Results, Recap, Review of WWE Elimination Chamber 2017
Tonight was Smackdown’s last major stop before Wrestlemania and it took place at the Elimination Chamber. The Elimination Chamber and No Way Out were once monumental pay-per-views that would lead up to Wrestlemania. Smackdown has been considered the land of opportunity so who would seize the opportunity to shine on the grandest stage of them all? Here are the results of tonight’s Elimination Chamber event.
-Preshow: Mojo Rawley defeated Curt Hawkins
-Becky Lynch defeated Mickie James
-Apollo Crews/Kalisto defeated Dolph Ziggler
-American Alpha wins the Tag Team Gauntlet to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Championships
-Nikki Bella and Natalya ended a double count out
-Randy Orton defeated Luke Harper
-Naomi defeated Alexa Bliss to win the Smackdown Women’s Championship
-Bray Wyatt wins the Elimination Chamber to win the WWE Championship
The opening match was the veteran Mickie James taking on Becky Lynch. James had a great match back in the Summer with Asuka at Takeover which led to her getting a WWE contract once again. Mickie James looks great and still can get it done in the ring. I love how Smackdown does the complete opposite of Raw. Smackdown brings stars from the past to help get the younger stars over where Raw brings old stars to make money an beat the younger stars. We go from the women to what was suppose to be a 2 on 1 handicap match. Before Kalisto could join Apollo Crews in the ring Ziggler attacked the masked superstar before the match started. I like the Ziggler heel turn because it was long overdo. Before Ziggler could defeat Crews, Kalisto came back out to help Ziggler get the win. After the match was over Ziggler attacked Kalisto and Crews leaving his mark on the night.
The one thing I enjoyed about this pay-per-view is that all the tag teams and all the women were involved. The tag team gauntlet proved that Smackdown has a little more depth then Raw does. I don’t like how they made The Ascension look so weak. Right before they came out The Uso’s put a big time beat down on American Alpha which didn’t make sense. You should not be able make a come back that quick after a beat down like that. I hope The Ascension can get some momentum rolling after this week and eventually win the tag titles. They were one of the most dominant teams in NXT and since they got to the main roster things have not been good for them. One thing that’s been fun to watch is the rivalry between Natalya and Nikki Bella. I love when rivalries have a personal twist to them because it brings more reality to the show. It looked like Nikki was struggling for a minute but she finished match strong. I am glad they left this rivalry open for an exciting conclusion.
One of the best stories that has taken place in recent memory is the Wyatt Family story. I love that Randy Orton joined Bray Wyatt because Orton needed something to get his momentum going again. Orton’s career has been sub-par since Wrestlemania 30 when he last held the WWE World Championship. Orton won his second Royal Rumble last month which added to his of accolades. I also believe that it’s time Luke Harper goes on his own. When Harper was on the independent scene as Brodie Lee he proved to be a top notch performer that can hang with the best. Harper proved tonight that he can definitely go at it alone. Since the NXT call-ups during the draft I feel like Alexa Bliss has been the most successful. She is really coming into her own as a performer and has gotten the most out of her opportunities. I am so happy for Naomi in her victory but the last couple of minutes of the match was a bit of a botch fest. Hopefully when they have their rematch it won’t end in multiple botches.
In the main event, six men entered the new Elimination Chamber for the WWE Championship and the right to be in a prime spot at Wrestlemania. I like the new set up of the chamber but the one thing I was disappointed that they covered up the surface outside of the ring. However they made up for it a little with some of the spots they did in the match. I was really surprised to see Styles and Cena start off the match. Each man that was in the match had some great highlights. Baron Corbin was eliminated first by Dean Ambrose which didn’t set well with The Lone Wolf. Corbin attacked Ambrose after the elimination allowing The Miz to pin Ambrose. The Miz was the next one eliminated after Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment, The final three came down to Cena, Styles and Wyatt. Cena surprisingly wasn’t the last man eliminated. It came down to Bray Wyatt and AJ Styles which was actually a good match-up. I would mind seeing more of Wyatt and Styles in the future. At the end of the night it was Bray Wyatt walking out the WWE Champion.
The Elimination Chamber was a good pay per view and the matches were decent.but there was nothing that stood out for me. As of right now the WWE Championship will be Bray Wyatt vs Randy Orton. However there are seven weeks left until Wrestlemania and anything can change. I am going to give Elimination Chamber a 6 out of 10. I applaud the effort of the Smackdown roster but in my opinion they are making Smackdown looking like the B show headed into Wrestlemania. I will be curious how the Smackdown side of things go until Wrestlemania. In three weeks we go to the Raw side of things with WWE Fast Lane.
