New WWE Champion Crowned At Elimination Chamber

With about a month and a half until WrestleMania 33, John Cena was on his way to enter the show of shows as SmackDown’s world champion, but a trip to the Elimination Chamber put a stop to those plans.

In his first singles title win, Bray Wyatt was the fourth man to enter the Elimination Chamber match is the new WWE World Champion, pinning AJ Styles to be the last man standing.

With the win, SmackDown’s world championship match is looking like it could be a battle between Wyatt Family members Randy Orton, who won the 2017 Royal Rumble, and Bray himself.

Bray’s run on the main roster started with Bray, along with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, feuding with Kane that resulted in a Ring of Fire match at the 2013 edition of SummerSlam. Bray’s career thus far had him feuding with the likes of Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, John Cena and The Undertaker, most of which resulted in Bray on the short end of the stick.

But Bray’s current run that culminated in a world champion title reign began late 2016 when a feud against Orton resulted in Orton joining the Wyatt Family, eventually resulting in a SmackDown Tag Team Title run alongside Orton and Harper. While it was a short reign, it opened up Orton’s current feud with Harper and Harper being singled out by Bray himself.

Bray, the son of former WWE Tag Team Champion I.R.S., had been signed with WWE since 2009, starting out at Florida Championship Wrestling and becoming later part of the Nexus stable as Husky Harris and now he is the WWE Champion.

Fightful's live post-Elimination Chamber podcast at this link.