zayn Comes Home to Montreal

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This week's SmackDown was the go-home show to Saturday night's Elimination Chamber premium live event, but really, this was the show that built up to the last few minutes of the night and the Montreal crowd showing Sami Zayn that love and appreciation. They did just that as Zayn soaked it all in and then had a short message for Roman Reigns before the two do battle in the main event of the pay-per-view.

Before that moment, the six women competing in the Chamber ran into each other, Bray Wyatt called out Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley, Sheamus and Drew McIntyre did battle with The Viking Raiders and Gunther successfully defended his Intercontinental Championship.

Here are your winners and losers for SmackDown, February 17, 2023:

Winner: Shotzi and Natalya vs. Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler

This wasn't a bad way to open the show as Natalya got some love from the pro-Canadian crowd and Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler went over in a competitive matchup. Rousey still feels like a big deal even though it appears she working her way into the women's tag team division and she made good for a botched bump at a Survivor Series by taking a nasty DDT on the ring apron by Shotzi, showing the Montreal crowd they were wrong when they chanted, "you can't wrestle."

The right people went over here and it's important for WWE to build legitimate threats in the women's tag team division. Shayna and Rousey are the biggest threat Damage CTRL has had to date.

Winner/Loser: Wyatt and Uncle Howdy Take Out Hit Row

Bray Wyatt and Uncle Howdy interrupted Hit Row who were in the ring rapping and dissing Montreal. The pair took out the trio and Wyatt grabbed the mic and said, "You're welcome Montreal." Saying he took care of some business and has his family back, it appeared he and Howdy were an official team and he proceeded to call out what looks to be his next opponent. He noted, "Tomorrow night, Bobby Lashley, Brock Lesnar...whichever walks out alive. Whichever is the victor. You...should...run."

This is an interesting choice. One on hand, Wyatt vs. Lashley or Lesnar is WrestleMania worthy. If that's where they are going, it will be a high-profile match that will intrigue fans. On the other hand, it feels like WWE might be walking themselves into a corner as they often do with Wyatt. It's hard to get others over in a feud with him and what's the plan here? If the logical choice is to have Wyatt beat Lashley and WrestleMania, that makes it seem like Lashley has to beat Lesnar on Saturday. If the choice is Wyatt vs. Lesnar, who is the babyface and does Wyatt win this one?

Winner: Viking Raiders vs. Sheamus and Drew McIntyre

While Gunther put on a strong performance later in the evening, this was easily the match of the night. This was physical, full of energy, and can only be defined as four men running into each other over and over like an intentional car crash. The best part about it was that Drew and Sheamus picked up a predictable win while also making Erik and Ivar look like badasses. The Raiders have come so far from where they were a couple of years ago. It's refreshing to see.

What might be nice is if creative added some kind of ceremonial element to their matches. In much the same way Undertaker got his power from the urn, what if Valhalla had a ritual or item from a ceremony that gave these two that little something extra. Demonic gimmicks might be all but gone from WWE, but this could work.

Winner/Loser: Asuka vs. Liv Morgan

This segment did what it was supposed to, which was to get all six women competing in the chamber match tomorrow in the same place and fighting to build anticipation for when they do it and it counts. The downside here was that Asuka, while getting the win, still hasn't had that dominant performance this very cool new character needs. She beat Morgan, but there's also a feeling that Morgan did the favor tonight so she can go over tomorrow.

This was a solid match, but the other four women outside the ring actually took away from the action. It made sense they were there, but it might have been better had they only showed up at the end and impacted the outcome.

Winner: Gunther

Madcap Moss was good here, but he was never really a legitimate threat to dethrone Gunther and take the I.C. Title, so this was more about a showcase for Gunther with the hope a solid match would elevate Moss up the card a bit. It probably worked, but there were times it felt like Gunther had to pull Madcap along just a bit. The Ring General did pick up the win with the power bomb and successfully defend his title. It will be interesting to see who WWE lines up to face him next and eventually challenge him for a WrestleMania match.

If Lashley moves on to face Wyatt, Lesnar is the obvious choice.

Winner: Sami Zayn

WWE was smart to give this last segment time, even though Zayn didn't really say all that much. Everyone knew the crowd was going to show Zayn some love and shower him with cheers and chants. Having those few extra minutes to let that happen organically made this segment work. Zayn could have said nothing and this would have worked. In the end, speaking both English and French, Sami called Reigns a few nasty words and then said he was going down.

Zayn is incredibly over. The crowd is just willing him towards WrestleMania and it will be fascinating to see how WWE chooses to book his main event match for Saturday night and, if they choose wrong, what they'll do should they need to pivot heading into the biggest show of the year. As the fans chanted, "You deserve it." It might be hard for WWE to avoid it.