WWE Elimination Chamber Highlights

Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Wrestling World, I hope you are all well and good and had a great weekend. I know it's been a while since I last uploaded a blog post, I mentioned last week in a tweet that I was taking the week off to deal with personal matters and while I'm usually very open about what's going on in my life this is something I would much rather prefer to keep private for now. Anyway, I'm back now and I'm ready to begin uploading as usual. I do have a few pre-posted blog posts coming your way so keep an eye out for those in the coming weeks but for now, today we are going to be focusing on last night's WWE Elimination Chamber pay per view brought to us by the Smackdown LIVE roster. Now, I was actually surprise at just how much I enjoyed the show last night. I had mentioned before that I wasn't expecting a great deal from this pay per view. I had said to a few friends that I believed the pay per view as a whole would be weak but the chamber match would save it. However, we had a couple of strong matches and I found myself invested in pretty much all the matches at some point, but of course the main event did turn out to be the strongest point of the night. Something I do want to mention is the difference between this show hosted by the blue brand and the pay per views we see from the Monday Night RAW roster; last night we really did get the feel as though everyone on the Smackdown roster was involved even if they weren't in a match. It felt like a celebration of the roster and a chance for every superstar, man and women to be in the spotlight. In today's blog post I'm going to be running you through some of the highlights from the show and some of the things we can take away from the show. As always you can let me know what you thought of last night's Elimination Chamber pay per view by leaving a comment bellow or by dropping me a tweet over at @TezangiVictoria.

Baron Corbin Makes and Impact inside the Elimination Chamber

 I know what you're thinking, this girl will find any excuse to talk about Baron Corbin and while a tiny part of that may be true let's face it, every time I do talk about him it does make sense and it does deserve to be spoken about. So give me a moment to explain myself. Now, I, of course, had that small part of me that wanted to see Corbin walk out of the elimination chamber as champion (let a girl have her dream moment) but there was no way I was actually expecting him to do so. If I was booking the next several months for Baron I would have had him come across like a beast in this match last night but have him move on to focusing on the Intercontinental championship heading into Wrestlemania. Having him hold that title and pick up a huge win at Mania would be perfect for him and slowly building him up to something bigger later on in the year. While he may not be ready to main event Wrestlemania just yet, focusing on the IC title and maybe even the Money in the Bank is something that would really help him in the long run. During last night's main event, we did get to see hints of this maybe actually happening with Corbin having what was a fantastic performance in his first Elimination Chamber match. While I was certainly disappointed to see him go out first, something I personally wouldn't have booked, in the end, it did make sense and it meant that every other elimination made sense. In his time in this match, he looked fantastic. He was dominate, the spotlight was on him for quite some time and he was able to work at the same pace as superstars who were far more experienced than him. What I liked the most, however, was what we saw from him once he had been eliminated. His actual elimination didn't make him look weak (thank god) but more so an error by someone who wasn't as experienced. As he waited for Miz to come out of his pod the lone wolf made the mistake of keeping his back to Ambrose and not focusing on his surroundings after believing he had taken out every man in sight. The current IC champion, of course, took advantage and a quick roll up meant that Corbin was the first man eliminated. But things were far from over and Baron made sure to make an impact one more time before heading to the back. Attacking Ambrose, Corbin looked like a monster once again sending the lunatic fringe through a pod and giving him a true beat down. This was exactly what Corbin needed. There was no way he was going to be able to just talk off backstage. This allowed him to make an impact, send a message and hopefully kick start something with Ambrose. We can expect these two to collide more in the future and as I said, a championship match between the two at Mania is something I'm hoping for considering I haven't been a fan of the ladder matches in recent years.

Dolph Ziggler Fails to Pick up Another Victory

The story the WWE have been telling with Dolph Ziggler is something as you guys will know  I have been enjoying massively. I have mentioned time and time again that I believe they are onto something here and I love the way they have really taken their time with his little story.  During the show last night we saw Ziggler compete in a two on one handicap match against Apollo Crews and Kalisto. Unsurprisingly, I wasn't expecting a lot from this match at all. While I love Ziggler's individual story I haven't been enjoying what we have seen go down between these three superstars at all. It's clear that Kalisto and  Crews are amazing talents, they both are fantastic wrestlers and are capable of putting on some brilliant matches, however, they both have one other thing in common, their lack of charisma. I literally have zero interest watching the pair of them because of their extreme lack of charisma and that's one of the main reasons the work we have seen here just hasn't worked at all and I have to admit that this was the match last night I was least interested in and the one I paid the least attention to. Before the match could begin Ziggler would attack Kalisto during his entrance, something that I did like. It just worked and it made sense. It showed that Dolph had a strategy and it drew a small amount of attention for a while. The wrestling itself, as I said, I didn't pay a great deal of attention to but it was exactly what I expected it to be. Honestly, I wasn't sure how I was expecting this match to end. I wasn't completely sure who I was expecting to get the win and who I wanted to get the win, however, in the end, it was Dolph who once again failed to pick up the victory. Now, I can see what the WWE are doing here with Ziggler and the losing streak but if they don't wanna start losing the fans here it's time to start changing things up just a little kick starting this week on Smackdown LIVE.

