SmackDown Recap: WWE Title Triple Threat Match

The WWE has been known to change its booking for Manias just because too many people “knew” what was going on. With Naomi’s victory, Elimination Chamber was left to Feel The Glow on the way to Orlando. After falling over one of the 27 announcers on an episode of Smackdown Live last month, JBL managed to trip over his own cowboy boots when dancing down to the ring at the start of the show. Not to mention they used safer glass panels on the outside of the pods.

WWE Champion Bray Wyatt received some praise from his alma mater, Troy University, for winning the WWE Championship this past Sunday at the SmackDown exclusive pay-per-view Elimination Chamber. As the match continued, you saw a possible Wrestlemania storyline develop: after Baron Corbin was the first elimination by Dean Ambrose, Corbin snapped, effectively destroying the Intercontinental Champion and ending his hopes of being a dual champion after a pin by Miz. Big thumbs up for the Chamber match. WWE could add them in the title picture, although it’s unlikely to happen as they have other plans for Cena and Styles at the moment.

Nikki Bella and Natalya will definitely square off next week, with Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan sanctioning a Falls Count Anywhere between the warring women after they engaged in another brawl. The Miz and Maryse, so what’s the point of keeping the Natalya feud going?

But, the minute Lynch dropped her guard, James hit the Mick Kick and pounced for the pin.

The Mixed Tag Team Match is something new for Cena because it is not a high-profile matchup, unlike his previous WrestleMania matches.

Not only did their initial feud quickly turn into a surprising partnership, but just when it appeared as if their SmackDown tag team championship reign had the makings to be permanent, in-fighting within the Wyatt Family led to the duo dropping the belts 23 days later. Good match, something we wouldn’t get again for quite a while. Go work in Lucha Underground or something?

Possibly the weakest and most baffling match of the night was the two-on-one handicap match pitting Dolph Ziggler against Apollo Crews and Kalisto. Carmella’s response was even better as she looked at Ambrose’s attired before referring to him as “a gas station employee”. After all, he’s a amusing guy who’s passionate about the business.

After retaining the title, he was greeted by his cohort, Randy Orton, who seemed unwilling to face him at WrestleMania.

Harper has shown huge amounts of improvement as a babyface since breaking away from the Wyatt Family, and Elimination Chamber showed he has potential to continue getting better in that role.

The women’s division was put in the spotlight on Sunday night with three matches. Luke needs much better music, though. She was one of the original Dunking Dancers during her time with the Magic Dancers. “And if we don’t get our rematch by then, you could either give me the title, or, or I could “snatch” your dignity by beating you up and down this ring and take back my title”.