WWE Elimination Chamber 2017 Review

The last PPV before WrestleMania for SmackDown Live sees the return of the Elimination Chamber. Who will emerge as the WWE Champion heading into the biggest event of the year?

Match 1: Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James
This is the first PPV appearance for Mickie James in nearly 7 years, cannot tell you how happy I am to see her back in a WWE ring. Becky Lynch is a great opponent for her and a great way to open up the night. She really embraced her return as a heel and did a great job in playing her role against Lynch here, almost as if she never lost a step. Good match here from the two women with James dominating a better part of the match. However, Lynch is able to roll James up with a jackknife cover to steal the win. Nice way to finish the match with Lynch barely squeaking out the win with a quick pin. Again, great to see James back in a WWE ring.
Winner: Becky Lynch
Rating: **1/4

Match 2: Apollo Crews & Kalisto vs. Dolph Ziggler
Before the match begins, Dolph Ziggler attacks Kalisto as he made his entrance to get the advantage heading into his handicap match. With that attack, Ziggler brought the match down to himself and Apollo Crews. The had a decent match within the match here but they didn't capitalize on the heat from the sneak attack. Crews marched down to the ring looking to blow up against Ziggler here but instead, the heat almost immediately died once the bell rang and the two had a fairly basic match. Finally, Kalisto comes back to the ring to help out Crews who then finishes off Ziggler. Afterwards, Ziggler brutally attacks the two. Despite the attack after, the loss for Ziggler is another hit for his character. Where does he go from here and more importantly, who cares?
Winners: Apollo Crews & Kalisto
Rating: *1/2

Match 3: WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships - Tag Team Turmoil - American Alpha (c) vs. Heath Slater & Rhyno vs. Breezango vs. The Vaudevillains vs. The Usos vs. The Ascension
To start the turmoil, the always awesome team of Heath Slater & Rhyno start the match against Tyler Breeze & Fandango of Breezango. The two teams had a fairly short exchange here with Rhyno scoring a Gore to score the elimination for himself and Heath Slater. The third team to come out is The Vaudevillains quickly come out but very quickly, they get eliminated by the ream team of Slater & Rhyno as the crowd eats it up. I mean, how can you not like Slater? The dude has kids! Their luck runs out as the juggernaut team of The Usos come out and land their superkicks to score the elimination. However, the champions in American Alpha are up next as the fight begins on the entrance ramp. Absolutely love this matchup, The Usos were on fire at this point and American Alpha more than held their ground against them. Chad Gable is able to roll up Jey Uso to score the win before The Usos assault American Alpha afterwards. Despite the onslaught, The Ascension come out and look to score some easy pickings. However, American Alpha turn it around and hit their finisher to score the upset and retain their titles in a great match. Loved how SmackDown Live was properly utilizing their tag division at the time.
Winners: American Alpha
Rating: ***

Match 4: Nikki Bella vs. Natalya
After being sneak attacked from behind by Natalya, Nikki Bella looks to gain some revenge against her old friend. It definitely takes some time to get used to seeing Natalya as a heel, I had trouble taking her seriously when she was mocking Nikki with John Cena taunts and yelling at her mom at ringside. Nonetheless, action was definitely better than you would have come to expect here and despite the corniness of Natalya playing the role of a heel, she still brought the goods here against Nikki and was relentless in her attacks. The two battled outside the ring as the referee counted them out for a double countout. Their beef remains unsettled as Carmella watched from a box suite in the arena with James Ellsworth. Better match than I had expected here, gotta give credit where it's due.
Winner: n/a
Rating: **3/4

Match 5: Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper
If there was ever a time to finally give Luke Harper a look as a singles competitor, this is the match. Since Randy Orton decided to join The Wyatt Family, Luke Harper had his doubts about his allegiance which would lead to a contest between the two here. Orton can make anyone shine as bright as they possibly can and he did just that with Harper. The two brought the fight to each other and the crowd was certainly eating it up. Harper looked to seal The Viper's fate with a discuss clothesline before Orton would block it and turn it into an RKO. Awesome to have these two go at it in what could be the show stealer of the night. One of the biggest pros of having brand-exclusive PPVs was being able to give time to matches for guys who don't normally get that time when PPVs featured both brands. Nice bridge for Orton between his Royal Rumble win and his match for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. Strong bout here and despite the loss, Harper comes out of this looking better than ever.
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: ***3/4

Match 6: SmackDown Women's Championship - Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Naomi
Naomi gets the chance of her lifetime as she gets to challenge Alexa Bliss for the SmackDown Women's Championship and if she wins, she gets to walk into her own hometown of Orlando at WrestleMania as the champion. Bliss dominated a solid portion of the match and tried cheating her way into retaining the gold. However, a costly mistake would lead to Naomi hitting a split-legged moonsault to score the win and gain the championship of her dreams. Afterwards, Renee Young interviews an emotional Naomi. Pretty basic match but the ending and promo afterwards was definitely a great moment.
Winner: Naomi
Rating: **

Match 7: WWE Championship - Elimination Chamber - John Cena (c) vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin vs. The Miz vs. Bray Wyatt vs. AJ Styles
The 2017 Elimination Chamber event marks the debut of the newer, bigger and sleeker looking Elimination Chamber. First, the thing looks amazing with the LED lights surrounding the structure along with the WWE logo at the very top. It's apparent the WWE put some serious money on this thing. However, noticeably gone are the steel grates that surrounded the ring as they have been replaced with mats. As disappointed as I was to see this because the sick thud the grate would make was one of my favorite parts of the Chamber matches. However, there is no reason to hate putting the safety of the superstars at a forefront. Also, gone are the chains atop each pod as they have been replaced with steel grates in order to let the superstars fight atop it and gain an opportunity to slam each other into lexan glass that now corners the structure. Also loved the idea of having cameras inside each pod. All in all, the Chamber doesn't look as menacing as it once was but the original one ran its course and it was time for an upgrade. Sure, the grates along the ring are gone but the higher structure allows for more acrobatic moves like how we saw here. It was certainly time for an upgrade. As for the match, things felt fresh and the more space around the structure allowed for cooler spots including John Cena and AJ Styles fighting each other as they climbed the chains as well as Dean Ambrose jumping off a pod onto Baron Corbin. All the eliminations here made sense with the biggest spot in the match seeing Corbin come back after being eliminated to toss Ambrose through one of the pods. Thankfully, the spot still had that gruesome and awesome sound that we have all come to love. Wyatt would go on to eliminate Cena from the picture as it would finally go down to Wyatt and Styles as the final two. We are guaranteed a new WWE Champion at this point and the crowd is going nuts. Wyatt is able to hit another Sister Abigail on Styles to secure his first WWE Championship. What a moment. The show closes with Randy Orton coming down to stare down his new WrestleMania opponent as Wyatt laughs and holds the WWE Championship. Fantastic main event and a fantastic debut for the new Elimination Chamber.
Winner: Bray Wyatt
Rating: ****1/2

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Pretty bland offering from the SmackDown brand but it's hard to deny this was a nice way to lead in to WrestleMania. Randy Orton and Luke Harper had a great match which I thought could have been the match of the night until the main event came and blew it away. If there is any reason to check out this show, it's because of the main event. 
Rating: 6/10