wrestling / Columns

WWE Elimination Chamber 2017 Review: You Deserve It!

February 15, 2017 | Posted by Justin Watry
Bray Wyatt Elimination Chamber Image Credit: WWE

Hi, I’m Justin Watry. You may remember me from such classic columns as March 2012’s “WWE WrestleMania 28: Sheamus Should Defeat Daniel Bryan in Less Than a Minute” and October 2015’s “WWE NXT: Bobby Roode, You’re Next.”

Backstory

Hope everybody enjoyed all my columns from the past week. Lots of good content to read. This will be my WWE Elimination Chamber 2017 review.

Best Of The Rest

– Smackdown LIVE sure does depend on heels attacking faces post-match a lot. Please stop that.

– Even in retirement, JBL finds a way to steal the show with his entrance.

– I knew Mojo Rawley vs. Curt Hawkins was a troubling omen for the event. My buddy who watched with me said, “so jobber vs. jobber then?”

– Also, he spent the entire Kickoff Show calling Sam Roberts a geek and asking why he was talking so much.

– The James Ellsworth/Carmella nonsense isn’t funny. What is the end game here?

– Next pay-per-view style show is Fastlane, which will be attended by yours truly.

– Notice the brand used nearly every single active roster member. That is cool. Almost everybody…

WWE Elimination Chamber 2017

– Fine choice beginning with Mickie James vs. Becky Lynch. With three women’s matches on the pay-per-view, it was wise to spread them out over the entirety of the broadcast. Long live the revolution! This was an interesting case. Becky has lost a million times in one on one battles, so she could have used the victory. However, Mickie James just came back. In the end, WWE went with the veteran losing to the newcomer. A tried and true outcome in wrestling. Nothing wrong with that. We complain when the past beats the present, but when the opposite happens, we complain too. This story is far from over, so this was okay.

– Dolph Ziggler vs. Apollo Crews and Kalisto never clicked with me. It didn’t before the bell and certainly never did afterwards. I did appreciate the attack on Kalisto though. At least THAT made some kind of sense. I’d have much preferred a basic one on one bout. Even more puzzling is the fact that the good guys won with a two to one advantage…and then got pummeled afterwards. Huh? What? One big positive is Crews and Kalisto SHOULD have been able to defeat Ziggler, and they did. I don’t have high hopes for these three at WrestleMania 33; that’s a shame.

– Tag Team Turmoil was pretty meh. American Alpha should have an open challenge every week, culminating in a major tag team stepping up at Mania. Run through every Smackdown team for the next month and then create some buzz for a mystery opponent in Orlando. Bring in a legendary team or call up The Revival. Whatever. This multi-team filler stuff isn’t going to cut it. Alpha are so far above everybody else right now.

– As someone who has liked the Natalya vs. Nikki Bella feud, it was very satisfying to hear the Phoenix crowd invested in their match. Even better was the fact that the women delivered! I would argue it was better than the opener and Alexa Bliss vs. Naomi later on. The non-finish was acceptable in the this case because they brawled later on and are clearly not done with each other (even bumping into Maryse backstage in a bit of foreshadowing). Continue it for another few weeks and end it on a Smackdown episode in a NoDQ(.com) clash. Heck, put it in the main event slot for all I care. Good stuff here.

– Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper went as expected. The commentators talked up Harper and all his potential, but Mr. RKO won in the end. Like he should have. No issues with any of this. Didn’t blow me away or anything. Served its purpose though.

– Naomi defeated Alexa Bliss to win the Smackdown Womens Championship. Her first in WWE and a long time coming for her fanbase. Instead of telling you all the reasons why this was the wrong move, I will be positive. I can give my true thoughts at another time. Now is not the time for that. Let me just say that following wrestling, one of the best feelings is watching a talent start from the bottom and make it to the top. Very emotional and ‘feel good’ for fans.

I always mention The Miz when discussing this topic. Called every name in the book when he began, treated like garbage, never given a chance…yet he didn’t care. The guy just kept pushing, kept grinding, kept working, kept showing up, kept improving, and he never gave up. All the way to the Money in the Bank briefcase straight to the WWE Championship and beating John Cena in the MAIN EVENT of Wrestle FREAKIN’ Mania!

Naomi started out as a dancer on Raw with Cameron. A dancer for a dinosaur. I mean, her NXT Season 3 run was as ‘entertaining’ as the show was, and nobody gave her much of a shot to succeed. After years of doing nothing on Total Divas, losing match after match, being paired up with The Usos, and getting a knee to the eye right before her big break a few years ago, she was back in the title hunt entering 2017. Now a champion. There is a reason she got the infamous “You Deserve It!” chant from the live audience on Sunday. They recognized the moment and reacted accordingly. Love or hate the performer, it was a genuine moment. Congrats.

– Match of the night, by far, was the main event. The WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match was fantastic. I love the new design, and if it wasn’t for the result not being much of a secret, one may make a good case this was better than AJ Styles vs. John Cena at the Royal Rumble (which was a total toss up in my opinion). Seriously, every competitor should get a standing ovation. Baron Corbin, Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Styles, Cena, and Bray Wyatt. Job well done guys. One of the best Chamber bouts ever. Maybe THE best.

As for the result? Once Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble match last month, the writing was on the wall: Bray was finally going to get his due. A mere three and a half years after debuting on Raw as his new persona, he was winning the WWE Title. On the Road to WM no less. Make no mistake folks, this was a reward for hard work and talent paying off, not something just being done for no reason. Wyatt has long deserved a big win, and this was it.

Not only did he overcome AJ Styles to conclude the match, he won clean with his finisher (hit once) and also did the same to John Cena moments earlier. No bigger pat on the back than that. Nobody helped him, and there was no cheap finish whatsoever. Just Bray Wyatt, his finisher, and a one, two, three pinfall.

From Husky Harris as a lackey in the New Nexus to Bray Wyatt as WWE Champion at WrestleMania 33.

Summary

The main event was excellent with a memorable ending. Most folks will simply remember that and rightfully so. However, the three hour show was below average and not up to par with what Smackdown LIVE is usually capable of. A couple of questionable results, a dud of a Kickoff match, and a lackluster crowd didn’t help either. Fastlane is in three weeks. I will be there. Raw has a fair shot at topping this one. We’ll see…

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article topics :

Elimination Chamber, WWE, Justin Watry