Are you ready to enter the Chamber? Despite having only two weeks to hype the show, the Blue Brand did a great job of building up each match in the card properly. So yeah, as lame as the Elimination Chamber match will be (despite rumors that the structure will receive a makeover, bitch please), I’m still excited about SmackDown Live’s first pay-per-view of 2017. Let’s start the speculations!
Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship
AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin vs. The Miz vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose vs. John Cena (c)
John Cena’s first title defense is surely a big one. He’ll be going up against five of SmackDown Live’s top stars, and aside from Dean Ambrose, anyone could win this match and I’ll have no complaints. We all know Bray Wyatt is the heavily favored guy to win this one but surely, Creative would want to throw a curveball just to mess with our brains. Maybe Styles will regain the WWE Championship, leading to an epic triple threat at ‘Mania. Maybe The Miz will win and be in the Mania main event once again. Hell, maybe they’ll let Corbin win the Big One and push the guy to the moon and back. Dean Ambrose as a dual champion, anyone? Or maybe, Vince really wants to make Cena vs. Orton happen after all. This match could be as exciting as you want it to be.
Chamber Choice: John Cena! Just kidding, it’s Bray Wyatt. All hell will break loose.
Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper
In case you didn’t know, Luke Harper can throw one hell of a promo. He proved this week on SmackDown Live that he can be menacing and dangerous all by himself. It’s safe to assume that Luke Harper is out of the Wyatt Family after defying its head multiple times now. That being said, he’ll surely fall to this year’s Royal Rumble winner, Randy Orton. The Viper will definitely need all the momentum he can get if he wants to main event WrestleMania. Besides, we have to start building Orton as the eventual babyface who will take down Bray Wyatt and this should be a good platform to reveal a crack in the Wyatt-Orton bond.
Chamber Choice: Randy Orton, by all means. Sorry, Luke.
SmackDown Live Women’s Championship
Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss (c)
Wouldn’t it be awesome if Naomi actually wins on Sunday? I won’t complain if that happens. Have you seen her matches lately? She’s currently on fire! Watch her match last week when she got her second pinfall against the champion. She’s simply a delight to watch in the ring. However, Alexa Bliss must retain her SmackDown Women’s Championship. Now that La Luchadora is gone, I want her to actually defeat Naomi with little to no shenanigans involved. She can cheat a little, but I want her to dominate the match. It would be cool to have her walk into WrestleMania as the champion before dropping the belt to either Becky Lynch or Naomi. Sorry, but the Glow will have to wait for her turn for the title.
Chamber Choice: Alexa Bliss, hands down. Sorry, Naomi. Hey, that rhymed.
Tag Team Turmoil for the SmackDown Live Tag Team Championships
The Usos vs. Heath Slater and Rhyno vs. The Ascension vs. The Vaudevillains vs. Breezago vs. American Alpha (c)
Aren’t you glad this wasn’t an a Tag Team Elimination Chamber match? I sure am. The almost-forgotten tag team division of SmackDown Live bounced back towards the spotlight after Creative wisely gave all teams enough exposure. You know what, for the hell of it, I want The Ascension to win. American Alpha should start the match with any team and after the Alphas eliminate every team, out come Konnor and Viktor and they tear the house down. They already have the momentum going into this match, might as well strike while the iron is a bit warm. One flying knee to the face later, the Ascension celebrates as they escape jabroni hell and became the new champions. Let’s continue the dominance of the Blue tag team division by making do with what we have. *mic drop*
Chamber Choice: The Ascension, because I want to watch the world burn.
Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James
Technically, this would be Mickie James’ second PPV match after coming back to the WWE, but nonetheless, I’m still excited to see her go up against the face of the SmackDown Live women’s division for the first time on a SmackDown Live stage. This should be a fun match, especially because both are fan favorites anyway. Giving the victory to Mickie James in their first encounter is a better decision in case they want this rivalry to continue. Let Mickie continue her mind games until her eventual defeat at the hands of Straight Fire herself. Although I kinda want to see how you can slap someone back to the past. Should be interesting.
Chamber Choice: Mickie James will steal the show on Sunday.
2-on-1 Handicap Match
Dolph Ziggler vs. Apollo Crews & Kalisto
Well, this one I did not see coming. I thought Apollo will face Ziggler alone in this rubber match, but I guess Creative thought that would be boring as balls so they added Kalisto to keep the match fast and exciting. Come to think of it, it’s an interesting dynamic to see the heel outnumbered by the faces. That’s what happens when the authority figures are good guys. Hooray SmackDown Live! Although this setup is problematic because whoever loser/s of the match will certainly look like idiot/s. Nevertheless, Dolph Ziggler should definitely go over. After this Sunday, Ziggler has to move on to someone else, maybe have another go at the Intercontinental Championship?
Chamber Choice: Dolph Ziggler followed by a free-for-all chair-bashing party.
Nikki Bella vs. Natalya
I don’t really care about this rivalry. I really hope this will be their last match so Nikki can move on to feuding with Maryse, if the rumors are to be believed. Miz/Maryse vs Cena/Nikki sounds interesting on paper, but you can imagine how awesome this rivalry would be. The Miz is currently at the top of his game in terms of his heel work and partnered by Cena’s passionate promos, this could be the rivalry for ages. If Maryse can shake off her ring rust, this would also be the perfect send-off for Nikki Bella. Who else can claim they teamed up with their spouse at the grandest stage of them all? Oh, right, the match. Let’s see. Nikki Bella will win and probably kayfabe send Natalya to the shelf.
Chamber Choice: Nikki Bella, just to end this horrendous rivalry.
We’re on the second stop on our Road To WrestleMania. Expect SmackDown Live to steal the show on Sunday. Hell, they might even make the Elimination Chamber match itself more entertaining compared to the previous ones. What do you think of the card we have here? Leave all your worries behind down at the comments.
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Ricky Jay Publico (@HarambeMustLive) is a wrestling fan who enjoys watching high flyers and brawlers battle it out in the ring. A known Botchamania binge-watcher, he claims to have memorized the chronological order of Royal Rumble winners, but fails to remember who won in 2004. He writes stories about life and nonsense.
