WWE Elimination Chamber 2018 Review

Elimination Chamber 2018 was the final PPV for WWE's RAW brand before WrestleMania XXXIV as the final pieces of the puzzle were slotted into place for the Show of Shows. The show was main evented by the first seven person Elimination Chamber match as John Cena, The Miz, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Braun Strowman and Elias battled it out to see who would challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania XXIV. But how did it all go down in Las Vegas? Lets take a look! 

Commentary - Corey Graves, Michael Cole and Jonathan Coachman
Kick-Off Panel - Renee Young, Booker T, Peter Rosenberg and David Otunga 
Ring Announcer - JoJo
Interviewers - Charly Caruso and Mike Rome
Theme Music - M.O.M. by Will Roush 

WWE Universal Championship #1 Contendership // Elimination Chamber // Roman Reigns def. John Cena, The Miz, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Braun Strowman and Elias

Before the match - The Miz cut a promo about entering #1 and how he's used to being #1 and stuff - Highlights from RAW's gauntlet match - Seth Rollins was interviewed claiming that "All that matter is beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania" - Paul Heyman joined the Kick-Off and pushed the idea that the winner would face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania and announced that Lesnar would be on RAW the next night - Braun Strowman cut a promo, mostly focused on Lesnar, calling the Universal Champion a "Beastie Boy", I guess Strowman was fighting for his right to party with Lesnar in the Chamber match - Roman Reigns was interviewed and cut a good promo mimicking Paul Heyman's "this isn't a prediction, this is a spoiler" line

Roman Reigns won the longest Elimination Chamber match in history, to book his spot against Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania, by lastly eliminating Braun Strowman following a superman punch and two spears. This was a match that for better or worse was completely dominated by Strowman as he eliminated The Miz, Elias, John Cena, Finn Balor and Seth Rollins with his running powerslam finish. Honestly, I wasn't mad for this as once Strowman had come in and started picking up eliminations it was pretty clear the direction that we were heading. The crowd were mad into Strowman however as he ploughed through everyone, so maybe it came off better within the arena where you can get swept up in Strowman's dominance and power, but as a viewer at home, I almost found myself switching off after a few eliminations. With five eliminations (surely the only reason that this match was made to feature seven men, instead of the usual six) Strowman broke the record for most eliminations, passing the previous record of three, set jointly by the holy trinity of wrestling, Goldberg (2003), The Undertaker (2008) and...Carlito (2006).

I think the main problem I had with Strowman's dominance was the once the pattern became painfully clear, there was very little done to make it feel like we might be deviating for the path. Yes, Strowman took a tonne of offence, including pretty much everyone's finishing move, but not at any point was there a convincing near fall on the Monster Among Men. He felt untouchable in the match, which isn't a surprise considering his previous booking, but in order for the chamber match to remain interesting in this period, I think we could've done with a few moments where Braun looked vulnerable to elimination. The closest we came was on a variant of The Shield powerbomb with Reigns and Cena as the based as Balor and Rollins provided the extra momentum, with all four piling on for the pin. Once you'd seen Strowman kick out of four men stacking his legs on top of his head, it became extremely difficult to buy that a single man could put him away with a simple Attitude Adjustment or Coup de Grace. 

Whilst I would've liked to have seen a little more variation on the eliminations, there's no doubt that this method resulted in the biggest pop of the match when Strowman appeared about to putting a stop to Roman Reigns' comeback as he got the Big Dog up for the move and the crowd went mad. Obviously, Reigns escaped and went on to pick up the win, but having seen five other men fall to the running powerslam, the crowd believed for a split second that if Strowman had nailed the move he'd be heading to WrestleMania. The whole finishing sequence actually was a lot of fun, bringing the energy that had made the Strowman vs. Reigns feud in 2017 one of the year's highlights as Reigns looked to dodge the North Carolinian and hit his big offence at any opportunity. The over-the-top rope suicide dive looked lovely using the Chambers raised floor and chain link effectively, before being followed up Strowman send himself through a pod with real force, setting up for the aforementioned finish. The booing wasn't any near as loud as it has been for Reigns in previous years and there was a decent sized pop for Roman winning. 

Whilst the finish was solid, it was the action at the start of the match that ended up being the highlight of the clash, as The Miz, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor kicked things off with some very good action. Rollins had nice sequences with both opponents in this early stage and whilst I would've liked to have seen Rollins positioned in a similar spot to how he was used in Monday's Gauntlet match, the crispness and pace made this a very enjoyable start. I'm not sure why Jonathan Coachman was criticising the pace on commentary because I couldn't see anything wrong with it, whilst the threesome connected well for a nice series of schoolboy near falls. Introducing John Cena into the mix, allowed for a nice moment as he chatted shit with Rollins, before another brief sequence of action between the two rivals. For me, the match began losing some of its sting once Reigns entered the match, as his dominance of all four men by the time Strowman entered the Chamber slowed the pace down and removed some of the excitement that had been prevalent when no one had the upperhand for all that long. 

For the longest Chamber match in history (just under a minute longer than the original Survivor Series 2002 contest), the match had a surprising lack of highspots involving the chamber structure. Strowman bieling The Miz off the top of a pod onto everyone bar Elias below looked brilliant and whilst Rollins hitting a frog splash off the pod onto Strowman looked a little contrived and was signposted by the Monster moving awkwardly into position following a Reigns samoan drop on the outside, the spot itself was still spectacular. However, there wasn't a whole lot of anything else here. Balor used the chain-link to deliver stomps to Cena at one point, but I couldn't work out why in kayfabe he wouldn't go for a Coup de Grace using the chain link, which would've have been the most creative spot in the match had it taken place. Overall, I think that was the main problem this match ended up having, with everyone but Reigns, Strowman and Cena ending up feeling up like bodies to tell other people's stories and severe lack of creativity when it came to the Elimination Chamber itself.

