The wait is finally over for Bray Wyatt. On Sunday night at the Elimination Chamber per-per-view, Wyatt won his first WWE Championship after winning the elimination chamber match, which also featured Baron Corbin, The Miz, Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, and the now former WWE Champion, John Cena.

The dirt sheets had been reporting for a couple weeks that Wyatt could walk away from Elimination Chamber as the champion and those reports turned out to be right. It was a predictable outcome, but that isn’t always a bad thing, as long as it makes sense.

Wyatt has been with the WWE since 2009 where he competed in Florida Championship Wrestling, a developmental organization. In 2010, wrestling under the ring name Husky Harris, he debuted in October at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, where he and Michael McGilliutty (now Curtis Axel) interfered in a match between Wade Barrett and Cena, helping Barret win. They would both be added to the Nexus faction.

In January of 2011, Harris was kicked out of the New Nexus, run by CM Punk and was written off television after an attack from Randy Orton.

In April of 2012, Harris underwent a complete name and gimmick chance, where he donned the name Bray Wyatt, who was a cult leader. In November of 2012, he formed the Wyatt Family alongside Luke Harper and Eric Rowan. The trio made their much-anticipated debut on Monday Night Raw in July after months of vignettes appearing during broadcasts.

Since that time, Wyatt and his “family” have been involved in top feuds with top names of the company, but creative never seemed to pull the trigger on that big title win. Fast forward four years later and Wyatt is now the WWE Champion.

As of now, this sets up Wyatt versus Randy Orton at WrestleMania 33. Orton and Wyatt were feuding in the fall before Orton ultimately joined the Wyatt Family. Orton won the Royal Rumble and gets an automatic WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 33.

The time is now for Wyatt after years of working hard for the top spot on the SmackDown Live brand.

Elimination Chamber Notes

• The new-look elimination chamber is much more appealing than the previous version. The design was slick and added a nice touch to the structure.
• The elimination chamber match was everything you could ask for with all the participants. The seeds were planted for storylines heading into WrestleMania 33. It looks like Baron Corbin will be challenging Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship after Corbin cost Ambrose a chance to win. The rumored match for Cena is teaming him with his real-life girlfriend Nikki Bella against the team of the Miz and his real-life wife Maryse, as the four are all on the reality shows Total Divas and Total Bellas.
• The women’s division was put in the spotlight on Sunday night with three matches. All three matches delivered in some fashion. Becky Lynch and Mickie James kicked things off in a decent match. Bella and Natalya worked hard in their match, which ended in a double count out which will likely see this feud continue for a few more weeks with a final blow off match before WrestleMania. Naomi defeated Alexa Bliss for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. The match was a but sloppy, but it was all about Naomi picking up the victory. Arguably the most athletic woman on the entire roster finally got her moment, much like Wyatt. Her run as champion should be fun.
• Dolph Ziggler continues to shine as a heel. He was in a 2-on-1 handicap match against Apollo Crews and Kalisto, where Ziggler took the loss, After the match, Ziggler got his heat back by attacking Kalisto and then taking out Crews with a chair attack on Crews’ ankle. This is the perfect way to book Ziggler moving forward.
• The SmackDown Tag Team Championships were defended in a tag team turmoil match, which is a gauntlet-style match. American Alpha retained against Heath Slater and Rhyno, Breezango, the Vaudevillians, the Usos and the Ascension. This was a mediocre match that sets up American Alpha versus the Usos down the road, as the Usos were eliminated by American Alpha and then attacked them before the Ascension made their way to the ring.
• Randy Orton and Luke Harper put on the match of the night. Harper recently left the Wyatt Family and now will be the time he is pushed as a singles wrestler once again Harper is capable of being a main even player and this match showcased exactly why. Randy Orton is still one of the very best in the business and he made Harper look like a million bucks. Orton picked up the victory, giving him momemtun heading into his WrestleMania clash with Wyatt for the WWE Championship.

Overall Thoughts

This was one of the better brand-exclusive pay-per-views we have seen since the brand extension. Everyone who was on the card worked hard and provided a memorable event. The wins by Naomi and Wyatt were well-deserved and really added to the show. SmackDown Live has the storylines set for the road to WrestleMania 33 and its all shaping up nicely. Overall, this pay-per-view was a solid A-.

Cover Photo Courtesy of cagesideseats.com

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