Elimination Chamber Thoughts/Review

I thought I'd start a side topic reflecting off the back of the results thread. So we have Elimination Chamber, the last stop before all the pieces of the puzzle start to look complete, and we can engage a rough idea as to what's being planned for the biggest stage of them all WM'29. I'll also give a little rating on each match out of 5 stars.

World Heavyweight Title Match
Alberto Del Rio (c) Vs Big Show - ***1/4

First things first, what's with the spot-lighting, are we at bragging rights, or have WWE stopped with the "themed" lighting? So anyway, so far Alberto Del Rio is 2-0 up in this feud, but as quite rightly pointed out, he's yet to pin the Big Show. I'd have to say, it's still shouldn't work but ADR as a face does! Good, solid opener for the card, perhaps not the best of their matches so far in their feud but they do work well together. Alberto Del Rio gets the victory with a submission which was a shock. So Alberto Del Rio has now beat Big Show 3 times in a row, way to make the ex-champion look credible coming out of this!

U.S Title Match
Antonio Cesaro (c) Vs The Miz - **

So it's U.S. Title time, and because they accidentally had a good match at RR, and maybe again on Raw? Once again these guys are squaring off against each other. As much has I have enjoyed Cesaro over the last couple of months, I've seen better from these two. Miz seems to be supporting an injured shoulder, it's a shame he forgets to sell the injury when he's on the offense. So it's Antonio who gets the win via DQ, ahh that was kind of pointless. So Antonio is now 2/3-0 up in this feud, is anybody starting to see a pattern here yet?

Elimination Chamber Match
Chris Jerico Vs Daniel Bryan Vs Jack Swagger Vs Kane Vs Randy Orton Vs Mark Henry ***1/4

So this is a PG Elimination Chamber Match Eh?? The line-up was fine, but this is probably one of the worst chamber matches I've seen. Nothing memorable happend, your inside a steel structure so why not use it? Where were the spots? Well I know 2 things for certain. 1. Mark Henry came out of this looking really strong 2. A genuine shock to see Jack Swagger win this! So the flavour of the month continues with an impressive push, let's not hope in 6 months time he's jobbing to Alex Riley on Superstars. Randy Orton for the love of god needs to freshen up his move set, I mean Come On, at least John Cena is a little adaptable at least!

The Shield Vs John Cena/Ryback/Sheamus ***1/2

Intrestingly, this is only The Shield second match-up inside a WWE ring. Felt the match was kind of short if I'm being honest. One thing's for certain, roman reigns came out of the match looking like a bad-ass. Who'd have thought he'd steel the show hey Hero? I don't really get what the point of all this was, I guess The Shield continue to be built up strong leaving the match-up. I have no idea what's up with Ryback.

Dolph Ziggler Vs Kofi Kingston **3/4

So we have an extra bonus match-up. Way to leave Ziggler relevant heading into this biggest PPV of the year! So we have Ziggler Vs Kofi in what is there 38th meeting in the space of 6 months. Both these guys have entertaining styles for sure and it shows in the early stages with some fast-paced action! Not a bad match, it could have done with 5 more minutes though. It's the type of match-up you expect to see on any Raw/Smackdown Show.

Divas Title Match
Kaitlyn Vs Tamina Snuka **1/2

So probably the better divas of a bad bunch these days. Kaitlyn, for sure has come on leaps and bounds over the past year. She's a top female wrestler these days. Again, this match much like Kaitlyn was short & sweet. I felt like these two could have done with a couple of extra minutes to bring out what they can do.

