Ranking the chances of all 6 participants in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber Match
The second Elimination Chamber Match of this year's pay-per-view event was announced on SmackDown.
While Adam Pearce initially booked Roman Reigns to defend his Universal Championship inside the unforgiving structure, the Champion and Paul Heyman forced the WWE official to change his decision. Now, the SmackDown Elimination Chamber Match will determine the number one contender for Reigns' title.
However, the winner of the Chamber match will challenge the Universal Champion at Elimination Chamber itself and not at WrestleMania. This is possibly being done to make it different from the WWE Championship match at the event, while wrapping up the story in time for Royal Rumble winner Edge to challenge Roman Reigns at 'Mania.
All six competitors are now known, and with the match being for a shot at the title, rather than the title itself, things are a lot less predictable. Around half of the Elimination Chamber participants have a realistic chance of winning the match, with two Superstars standing out in particular.
Anyway, here are the chances of every Superstar in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber Match ranked, from least to most likely.
#6 King Corbin and #5 Sami Zayn don't stand a chance of winning the Elimination Chamber Match
Since they qualified for the Elimination Chamber together and have next to no chance of winning it, let's rank King Corbin and Sami Zayn together at the bottom of this list. The two heels defeated Rey and Dominik Mysterio to qualify for next Sunday's grueling match.
Neither man would be a compelling challenger for the villainous Roman Reigns due to the lack of a heel-babyface dynamic. Corbin is the second most detestable Superstar on SmackDown after Reigns, while Zayn is too much of a heat-seeker to truly have an effective program with the Tribal Chief.
However, the former Intercontinental Champion is placed above Corbin for a couple of reasons. For starters, a match between Reigns and Zayn is still way fresher than one between Reigns and Corbin. There could also be some fun segments involving his documentary crew.
If Sami Zayn somehow sneaks a victory in the Elimination Chamber Match and gets squashed by Roman Reigns on the same night, he will have some fresh material to complain about. His conspiracy theory schtick is great, making him one of the most entertaining stars on SmackDown.