After the match - Braun Strowman continued his assault on Roman Reigns, hitting a pair of powerslams before throwing Reigns through one of the pods - John Cena appeared on RAW Talk in a sublime interview, showing real emotion as the lines between reality and wrestling were blurred heavily, with the interview concluding with Cena hinting at a heel turn - Reigns also appeared on RAW Talk, but unfortunately let himself down by not selling the effects of the Chamber and Strowman's post-match attack and instead cracking jokes.

Elimination Chamber // RAW Women's Championship // Alexa Bliss def. Sasha Banks, Mickie James, Bayley, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville 

Before the match - Paige joined the Kick-Off panel for a dull interview that included lots of repetition as the panel kept asking similar questions - Bayley and Sasha Banks shared some interview time, before Mickie James interrupted to tell them they didn't know anything about her relationship with Alexa Bliss, in a promo that was much better than it sounds written down like that 

Alexa Bliss held on to her RAW Women's Championship, last eliminating Sasha Banks with an elevated DDT, in what was the match of the night. This was mostly down to the strength of the storytelling throughout the match, mostly around the relationship between Sasha Banks and Bayley. Beginning with Bayley fighting against Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, both members of Absolution, for five minutes before Banks entered the match, through the pair aiding each other in eliminations as Bayley stopped Deville breaking up the Banks Statement that eliminated Rose and the two combined to send Mickie James out of the match, before culminating with Banks sending Bayley crashing off the top of a pod, this was compelling and fascinating all at the same time. Whilst many had expected Banks to turn on Bayley, because of how strongly they worked together earlier in the match, it still ended up feeling like a shock when it happened. Bayley eventually being eliminated by a Bliss roll-up after hitting a mid-rope Bayley to Belly on Banks was a great moment of "neary was" with Bayley able to get an element of revenge before having it ripped away from her. This is how the Hugger should have been booked on RAW months ago! My only criticism with the bout's narrative was how weak the two Absolution lasses ended up coming off, being eliminated first and second, despite also having the opportunity to double-team Bayley for a significant amount of time.

Even if, like the men's, the match wasn't packed with spectacular moments, there was enough to keep me happy, helped tremendously by a number of very creative moments using the structure and the size of the competitors to the bouts advantage. Mickie James' Lou Thesz press off the pod to eliminate Deville and the stunning Twist Bliss to a standing Banks stand out as the most memorable highspots, but the best use of the chamber was actually much more simple and character based. This occurred after Bayley had pinned James and Bliss realised that it was down to her and the two supposed best friends, whilst stilling locked inside her pod. Bayley and Banks hunting down Bliss as the champ at first tried to lock herself in her pod and attempted to climb the structure to avoid the pair was lovely stuff, with Bliss' character performance always having been the strongest part of her game. Any risk that the champ could've come across as the babyface, when she eventually pulled out the victory was cut down when Bliss cut a promo on the crowd after the match, telling them they'd never live out any of their dreams in a wonderfully hyperbolic moment. 

The finish of the match worked in a number of twist and turns, as Banks and Bliss worked a well-structured sequence of action, that could've done with having a little more pace behind it. In fact, on that note, Banks looked a step or two of pace throughout most of the match, whether it was the surroundings of the chamber throwing her off or just an off day, I'm not sure, but had she been on point throughout the match would've been taken up a notch or two. The aforementioned Twisted Bliss off the pod spot was followed by Banks rolling through into the Banks Statement, a spot that would've been superb had Banks rolled straight into the submission hold off the dive (similar to someone rolling through a diving crossbody into a pin) but Bliss was left weirdly attempting a pin on the outside, before Banks eventually appeared to no-sell a move that had hit and flip into the submission. The crowd was still up for it, however, given Banks a loud reaction when she was able to manoeuvre Bliss into the ring, before Bliss escaped, was able to smash Banks' face off a pod, before hitting an elevated DDT for the win. With a little more finesse and better timing this would've been a brilliant conclusion to the match, but even then it still ended up being an exciting ending between the two most over women in the contest.

Ronda Rousey signed her RAW contract

Before the segment - Ronda Rousey was shown entering the building - RAW General Manager Kurt Angle was shown entering Rousey's dressing room

Ronda Rousey was back in WWE, this time to sign her RAW contract in a segment that concluded with Triple H going through a table and RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon slapping the former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion. Man, this was a weird segment. I'm not even quite sure where to begin, because it was such a Jekyl and Hyde type affair. Basically, anything before Kurt Angle began stirring the pot with Rousey, telling her that McMahon had called her a bitch in private, was trash and everything afterwards was good theatre-style WWE. Rousey's promo felt like she'd never had a mic in her hand before and even felt like the crowd could turn on her if she was allowed to speak for much longer, but Angel's mischievous meddling was a joy to watch, especially when you knew it was leading to Rousey kicking someone's arse. Rousey putting Trips for a table was an intriguing piece of female on male violence, which has been bleeding into WWE over the last year, whilst McMahon's slap looked rough, with Rousey's selling of the moment as McMahon escaped doing a good job of making a scrap between the pair seem more desirable than it did before the segment. Overall, the segment did its job of setting up the issue between all four before an inevitable and heavily rumoured WrestleMania match, but also could have done with being, at least, five minutes shorter and with a whole lot less of Rousey awkwardly talking into the mic. 

After the segment - Stephanie McMahon appeared on RAW Talk, pushing that there would be consequences on the following night's RAW and that she expected an apology from Kurt Angle

Asuka def. Nia Jax // Pinfall

Asuka's WWE undefeated streak grew to 13-0 as Nia Jax joined Alicia Fox, Emma and Dana Brooke on the list of women who the Empress of Tomorrow has beaten twice since moving to the main roster. Under regular circumstances, this was a good match, using the size of the competitors well and featuring a couple of fun highspots. However, with the matches stipulation that if Jax won she'd earn herself a Women's title shot at WrestleMania, the match did a poor job of making me believe Jax was going to win, with the Irresistible Force having a severe lack of convincing near falls, whilst Asuka's various submission didn't lift the drama as a tapout resulted in nothing actually changing. Jax saved the majority of her intensity for after the clash, which meant we didn't really see the most out of Asuka. Whilst the match did feature some cool action like Jax attempting a Bonsai Drop and Asuka's funky victory roll that sealed the win, I felt like the match lacked the physicality it needed to fully satisfy and therefore the match never fully engaged the audience.

