Elimination Chamber is this Sunday. What can we expect to see this Tuesday night leading up on SmackDown?
John Cena defends his 16th WWE Championship this Sunday at the SmackDown exclusive pay-per-view, Elimination Chamber. He will take on five other competitors. Cena will certainly have his hands full as he takes on the Intercontinental Champion, Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Baron Corbin, Bray Wyatt and AJ Styles. The leading favorite here is Bray Wyatt, as it seems likely that he will take on Randy Orton in the main event of Wrestlemania and begin his singles career. Of course, there are plenty of other possibilities with the talent pool participating.
On SmackDown last week, there was plenty of turmoil heading into the Elimination Chamber match. The majority of the competitors all duked it out last week at the conclusion of the show. Of course, this all occurred during the main event between Ambrose and Styles. Distractions ultimately cost The Lunatic Fringe his match against Styles, as he yet again found a way to beat Ambrose.
The tag team division ignited once again and in a big way. Nearly all the tag teams on the SmackDown roster came out to answer American Alpha’s open challenge, which led to an all out brawl between teams. GM, Daniel Bryan has since announced that a Tag Team Turmoil match will take place at Elimination Chamber. In other news, Naomi was able to score another pin fall victory over Women’s Champion, Alexa Bliss in tag team action. The two will face off at Elimination Chamber as well. Now, let’s get into the predictions for this week, as we head into the chamber.
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John Cena vs. Randy Orton
Merely days after winning his 16th WWE Championship, John Cena was pinned in tag team action on SmackDown Live. By who? None other than a familiar foe in Randy Orton, fresh off of his second Royal Rumble victory. With Orton pinning the champion, it certainly leads to another encounter between the two. It is coming sooner rather than later. The two will collide this week on SmackDown Live in non-title action. It has been quite some time since these two last encountered.
Cena and Orton have not fought since 2014 at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. This match will certainly not end purely and perhaps not at all. Orton is not about to lose as he heads into the main event of Wrestlemania and Cena is not going to be pinned two weeks in a row. Bray Wyatt will likely interfere in some way, or one of the other members of the Elimination Chamber match will come out and make themselves known. The question is, who?
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The Miz vs. Baron Corbin
The Miz and Baron Corbin had an interesting confrontation last week during the main event while both were commentating at ringside. Miz initially came down to scout and put his take on things, when Corbin interrupted the match. The two continuously went back and forth with insults towards one another throughout the match until the Lone Wolf eventually got up and confronted Miz. This altercation at ringside ultimately lost Dean Ambrose his match with AJ Styles.
Corbin would have the last laugh as he hit the End of Days on both Miz and Ambrose, sending a message to his opponents this Sunday. Miz and Corbin will likely face off to see some competition between two if the competitors facing off in the Elimination Chamber. This match will likely end in one of two ways: Corbin will have a decisive victory over Miz to further build his name, or perhaps Ambrose will come out and distract Corbin from winning, giving Miz the pinfall victory. A feud with someone like Ambrose in the near future is something that will help Corbin continue to move up the ladder.
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Apollo Crews vs. Dolph Ziggler
SmackDown Live has been hinting towards a feud involving Dolph Ziggler and Apollo Crews since Ziggler’s heel turn a number of weeks ago. Ziggler has been taking on Kalisto in the mean time in order to set this up. After weeks of coming to the aid of his friend, Kalisto, it is time for Crews to take on the Show Off. A feud with Ziggler is exactly what Crews needs at the current time to get his career on the move on SmackDown Live. Since the brand split, Crews has not been involved in any meaningful rivalries. He has been more of a filler.
Crews is a main event, in-ring talent, however, he still needs to improve on his mic work to reach super stardom in WWE. I could see Crews winning this match-up this week due to a distraction from Kalisto, whom Ziggler has taken his frustration on lately. A more likely scenario is that Ziggler will win and continue his recent win streak and Crews will call him out in subsequent weeks or perhaps even at Elimination Chamber on Sunday. With these two in-ring talents, it should make for quite the feud over the next few weeks.
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Women’s Tag Team Action
There are potentially three women’s matches set for the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Natalya will face off with Nikki Bella and the SmackDown Women’s Champion, Alexa Bliss will defend her title against Naomi. There is also the possibility of Becky Lynch taking on Mickie James this Sunday night as well. With that being said, there won’t be any singles competition between them, so I am predicting another tag team match.
To mix things up a bit, Bella should team up with Lynch and take on the team of Natalya and Mickie James. Last week it was Bliss and Naomi rather than Natalya and Bella. To keep the story line going and to incorporate the women into the show, I feel that this match is needed this week. If this is to come to fruition, what angle will they take in the decision? I would have a feeling James may end up pinning Lynch to further set up their feud, which could start on Sunday.
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