WWE Title Match
The Rock Vs CM Punk W/Paul Heyman ***1/2

I thought the match started off and flowed better at the rumble, to much stopping and starting for me. However, the wrestling was better and was nice to see some sort of chain wrestling thrown in. This was the match these two should have had at the rumble because Punk came out of this match looking really strong and had Rocky beat several times. In the end, with all these ref bumps the winner was always likely to be The Rock. I still think there's questions to be answered in the coming weeks. I still wouldn't rule out it being Rocky/Cena/Punk for the title come 'mania. If it's not what's the point in having Rocky/Cena II only 12 months after having Rocky/Cena "Once in a Lifetime" I mean everybody on this forum can book the outcome here, Cena's always going to tie-up they're rivalry 1-1

Anyway in summery, I hope WWE can pull out something heading into WreslteMania!

How can the whc get a 3.5 stars????? 2 at best. No way was that the match of the night.

I couldn't disagree more on the Chamber match, it was probably the MOTN for me (though the 6 man ran it close), started off with some great wrestling between Bryan and Jericho, Swagger added to it when he came in (his new intense attitude works for him), Kane and Bryan had another chance to show off their great chemistry as characters, Henry was an absoloute beast when he came in and stole the show, I can't believe the fire that has been lit under Henry in recent years, I assumed we saw the best of him last year pre-injury but I was wrong, Orton was his usual classy self, the finishing sequence with the final 3 was also very good, only problem I had with it was they kept illogically breaking opponents submissions, but the Jericho elimination was great following a breathless sequence and I was stunned Swagger got the win (pleasently).

The match concept probably suffers from not having a couple of bleeders but still I thought it was a great effort by all 6 men.

Also you're severly overrating the US title match, worst of the night

HitmanOwl wrote:How can the whc get a 3.5 stars????? 2 at best. No way was that the match of the night.

I didn't say it was match of the night, I gave that to the WWE Title match, but even then CM Punk carried The Rock to a degree. I'd probably say that the WHC match and the Elimination Chamber match were probably on par as I'm quite enjoying the run of Alberto Del Rio has champion, they both weren't impressive by all means & I have seen much better chamber matches through-out the years, it just seems like it's agiven these days and not treated as a special attraction, a special gimmick match-up. I'll quickly go over my ratings for the match and see If I can adjust some slightly as I might have slightly come across a little harsh.

Opinions and all that, but the chamber match and the shield match outstripped the WWE title match by a distance. It was a fine match, but neither performed brilliantly.

The WHC Match
What have we learned since Del Rio has become face? Good guys don't drive cars...

Anyway, the match itself, the trilogy, nothing beats the first match for these two, what I will say though is Big Show and Del Rio have good chemistry, I felt Show has really upped his game in the last year, he made the feud with Sheamus too, I'm really surprised that the WHC Title match for WrestleMania is Del Rio vs Swagger, if you asked me on January 1st neither of these guys would be near it, they have really shaken things up on SD for their Main Event scene, Del Rio and Show had another good match, nothing spectacular but nothing to bad either, I enjoyed Del Rio as a face for a few weeks but it's not lasted, he doesn't hook me in, he comes across as too cheesy, it feels like they're trying to go down the Eddie Guerrero route, I'd say this is their worst match of the 3 yet it was Del Rio's strongest finish, great way to build him up by tapping out a giant, the botch killed the momentum for me though must say...2.5*

Cesaro/Miz US Title

Not a fan of The Miz, I was until he become the World Champion, he's never in a million years worthy of that level in my opinion and has went backwards at an alamrming rate, he says all the right things though and puts in the hours so he'll always have a place high up the WWE ladder, he's the kinda guy Vince loves, I think putting a strap on Miz only helped highlight how poor he is at storytelling, he can sell it when his opponent is taking the lead but when he's on the offence he forgot it was meant to be causing him extreme pain, his jumping through the ropes clothesline should have hurt him as much as Cesaro but he didn't flinch, Cesaro is a star though, he always has been, now he's getting a chance to show it, he bossed Miz around and pulled a good match out of this...3*

