WWE Smackdown Live results and observations (2/14/17): The era of Bray Wyatt begins

After a memorable outing at the Elimination Chamber, pay-per-view Smackdown Live slowly charted its course to WrestleMania Tuesday night.

Taking this approach didn't make for a highly entertaining show Tuesday (the main event was fantastic), but it did set some interesting things in motion that got me intrigued for what it is to come from the blue brand.

Before I get into my full analysis, here are the full match results from the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.:

- American Alpha def. The Ascension

- Mickie James def. Becky Lynch

- WWE championship – Bray Wyatt def. John Cena & AJ Styles

Randy Orton pledges his allegiance to Bray Wyatt

When Orton stared down Wyatt at the end of Elimination Chamber, it looked like he was dead set on challenging his fictional family member for the WWE championship at WrestleMania.

After all, Orton did win the Royal Rumble, which guaranteed him a title shot in Orlando.

However, things took a bit of an unexpected turn Tuesday when Orton entered the ring after Wyatt successfully defended his WWE title in a captivating triple threat match against Cena and Styles, and pledged his allegiance to Wyatt, saying that as long as the champion is his master, he will not face him in a match.

Orton then bowed down to Wyatt as the program went off the air.

Because of this, Smackdown Live general manager Daniel Bryan announced on Talking Smack that a new No. 1 contender would be crowned in a battle royal next week.

Although this was not the direction I expected WWE to take with this storyline, I am on board with it so far.

WWE has a lot of television time to fill between now and WrestleMania, especially with Smackdown Live, which just had its final pay-per-view installment before the big event this past Sunday.

There is no real need to rush the friction between Orton and Wyatt. Just like the story as a whole, this specific chapter can develop slowly.

Also, with the battle royal to determine a new No. 1 contender happening next week, it opens up the door for a potential triple threat match at WrestleMania.

I couldn't think of a better person to fill that role than former Wyatt Family member, Luke Harper, who popped up before the WWE title match and attacked Wyatt.

Like I said earlier, things can get very interesting moving forward for Smackdown Live.

Alexa Bliss gives Naomi an ultimatum

Apparently, Naomi suffered a knee during her Smackdown Women's title victory over Bliss at Elimination Chamber. The injury forced her to wear a brace on her left knee Tuesday night.

Bliss expressed zero sympathy for the new champion, as she told Naomi that she is exercising her rematch clause next week. Bliss then gave Naomi a choice: Either she can participate in the rematch at less than 100 percent or she can give the title up her without doing any further damage to her knee.

Naomi's injury seems legitimate, but it does not seem all that serious, at least it doesn't seem that way at the moment otherwise WWE may have had her forfeit the title Tuesday.

For Naomi's sake, I hope it isn't. It would be a shame for her to work all of these years just to get the title and possibly defend it at WrestleMania in her hometown, only for it to be yanked away due to injury.

She would not be the first person to have a championship run cut short due to injury and since this is professional wrestling, she will not be the last, but that doesn't make it any less unfortunate.

Baron Corbin decimated Dean Ambrose again

After being pulverized by Corbin in the Elimination Chamber, Ambrose went on the hunt for him at Smackdown Live.

During his hunt, he ran into his old pal James Ellsworth, who said a couple of things that upset Ambrose. He responded by begging Bryan to beat the crap out of Ellsworth in the ring. Bryan obliged.

Unfortunately for Ambrose, he was never able to get his hands on Ellsworth, as he found Corbin, but not exactly in the way that he envisioned.

Corbin attacked Ambrose backstage and dragged him out into the arena. Ambrose valiantly fought back, but fell victim to a deep six into some staging equipment.

The spot didn't look that great, as sparks flew before Ambrose even fell into the equipment, but in storyline, it resulted in Ambrose being taken to the hospital.

Other than the silly sparks flying, I liked all of this. It made sense for Ambrose to be hunting Corbin down and the way WWE got to Corbin beating him up was fairly unique and was another nod to Ambrose's history with Ellsworth.

Nikki Bella, Natalya to settle things next week

The score will finally be settled between Bella and Natalya next week, as they will face each other in a falls count anywhere match.

The match was made after Bryan had finally reached his breaking point with the two combatants due to their reckless abandon when they fight each other.

On Tuesday, Bella and Natalya tried to tear each other a part in Bryan's office until security separated them.

Bryan seemed legitimately over this feud and I cannot say that I blame him for feeling that way.