Naomi Finally becomes Smackdown LIVE Women's Champion

One of the highlight moments of the night for me and a sure highlight moment of the year came from the third women's match of the night, the match that would see Alexa Bliss defend her Smackdown LIVE Women's championship against Naomi. Since returning to action last month Namoi has been on fire. She has been in complete control gaining momentum more and more as the weeks go by and with two victories over the champ she was heading into this match the more confident of the two. I had mentioned to a few friends that I wasn't sure how I wanted this match to come to an end. On the one hand, I really wanted to see Alexa hold onto the title just so that we could see a championship match between her and Mickie James at Wrestlemania. The story is there between these two. We have everything for this match and story to be one of the standouts of the women's division at this year's Wrestlemania pay per view. However, on the other hand, I have been such a big Naomi fan for so long and there really is no women more worthy of being the champ than her, So I was massively conflicted heading into this match. The action itself I thought was great. Sure, there were a few botched moments but these are two extremely athletic women, two very very talented wrestlers and together they worked amazingly well and put on one of my personal favourite matches of the night. It was also great to see the crowd so invested in the action. They were loud and completely into what the women were providing and thats something I always love to see and hear. The closing moment had me on the edge of my seat and I loved that I genuinely had no idea who would get the win. After a few close calls and both women looking to be closing in on a victory it was Naomi who got the winning pinfall and after years of working her butt off finally got WWE gold becoming the third Smackdown LIVE women's champion in history. This was one of those moments every wrestling fan can agree was just amazing. Naomi is someone we have all been talking about for years, commenting on how mistreated she is and how much she truly deserves to be champion and the wait has been a long one but finally after all these years we can say that Naomi is the Smackdown LIVE women's champion and I'm confident she will make one heck of a champ.

Smackdown LIVE Tag Team Divison Finally Gets its Moment 

If you have been following me for long enough you are probably sick and tired of hearing me moan about the tag team division in the WWE (not including NXT). Pretty much from day one of the brand split I have been complaining about the tag team division and the work we have seen from both the RAW and Smackdown division. I was saying just the other day that I had been struggling to get into anything we are seeing from shows when it comes to the tag team work. I've been skipping the matches and paying very little attention and that's simply because I haven't been given a reason to be excited about anything tag team related. It's frustrating because they have the talent just not enough and the storylines and bookings have been terrible. What I will say is that I liked how every single team was showcased last night. We got to see all the teams in the division compete and there was a sense of unpredictability which went down really well. I really liked that mid way through I wasn't completely sure who would leave the pay per view as champions and I loved even more that I let a part of me believe there may have been a surprise set of winners. Of course, in the end, there wasn't, surprise surprise, American Alpha retained which I don't have an issue with at all. You guys know I'm a big fan of these guys, I believe they are one of the best tag teams not only in the WWE but the entire wrestling scene right now and their potential is still crazy high. I know they have so so much more left to show and bring to the table as champions. If you guys tuned into last week's episode of Smackdown LIVE you would have seen former NXT Champions the Ascension pick up a huge victory during the show, something that not a single person was expecting and so their momentum heading into this match was very high and last night I won't lie to you, there was a part of me what really really wanted to believe they were going to pick up the surprise win. I know, I know, I know, its crazy but I have loved these guys from day one as you all know and I wanted to just believe... They did have a great showing last night and it was amazing to see them actually given the time to show the world what they can do and I'm hoping that they can keep the momentum going despite the loss last night. Now, I wasn't expecting the tag division to be one of the standouts last night but they certainly were and while there is still plenty of improvements to be made we're getting there slowly. I do believe that once the Revival join the mix (please god let them go to Smackdown LIVE) things will really change and turn around for the best.

Bray Wyatt Becomes New WWE Champion 

Words cannot describe how good it feels to finally be able to sit here and say that Bray Wyatt is the new WWE Champion. It's been a long time coming and we have all had to sit back and wait for what seems like forever to see this man finally take WWE gold but he's done it. In a matter of months, we have seen Wyatt become a tag team and WWE champion and I could not be happier. Again, there is

not a more deserving and worthy champion and after having to wait for his moment for so long it was truly amazing to sit back and watch him take the title that he has been worthy of for year. Since debuting on the main roster Wyatt has been fantastic. From epic promos to phenomenal matches and storyline's and we have all been sitting back wondering when and if he will ever be champion and last night the wait was finally over and we got to sit back and watch as Bray Wyatt walked out of the elimination chamber match the brand new WWE Champion. Now, the chamber match itself was fantastic. I honestly loved it. It was the match of the night for me personally and without a shadow of a doubt a match I will be talking about when we reach the conversations of best matches of twenty seventeen. Every superstar had a place, had a role and had their standout moment and I was completely entertained from start to finish. It's difficult to choose a standout but I am going to have to go with Wyatt. He told a story, he had some amazing spots and not only did he pin Cena to eliminate him from the match but he walked out as the new champ. To be honest, I was more surprised to see him pin John than actually get the win. It was so out of the blue but done so perfectly and it did certainly come as a surprise. Now, I will be talking about this match in more detail in the weeks to come but what I will say for now is that I honestly could not be happier to see Bray as champion. Just as I said about Naomi, Bray has been waiting years for this moment as has his fans and it was amazing to see such a hard worker and such a worthy champion finally, finally, after all these years get his moment.

The pay per view itself was far from a potential show of the year candidate but it was far better than I expected. It was great to see new champions crowned and the Chamber match was simply fantastic and will probably go down as one of my favourite chamber matches of all time. I will be talking about that main event in more detail in the weeks to come so keep an eye out for those future blog posts, for now, you can let me know what you thought of last night's show by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.