Mojo Rawley vs. Curt Hawkins: Winner, Reaction for WWE Elimination Chamber 2017

Mojo Rawley picked up a victory on the Elimination Chamber Kickoff Show on Sunday, as he defeated Curt Hawkins.

Rawley stunned Hawkins with a running forearm in the corner, which opened the door for him to hit a running tilt-a-whirl powerslam for the victory. WWE shared a replay of Rawley's finisher:

Wrestling Inc. isn't so sure Rawley's transition to a new finishing move will go smoothly:

Bleacher Report's Ryan Dilbert was underwhelmed by the match as a whole:

Neither Rawley nor Hawkins have been featured much on SmackDown Live as of late, but they built a feud with one another through different means leading up to the pay-per-view.

Following the New England Patriots' victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI, Hawkins took a shot at Pats tight end Rob Gronkowski, who is Rawley's good friend:

That led to a verbal altercation between Rawley and Hawkins on WWE.com, as seen in this video courtesy of WWE's official Twitter account:

With Rawley wanting to teach his antagonist a lesson, he was granted a match against Hawkins to open the festivities at Elimination Chamber.

When Rawley got called up to the main roster as part of the brand extension, he did so as a tag team wrestler alongside Zack Ryder.

Rawley and Ryder formed the Hype Bros in NXT and looked to carry their success over to SmackDown Live.

They seemed to be gaining traction a couple of months ago when they won a Battle Royal to become No. 1 contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, which put them in line to face the Wyatt Family.

Ryder suffered an injury in the match, however, which landed him on the shelf and forced Rawley to go off on his own as a singles competitor.

The former NFL defensive lineman won a Battle Royal on SmackDown to earn entry into the Royal Rumble match, and although he was eliminated in the early going, it was another step in the right direction.

Rawley has yet to find a consistent role on SmackDown programming, but his size, high-energy style and potential should give him an opportunity to move up the ladder in the near future.

Beating Hawkins on Sunday may not seem significant, but it suggests that the WWE brass sees something in the former NXT standout.

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