WWE Elimination Chamber 2017: Results and observations from the show

The word of the night coming out of Elimination Chamber was "new."

A new WWE champion was crowned, there is a new Smackdown Women's champion and there was a new-look Elimination Chamber that was actually an upgrade over the original.

Despite all of the new things that are sure to be talking points in the aftermath of this event, at the end of the day, it was more of the same from Smackdown Live.

What I mean by that is that Smackdown Live put forth another very good outing at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix.

Before I go any further, here are the full match results from the show:

- Kickoff match – Mojo Rawley def. Curt Hawkins

- Becky Lynch def. Mickie James

- Apollo Crews & Kalisto def. Dolph Ziggler

- WWE Smackdown Tag Team championship (Tag team turmoil) – American Alpha def. The Usos, Heath Slater/Rhyno, Breezango, The Ascension & The Vaudevillains

- Nikki Bella vs. Natalya ended in a double count out

- Randy Orton def. Luke Harper

- WWE Smackdown Women's championship – Naomi def. Alexa Bliss

- WWE championship (Elimination Chamber) – Bray Wyatt def. John Cena, The Miz, AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose & Baron Corbin

Wyatt finally ascends to the top

Wyatt comes from a wrestling bloodline that includes Blackjack Mulligan (his grandfather), Mike Rotunda aka Irwin R. Schyster (his father) and Barry Windham (his maternal uncle).

Two of those three names (Mulligan and Windham) are in the WWE Hall of Fame while the other (Rotunda) remains a legendary figure in wrestling lore.

However, none of those men ascended to the level Wyatt ascended to Sunday night, as he won the WWE championship.

Wyatt debuted on WWE's main roster more than three years ago and has had WrestleMania matches against the likes of Cena and The Undertaker, but never quite broke through in the sense of earning a singles championship.

He finally did Sunday night when pinned Cena in the Elimination Chamber to ensure that there would be a new champion and followed by pinning Styles to claim the title.

By winning the title, Wyatt became only the third third-generation wrestler to claim the WWE championship, joining The Rock and Orton.

In a bit of irony, Orton walked out on stage during Wyatt's celebration and stared down his fictional family member. By being the 2017 Royal Rumble winner, he now has a date with brother in arms at WrestleMania.

This probably didn't come as a surprise to anyone, as all of the signs pointed to this once Orton won the Royal Rumble.

With that said, it was still sort of surreal seeing Wyatt finally hold up the title so many thought he was worthy of at various points of his career.

But now we have to spin this forward and with about seven weeks before WrestleMania, WWE has ample time to bring the Orton-Wyatt story, which started last fall, to a raging climax at WrestleMania.

People have been begging for years to see WWE present stories that play out over the course of months and there is no better example right now than this one.

It only makes sense that it comes to a head at the biggest event of the year.

New Elimination Chamber makes for fun match

I was taken aback when I first saw the new Elimination Chamber, but the time I saw it in action Sunday night, I was all in.

All of the changes helped make the match Sunday night fantastic. It didn't hurt that the storytelling throughout could not have been better.

The new structure is not as round as the original. It is more of a square, which created a lot more room for the wrestlers to operate. One of the things I immediately noticed was that there was a lot more room above each pod than before, which I knew was so that it would give the wrestlers more room to jump off them.

Ambrose took full advantage of the extra room Sunday night. On top of each pod was plexiglass, which Styles got a little more acquainted with than I'm sure he wanted to.

Also new was the padding that surrounded the ring. The old structure featured steel grates that had zero give. I'm sure it was quite painful for the wrestlers to fall on that.

The new structure doesn't have a lot of give, but it does have the padding, which is a lot better than falling on cold, hard steel.

There were also lights around each pod, which created a better visual for when the next participant entered the match. Not to mention, there is a big WWE logo in the middle of the structure that was visible from that top-down camera angle WWE typically uses for the match.

People are generally adverse to change, but I don't see how anyone could complain about the new Elimination Chamber, especially after how good the match turned out.

Naomi is queen of the glow

Speaking of new, we have a new Smackdown Women's champion and her name is Naomi.

I have sung Naomi's praises on many occasions in the past, as I believe she is one of the most athletically gifted performers in all of WWE and seems like someone that has put a lot of time and effort into perfecting her craft.

The match she had with Bliss wasn't spectacular, but it was still good. At the same time, it was all but overshadowed by Naomi's victory and her potentially walking into her hometown of Orlando, Fla. with the Smackdown Women's title at WrestleMania.

I understand that some people didn't think it was time for Bliss to lose the title and I get their point. Bliss has been doing an amazing job of getting over as a heel since she was drafted to Smackdown Live last summer.

However, Naomi carrying the Smackdown Women's title into WrestleMania makes all the sense in the world from a promotional standpoint.

