Elimination Chamber (2017) (known as No Escape (2017) in Germany) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for the SmackDown brand. It took place on February 12, 2017, at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. This was the seventh event under the Elimination Chamber chronology, the first to be held since 2015, and the first to have three women's matches.
Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the pre-show. In the main event, Bray Wyatt won the titular Elimination Chamber match to become the new WWE Champion, the first singles championship of his career. On the undercard, Naomi defeated Alexa Bliss to become the new SmackDown Women's Champion, marking her first championship in WWE, while other prominent matches included Randy Orton defeating Luke Harper, American Alpha retaining the SmackDown Tag Team Championship in a tag team turmoil match, and Becky Lynch defeating Mickie James.
Preshow: Mojo Rawley def. Curtis Hawkins
Didn't watch live. Didn't care. Only thing I heard was that "Will Rawley get his 'mojo' back??" from JBL and I facepalmed.
I went back and watched this last night after Monday Night RAW and there wasn't much to write home about here. Hawkins got some shots in before Mojo gave him one hell of a Running Haymaker and finished him off with some spinning powerslam that looked like a botched Deep Six by Corbin. If they are going to revert Mojo back to his squash match days from NXT, then I'm back to not giving a flying fuck about this guy. The Hype Bros. tag team with Ryder was a breath of fresh air for both of those guys and it's sad to see Mojo devolve back to what wasn't working even back down on NXT.
Becky Lynch def. Mickie James
Seemed odd that Mickie would lose her 2nd (or rather 3rd if you're counting her match at NXT Takeover against Asuka) PPV bout in a row since returning to the company. Most people will argue but it looked like Mickie and Becky were struggling to mesh their styles well here. It finally came together by the end, but I couldn't help but think of Mickie James and Gail Kim's iffy chemistry here. Y'know, when you think that match would be great on paper but the execution ends up being a bit off? I'm not shitting on neither woman here, but I was left feeling that this match left a lot to be desired. On top of that, where do we go from here? Becky already got her payback on Mickie, so I don't see how they were going to continue this feud.
By the way, what the fuck was Becky Lynch wearing? Did she lose her gear that was in luggage that was possibly lost at the airport or something? Just seemed so out of left field on that look for this show.
Apollo Crews & Kalisto def. Dolph Ziggler
Let's be honest here, this match was fucking horrible. Rest hold after rest hold after rest hold to little to no offense by Crews until Kalisto returned after the prematch attack by Ziggler. Kalisto hits like 2-3 moves, tags in Crews, who finishes Ziggler off with his finisher for the win. ALL of these guys are capable of SOO much better. If they aren't going to do anything constructive or noteworthy with Kalisto, I say draft him into the Crusierweight division on 205 Live. Otherwise, he should be marketed as the new generation Rey Mysterio (or hell get Lince Dorada or Gran Metallik in that role) instead of being canonfoddler in this storyline for Ziggler's heel turn. As for Crews, I STILL say that he shouldn't have been called up from NXT so early. That is a guy they are ruining from head to toe on the main roster. Not even SmackDown Live's magic can turn this dude around at this rate.
You know this match was bad when the crowd was cheering for Ziggler to keep attacking Crews in his injury spot post-match.
Tag Team Turmoil - WWE Tag Team Champions American Alpha (c) def. Heath Slater & Rhyno, The Vaudevillains, The Usos, Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango), The Usos, and The Ascension to retain
Slater and Rhyno beat Breezango and Vaudevillains in quick fashion only to lose to The Usos, who were sporting ring gear like they just came from the club prior to arriving to the arena. And here I thought the Ascension where dead in the water. No sir, the Vaudevillains have taken that spot in terms of tag teams that have been wasted on the main roster. I gotta admit that The Ascension had me fooled that they were going to were going to steal the gold after that long as hell post-elimination beating by the Usos. I wasn't thinking that the Revival would debut here as it's pretty obvious that NXT are setting them up for a triple threat against DIY and the Authors of Pain after what transpired on last week's show post-Takeover.
Outside of the Ascension or the Usos (again?) winning the belts temporarily in these weeks prior to 'Mania, I honestly can't see American Alpha NOT walking into WrestleMania as the SmackDown! Tag Team champions. As good as Alpha are at least their tag team division isn't on life support as much as the RAW end of things are. That being said, there's not much to work with here on SD in terms of solid teams to make people want to pay attention to tag team wrestling. My idea would have had the tag team titles be inter-brand titles and have the champions perform on BOTH shows, since clearly they aren't going to open the Cruiserweight division to guys outside of RAW...
Nikki Bella vs. Natayla - Ends in Double Count Out
Goddamn this match was too goddamn LONG. The first half I dare say was better than the entire Becky/Mickie match that opened the show, but towards the end this match fell flat, even more so with the count out finish. They "kinda" set the stage for that rumored mixed tag team match with Miz and Maryse against Nikki and Cena here, but I think people are grasping at straws on that one. Then again, they could blow off this feud on one of the SmackDown Live episodes before WrestleMania and have like a fatal four way or a battle royal for the SmackDown Women's Championship involving the other women, so who knows.
This match would've been better if they just cut it short and at that halfway point while the people were still into it and called it a day. This match's biggest flaw was dragging on for FAR too long.
It's pretty sad when Nikki's so-called "Fearless Lock" looks more devastating than Cena's STF-U.
Randy Orton def. Luke Harper
I honestly went out on a food run during this match and got back in time to see Orton hit the RKO on Harper from out of nowhere.
