Last night was the Elimination Chamber, and it put the wheels in motion for Smackdown’s side of the Mania card in a big way. I had a great time watching the PPV last night, and love the direction Smackdown takes in the majority of their stories. Here are my thoughts on the matches:

John Cena (c) vs AJ Styles vs Bray Wyatt vs The Miz vs Baron Corbin vs Dean Ambrose in the Elimination Chamber for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

The company took a year off from the Chamber after 2015’s atrocious Intercontinental and Tag Team Championship matches, and came back with a bang. Last night’s main event was one of the best Elimination Chamber matches there’s ever been. Starting with John Cena and AJ Styles, there really wasn’t a dull moment in the entire match, and nobody was afraid to take some crazy bumps. To be fair, the new structure looks a lot less brutal and a lot more padded and futuristic, but I doubt it’s fun falling to the outside, or getting thrown into the “unbreakable” Lexon glass.

Eliminating Cena before the final two was a cool twist, letting the audience know there’s going to be a new champion no matter what, and the final Wyatt/Styles stretch was fantastic. Bray looked better as a performer in the cage last night than he ever has in his career, and you could say the same about Baron Corbin, who went on a good monster heel run mid-match. Everyone had their moments to shine, and all six guys looking great. I’ve voiced my displeasure over Cena’s 16th coming to an end so quickly, but the execution was there, and I’m looking forward to Orton/Wyatt a lot more than I thought I would.

Bray Wyatt def. AJ Styles to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion: ****1/4

Alexa Bliss (c) vs Naomi for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship

Shocking moment of the night absolutely goes to the finish of this match, when Naomi won the SmackDown Women’s Championship after a vicious split legged moonsault (that was kinda botched but almost looked better).

Naomi’s been really good for a long time, and while this match wasn’t necessarily anything special, it felt like it was due to the surprising ending and emotional post-match celebration. If there’s one thing the WWE has lost from the Attitude Era, it’s the vibe that anything can happen at any time. In this match, we got a taste of that, and it was great. I do believe Naomi will drop the title back to Bliss next month, because WrestleMania should serve as Becky Lynch’s redemption, and it’s hard to do that if a likable babyface is the title holder.

Naomi def. Alexa Bliss to become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion: **

American Alpha (c) vs Heath Slater and Rhyno vs Breezango vs The Usos vs The Ascension vs The Vaudevillians in a Tag Team Turmoil for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships

I’m not the biggest fan of the Tag Team Turmoil match, and I was hoping Alpha would be able to go on a long, impressive run in this one and change my mind, but the booking disallowed that to happen. For whatever reason, American Alpha were the second to last team to come out. I understand the concept is a random draw, but it shouldn’t feel like the babyface champions aren’t doing a lot of work and just picking up scraps at the end.

This was combated by having the Usos attack Alpha after they were eliminated, leaving them dead in the ring for The Ascension, but Jason Jordan and Chad Gable fought their way out to victory anyway. It was alright, but I wanted more and questioned the booking the entire match. There was a moment where I thought the fucking Ascension were going to walk into WrestleMania with championships around their waists, so credit where credit’s due, they got me.

American Alpha def. The Ascension to retain the SmackDown Tag Team Championships: **

Nikki Bella vs Natalya

As the resident Nikki Bella #1 fan, I’ll admit I didn’t think this would be as good as it was. Natalya’s not the best, and her excessive smashing of the taunt button in this match got old really fast, but barely hindered my enjoyment. There were some really good reversal spots, solid false finishes, and like all Nikki Bella matches, elbows that left me wondering if wrestling was real.

Oh, and this Phoenix Suns attire from Nikki. It was okay. I guess.

No contest after a double countout: **1/2

Randy Orton vs Luke Harper

Man, this was awesome! We all knew it could be, but I really figured to have Orton look strong going into his title match, the match last night wouldn’t last very long or feature Luke Harper offense. It did, and it was one of the best Randy Orton or Luke Harper matches in recent memory. They both wrestled like they had something to prove (Orton obviously doesn’t), and much like the Elimination Chamber match, both came out looking much better. Shoutout to the WWE production team for the video package leading into this match for reminding me how good the Orton/Wyatt angle has been, because I did actually forget some of Harper’s earliest skepticism towards Randy. That’s the magic of a SmackDown slow burn.

Randy Orton def. Luke Harper: ***

Kalisto and Apollo Crews vs Dolph Ziggler

The good guys double teamed the helpless bad guy and beat him. I’m not sure what anyone was thinking here. It did not come off well, even with Dolph’s pre-match attack, and Kalisto and Apollo now look like geeks who need to 2-on-1 an opponent to beat them.

Kalisto and Apollo Crews def. Dolph Ziggler: 1/2*

Becky Lynch vs Mickie James

If you needed a solid 1-on-1 match to prove that Mickie James can still go with the best of ‘em, this was it. This opening match was wrestled smart the whole way through, protecting both women’s finishes and ending with a flash jackknife pinfall. The current WrestleMania rumor for the Women’s Title is a fatal four way (comment section go nuts), but after that I’d love for Becky and Mickie to have a decent feud, maybe culminating at SummerSlam.

Becky Lynch def. Mickie James: **1/4

If my match ratings for this show make it seem uninspired, it wasn’t intentional. Every match, other than the handicap match, was at least enjoyable, and we got the WrestleMania set ups we’ve been looking for. John Cena eliminated The Miz and Nikki Bella spilled some shit on Maryse, Baron Corbin attacked Dean Ambrose, and obviously the Wyatts are going to implode.

SmackDown held up their end of the deal, now we’ll wait and see if RAW turns the corner with FastLane.