WWE Elimination Chamber

[Go2Sleep]

Curious how they do the MITB match from here on out. I expect Roman to win it? Who else really if they want to do the Shield triple threat at WM?

 

 

When I heard Brock is supposed to work Battleground and then saw this lineup, it made total sense. Roman wins MITB, Brock vs. Rollins at Battleground (ticket purchase justified), then Roman either cashes in like Rollins at Mania and sets up a triple threat for Summer Slam, or he just waits and they do Roman/Brock 2 straight up.

 

On this show, I'm not sure what caused my jaw to drop more: Owens teasing the package piledriver, or Owens winning 100% clean.

[Just Dave]

I didn't think it was that bad. You know your career has bottomed out when I'm excited for a guy to job on a pre-show. Seems like Ryder's finally proved something to some people. Good for him.

 

I thought the tag chamber match was fun. The Ascension finally look like they belong. I echo the love for Titus. Definitely his best showing. His selling with his head through the chain was fantastic. 

 

Even though Kevin Owens looks like that kid on youtube who cried when Batista won the Royal Rumble, I was impressed by him hanging w Cena. Cena has entered a plane of work rate level not often seen.

 

IC Chamber was a mess. It sounded less like Ziggler was loudly calling spots and more like they were re-arranging on the fly after HEnry came in too early. I still can't decide if I think that was intentional or not. 

 

Neville/Dallas was in a bad spot, but I thought they were very good.

 

Rollins/Ambrose was awesome. Rollins just doesn't do it for me. I don't think he's a good promo and I don't buy him as someone anybody who's been in the business as long as HHH would look at and see "the future." Excited to see where Ambrose/Rollins goes. I was really afraid Orton was gonna come down w Reigns.

[Brian Fowler]

Difference is Rollins intentionally pulled the ref in the way.

[Greggulator]

Just rewatched Cena/Owens.

If you redid that match layout with someone not named Owens who doesn't have Internet darling status (say, Roman Reigns) and subbed in their moves instead of KO's, we wouldn't be raving about it as much. It would still be a really good match. But part of the excitement is that it's KO and he also won.

If you have Sasha and Becky's match and sub in other workers, it's still that damn great.

[SirSmUgly]

Just rewatched Cena/Owens.

If you redid that match layout with someone not named Owens who doesn't have Internet darling status (say, Roman Reigns) and subbed in their moves instead of KO's, we wouldn't be raving about it as much. It would still be a really good match. But part of the excitement is that it's KO and he also won.

If you have Sasha and Becky's match and sub in other workers, it's still that damn great.

 

I don't think that's a fair exercise. Of course, the amount that people care about the workers involved changes the perception of the match. Your exercise also ignores the narrative that helped to build this match - that Cena has gone in over his head letting these young bucks (LOL) come in and fight him night in and night out for his title. In a vacuum, no, this match isn't that great. However, it didn't happen in a vacuum. 

[ChrisM]

Tag Title EC match was fun and chaotic, and they utilized the chamber well. Really thought PTP would win. Titus impressed me a lot, here. 

 

Divas 3 way was a mess, in spots. I guess Nikki is a placeholder until Charlotte shows up. 

 

Cena vs. Owens was total badassery. MOTY? Maybe. 

 

Bo Dallas vs. Neville was good for what it was. Bo has something unique about him. 

 

IC Chamber match was clusterfuck city, with some good spots. The surprise ending saved it from being forgettable, though. 

 

Seth vs. Dean was a better than average Raw match. I thought Kane would get involved more,but thankfully he mostly stayed in the background. 

 

 

[mattdangerously]

Cena's been doing some Kurt-esque type damage to his finishers lately.

[JCM]

The best part of the match for me was Owens' punches and trash talking. He has a ton of in ring charisma and presence, and was working the crowd extremely well. I don't buy that the match would be as good with just anyone else in his spot.

 

Owens winning absolutely took most of the bad taste I had in my mouth from Cena kicking out of every big move Owens has so there is something to the finish elevating the match. It was definitely kick out overload, but that's just Cena's style at this point.