The Chamber

I really enjoyed this, the only major let down for me was the fact the Title wasn't on the line which stopped it from having that big match feel to it, I was disappointed Daniel Bryan went first, I also thought this was a chance for them to further the rift between Kane and Bryan, that being said, if they have no long term singles plans for Bryan at this moment in time I'd rather he stays with Kane as they're gold together, Mark Henry is an absolute beast, I love how badass he is, I felt Orton was excellent as usual, his moveset is so dominant but it can be so diverse too, he should be one of the top guys, his fall from grace is ridiculous, his face turn has been a disaster for his career, a heel turn could hopefully get him back to being a main man again, glad Swagger won, I felt it was a chance for Orton so he can habe a big heel turn at Mania but as someone suggested beforehand, Del Rio is a tailor maid opponent for the new Swagger gimmick, the lead up to the pay off in this match was excellent, Jericho and Orton have some serious chemistry between them, along with Henry, this gets 3.5*

Cena/Sheamus/Ryback vs The Shield

Can't believe this is only The Shield's second match, they've been built unbelievably well, the major factor for me is that they haven't been killed with over exposure, I felt this was match of the night, just...I don't know what it is, but something tells me Cena is behind The Shield, I don't know why and I'm not overly sure how this is going to play out but I can see them help Cena screw the Rock at Mania....Cena heel turn shock prediction ehhh....I know I know. Anyway, this match for how realistic the brawling looks gets my vote 4*

Rock/Punk WWE Title matcg

I know people have been down on The Rock, Personally I love the fact he's involved, it gives these matches that truly big match feel to it, Rock isn't the same competitor he was when he was 27/28/29 but that's hardly a surprise, we're talking about a guy who worked 200+ times a year at his peak to a guy who after 10 years had 3 singles matches in a year, his timing will never be that good again but he is still an unbelievable talent, he's the whole package, he always has been even if the package isn't quite as spectacular now as it was when he did this schtick weekly, I felt Punk leaves this match with a genuine gripe, its credit to The Rock that he sold the GTS so well so Punk looks a million bucks, wasn't a fan of the finish, it was very old school, maybe a bit too predictable, the manager tries to hold the face while the heel runs at him with a belt/foreign object...still, I felt both left the match looking good, and when that happens that's one for the win book any day of the week 3.5*

As for Dolph Ziggler, I've just not deen anything in months fromm this guy that makes me think he can be the star he wants to be, I can see him being a Chris Jericho type of World Champion if anything, nothing that will radically change anything, just a guy who can win some lose some yet have no major impact on anything

dolph sells monkey flips brilliantly though have to give him that.....

He oversells monkey flips you mean?

I agree with Kayfabe in regards to Dolph, it's like watching HBK v Hogan everytime he gets hit.

On the subject of Ziggler, why is he not in a hot feud, he's swaggering around like that MitB case means he's got a Title match at Mania, surely hee should be in a hot feud with someone, he's just floating around, Creative don't seem to have a clue what to do with him now they've got the briefcase on him

How can they expect us to care about him when they don't appear to give a damn about him, this guy is supposed to be destined for greatness, two weeks ago he wasn't on RAW, a full 3 hours of live original programming and I didn't even notice he wasn't involved, something isn't quite right about that

Kay Fabe wrote:On the subject of Ziggler, why is he not in a hot feud, he's swaggering around like that MitB case means he's got a Title match at Mania, surely hee should be in a hot feud with someone, he's just floating around, Creative don't seem to have a clue what to do with him now they've got the briefcase on him

How can they expect us to care about him when they don't appear to give a damn about him, this guy is supposed to be destined for greatness, two weeks ago he wasn't on RAW, a full 3 hours of live original programming and I didn't even notice he wasn't involved, something isn't quite right about that

excellent point, I agree - Ziggler hasn't been given a push, he's been given a briefcase. The question arises is MITB even relevant anymore? Because MITB definitely hasn't made Ziggler more relevant.

Hero wrote:He oversells monkey flips you mean?

I agree with Kayfabe in regards to Dolph, it's like watching HBK v Hogan everytime he gets hit.

thats why he's so entertaining to me......its funny