After the match - Nia Jax attacked Asuka, hitting a pair of samoan drops before charging Asuka through the barricade, in an attack way too similar to what Braun Strowman would do to Roman Reigns later in the night.

Matt Hardy def. Bray Wyatt // Pinfall

Before the match - Matt Hardy cut a mad promo about something.

Matt Hardy seemingly bought his never-ending feud with Bray Wyatt to a close, pinning the Eater of World's clean with a Twist of Fate in a flat match. After the opening, which saw Wyatt appear and Hardy disappear at the same time, the bout failed to entertain, losing the crowd early on, relying on a number of repetitive tropes and being fought at a super slow pace. Considering the match went under ten minutes, it would be weird to suggest it should have been shorter, but it should've been shorter. A more impactful five minute bout, could have done a much better job at keeping the crowd involved than this drawn out match that was mostly Hardy attempting to hit the Twist of Fate a bunch of times. It wasn't a terrible match by any stretch of the imagination, but considering this feud has been rumbling since the end of November and still doesn't feel like its developed, it needed something different here than a regular wrestling match. WWE continues to show a misunderstanding of the Broken/Woken gimmick, that began with their take on the Final Deletion with the Wyatt Family and The New Day in July 2016. It's going to need a massive effort to rescue this at this point.

RAW Tag Team Championship // Cesaro & Sheamus (C) def. Apollo & Titus O'Neil // Pinfall

Before the match - We found out that Titus O'Neil took a load of kids to see Black Panther, because he's a well nice guy.

Apollo & Titus O'Neil of Titus Worldwide unsuccessfully challenged Cesaro & Sheamus for the RAW Tag Team title with Cesaro picking up the pin on Apollo following a White Noise and Springboard elbow drop combination. On paper, this match had potential, but was poorly put together in practice, as Apollo spent too long as the face in peril, killing the crowd, before a weak O'Neil hot tag did even more damage. For me, we needed to see more of Apollo's athleticism early on, but there was very little in the way of face shine and with Titus Worldwide only being thrown into the title picture on Monday, the audience had no reason to care about this match or anyone involved. A near fall off the Clash of Titus was solid, but O'Neil struggling to work with what should have been a straightforward transition hurt what was the best moment of the match. O'Neil works as Apollo's manager, but their act as a tag team is far from polished with Titus clearly the weaker of the pair in almost all areas. Where Cesaro & Sheamus slot into WrestleMania I'm not entirely sure right now, but the possibilities of a multi-team mosh seems high once again.

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson def. Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel // Pinfall

The other tag bout on the show saw Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson get back to winning ways with a convincing victory over Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel in a sound opening match. Certainly nothing special happened here, but the basics of tag team wrestling were all on display, lifted by a big spot that saw Dallas push Anderson off the top rope to the floor following a blind tag. A couple of neat sequences thrown into this as well, like Axel attempting to cut off an Anderson hot tag, only to get clattered with a Sick Kick and a decent distraction nearfall for The Miztourage with Axel coming close with big jumping knee strike. The crowd weren't massively into it, because they had no reason to be, but the four guys managed to come out, put on a watchable match and not outstay their welcome. 

After the match - An interview with Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder, The Revival, was cut off before the pair had a chance to say anything interesting.

Also on the show 

- Kurt Angle was interviewed by the Kick-Off panel about a variety of topics and somehow managed to say nothing at all.

ATPW Scale Rating // 5.31 out of 10

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale 

Review: WWE Elimination Chamber 2017

On 12th February, WWE's Smackdown brand took it's final major pit-stop before WrestleMania 33 as the Elimination Chamber returned for the first time in almost two years. The titular match saw AJ Styles, The Miz, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt and Baron Corbin challenging for John Cena's WWE Championship in the evenings main event, whilst Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Natalya, Mickie James and Nikki Bella were also featured on the three hour show. The direction for the biggest show of the year would become a lot clearer heading out of the Phoenix, Arizona show, but would Elimination Chamber be worth the watch?

Kick Off

Mojo Rawley def. Curt Hawkins (6:58) 

A couple of minutes into this one, I was watching GIF's of JBL falling over on Twitter. Therefore it would be difficult for me to really comment on the quality of anything after those first few exchanges. However, I had absolutely no reason to care about either of these two guys and their reasons for having this match were confusing at best and then there was very little that grabbed me or made me want to keep my attention on Rawley and Hawkins at gone midnight. This match was perhaps a symptom of booking six wrestlers in the main event and every tag team on the brand in the same match, as it meant that Rawley and Hawkins were pretty much the only two wrestlers that were left available for the Kick-Off show spot. In it's defense, the crowd sounded like they were pretty into it, but that may have been down to the excitement of a city hosting it's first WWE PPV in over four years.

Main Show

Becky Lynch def. Mickie James (11:45) 

The opening match found it's groove early doors and developed into a solid, enjoyable contest. The pair wrestled a nice technical contest, that had plenty of animosity behind it and played out in front of a healthily invested audience. The bulk of the contest revolved around James focusing on Lynch's arm, following catching The Lass Kicker on the way into the ring, with Becky doing a cracking job of selling the arm and helping keep that part of the narrative in the audiences mind throughout. The bout however felt a little cockeyed in it's layout, feeling like it was beginning to elongate it's second act out, before cutting itself short just when it appeared like it was about to get going. For me, the work on the arm could have been used to develop stronger near falls for James and developed to create more issues for Lynch, to the point where I was questioning just how Lynch was going to pull out a victory over the 3 time TNA Knockout's Champion. 