[Charlie M.]

Not the internet darling crap again. For every person who thinks Kevin Owens is awesome, there's someone who thinks he's a fat tub of goo in shorts. In some circles, Davey Richards was a workrate god, in others he's the worst guy ever. For every person who thinks Dolph is the most underutilized guy in the company, there's someone saying he has shitty offense and can't talk.

[JCM]

Yeah it's more than a little pathetic at this point playing the indy darling card. If you put Roman Reigns in that match he has to control it for the first 10-15 minutes. How do you think that would've worked?

[A Guy Named Tracy]

Someone mentioned it earlier, but Cena/Owens was very ROH-esque. Tons of finisher kickouts including Cena kicking out of his own finisher. For a moment I thought they would let KO use the package pile driver. I know piledrivers are banned, but it could be executed safely because of the size of Owens legs and Cena's traps. They let Rikishi use the K-Driller even though the same move nearly broke Austin's neck, so why not?

I was just as impressed with Owens' post-match promo. He came off as such an arrogant jag off. Loved it.

[Jiji]

The announcers all missing that Sheamus used his cross to lock himself in so he could wait until everyone down was the highlight of that shitty ass match.

Owens/Cena was excellent and Cena is the least selfish, most giving ace ever. He didn't just job, he didn't just job clean, he gave Owens everything and let him kick out of everything and then jobbed clean.

I'm late to the party and I haven't read past your post but how much are we going to remember this night after Cena beats Owens at Money in the Bank next month? There's no way Owens is getting the last laugh on this and that's the problem with Cena even when he is a gracious and giving overlord - who laughs last?

 

I'll add that this show worked if for nothing other than that match though. It fucking ruled even with the issues Matt addressed on page 1.

[The Green Meanie]

Was there any particular reason they didn't want to have Cena defend the US title tonight?  Seemed pretty well in line with Cena's open challenge.

 

 

Didn't Owens do a promo where he pretty much said he didn't want it? Plus stomping on the belt twice kinda solidifies that.

 

Some good, some bad tonight. The Dean finish had me going "No way....." until I saw the original ref get back into the ring. However Dean continuing to run away with belts is fun.

[Phantom Lord]

I like Ziggler as a wrestler (over exagerated selling aside). But character wise he is so stale. This whole puppy love high school romance thing just isn't helping. Just someone explain what friends with benefits is (not those horrible movies) to Vince so that we don't have to get these lame backstage segments that are filled with so much akwardness.

 

The first EC Chamber match was all right. I was pissed when Kidd/Cesaro got eliminated. Also sad that Nattie didn't sneak into the cage somehow to sharpshooter Xavier Woods at some point. Nice to see them finally use the PTP though. It's only about what three or four years since they should have been tag champions.

 

The women's match was what it was. I thought for sure Naomi would be winning, but its clear we're going to see Nikki Bella become the longest reigning champion just to spite AJ. Paige is lucky to be walking though after that horrible reverse frankensteiner she took towards the end.

 

Cena/Owens was an amazing match. I just wish they had more than two weeks to build this match. Owens ducking Cena till say Summerslam would have had the heat off the charts. I legit Sami Zayn'ed myself when I threw my arms up up celebration (well sort of). I have this thing where if I move my right arm up certain ways it just shoots into pain. Owens wins...I go YEAH....OH FUCK THAT HURT. Well worth it though. Only complaint here is they are rushing the rematch. Why the hell is MITB in two weeks? I know there's some new ADHD WWE Creative thing where big shows are going to be two weeks apart now. At least let Owens be like "ehh, you know I don't see a need to face him again. I made my point". But that post match gloating was amazing.

 

I still Bolieve. It's sad the WWE doesn't though. Nevelle has a bad knee and not one moment in the match does Bo work the leg.

 

IC Elimination chamber match was all right. I was not expecting Ryback to win. Good moment for DA BIG GUY, Wouldn't be surprised if he loses tomorrow night though. Mark Henry being the replacement was all random. I thought for sure when Triple H was talking to Ambrose/Reigns before the match he was gonna put Reigns in so that he would be too exhausted/hurt to help.

