Elimination Chamber (2017)

The 2017 Elimination Chamber (known as No Escape in Germany) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the seventh Elimination Chamber and took place on February 12, 2017, at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's SmackDown brand division. It was the first Elimination Chamber event to be held since 2015 and was WWE's first pay-per-view to feature three women's matches on the main card. The event also saw the debut of a new Elimination Chamber structure that is the one now currently used in WWE.

Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Bray Wyatt won the titular Elimination Chamber match to win the WWE Championship, the first singles championship of his career. In other prominent matches, Naomi defeated Alexa Bliss to win the SmackDown Women's Championship, marking her first championship in WWE, Randy Orton defeated Luke Harper, American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) retained the SmackDown Tag Team Championship in a tag team turmoil match, and in the opening bout, Becky Lynch defeated Mickie James.

Production

Background

Elimination Chamber is a professional wrestling event first produced by WWE in 2010. The concept of the event is that one or two main event matches are contested inside the Elimination Chamber, either with championships or future opportunities at championships at stake. The event had been held every year until 2016. That year, an Elimination Chamber event was not scheduled, however, on November 29, 2016, WWE reinstated the event for 2017, and announced that it would take place at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. After the 2015 event was held in May, on December 5, the 2017 event returned Elimination Chamber to its regular February slot and it took place on February 12. It was the seventh Elimination Chamber and was held exclusively for wrestlers from the SmackDown brand, following the reintroduction of the brand split in July 2016. The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was available to livestream on the WWE Network. Tickets went on sale on December 16 through Ticketmaster. The 2017 event also saw a redesign of the chamber structure, becoming square in design, instead of circular.

In 2011 and since 2013, the show has been promoted as "No Escape" in Germany as it was feared that the name "Elimination Chamber" may remind people of the gas chambers used during the Holocaust.

Storylines

The event comprised eight matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the SmackDown brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television show, SmackDown Live.

On the January 17, 2017, episode of SmackDown, commissioner Shane McMahon scheduled an Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship as the main event of Elimination Chamber. At the Royal Rumble on January 29, John Cena defeated AJ Styles to win the WWE Championship for a record thirteenth time, as well as tying Ric Flair's record of sixteen recognized world titles. The following day, Styles was added to the Elimination Chamber match. On the January 31 episode of SmackDown, McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan assured Styles that he would eventually get a one-on-one rematch, before revealing the other participants in the Elimination Chamber match: Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Baron Corbin, and Bray Wyatt. Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton warned Cena that if he is still champion after Elimination Chamber, he will take the title from him at WrestleMania 33. Orton and Wyatt then faced Cena and Luke Harper, who had been at odds with Orton ever since they lost the tag team titles; Orton and Wyatt won the match when Orton pinned Cena. Later that night, Styles faced Ambrose with The Miz on commentary. Corbin came out during the match and joined on commentary, but eventually attacked Miz. Ambrose attacked both Corbin and Miz before re-entering the ring, allowing Styles to defeat him. The following week, Ambrose, Corbin, Miz, and Styles had a fatal four-way match that Corbin won by pinning Styles. Later, Orton faced Cena. During the match, Harper came out and attacked Wyatt. Orton attempted an RKO on Harper but was surprised by Cena with an Attitude Adjustment and a win for Cena; Orton was scheduled to face Harper at Elimination Chamber.

At Survivor Series on November 20, 2016, Nikki Bella was originally the captain of Team SmackDown's women's team, but before the match, she was attacked backstage and was unable to compete; Natalya, who was the team's coach, replaced Nikki in the match. On the following SmackDown, Nikki accused Carmella of being the attacker, since the two had been feuding for the few months prior, and the two faced each other at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 4 in a no disqualification match that Nikki won. After the match, Carmella claimed that Natalya was the attacker. For the next couple of weeks, Natalya denied the accusation until the December 20 episode of SmackDown, where she admitted to being the attacker due to pent up jealousy of the Bella Twins, believing they had everything handed to them. The two went back and forth at each other over the next few weeks and were involved in the six-woman tag team match at the Royal Rumble, where Nikki's team defeated Natalya's. On the January 31 episode of SmackDown, Daniel Bryan scheduled a match between Nikki and Natalya at Elimination Chamber to settle their differences. The following week, the two traded barbs with one another, and afterwards on Talking Smack, Natalya attacked Nikki.

On the December 20, 2016, episode of SmackDown, Becky Lynch, disguised as newcomer La Luchadora, defeated SmackDown Women's Champion Alexa Bliss in a non-title match when she made the champion submit to the Dis-arm-her; after the match, Lynch unmasked herself. Over the next few weeks, a villainous La Luchadora began to aid Bliss in matches against Lynch, including Bliss's successful title defense in a Steel Cage match in the main event of the January 17 episode, where La Luchadora was unmasked as the returning Mickie James. The following week, James explained that she became forgotten due to the Women's Revolution; Lynch then came out, but was ambushed by Bliss and James. Also, on the January 24 episode of SmackDown, Naomi was set to face Natalya, but the match was canceled after Nikki Bella attacked Natalya backstage. Naomi then made an open challenge. Bliss came out, not to accept the challenge, but to belittle Naomi. All four women then competed in the six-woman tag team match at the Royal Rumble, where Lynch and Naomi's team defeated Bliss and James' team after Naomi pinned Bliss. The four were then involved in a regular tag team match on the following episode of SmackDown, where Naomi again pinned Bliss. Afterwards on Talking Smack, Bliss was scheduled to defend the SmackDown Women's Championship against Naomi at Elimination Chamber. On February 7, a match between Lynch and James was scheduled for Elimination Chamber. On that night's episode of SmackDown, the four women had a contract signing for their respective matches that ended in a brawl with Naomi and Lynch getting the upper hand.

On the December 13, 2016, episode of SmackDown, a battle royal to determine the number one contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship was won by The Hype Bros (Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley). After the match, however, it was discovered that Ryder had injured his knee and required surgery. In response, a championship fatal four-way tag team elimination match occurred on the December 27 episode between American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan), Heath Slater and Rhyno, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso), and defending champions The Wyatt Family (represented by Luke Harper and Randy Orton), where American Alpha won by last eliminating Orton to become the new champions. The Wyatt Family invoked their rematch clause for the January 10 episode, but American Alpha retained. On the January 31 episode, American Alpha made an open challenge to any tag team on the SmackDown roster. The Usos came out, followed by The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor), The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch), Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango), and Slater and Rhyno. A brawl ensued where American Alpha and Slater and Rhyno were the last standing. Afterwards on Talking Smack, a championship tag team turmoil match between the six teams was scheduled for Elimination Chamber.