What's the story?
WWE has announced that Mojo Rawley and Curt Hawkins would be facing each other in a one on one match in the pre-show for WWE Elimination Chamber this Sunday, as noted by wrestinginc.
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SmackDown will be holding its first Brand Exclusive PPV of 2017 Elimination Chamber this Sunday at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.
Till now a total of 8 matches has been announced for the PPV including the 6 men WWE Championship match which will be conducted inside the Cage and the recently announced pre-show match.
The heart of the matter:
WWE recently posted an exclusive footage of a backstage confrontation between Rawley and Hawkins from this week's episode SmackDown Live.
As seen in the video below, things didn't sit well with the two stars during their latest encounter which is believed to be the reason behind their upcoming match:
Below is the updated match card for the upcoming event following the latest announcement:
Kickoff Pre-showCurt Hawkins vs. Mojo Rawley
Main Show:Elimination Chamber for the WWE TitleThe Miz vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Baron Corbin vs. John Cena
Tag Team Turmoil for the SmackDown Tag Team TitlesThe Ascension vs. Heath Slater & Rhyno vs. The Vaudevillains vs. Breezango vs. The Usos vs. American Alpha
SmackDown Women's Title MatchNaomi vs. Alexa Bliss
2-on-1 Handicap MatchKalisto and Apollo Crews vs. Dolph Ziggler
Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper
Natalya vs. Nikki Bella
Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James
What's next?
Randy Orton's Royal Rumble win left us all questioning what would be the WrestleMania status of both the WWE Championship match and the match in which John Cena would be involved.
So Elimination Chamber is an important milestone as we move forward into the Mania season because it is expected to make the WrestleMania picture involving some of SmackDown's top star more clear.
SportsKeeda's take
Many questions were left unanswered after Royal Rumble such as who will Randy Orton face at Mania or if Bray Wyatt would be the WWE Champion heading into the Show Of Shows.
Since Elimination Chamber is expected to answer all these questions, fans are eagerly waiting for this Sunday to watch the first SmackDown Exclusive PPV of the year.