Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialElimination Chamber 2017 Match By Match Predictions

Elimination Chamber 2017 Match By Match Predictions

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The Elimination Chamber match, a popular spin on a typical six-pack challenge, makes its return for the first time since 2015. The last singles Elimination Chamber match, featuring an Elimination Chamber bout between Dolph Ziggler, Bad News Barrett, Mark Henry, R-Truth, Sheamus and eventual Intercontinental Champion Ryback, was perhaps the worst Elimination Chamber match I ever saw, but this year’s field has room for much more potential. However, this also features one of the more weakest undercards that I’ve seen, highlighting the one issue that has plagued Smackdown thus far, depth. This Smackdown-exclusive PPV, on one bright side, is the first PPV in WWE history to feature not one, not two, but three women’s’ singles matches, showing that how far that division has come. With that said, let’s go match by match to know what to expect from each bout.

 

Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper

I don’t see any scenario where Orton doesn’t win here.

This match is sort of ruined by the fact that these two had a solid bout a couple of weeks ago, which featured Randy Orton on the winning side. The feud between these two have been building up for some time, beginning when The Wyatt Family dropped the Smackdown Tag Titles to American Alpha, and dysfunction between the two brewed for about the next month. It came to a head when Randy Orton defeated Luke Harper and Bray Wyatt delivered a Sister Abagail after, a physical message essentially exiling him from The Wyatts. While Luke seemingly still showed devotion to his Wyatt Family captain, Bray Wyatt, it was clear that he still had intentions of turning on him, until the turn was complete this past Tuesday. I’m not sure how Luke Harper will adapt on a solo act, because while he did win the Intercontinental Championship during his last stint as a singles wrestler, but it didn’t amount to much. However, with Smackdown’s limited roster past the main eventers, there may be room for him to grow. Randy Orton won the 2017 Royal Rumble match, so it’s highly unlikely that he drops a singles bout here to Harper at an intermediary PPV between now and WrestleMania. While Orton doesn’t necessarily need a win, he certainly can’t afford a loss. With the weak undercard, I’m hoping this bout gets the time that it needs, because these two have shown great chemistry, and as mentioned before, they had a very solid bout before the Rumble, so with more time, they can do a lot of good. Expect The Viper to pick up the victory here.

Winner: Randy Orton

 

Dolph Ziggler vs. Apollo Crews and Kalisto – Two on One Handicap Match

Nobody really wins in this scenario.

Ziggler dropped a singles bout to Baron Corbin, and Dolph got frustrated that he required the much smaller Kalisto’s help to avoid a post-match beatdown. Now, he’s gone back to his heelish, egotistical ways. Because Kalisto and Apollo have shared some sort of bond, he got involved and came to his friend’s success. Both Kalisto and Apollo have picked up victories over The Show Off in very short order, while both Apollo and Kalisto have been the victim of chair attacks, with this past Tuesday, both men succumbing to the same fate at the same time. He also took out his frustrations on Jerry Lawler, so much as to break the boundaries of what is considered appropriate on WWE television when he threatened to “finish what he started” (referring to Jerry Lawler’s heart attack seemingly contributed by a tag team match that he had against Dolph four and a half years ago)I think it’s sort of telling, though, that Dolph Ziggler was not one of the six chosen to be in the Elimination Chamber. Despite having one of the best feuds of the year with The Miz last year, and despite his heel turn, he wasn’t considered one of the cream of the crop for the Smackdown roster. So him going from working to The Miz in a great program to working with two enhancement talents has been a microcosm of his career. I’ve always hated handicap matches because there’s no real benefit. It’s kind of worse here because the two men are faces. If the single person beats two people at the same time, it makes him look very strong, but it will be inconsistent with future losses he may take. If the two men win, they don’t really look all that tough because they have the numbers advantage, and if those two men lose, they’d look very weak. I suppose because Apollo and Kalisto don’t have any big plans for the foreseeable future, it’s not too bad, but the concept is all wrong. Because Dolph is the only one out of these three who holds true value to the roster, it only makes sense for him to go over. You’re going to have him turn heel, lose to Apollo Crews quickly, have him attack him and his partner at the same time and then have him lose? I don’t think so.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

 

Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James

Becky looks so hot in that graphic.

Mickie James made her Smackdown debut when he came to the aid of Smackdown Women’s Champion, Alexa Bliss, in a steel cage match (and eliminating the purpose of a steel cage match in the process). She made her WWE return back at Takeover: Toronto last year when she pushed NXT Women’s Champion, Asuka in a great title match. Her beef with Becky apparently stems from the fact that Becky was complicit in trying to erase Mickie James’ accomplishment and being a part of the Women’s Revolution when in fact there were more prominent women before Lynch rose to prominence. Becky’s beef with Mickie is obviously because Mickie cost her the Smackdown Women’s Championship on more than one occasion and now they have to naturally settle it. Becky is a great worker and Mickie James proved that she can still hang with some of the younger guns, so I certainly hope we get at the very least, a decent bout here. Becky has lost her feud with Alexa, and being the very first woman Smackdown LIVE chose in the draft last year, it’s hard to see her losing again to Mickie. Then again, Mickie James’ cause for returning is essentially destroyed if she can’t beat Becky, because then her claims may not be as valid. With Mickie making her first singles imprint on the Smackdown roster, I’m expecting that Mickie will pick up the win here and Becky will get revenge at a later date.

 

Natayla vs. Nikki Bella

Is it wrong for me not to care about these two?

