– On SmackDown, WWE officially removed Mustafa Ali from the Elimination Chamber Match due to injury and New Day’s Kofi Kingston took his spot. Then, Kingston worked a gauntlet match where the winner would be the final person to enter the Chamber.
Kingston did incredibly well in the match, lasting over an hour and eliminating several wrestlers; including current WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. Despite Ali not being able to work, SmackDown’s match went as planned. WWE had intended for Ali to last an hour and take out several opponents before getting pinned. With Ali out of the picture, Kingston was allowed to work a majority of the match and really shine. In the end, Randy Orton was able to slither in and easily score the win and thus earn the right to be the final person released from the Chamber Match this Sunday.
Up until a few days before SmackDown, Ali was still in the works to compete at the pay per view. WWE knew he was dealing with an injury, but it was too much for him to be cleared for such a brutal contest. It will be interesting to see if Kingston and/or Ali continue to get a massive push heading into WrestleMania 35.
Be sure to join WrestleNewz tomorrow for Elimination Chamber play by play coverage. The pre-show starts at 6 PM EST and the main card at 7 PM EST.
– Still missing from TV is Bray Wyatt, whose last major appearance was at Starrcade over months ago. Since Matt Hardy took a leave of absence to deal with lingering injuries, Wyatt has not been used.
According to PWInsider, Wyatt has been dealing with some sort of injury but should be back on WWE TV very soon. With WrestleMania season in full-swing and the event about six weeks away, WWE is running out of time to book him in a top match. They might want to keep Wyatt off TV until after the big event so he can return with a major angle.
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