Apollo Crews [Uhaa Nation], Kalisto def. Dolph Ziggler (7:20)

I'm still trying to think about what the aim of this match was. I'm sure that those aims weren't to get wild cheers for Dolph Ziggler battering babyfaces Apollo Crews and Kalisto with a steel chair, but then again Ziggler was the one in the two on one handicap match, so who the fuck knows. The bulk of the match boiled down to a Ziggler v Crews singles match, after The Show Off had chucked Kalisto into part of the set, before the babyfaces picked up the win when Kalisto "bravely" made his way back down to the ring for a two on one assault. The more I think about this match, the more it actually caused me mental (and perhaps physical) pain. The time would have been much better used on a decent singles match between Ziggler and either babyface, with their previous TV matches being used to develop something resembling a character for either. 

American Alpha (Chad Gable, Jason Jordan) def. Rhyno [Rhino] & Heath Slater, The Usos (Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso), The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch), The Ascension (Konnor, Viktor), Breezango (Fandango, Tyler Breeze) in Tag Team Turmoil to retain WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship (21:05)

The first championship contest of the evening, all Smackdown's tag teams got a run-out in a match that seemed to designed to take up as much screen time, with as little build as possible. The bulk of the match was taken up by the on again, off again, feud between the title-holders American Alpha and The Usos with the two having a decent (albeit with a sloppy finish) six minutes collision, that demonstrated the potential the two teams have together. It's a shame that this feud has been rolling along since the brand split and has yet to be fully captilised upon and could very well find itself lost in the shuffle when the card for WrestleMania 33 is put together. The post-match attack by Jimmy & Jey, that continued to showcase the fire shown in the match, set-up a dramatic conclusion where The Ascension attempted to capitilise on the fallen champions. This was helped by some smart booking where Viktor and Konnor had picked up a pinfall in a multi-team bout on the go-home Smackdown Live. A trick was perhaps missed in not having The Ascension take the belts, as it would have provided extra material to burn through on the next seven episodes between now and WrestleMania, whilst also making American Alpha's issues with The Usos bigger and lifting The Ascension from tag team fodder for at least a couple of weeks. 

The earlier portion of the bout was watchable, carried by how over Heath Slater & Rhyno remain with the audience. The duo's involvement in the first three sections of Tag Team Turmoil worked it's job of putting some heat on The Usos, but the trio of matches were nothing to get excited about. The opener with Breezango never seemed to click, floating through some awkward comedy, but The Man Beast's match winning Gore made things worthwhile. The Vaudevillains struggle on the main roster was showcased as they fell to Slater & Rhyno in just over two minutes. The idea was obviously to build momentum behind the babyfaces, that could be transferred over as heat for The Usos followed the elimination and to an extent it was successful in it's aims. As a whole, the bout suffered from the problems that the majority of types of matches do, in that in trying to tell an arch across five matches, each individual clash was underdeveloped and even the more exciting streaks of action struggled to stand out across the a mostly beige backing. 

Nikki Bella v Natalya ended in a Double Countout (13:15) 

Let's get the finish out of the way early...a Double Countout is pretty lame no matter how many PPV/Special Events/Network Specials/Extra Value Sports Entertainment Deals, you host a month. The two women did the best they could with it, having a fierce brawl up the entrance way, that will perhaps make a rematch stronger, but having wrestled for almost fifteen minutes, it wasn't what this programme needed. I was relatively high on this match before it broke down, as Natalya and Bella put together some decent technical exchanges, as an unusual narrative of The Fearless One looking to prove her wrestling chops to her more critically acclaimed opponent, whilst still having an underlying edge bitterness between the duo. The sequence of submissions just before the finish was a clear highlight. Even without a definitive finish, this was a match that more than held it's own with the other two Women's bouts on the card. 

Randy Orton def. Luke Harper (17:13)

In the only male one on one contest on the card, Luke Harper produced his strongest singles match outing in WWE and arguably Orton's best since he stole the show at WrestleMania 31 with Seth Rollins. It wasn't a particularly complicated contest, sticking to a familiar structure, but the pair did the fundamentals well, drawing in the live crowd and taking them on a journey in the process. The two showed real ring intelligence, starting with a wild brawl around ringside, which initially grabbed the interest, before The Viper took the sting out of the contest with a series of wear down holds. This lead to the people, who had been mostly behind Orton from the outset, beginning to root more and more for Harper, with a near perfect build into The Backwoods Brawler's fiery and flashy rebound.

The contest's second part was built around Harper's momentum continuing to build, as he picked up a number of near falls on the 8 time WWE Champion, including a sweet sequence into a sitout powerbomb. The flash finish with The Apex Predator hitting an RKO out of the proverbial nowhere, gives room for a potential rematch and with the issues involving the Wyatt Family yet to be settle the chances that these two will tangle again over the next few weeks, months and years are high. A rematch under relaxed rules could tear the house down. With the two mixing technical and brawling style throughout the contest and doing the basic to a high standard, this became a real sleeper contest, easily the strongest bout on the undercard.  It wasn't anything new but, just like a good Ploughman's sandwich, each ingredient was done well, creating a tasty combination.

Naomi def. Alexa Bliss to win WWE Smackdown Women's Championship (8:18) 

Curiously placed between the semi-main and main event, Naomi capturing her first championship in WWE, was the shortest and weakest of Women's trio. The match wasn't given enough time to really find it's feet, but the moments that the two had to potentially shine were often awkward or mistimed. The finish in particular was more than a little confusing to follow, with Naomi's split legged moonsault and Bliss' Twisted Bliss seemingly happening about four times in various combinations before Naomi got the pin. The confusion surrounding the finish took away the feel good moment of the former Funkadactyl grabbing gold, at least for me anyway. The main positive I took away from the bout was the strength of Bliss' character, which drove the story and kept me from drifting to social media at a couple of points. Both of the women have bags of potential and getting to work with Becky Lynch, Natalya and Mickie James on a regular basis will almost certainly push them to deliver on that potential.