Natayla was revealed to be the one that blindsided Nikki Bella before the five on five women’s Smackdown vs. RAW elimination match at Survivor Series in November last year to no one’s surprise, and Natayla’s beef is because of Nikki Bella’s character. Natayla has taken shots at Nikki’s personal life left and right, even going as far as to say that John will never marry him and that she will never be a mother. Natayla has also said that John Cena would probably be with her if she wasn’t all into wrestling. Meanwhile, Nikki clapped back claiming that wrestling is all she has and people only recognize her because she’s a part of the Hart family. Without wrestling, she has nothing. Without wrestling, Nikki still has fame, glamour and a boyfriend with a high net worth. Now, personally, I think the feud has been built up rather decently, but the acting of Nikki has been really cringeworthy here, and because of the physicality of these two, I would have loved to see this match turn into a No Disqualification match. Nikki is approaching another hiatus from WWE because of nagging neck issues, so I’m under the assumption that she’ll take all the wins she can take before that time. Because both women have gotten good assaults on one another, both verbal and physical, the winner here is anyone’s guess. For the heck of it, I’ll take Nikki here.

Winner: Nikki Bella

 

Alexa Bliss (C) vs. Naomi – Smackdown Women’s Championship

Naomi’s time may come soon, but not this Sunday.

This really hasn’t been a feud so much it has been Alexa trying to brush off Naomi at every turn. Alexa has downplayed Naomi’s worth to the roster, pretending not to see her and not taking her seriously as a challenger. Naomi, to her credit has pinned Alexa Bliss twice. She also beat Alexa at No Mercy last year, making her somewhat of a threat for the title. However, we know how this always goes. The third time will not be the charm for Naomi this Sunday. There really isn’t much else to say here in that regard. It’s probably a feud just to give those two something to do until a real challenger emerges to take the title off of Alexa. Who that is I don’t know, but it’s not going to be Naomi.

Winner: Alexa Bliss

 

American Alpha (C) vs. The Ascension vs. The Vaudevillians vs. Heath Slater and Rhyno vs. Breezango vs. The Usos – Tag Team Turmoil (Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

Putting all of these teams together in a tag team turmoil match sort of highlights how weak the division is.

I think this match would have been better suited for WrestleMania, but my assumption is that this match was made to make us believe that WWE hasn’t forgotten that there are other tag teams on the Smackdown roster other than American Alpha. So apparently, American Alpha found themselves short on challengers after overcoming The Wyatt Family (I guess because nobody particularly cares for them), so all of the teams came out, including teams we hadn’t seen consistently since Survivor Series. I don’t think The Ascension will win just because they were the ones who got the winning victory in the tag team match on Tuesday night. The Vaudevillians just haven’t been consistent figures on Smackdown, putting whether they will EVER become tag team champions in some reasonable doubt. Heath Slater and Rhyno are certainly not winning just because of the fact that they were the first ones to win the Smackdown tag titles. Breezango is pretty much more for comic relief at this point, and I still don’t know if they are faces or heels at this point. Only two possibilities at this point are The Usos or American Alpha retains. I don’t particularly care for The Usos, but I think this could very well be the time they win. But then again, American Alpha really hasn’t had a real good run with the titles yet, so I think they live to see another day here.

Winner: American Alpha

John Cena (C) vs. AJ Styles vs. The Miz vs. Baron Corbin vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt – WWE Championship (Six Man Elimination Chamber Match)

The Eater of Worlds will chew his way through the glass ceiling this Sunday. He has to.

One of the reasons why I didn’t like Cena winning the title when he did was because it’s his sixteenth reign, and we may not remember it all that well because he would drop the title just two weeks later. WWE could always put the title on Cena when they want, but with a legendary sixteenth reign, don’t you want it to at least mean something. Anyways, there’s really only two possibilities to win this match. It will be either John Cena retaining or Bray Wyatt finally breaking the glass ceiling that has plagued him for so long to win the big one. AJ Styles won’t be winning the title so soon after he just held it, and it will be interesting to see who he will face at WrestleMania, because he has defeated every other guy in the match. Dean Ambrose also held the WWE Title not too long ago and him holding the Intercontinental Championship also disqualifies him from contention. The Miz is an interesting choice because it’s been over five and a half years since he’s held a world title, but on the road to WrestleMania, and with all the rumors of the card being produced, this wouldn’t be the juncture to win it. Baron Corbin has started to rise to be a prominent figure on the Smackdown roster, picking up a huge victory over AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose and The Miz in a fatal four-way match last night, making him look strong. However, he’s no WWE Champion. At least not yet. That leaves John Cena and Bray Wyatt. John Cena won’t be walking out as champion for one simple reason. If he were to win, he’d face Randy Orton at WrestleMania for the WWE Championship yet again, and that is not going to happen (though with WWE’s infatuation with Cena/Orton matches, you never really know). The only opponent for Randy Orton at WrestleMania that makes any sort of sense is Bray Wyatt. It will be interesting to see how they play up the descent between The Wyatt Family. Perhaps Bray will try to brainwash Orton into trying to give up his Royal Rumble slot and then Orton finally turns on him. Or maybe Orton can just say it was all a rouse and he was trying to play up the loyalty shtick as long as he could until an opportunity presents itself or something of that nature. No matter how you phrase it, it’s a simple as this. Bray Wyatt will at long last win the richest prize in the business, and it’s been long overdue. Let’s just hope that his reign will be something worthwhile.

Winner: Bray Wyatt

Agreed with my predictions? Disagree? Let me know! Until next time, y’all. Deuces.

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