 

Speaking of Ambrose/Rollins, that was a fun match. It felt like any number of Austin or Mankind vs. Corporate Rock matches from 1998/99. Great moment to see Ambrose win the WWE Title only for it to be taken away. I think if this is the "reality era" they need to do away with the Dusty finish. I mean it worked great back in the day. But now it just seems so out of place even if it hasn't been done in a while. And I'm guessing this is setting up a ladder match at MITB. I bet Rollins wins that via mystery man raising the title on the hook.

 

Overall not a bad show for something thrown together on a whim two weeks ago.

[Spritenaut 32]

I think I saw Paige's soul leave her body after the 'rana botch.  I assume she'll have to work a zombie gimmick, going forward.

[CrazyMax46]

Tag Match chamber made little sense.

Divas tried.

Owens looked amazing. They did the right thing putting him over.

Neville did a cool flippy move.

IC chamber was garbo.

Main event was average til the finish. I can't put into words how much I think Dusty finishes hurt business so I'm not even going to try.

Shit show overall sans one match.

[CrazyMax46]

I think I saw Paige's soul leave her body after the 'rana botch. I assume she'll have to work a zombie gimmick, going forward.

She already does.

[DreamBroken]

I liked the show overall. Tag chamber was a fun cluster, PTP looked good and they had me wanting them to win at the end. Didn't think the divas match was that bad, popped for the reverse frankensteiner attempt.. unexpected and rarely seen but always one of my favorite moves. Owens/Cena was off the charts great. Surprised the finish was 100% clean. Looking forward to the rematch and I don't think it's certain that Cena will definitely get his win back. Found Neville/Dallas kind of boring but I liked they got a decent amount of time to put something together. Enjoyed the IC Chamber more than most seemed to have, especially the finish. Didn't expect Ryback to win it all but glad he did, great moment & championship win for him. Main event was fun, pretty good as their matches usually are. Post-match was good stuff, always love the Reigns/Ambrose partnership. Reigns coming down the ramp to superman punch Rollins ruled. I kind of like PPVs/special events being 2 weeks apart cause it forces stuff to get announced early like the MITB participants and Cena/Owens II. MITB should be fun, sounded like they might add more to the match.

[The Natural]

Large GIF:

 

 

[TheVileOne]

Had Owens actually landed on that modified springboard moonsault I would've lost it.  Owens does remind me of Vader in some ways.  

 

He does strikes and beatdown stuff really well.

[Casey]

I'm guessing Cena didn't want to get smashed into oblivion.

[Hail Sabin]

Xavier woods made history tonight, he's the only man to defend both the WWE & TNA Tag Team Titles without being part of the team that won them.

[Victator]

Had Owens actually landed on that modified springboard moonsault I would've lost it.  Owens does remind me of Vader in some ways.  

 

He does strikes and beatdown stuff really well.

He would have still missed because Cena was way out of position. That happened to Vader often when he did the moonsault. 

I'm really happy Ryback won the IC belt and Bryan is a class act. Him switching the Yes chants to Feed Me More was a nice moment. 

Really enjoyed the Tag chamber. The Ascension have improved a lot and looked good. Kalisto looked like an idiot stuck on the top of the chamber,

Titus O'Neil looked really good in the final stretch. I liked the finish utilizing all three New Day members.

Owens/Cena seemed like a late 90's AJPW match with the bomb dropping. The finish was surprising and I hope people remember this the next time they are griping about Cena winning.

[turk128]

The Diva's match was embarrassing. Whose fault is that? Like, there has to be a reason the main roster Divas matches are so bad, right? I felt like it was laid-out well, but none of them were able to execute. 

I wouldn't say the Divas matches are laid out well... it's more like they check all the necessary boxes. It feels really formulaic.. not sure who's fault the blame lies there.

 

Maybe Sara can work some of her miracle on the Divas? Maybe they can borrow Drake for their big matches.

[The Natural]