WWE Friday Night Smackdown preview and schedule: February 24, 2023

End of Bloodline inching closer?

Backup from almost 17000 Montreal fans and tremendous resiliency fell short of The Bloodline's numbers' game as Sami Zayn was unable to capture the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship from Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber.

While this is the bad news, the good news is that his native countryman Kevin Owens is back to possibly fall in line with him in the ongoing renaissance against The Bloodline.

Over on Raw, Sami called out Owens to thank him for saving him at the Chamber PLE from an attack by The Bloodline once the title match was over. Sami also pledged his former best buddy to officially join him in taking out Reigns and Co.

The Prizefighter denied the proposal and walked out on Sami but reports indicate that these two will eventually be aligned to challenge The Usos at WrestleMania for the tag titles. Hence, there are plenty more storylines to unfold on SmackDown.

Firefly Funhouse returns on SmackDown

Back at Royal Rumble, Bray Wyatt returned to action on WWE TV by defeating LA Knight in a Pitch Black match. Uncle Howdy also dropped in on LA Knight from up the ramp to confirm his alliance with the Eater of the World.

Two weeks later, Wyatt and Howdy laid waste to Hit Row and then issued a challenge to the winner of Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley at Elimination Chamber.

Lashley won that match and he's possibly heading into a clash with Wyatt at WrestleMania. This week, Wyatt is bringing back the entertaining Firefly Funhouse to SmackDown and he's likely to have a lot to say addressing The All-Mighty.

Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley to come face-to-face

The 2023 Women's Royal Rumble winner Rhea Ripley can't wait to remove the zero-win stat against Charlotte Flair in a PLE when she challenges the Smackdown Women's Champion at WrestleMania 39 for the title.

As noted on the latest edition of Raw on February 20 during a sit-down interview alongside Dominik, Rhea admitted to moving on from Beth Phoenix following Elimination Chamber.

Judgment Day's "Mami" has been away from the title picture for more than a year and she just can't wait to make a bold statement to The Queen and possibly one-up her ahead of WrestleMania with Dominik helping her out.

Rey Mysterio vs. Karrion Kross

For several weeks now, Karrion Kross is trying to make a name for himself at Rey Mysterio's expense. With Scarlett by her side, he came up short at his first attempt at upstaging the legendary name.

But fairly enough, Kross didn't back down from gunning one more match against the Master of 619 and found success as WWE did schedule the match on this week's SmackDown.

Dominik Mysterio has informed on Raw that he intends to be present on SmackDown as his father will be seen in action. So young Dom's interference may not only cost Rey the match but also commence builds of a WrestleMania storyline.

Six-Man Tag Team Match

Braun Strowman and Ricochet had a failed attempt to win the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championships from The Usos, two weeks ago. Then, Madcap Moss came up short against Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER, last week.

In an interesting booking, the former three challengers will look forward to getting back some momentums in their corner when they join forces against Imperium members (GUNTHER, Ludwig Kaiser, and Giovanni Vinci) in a Six-Man Tag Team Match.