Bray Wyatt def. John Cena, AJ Styles, The Miz, Dean Ambrose, Baron Corbin in an Elimination Chamber Match to win the WWE Championship (34:26)

The main event of the show was one of the best booked Elimination Chamber matches that I can remember with almost every step along the way getting the very best out of the talent involved, managing to create a compelling, exciting contest, that managed to create potential friction for future events, whilst providing a satisfyingly clean finish that propelled the winner Bray Wyatt into the upper echelon. Perhaps the best piece of business done was having John Cena and AJ Styles start the match and act as the spine or glue, continuing their epic in-ring feud. I could watch these two wrestle for days and it got the crowd pumped from the very beginning. Whenever the pair came back together (also extended to having Dean Ambrose come out third, calling back to their No Mercy three way was nice touch) there was an extra jolt of energy and with the two spending over half an hour in the Chamber, meaning that if there was ever a risk of thing beginning to drag, Cena and Styles would run through a sequence and you straight back into wizardry and wonder. Cena and Styles forever. 

Outside of the Cena and Styles love-in the Chamber did two other things particularly well, that being it's abundance of big highspots or moments and the timing, and also placement, of it's eliminations. The bulk of the craziness took place before the first elimination, taking advantage of the bodies filling up the structure and the new design to create chaos that perhaps hasn't been seen in this type of match before. Ambrose's whirlwind of offence after entering five minutes in, somehow managed to build into The Lunatic Fringe, Cena and Styles battling on a ledge installed half way up the chamber, in a stunning visual, before the madness peaked with an impressive take on the tower of doom from Ambrose, Styles and Wyatt. The bout settled soon after with the elimination beginning about 20 minutes in, with a nice domino effect that saw Corbin, Ambrose and Miz gone with a space of five minutes. Corbin's attack on Ambrose following the elimination, should begin an interesting Intercontinental title feud and made The Big Breakfast look like a real monstrous bastard. 

Wyatt winning the WWE Championship was an emotional moment for anyone who has followed The Eater of World's tumultuous career, since he debuted as "The Tank with the Ferrari Engine" Husky Harris on the second series of NXT in 2010. After his ups and downs, call ups and set backs, it was immensely satisfying to see someone, who has clearly worked his arse off, reach a career highlight. Having Bray pin both Cena and Styles with Sister Abigail, put a real exclamation point on the win, instantly lifting Wyatt up to the next level and legitimising his title reign before it even properly began. Whilst The New Face of Fear isn't quite as hot as 2014-15 when he was ripping it up with Cena, Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns, but a length of time with Wyatt at the helm of the blue brand has heaps of potential, especially with the initial storytelling possibilities with Randy Orton and Luke Harper over the WrestleMania period and beyond. 

Talking Smack

The main feature of the Renee Young and Daniel Bryan post-show was a chat with Alexa Bliss and Mickie James. Both gave pretty separate interviews, continuing to be an unconvincing partnership, with no particular chemistry and even contradicting outlooks. Bliss however gave another good accounting of herself as an individual character, listing a number of reasons for why she lost her Smackdown Women's Championship to Naomi, that seemed to be anything but giving praise to her opponent. For me, James' promo didn't really work, as she rambled for a long time and looked uncomfortable with the more relaxed style of the show.

• American Alpha were interviewed about retaining their Smackdown Tag Team Championships and The Usos attack.
• An interview with Naomi closed the show with a big focus on WrestleMania taking place in her hometown.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.71/10

Show in a Sentence : A superb main event, but only Orton v Harper managed to stand out on the undercard, although only the Handicap match was distinctly poor, mainly because of the head spinning booking.

Review - James Marston

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WWE Elimination Chamber 2015 DVD Review (UK & EUROPE EXCLUSIVE)

WWE Elimination Chamber 2015 is out on DVD now, available from wwedvd.co.uk and all other reputable DVD stockists. Broadcast live on the WWE Network from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA on 31st May 2015. The show features Seth Rollins defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event against Dean Ambrose. There's also five other matches featuring the likes of Cesaro, Kevin Owens, Kalisto, Neville and Paige in action with two Elimination Chamber bouts on the card. The Intercontinental, WWE Tag Team aThe entrancnd Diva's Championships are also up for grabs. The disc includes over ten minutes of special features, including one further match. Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and John "Bradshaw" Layfield provide the commentary.

Due to starting off with an Elimination Chamber this DVD is slow to get into the action, taking over ten minutes before the first bell rings, but if you're a fan of entrances you'll be buzzing here. The first Elimination Chamber of the night features The New Day defending the WWE Tag Team Championships against The Lucha Dragons, The Ascension, Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (with Natalya), Los Matadores (with El Torito) and The Prime Time Players, in what is by far the better of the two Chamber matches on offer here. The novelty of this being the first tag team Chamber certainly helps things along, creating a good spectacle, whilst the creativity of guys like Cesaro and Tyson Kidd also add to the enjoyment here.

A Triple Threat bout for the Nikki Bella's Diva's Championship, including Naomi and Paige, has plenty of good ideas but is plagued with mistakes and plays out in front of a dead crowd. The crowd wakes up for a classic Champion vs. Champion contest between Kevin Owens and John Cena, as the pair load the bout full of action from start to finish. The match is a back and forth affair that heralds Owens' arrival in WWE in style, with plenty of big moves and big near falls. It's a match that Neville and Bo Dallas struggle to follow, as they go through the motions in a pretty dull contest. 

