'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
SmackDown has been building towards some interesting storylines over the past few weeks, and the Elimination Chamber will see the conclusion of some of those rivalries.
This week’s episode was big on segments and tag team matches, as we witnessed the return of the New World Order (nWo) on the show for one night only.
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley along with Sasha Banks took on Naomi and Lacey Evans in order to avenge their loss from last week. Sheamus continued his series of squash matches against Apollo Crews this week in a return that is soon going to get stale if the creatives don’t pull up their socks.
Fire & Desire took on Dana Brooke and Carmella, while the men’s tag team division spent almost an hour battling in a Gauntlet match to determine the final entrant for the SmackDown Tag Team match for Elimination Chamber.
In this article, we will look at the 5 things SmackDown got right on the road to Elimination Chamber.
#5 Finally gave the women a challenger
Do you remember the last time you watched a Women’s Tag Team Championship match? In case you don’t, let me remind you that it took place on the Dec 15th at Tables, Ladders, and Chairs between The Kabuki Warriors and the team of Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch.
Since then, the duo has only defended the titles once in a dark match after RAW. An injury to Kairi Sane at TLC and Asuka’s ascension into the RAW Women’s Championship contender’s role were the key reasons why the two women did not defend their titles for over three months.
When all hope seemed lost, Creative finally realized that the women’s division had another title too which needs a storyline. This week’s SmackDown gave fans the good news that former champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross wanted a shot at The Kabuki Warriors’ titles. Bliss and Cross themselves last competed as a team in January, and the duo needs to get back in competition again as they are both top Superstars.
Even though Bliss’s challenge poses as a spoiler for Elimination Chamber, Creative did the right job by turning their attention to the Women’s Tag Team titles with WrestleMania on the horizon.
#4 The Gauntlet Match
Heavy Machinery and The New Day started the big Gauntlet match to earn the opportunity to enter the Elimination Match as the final team.
Otis and Tucker claimed the win with a thunderous Compactor to Big E, and then immediately got to work on the Lucha House Party. The massive duo took out the high-flyers and then faced off against the crowd favorites, The Usos.
While Jimmy and Jey were red hot, they were no match for Otis and Tucker who felt like stars in this match. Tucker stunned the former SmackDown Tag Team Champions with a roll-up to advance to the next challengers.
Out came at the current Champions, The Miz and John Morrison. Once again Tucker was able to roll-up his opponent, as he got the pin over Morrison. This led to the heels attacking the babyfaces after the pin and weakened them ahead of their final match.
Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode picked up the pieces from there and a surprise Superkick from Ziggler ended the match for Otis and his teammate.
The Heavy Machinery’s performance was great in this match and showed the WWE Universe that the two men have the potential to become future Champions.
Ziggler taking out Otis for the final pin fits fittingly in their ongoing storyline, and we could watch the two teams go head to head for several weeks to come after Elimination Chamber.
#3 Fueled the Fire & Desire
This week’s SmackDown had very little in-ring action apart from the Tag Team Gauntlet Match, but the company decided to once again focus on our favorite love story involving Mandy Rose, Otis, and Dolph Ziggler.
In this first half of the night, Dana Brooke and Carmella teamed up to take on Fire and Desire’s Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose after the creatives remembered that the women’s tag team division requires some bookings too.
What was interesting to watch was Dolph Ziggler acting as a male valet and accompanying Deville and the former's love interest, Rose, to the squared circle.
During the match, the babyfaces had the upper hand before a distraction from Ziggler allowed Deville to tag Rose in which allowed the heels to pick up the victory.
Later on in the night, Heavy Machinery was going strong in the Tag Team Gauntlet Match before they met their final challengers in Ziggler and Robert Roode. While Otis seemed to be on his way to pick up a memorable victory, Ziggler delivered a Superkick to the big man out of nowhere that led to his team’s loss.
This was a good way to continue the love triangle between the three Superstars while giving fans some in-ring action to work towards a future big match.
#2 Killed three birds with one stone
The opening segment of the show saw Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross walkout to host A Moment of Bliss. The two women ran down the lineup for this year's Hall of Fame induction ceremony and challenged The Kabuki Warriors for a shot at the forgotten WWE Women's Tag Team Championship.
The duo introduced nWo who came out to big applause. Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, and Kevin Nash spoke about many things followed by their take on Roman Reigns vs Goldberg for WrestleMania 36. Nash did a decent job of hyping up this feud and making the clash between Reigns and Goldberg seem more real.
Lastly, Sami Zayn came out to run his mouth all over the place and almost got himself, Cesaro, and Shinsuke Nakamura in a match against the New World Order.
However, Intercontinental Champion Braun Strowman came out to send the heels running and stood tall with the Hall of Famers to close out the segment.
This was a good opening segment that allowed new challengers for the forgotten titles to emerge, have someone put their weight behind Reigns vs Goldberg, and finally helped Strowman build towards becoming a bigger Superstar and standing tall with the legends.
#1 The full circle
Our favorite character of the Firefly Fun House, Mr. Rambing Rabbit, took the spotlight to remind fans that it was the WrestleMania loss from 2014 that has fueled The Fiend to choose John Cena for this year's event. The moment that made it all happen was played back on our screens.
Bray Wyatt responded by saying "Time can either hurt you or it can heal you," making the fans realize that Wyatt’s plan has always been bigger than our imaginations.
Wyatt then went on to claim that the dark side comes back again and that’s the beauty of a circle. With that said, it will be interesting to see how Cena will change in case he ends up losing to ‘The Fiend’.
He stared staring down into the camera and repeated, "let me in" before waving goodbye to his friends.
This was yet another simple, yet effective, segment to build hype towards another rivalry and match for The Fiend. Whether Wyatt himself is brains behind these build-ups, or whether it’s someone else, it’s evident that a very tightly controlled group is dishing out The Fiend character to us.
Cena’s win over Wyatt at WrestleMania 30 did affect the Superstar’s value and slowly began tearing at his character. ‘The Fiend’ seems to be the product of that and gave us a complete overhaul of Wyatt.
At this point, this seems like the most logical storyline for The Fiend as the first WrestleMania since the birth of the character approaches.
