WWE SmackDown: Potential Spoilers, News and Preview for Feb. 7

WWE SmackDown's compact build to Elimination Chamber 2017 will come to a close Tuesday night, and the blue brand has plenty of animosity and hype to cram into a single show.

Ahead of Sunday's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, champions and challengers will collide inside Seattle's KeyArena. WWE titleholder John Cena will take on his longtime enemy, Randy Orton. American Alpha is set to get an early look at its Elimination Chamber opponents. 

Only two weeks removed from Royal Rumble, SmackDown is already in go-home mode.

That will have stories moving along at a brisk pace. And the blue brand has to round out the PPV card with some midcard bouts.

As for Tuesday's SmackDown's top match, Cena vs. Orton may be a preview of WrestleMania 33's main event. Orton is assured a shot at the WWE title in Cena's grasp after winning the Royal Rumble match. Before that, the archenemies will meet in non-title action. 

What rivalries will lead to new matches on the PPV? What new faces could we see?

News updates, storyline projections and the SmackDown preview on WWE.com help provide some answers ahead of the final SmackDown before Elimination Chamber, which kicks off Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on USA Network.

News, Potential Spoilers

Change is coming to the blue brand's referee situation.

Veteran official Charles Robinson won't be around for the moment. He revealed in an interview with Ryan Pappolla for WWE.com that he tore his plantar fascia during the Cena vs. AJ Styles match at Royal Rumble.

Robinson also mentioned on Twitter that he expects to be back in time for Sunday's PPV:

SmackDown is set to get some help in his absence, though. Joseph Currier noted for Figure Four Online that Danilo Anfibio will be moving from NXT to SmackDown.

As both Dean Ambrose and The Miz prepare for their trips inside the Elimination Chamber this Sunday, it doesn't look like their tale will involve Renee Young and her issues with The Hollywood A-Lister. Wrestling Observer Newsletter founder Dave Meltzer noted that WWE has dropped the Ambrose and Young vs. The Miz and Maryse storyline:

And SmackDown could be adding another wrestler to its women's division.

Bill Pritchard of WrestleZone noted, "For what it's worth, WWE's upcoming live event at Madison Square Garden in New York lists Tamina Snuka as competing on the event card in a tag team match." She is advertised to team with SmackDown stars, including Nikki Bella.

Snuka has been out of action because of a knee injury since last April. She wasn't selected in last year's draft, so she could be added to either Raw or SmackDown when she returns.

SmackDown Streaks

Carmella may not be in the SmackDown Women's Championship hunt at the moment, but she has been quietly gathering momentum.

Last Tuesday, she knocked off Delilah Dawson. Per CageMatch.net, that marked her fourth win in a row. And The Princess of Staten Island remains undefeated in 2017. 

She doesn't yet have a dance partner for the Elimination Chamber PPV, though. 

Kalisto is in the same boat but would be all but guaranteed a loss if he made it to the card. Victory has been hard to come by for The King of Flight.

On last week's SmackDown, Kalisto fell to Dolph Ziggler, his second loss to The Showoff in a row. As seen on CageMatch.net, he is 3-7 in his last 10 bouts.

Kalisto has fallen down the food chain, his reigns as United States champ now a distant memory.  

Home Stretch of Elimination Chamber Build

In a preview of the Tag Team Turmoil match set for Sunday's PPV, the SmackDown division will collide in 12-man action.

As noted in the show's preview on WWE.com, American Alpha, Heath Slater and Rhyno and Breezango will take on The Usos, The Vaudevillains and The Ascension. Breezango partnering with the babyfaces is an intriguing move. Perhaps Tyler Breeze and Fandango are headed for a shift in character.

Ziggler is in the midst of experiencing just that.

The sting of defeat has warped Ziggler recently, and the former world champion has morphed into a merciless heel. Apollo Crews, though, has stood up to the bully in recent weeks.

They are sure to cross paths on Tuesday night, potentially setting up a clash at Elimination Chamber.

Credit: WWE.com

The first bout announced for the PPV is sure to get plenty of attention on the go-home edition of SmackDown. And the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match has a number of incendiary elements to play with.

As the SmackDown preview on WWE.com stated, "With such an explosive contest on the horizon, just about any action by any of the six Elimination Chamber participants will surely be the proverbial light to the fuse." 

Ambrose and Baron Corbin have bad blood. AJ Styles will be seething as he watches Cena carry around the championship he wore for months. Bray Wyatt's relationship with Orton is something to watch as well.

The Wyatt Family could further implode, rivalries are poised to blossom and SmackDown may look to elevate Corbin ahead of Sunday's event.

There's a good chance some of these moving parts get involved in the Orton-Cena showdown. The Viper's ties to Wyatt and Cena's history with just about everybody set to challenge him should lead to some early fireworks.

As a result, SmackDown is set to provide a taste of the chaos that awaits the Superstars inside the Elimination Chamber.