Mark Henry being revealed as Rusev's replacement in the Elimination Chamber match for the Intercontinental Championship is the highlight of the six men's expeditions to the ring. In all honesty things don't get much better from here on out as the contest, that also involves Dolph Ziggler, King Barrett, Ryback, R-Truth and Sheamus, put on the worst Elimination Chamber in history, by quite some way. The bout is full of botches, and quickly descends into utter chaos as those in the ring try to work out how to cover up a truly horrendous blunder. With no sense of urgency, the match plays out in front of a dead crowd who clearly couldn't care less who walks out of the Chamber with the title and you'll feel that way too once this one is over. 

It's a good job that WWE decided to opt with Seth Rollins (with J&J Security and Kane) defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Dean Ambrose as it's main event then, as the former Shield pals work a pacy and exciting contest, that shows off the pairs in-ring chemistry well. The finish isn't too my personal tastes, as it negates any previous build up in the match, and comes out of left field, but I'm sure there will be plenty who got a kick out of it. The show closes with an appearance from Roman Reigns, which is all well and good, and offers some storyline development to lead us into WWE's next full show DVD offering, Money in the Bank (Out 24th August 2015). A short contest between Stardust and Zack Ryder is included on the Special Features and whilst it's decent enough, there's no rhyme or reason for it taking place.

Finally....

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.29

Kevin Owens vs. John Cena and Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose are probably worth buying this event for on it's own, and whilst the Tag Team Elimination Chamber also has it's moments and is an interesting novelty, everything else on the card is either completely miss-able or painful to watch. The Intercontinental Elimination Chamber may be the most botched match on history and certainly doesn't benefit from a second viewing. 

Payback from two weeks before is a much better show from top to bottom, but lacks the quality of a Owens vs. Cena or Rollins vs. Ambrose. So, if you're after big matches go for this release, however if you want a more comfortable three hour watch then Payback should be your choice.

WWE Elimination Chamber 2015 Review

Just two weeks after Payback, WWE was back with a WWE Network exclusive show Elimination Chamber. With a card stacked full of intrigue, including a Elimination Chamber bout for the vacant Intercontinental Championship, Seth Rollins defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Dean Ambrose, United States Champion John Cena battling NXT Champion Kevin Owens and more, could Elimination Chamber live up to expectation?

Elimination Chamber match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship

Dolph Ziggler 

vs. 

King Barrett 

vs. 

Ryback 

vs. 

R-Truth 

vs. 

Sheamus

 vs. 

Mark Henry

Before this match there was the revelation (actually revealed previously on the Elimination Chamber Kick-Off) that Rusev wouldn't be in the Elimination Chamber, due to a fracture foot suffered against Ryback on Thursday Night Smackdown #823. A quick recap of The Bulgarian Brute suffering the injury was shown, before a backstage segment showed Lana wishing Dolph Ziggler luck in the upcoming bout. "It's about you tonight" signalled that Lana would most likely not be involved in the bout and it was clear that WWE's plans for the bout would be majorly changed by Rusev's absence. Clearly, a little of the matches sting was taken away due to the injury, and the mystery around who would replace him fell flat as soon as Mark Henry walked out to start the bout.

The strength in this one came from the one-on-one interactions, as it was never going to be able to compete with the tag team bout in terms of big spots. Everything between Dolph Ziggler and King Barrett was very well done, especially a nearfall sequence that end in a crucifix pin for Ziggler, as was Barrett battering R-Truth in the pod and the subsequent comeback. Ziggler may have been the matches MVP, putting on strong stretches of action with Ryback and Sheamus (as well as the aforementioned Barrett) with the action with The Celtic Warrior calling back to their feud, with plenty of the fire that made the program a highlight of WWE's television. Although, the sequence that lead to Ziggler's elimination, with Sheamus no-selling a fameasser to hit a Brogue Kick was weak.

The match did have a few set-pieces (apart from blokes getting thrown in the pods), the main one seeing Sheamus trap himself in his own pod using his necklace, whilst acting as if he was trying to escape. Unfortunately this was completely missed by the commentary team, who instead decided to explain how Sheamus had "picked the lock" with the necklace. The other set-piece seemed to be Barrett sending Ziggler into Mark Henry's pod breaking the "lexane" and allowing Henry in the match. Whether this was supposed to happen or a botch, I'm really not sure, with Henry sort of standing about a lot for a while whilst action went on around him, even breaking up a pinfall for the banter, before intially succumbing a Sheamus Brogue Kick.

The closing sequence between Sheamus and Ryback was satisfying tussle, with the pair going back and forth for five minutes. The pair worked through a slick and brutal series of action on the outside, with Sheamus escaping a Shellshocked attempt before hitting White Noise onto the steel grate, which looked great, even if a later rolling senton looking a little too dangerous, with Sheamus seemingly cracking his head on the grate. The finish saw the duo go to a familar spot, with Ryback turning a Brogue Kick into a powerbomb. The two made use of the Chamber, with The Celtic Warrior first sent into the steel before being sent into the ring. After finally hitting Shellshocked, Ryback picked up the pinfall and his first Intercontinental Championship. Whilst Michael Cole signposted Ryback's win with a pre-match speech about The Big Guy telling a young fan that sometimes "The good guys win", it still felt like a big moment for Ryback, and will hopefully give the character the direction that he's been missing. Daniel Bryan putting over Ryback post match was a nice touch, as was Bryan switching his usually "Yes" motion for The Big Guy's "Feed Me More" calling card.

Singles Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Dean Ambrose 

vs. 

Seth Rollins with Kane & J&J Security

Bucking the trend for recent WWE World Heavyweight Championship matches, there was a little in the way of backstage shenanigans and build-up for this one, which is fine and dandy as far as this reviewers concerned. Of course, the match was included in the opening build-up package (which was a bit of a mess, to be honest), but apart from that we were left with one solitary backstage segment to quench the thirst before the main event. With Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose chatting away like old women over a fence, Triple H would interrupt to reveal that Reigns would be unable to accompany Ambrose to the ring and Ambrose would be disqualified if Reigns interfered in anyway. A new development that changed the terrain of the match, can't complain with that really. The pre-match prom featuring The Lunatic Fringe cutting a fresh promo in front of a brick wall was superb, reminiscent of the type of promos seen from the then Jon Moxley on the indy scene.

