In one week’s time the WWE Universe will be gearing up for the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Last week’s actual SmackDown broadcast shed some light on what fans can expect from the annual War Games inspired contest, but the after-show TalkingSmack revealed two more matches.
F4Wonline.com reports that Dolph Ziggler vs. Apollo Crews, Becky Lynch vs. Mickey James, and Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper are expected for the pay-per-view as well.
Although those matches haven’t been announced, it would put the total at seven matches for the SmackDown exclusive event. Given the fact that the Elimination Chamber match should be lengthy, seven bouts very well might fill up the night’s activities.
Elimination Chamber Match
John Cena is poised to put his newly won WWE World Title on the line against AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, The Miz, Baron Corbin, and Dean Ambrose in the Elimination Chamber main event. It was recently reported that Bray Wyatt is expected to win this contest and go on to WrestleMania 33 where he will battle Randy Orton.
Number three on our list of What Shouldn’t Happen At Wrestlemania 33 is Randy Orton winning the match-up between himself and Bray. Although it might be a foreign idea at this point to give Wyatt a big-time win, it is a necessity for him to eventually come down with a key victory in order to remain a dominant presence.
Bray has lost every WrestleMania match he’s ever been a part of from John Cena to The Undertaker. Although Bray didn’t compete at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, he was still schooled by The Rock. Therefore the Eater of Worlds is due for a victory at the grandest stage of them all.
Women’s Title Match
Alexa Bliss will put her SmackDown Women’s Title on the line against Naomi next week. Naomi is fresh off of an injury and has gained a great deal of momentum since returning to WWE and making the fans felt the glow once more. WWE has positioned her to win over the Women’s Champion two times in clean fashion since her return, and this set her up to challenge for the title. However, it might not be time to take the belt off of Bliss just yet. Little Miss Bliss is still holding that title strongly and her heat is outstanding.
Nikki Bella is rumored to be set up in a mixed-tag match with her bae against Miz and Maryse at Mania, not to mention the fact that the rumors suggest Nikki will be retiring after Mania this year in the same fashion that her sister, Brie, did last year.
Ergo, the only other logical face challenger at WrestleMania would be Becky Lynch. Vince McMahon has never been a fan of pitting two babyfaces against each other in a big match, so it only makes sense to keep the title on Bliss to let Becky get it back from her in Orlando.
Nikki Bella vs. Natayla
Nikki Bella is due to battle Natalya in a match at Elimination Chamber. This feud started off with a whimper, but due to the interesting jealousy angle that Nattie brought to the table it’s got some legs on it.
One of the highlights of the rivalry was when the Queen of Harts invaded the merchandise stand and threw all of Nikki’s shirts in a freshly cleaned trashcan. Natalya has kept driving in the fact that Nikki is only where she is because of her famous boyfriend, Mr. You Can’t See Me.
It is interesting to note that nobody has mentioned that Nattie’s famous family is the reason she got to where she is. Therefore, expect Nikki to come out on top of this one, unless she gets screwed over by Maryse allowing Jim Neidhart’s daughter to win.
Tag-Team Turmoil Match
American Alpha will put their SmackDown Tag Team Titles on the line in a tag-team turmoil match. Although Jordan and Gable are great talents, it would be hard to argue that they are at the popularity level that they need to be. This match very well might be an opportunity for them to go over in a big way after a grueling match. They have had barn burners in NXT, but haven’t had the chance to really show what they can do on the main roster yet.
It is important to remember that these two were initially introduced as a heel team in NXT, but due to their amazing in-ring work the fans decided to put them over as babyfaces. This is no simple task to be sure.
There are some people who would like to see The Revival make a surprise debut during this match as well which would make sense. However they were used in some fashion during the latest round of NXT television tapings, so that might not happen unless they plan on pulling double-duty for a minute.
If Dash and Dawson came in as the last team in the match to snipe those blue belts from Alpha it would not only give Jordan and Gable a team to go after, but also provide a pairing that has already produced fantastic matches before.
The Usos vs. American Alpha for the tag titles is the advertised match-up on March 12th’s MSG show in NYC, but those advertised matches can always change.