Much like the preshow match, I went back and watched this match in its entirety after RAW last night, and I have to admit that this was the second best match of the evening. That wasn't a hard feat to accomplish though when the bulk of the show was VERY mediocre up to this point. Harper has always been the best worker within the Wyatt Family and could easily be a breakout singles star whenever they decide to dissolve that gimmick. Harper would be finally able to burn that filthy shirt, shave his balding hair, and get a respectable look going for himself.
Naomi def. Alexa Bliss (c) to become the NEW SmackDown! Women's Champion
Much like the other two women's wrestling matches on this card, there was a lot of sloppy execution here, but overall, I thought Naomi and Alexa did great here. They actually have good chemistry with each other and the win for Naomi was a pleasant surprise as I was dead sure that WWE booking logic was going to let the heel talking shit and devaluing babyface Naomi (much like Booker T during Triple H's racist tirade during their feud) would have led to Bliss retaining the title and validating that Naomi was irrelevant. Instead, WWE actually did something great here and finally rewarded Naomi for all of her hard work. I stood up and applauded Naomi because this was a LONG time coming.
Naomi has been sidetracked and derailed at almost every opportunity, including getting shoved to the sidelines after her standout performances against Paige in their feud in favor of the returning AJ Lee at the time, forced to turn heel and pick up the tablescraps of what was left of AJ Lee's gimmick as part of the Team BAD faction with Tamina Snuka and later Sasha Banks - in which ultimately led to Naomi and Tamina being reduced to being Sasha Banks' "sidekicks" during the opening phase of the
What pissed me off last night was seeing people on social media shitting all over Naomi's win here. All I can say is STFU. Alexa Bliss had a solid few months with the title - much like Becky Lynch - and she was becoming stagnant. I honestly started to feel like she getting boring with her wannabe Harley Quinn mixed with heel Trish Stratus vibe she has going on. She's at that point as a heel - especially now that she's aligned with Mickie James - that she doesn't need the title to be over. I've said this a million times now, but people always forget this - Championships are mainly for getting people over who otherwise couldn't get over on their own.
Give Naomi a chance before you're all so quick to judge that she's going to fail in this role. Remember Daniel Bryan wasn't the best talker either when he came into WWE until towards the end of his (rather unfortunate) career, but made up for it with his in-ring ability. Anyone who can't recognize Naomi's pure athletic and in-ring ability are fucking blind. I'm all for giving her a chance to see what she does with this opportunity, even if it's short-lived. Much like how WWE did Alicia Fox, they can't take that moment away from her.
Elimination Chamber Match for WWE Championship - Bray Wyatt def. John Cena (c), AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, The Miz, and Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose to become the NEW WWE Champion
Without a shadow of a doubt, this was the match of the evening. If you don't watch anything else on this show, you should watch this match. Cena and Styles start things off, picking up where they left off from Royal Rumble last month until Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt joined in. After Baron Corbin entered the match, he went in to clean house with everyone, but Corbin came off as a complete moron.
I've seen other reviews and other various podcasts where fans are criticizing WWE for not "protecting" Corbin in this match. Fuck that. Corbin isn't Braun Strowman, despite the fact that he was the one (after several Superstars helped) to eliminate him during the Rumble. Corbin's still very green and just in this position because he's TALL. Corbin hits those same two moves - the Deep Six and the End of Days and doesn't try to pin ANYONE. Instead, he comes off looking like a bigger doofus than he already does by just showboating and taunting in front of the cameras until he's eliminated by Ambrose.
Well, at least we know who Ambrose is feuding with for that Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania. I just hope they don't shoehorn in Ziggler and everyone else in midcard hell on SD Live to be in a multi-man bullshit filler match for WrestleMania. The IC title (along with the US title) needs to be taken care of with consideration to the legacy of that title's prestigious history. They need to start treating it just as important as the WWE Championship in my humble opinion - double goes for the SmackDown Tag Team titles if Gable's dream for that title to main event 'Mania someday. I could rant about how much I don't like midcard champions wasting a spot in Chamber matches as you KNOW they aren't going to win, but I'll save that conversation for another day.
I gotta say - Bravo to whoever told Corbin to keep a shirt on during his matches now as no one has to look at his lack of a physique for a big man. Same goes for Bray Wyatt, but he's not Kevin Owens fat... err obese. Bray's more Dusty Rhodes at his prime husky.
I know people were complaining about the new Chamber structure, but I for one, loved it. It looks more safer and more optimized for spots. It's not a new gimmick match anymore so WWE should know what they want out of this thing by now. I don't get why fans on social media have an idea with the safety pads on the floor when WWE has more than enough guys injured right now. Elimination Chamber was the most dangerous gimmick match to perform in on the road to WrestleMania, even though I still think it's just as stupid to have Tables, Ladders, and Chairs and Hell in a Cell prior to Royal Rumble too in terms of safety, but that's just me...
Last but not least, let's give Cena, Styles, and even Bray Wyatt a hand for their performances here. Styles took one HELL of a beating from everyone involved here while Cena put on a solid performance as well since him and Styles were in this match from the start to the end. You can't count Bray out of the praise either as he made sure to make his presence known here as well. Seeing Bray Wyatt capture the gold was a LONG time coming. I'm glad they had him put down both John Cena AND AJ Styles in the same match too to solidify him as a main eventer, instead of that bullshit where Cena could come back and say that he wasn't beaten by the guy who got the championship next.
To be honest, I REALLY hope they don't have Bray Wyatt drop the title to Orton as he deserves to ride this out for a while. You can give the title to Orton anytime. Let Bray (along with new SD Women's Champion Naomi) enjoy this for a while. Just roll with these title changes and see how they do over the next few months.
Overall, Elimination Chamber was a slightly above average show, with the main event being the best thing on the show while the Orton/Harper match and the two title changes were two welcome surprises. If I were to grade this show, I'd give it a strong B- if I'm perfectly honest.
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