Despite the rushed feud between the two over the past two weeks, Ambrose and Rollins brought it in this match. Both men put on stellar performances that should cement Rollins' as a reliable main event, whilst building a case from Ambrose to be given more opportunities in the role. The two clearly know each other so well, as the wrestling was smooth and practically flawless, but it was the little touches that really stood out for me. Ambrose attempting a German Suplex off the top rope, which of course teased the spot Rollins' often used as a member of The Shield where he would flip out of the suplex and land on his feet, instead slipping between Ambrose's leg before delivering a double stomp with Ambrose caught in the ropes. The Lunatic Fringe raking the champion's back in the corner also got a big pop from me, because it suited the character so well (plus his facial expression was perfect)

With multiple near falls and some well-worked high spots, this was the WWE main event style, which can often end up a bit of mess, done well. Whilst the match lacked slightly in believable false finishes, the builds towards the near falls were exciting enough to almost make up for this. Ambrose missing a rope hung leg drop bulldog, followed by Rollins missing a springboard high knee, before hitting an Enziguiri that went directly into a pendulum lariat from Ambrose was a particular highlight of mine. Throw in some believable selling by both men, that got over each near fall and moment nicely and you've got a throughly entertaining twenty minutes of action. Oh yeah, and Ambrose diving off the top rope onto Kane and J&J Security was a great, character-based spot also.

In my preview, I'd called for Rollins to get the win for this one on his own and in a way, he kind of did. J&J Security got involved a little bit with their cheeky shenanigans, whilst Kane was quickly twatted by Ambrose when tried to interject his mouldy head into the bout. The finish itself, just about worked. With Rollins pushing the referee into the path of an Ambrose dive, the pair worked through a nice sequence (including a missed Phoenix splash from Rollins) before Ambrose was able to hit Dirty Deeds and a second referee counted the pin. Of course, the original referee woke up and disqualified Rollins for the push. The only reason this works, for me, is because of the two characters involved in the match and how well they played those characters throughout, including when the referee revealed the result. Obviously Ambrose decided he'd won and deserved the belt (after Reigns had helped him overcome the Authority) and dicked off with the World Heavyweight Championship. As enjoyable as this match was, I'm expecting an even better encounter between the two at Money in the Bank.

Singles Match

John Cena vs. Kevin Owens

If you'd read the Elimination Chamber 2015 Preview and Predictions piece then you'd know I was looking forward to this match just a little bit and boy, oh boy, did it deliver. And then some. Straight into the biggest talking point of the match, Kevin Owens pinned John Cena (Yes, John "Bloody" Cena) clean with a Pop-Up Powerbomb, seconds after Cena seemed to be launching another comeback with a huge skull-smashing lariat. I don't think it's quite settled in yet. Owens only had his debut match for WWE in December last year, and having ploughed from Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, Adrian Neville, Solomon Crowe, Alex Riley and CJ Parker on NXT, he just defeated the fifteen time World Heavyweight Champion. To put that into context, over the last five years only Brock Lesnar, Daniel Bryan, The Rock and CM Punk have gotten clean pins on Cena in his 34 PPV matches.

What made the victory even sweeter was that almost everyone was convinced that Owens would put in a good fight, but eventually fall to the Cenation Leader. The match played into this with Owens throwing a lot at Cena, but being unable to put him away. Go Home Driver, Cannonball, Pop up Powerbomb, an Attitude Adjustment, a spun-out slam version of a Package Piledriver, a top rope Fisherman's Buster all failed to put Cena away. Playing into the many cliches we've seen in John Cena matches over the past few years, Owens frustration at not putting Cena away played out very well, with the former Mr. Wrestling doing a tremendous job of showing this in the final few minutes of the bout. The moment Cena hit that huge lariat on Owens I, like many I would presume, saw Cena hitting another Attitude Adjustment and pick up the win.

The contest built and built from the moment that match started, adding layers and getting a lack lustre Corpus Christi crowd involved nicely. Owens domination early on was built mostly around strikes and attempting to ground and pound Cena, with the commentators putting him over a no nonsense brawler, but as the match developed and Owens became more frustrated with being able to finish Cena, his offence developed into big power moves, before finally attempting offence from the top rope, like a superb double jump moonsault and a Senton. On the other side of the coin, we saw multiple comeback attempts from Cena end up getting cut off by Owens, I'd have liked to see a bit more of that frustration from Cena in being unable to really get going in the match, especially after he was unable to get the win with an Attitude Adjustment or the STF. Whilst Cena's performance was strong, this mirroring could have pushed things up a level.

The big question now is "Where the hell do we go from here?". It was announced later in the show that we'd see a rematch between the duo at Money in the Bank on 14th July, and this match left plenty of room for the two to have an enjoyable rematch, that will almost certainly garner even more interest over the next two weeks on television (whilst Owens simultaneously engages in a feud with Samoa Joe on NXT). Will WWE put enough faith in Owens to have him go over Cena two times in a row? They clearly have big plans for Owens and I'd expect him to play an integral part in SummerSlam in August. Owens post-match promo proved the rocket has been strapped to his back, it's all a matter of how much fuel WWE is willing to give the NXT Champion.

Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Tag Team Championships

The Lucha Dragons 

vs. 

The Ascension 

vs. 

The New Day (C) 

vs. 

Tyson Kidd & Cesaro with Natalya 

vs. 

Los Matadores with El Torito 

vs. 