Like I said earlier, Naomi is from Orlando and she was already going to do a lot of local promotion for the show anyway, but now she can do that promotion with a nice, shiny championship on her shoulder.

The story writes itself. I can see the headlines now: "Orlando native returns home for WrestleMania as women's champion."

Newspapers, blogs, radio stations, television stations, you name it, news of Naomi's homecoming will be all over Orlando media come WrestleMania week. And her being the Smackdown Women's champion at the same time is icing on the cake.

What I do not understand are people that claim Naomi's title win was only the result of it being Black History Month, which has to be the most idiotic thing I have ever heard.

Firstly, WWE never once mentioned Naomi's victory having any extra significance because of Black History Month, but people somehow think WWE would stoop that low to boost its public image.

That is not to say WWE hasn't gone out of its way in the past to gain some positive public relations, but this is not one of those attempts.

Secondly, bringing Black History Month in the conversation minimizes Naomi's talent and removes the fact that she earned the title based on her own merit.

It doesn't matter what month it is. Naomi is worthy of being Smackdown Women's champion regardless.

Orton vs. Harper put on a show

Besides the Elimination Chamber, the best match on the card Sunday was easily Orton versus Harper.

There is a theory in wrestling that a wrestler can get over or improve his or her stock in defeat. I think Harper did just that at Elimination Chamber.

Anyone that has followed Harper's career already knows that he is arguably the best big man working in wrestling today, but Sunday was a litmus test of sorts to see if he could perform under the bright lights in a one-on-one situation.

He passed the test with flying colors. Yes, it would have been nice to see Harper pick up a big victory over Orton, but it would not have fit the story that is being told on Smackdown Live heading into WrestleMania.

Orton beating Harper was the right decision being as though he is set to challenge for the WWE championship at WrestleMania. Not everyone will agree with that, but that's just how it is.

Corbin vs. Ambrose on the horizon?

WWE had a couple of instances of foreshadowing Sunday night with the most notable being between Ambrose and Corbin.

Corbin ran roughshod over the Elimination Chamber until Ambrose rolled up him and pinned him for the first elimination of the match.

Corbin was not thrilled with this development and took his frustration out on Ambrose. Corbin tossed him through one of the pods and eventually hit him with the end of days.

If you have been watching wrestling as long as I have, that certainly looked like we're headed to a feud between Ambrose and Corbin over the Intercontinental title soon and I could not be more on board with it.

Firstly, it would be a fresh matchup at least from the rivalry standpoint. We have seen them in the ring together, but not for an extended feud.

Secondly, I love the potential of Corbin chasing and possibly winning the Intercontinental championship.

I have always said that WWE sent Roman Reigns on a backwards journey, where he went for the top title instead of first holding the Intercontinental or United States title.

If Corbin is destined to be a future WWE champion, having him win the Intercontinental championship first is a nice way for him to learn how to be a champion without him holding the promotion's top title.

Also, once he eventually moves on to the WWE title scene, it enhances the Intercontinental title and it makes it look like the stepping stone to the top it was 20-25 years ago.

WWE foreshadowing a mixed tag match?

It looked like WWE may have also foreshadowed a potential feud between Bella and Maryse.

Yes, Bella and Natalya still have unfinished business, but when Natalya attacked Bella for 39th time backstage Sunday, Bella fell into Maryse and knocked powder all over her dress.

Since Maryse isn't currently wrestling, I could see the rumored scenario of Bella teaming up with Cena for mixed tag team match against The Miz and Maryse at WrestleMania.

Knocking powder on someone's dress is not the most ideal way to start a WrestleMania feud, but I guess in WWE's eyes it is.

What is next for Styles?

While the path to WrestleMania may be clear for some on Smackdown Live, it is not very clear for Styles.

He was the final man to be eliminated from the Elimination Chamber, but there was no indication of what is next for the former WWE champion.

There have been reports that Styles may be in line for a match against Smackdown Live commissioner Shane McMahon and if those reports turn out to be accurate, it would be a big match in WWE's eyes.

I'm not so sure it is a big match in reality, though.

But as of this writing, the direction for Styles when it pertains to WrestleMania is still to be determined.

What was the point of handicap match?

As I type this I am still unsure of what WWE accomplished with this match.

Ziggler jumped Kalisto from behind during his entrance and worked most of the match against only Crews.

Kalisto then came out later in the match in what was supposed to be this heroic and courageous moment, but it fell flatter than a pancake with the live audience.

Once Kalisto was back in the ring, he helped Crews gang up on Ziggler and win a match, which the babyfaces had a distinct advantage over the heel that is not billed as some monstrous figure like Braun Strowman or even Corbin.

After the match, Ziggler beat the daylights out Crews again with a steel chair and all but broke his ankle with it, which instead of drawing boos, received cheers from the fans in Phoenix that chanted, "Thank you, Ziggler!"

Everything just seems wrong with this and it was a blemish on an otherwise productive night for Smackdown Live.