Previewing The 2017 Elimination Chamber Women's Matches

Smackdown has a PPV this Sunday, Elimination Chamber. I believe this is the first time a brand PPV will feature 3 women's matches. The Royal Rumble a few weeks ago had 3 (between the kickoff and the main show), but the Royal Rumble isn't a brand-specific PPV. Many might say that this is huge for the women, but look at it a little more realistically. This is just practical booking. The Elimination Chamber match will feature six guys. Even though that match will kill a lot of time, there are still a lot of spots on the card to fill. Also keep in mind that match isn't the only multi-man match on the card. The situation just calls for multiple women's matches.

Nikki Bella and Natalya have been feuding for a few months now. They tried to make it more interesting by treating it like Nikki was attacked by some mystery individual a few months ago at Survivor Series. The feud hasn't really gone anywhere that interesting since then. They are just talking and brawling. Very few matches. Blame it on the terrible depth. The promos are pretty sour. A lot of talking about John Cena. I wonder if the WWE ever considers this might hurt his image. I don't think it is doing anything too great for either woman involved. Thankfully, this feud will likely end at Elimination Chamber.

Nikki Bella should be beating Natalya. This is a feud for the face to just shut up the heel after all these months. A Natalya win would just be pointless, unless they continue this feud, which they shouldn't. I'll go with Nikki.

The feud between Mickie James and Becky Lynch has been going on for only a few weeks. I have said on multiple occasions that I dislike how the WWE has handled Mickie's character. I will give them credit for certain things, like giving her quality promo time. But in terms of her actual character, this is not the best way to handle Mickie James. She should be a face, or even an entertaining heel. This bitter, arrogant character is not best for her. I see some fans not even understanding what she's doing with her promos. Maybe I'll go into that another day. She is still showing her charisma, but this is just not a great situation.

What about Becky Lynch? These past few weeks, they have been treating her like all she's good for is chasing titles and seeking revenge against sidekicks screwing her out of titles. Does that sound familiar? It should. That is the same thing I criticized TNA for doing to Mickie James when she returned in 2010. I believe Becky Lynch has the potential to be even more over than she is. But she's not going to do it with the way the WWE has been featuring her. Let her personality shine more outside of these serious feuds.

Who wins this match? Becky Lynch has not won a singles match at a PPV since coming to the main roster. When it finally does happen, it would be nice for it to come in a more meaningful situation than this. As for Mickie James, she has not won at all since coming to Smackdown. All her losses have been in tag matches where she was not pinned, but it is still pretty bad for her to not win at all. Is she going to follow the path of The Dudleyz? I will say Mickie James wins here.

The title feud between Alexa Bliss and Naomi is the youngest feud of these three. Naomi came back from her injury and just immediately got this push. She has been pinning Alexa Bliss to gain momentum. I think that makes the outcome of this match obvious. Naomi has all the momentum, so it is just likely Alexa Bliss retains. Naomi should eventually get a title reign, if she can stay healthy, but I don't think it happens this Sunday.