The Prime Time Players

The first ever Tag Team Elimination Chamber bout was an intriguing affair to say the least, featuring some big spots and all the thrills and spills you'd expect from the gimmick. The Lucha Dragons were the providers of the majority of the big spots, despite being eliminated just under half way through the match, with Sin Cara hitting a Senton off the top of one of the pods and Kalisto scaling to the middle of the Chamber to drop down onto the rest of the field. Kalisto was also involved in another big bump that save him get Superplex off the top of a pod by Cesaro, before Tyson Kidd hit a springboard elbow for a good near fall. The Lucha Dragons being eliminated so early was probably the biggest structural problem with the match, as they were arguably the most over babyface team in the match and could have offered the match a bit more of story to tell, with the pair starting the match.

Whilst the match was thoroughly entertaining throughout, it suffered from wrestlers breaking up pins that were on members of other teams. This could of been out of habit and an unfamiliarity with the match type, but should have been addressed before the match began or at least covered for by the commentary team. Luckily once down to just two teams, the action became much more focused, with The Prime Time Players and The New Day both putting in strong performances, with a solid "numbers game" type story, that allowed Titus O'Neil and Darren Young to shine (having already eliminated The Ascension and Tyson Kidd & Cesaro). O'Neil catching Kofi Kingston's Trouble in Paradise attempt and Big E's overhead belly to belly suplex to Young on the outside were the highlights of the closing stretch that saw all three of the New Day get the pin on O'Neil following some cleverly trickery that lead to a Trouble in Paradise from Kingston. Both The Prime Time Players and The Ascension would have to be in contention for a tag titles shot heading out of the show, maybe we'l see a number one contender's bout on Monday Night RAW.

Singles Match

Neville 

vs. 

Bo Dallas

For me, this was the only match on the show that failed to live up to my expectations going in. That isn't to say it was a bad match, because it wasn't, what was presented was absolutely fine. However, for a feud that has been so heavily focused around Neville's injured leg, even going as far as having Dallas cut a promo before the match revolving around Neville having an "injured wing", the leg didn't come into play at all. Beyond Neville hitting a handful of kicks to Dallas' leg early doors, there wasn't a hint at the previous injury either from Dallas focusing some offence on the leg, or Neville getting caught up because of it. 

Without prior knowledge of the feud, this was entirely acceptable fair, with Dallas' character getting a good opportunity to shine through. Whilst Neville's offence is often spectacular, Dallas' character work has been just as strong as of late and that again came to forefront here. Little touches like screaming and gasping for air when Neville placed him in a headlock, made what could have been a dull rest spot into a chuckle worthy moment, a big thumbs up for distracting the ref by claiming Neville was holding his tights (whilst he had Neville in a cravate) before, with the ref distracted, pulling The New Sensation's hair and sending him to the mat. Hopefully we'll get some more of Dallas across WWE's product, as he could be a valuable part of the mid-card, but Neville getting the win with the Red Arrow was almost certainly the right decision for now.

Triple Threat Match for the Diva's Championship

Paige 

vs. 

Naomi 

vs. 

Nikki Bella (C)

I felt bad for the ladies in this one, as whilst they tried to cram as much into their six minutes as they possibly could, something clearly went wrong in the first few minutes and they spent the rest of the match trying to recover. It would seem Paige was out of position to take an enziguiri from Nikki Bella after Naomi had ducked the same attack. Paige especially looked completely out of her depth and was clearly lost when she could be heard saying "Oh yeah, I remember" prior to a decent Rack Attack into Rear View spot. Apart from this the content was mostly strong, using the three competitors nicely, particularly in the aforementioned spot and when Naomi saved Nikki from the P.T.O with a well placed superkick. Nikki picking up the win with a Rack Attack on Naomi, following Naomi's messy but admirable reverse rana on Paige. A match with good ideas, but mostly sloppy execution.

Other Stuff

Two recaps were aired to promote the upcoming Money in the Bank PPV on 14th June, the first off Dolph Ziggler winning a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank 2012 before cashing it on Alberto Del Rio at Monday Night RAW #1037, then Seth Rollins grabbed the only briefcase at Money in the Bank 2014, before cashing in during Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31 to win the title. Expect to see a few more of these in the next few weeks across WWE television. The Kick-Off Panel of Renee Young, Booker T, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton put over the results of the Kevin Owens vs. John Cena bout well, whilst also taking in turn to chat about upcoming matches, with some nice interchange between Graves and Saxton over the possible result of the Ambrose vs. Rollins contest. The commentary team revealed the first six participants for this years Money in the Bank ladder match, with Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Neville, Sheamus, Roman Reigns and Kofi Kingston entering the match. Reason for these six being placed in the match were not given. The new WWE Network show Swerved also received some promo time, with the show scheduled to begin in June. Stone Cold Steve Austin podcast returns to the WWE Network on 1st June, with Paul Heyman the guest, in what will surely be another entertaining edition of the most watched show on the Network. Don't Try this at Home, you bloody moron. American punk-rock band The Offspring provided the theme song with Coming for You, which is apparently written about Booker T's famous outburst towards Hulk Hogan. An advert for Totino's aired, this was a real treat. How lucky are we!? 

Finally...

Owens vs. Cena and Rollins vs. Ambrose both offered two very different slices of sport-entertainment, that were both a lot of fun, with potential to go in a number of directions in the two weeks until Money in the Bank. The headline Elimination Chamber bout for the Intercontinental Championship might not have been the strongest outing for the gimmick, but was still an entirely watchable affair, with smatterings of good action. The mid-card was also strong with a lively tag team Elimination Chamber that delivered on it's quirky setting, whilst Dallas and Neville had a decent match. The sole undercard match showed the Diva's at least trying, even if the execution was a little missing.

A strong Network special from WWE, can they continue their good form with what is often a highlight of the year, Money in the Bank on 14th June? We shall see.

The Rating

Headline bout - 6.5/10

Upper card - 7.75/10

Mid-card - 5.75/10

Under-card - 3/10

• Overall - 6.5/10