By Jared Silberkleit – Elimination Chamber was a very wacky PPV from WWE in terms of match order. The show is obviously marketed around the dual Elimination Chamber matches and having neither one main event was very….interesting to say the least. This was a tough show to judge overall because of the rapid change of pace, but in the end, the Chamber matches collectively took up about half, maybe a little more than half of the show and both were very good to great, so this show earned a mild thumbs up. After the Smackdown Chamber though, the show ended with a thud as we got a throwaway US title match and the conclusion to the horrendous John Cena vs. Kane storyline. The show was a mixed bag to say the least.

 

• Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship: CM Punk(c) vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. R-Truth vs. The Miz vs. Chris Jericho

 

Very surprising choice as the opener, considering how much more star power this Chamber match has over the Smackdown Chamber. Punk and Kofi started the match and quickly went to the outside, with Kofi dropping Punk on the steel and Punk catapulting him into a pod. Ziggler entered next and hit an innovative famouser while he was dangling off the side of the chain wall. Punk and Kofi tried for a double springboard spot but collided in mid-air. R-Truth came in 4^th and hip tossed Ziggler to the steel floor. Punk taunted Jericho as he went up to the top rope, then hit the Savage elbow drop to eliminate Truth. We then got an awesome spot as Kofi leaped, caught himself on the chain wall like RVD, then jumped off the wall with a tornado DDT to Ziggler on the steel floor. Miz came in 5^th and threw Punk and Kofi into the glass pods. Jericho is the last one in and goes at it with Punk, with both guys doing a bit of back and forth and teasing their finishers. Jericho eliminates Ziggler with the Codebreaker. Kofi did a crazy cross body off the top of a pod to Punk and Miz, but Jericho forces Kofi to submit to the Walls of Jericho for the elimination. Jericho then attacks Kofi after he’s been eliminated and throws him outside the Chamber door to the floor. Punk then catches Jericho with a roundhouse kick and Jericho tumbles to the floor himself. We then have a lengthy pause as officials tend to Jericho and take him to the back. After several minutes, Punk and Miz do some back and forth. Miz hits the Skull-Crushing Finale for a near fall but ran headfirst into one of the pods and Punk hit the Go to Sleep for the win. Match was going along awesome up until the Jericho spot. The spot was fine, but the camera was on Jericho for too long and when we came back to the match, no one bought into Miz whatsoever as a challenger. I think if Ziggler was the last guy in there with Punk it would have been more exciting and believable. Still, a great Elimination Chamber match even if it wasn’t one of the best ones. Punk, Ziggler, and Kofi took a ton of punishment and there were several brutal spots with the Chamber strewn throughout. Match Time: 32:38     Star Rating: ****

• WWE Divas Championship Match: Beth Phoenix(c) vs. Tamina Snuka

 

This was a little bit better than most Divas matches. They got a little more time than usual due to the small amount of matches announced for the PPV. Beth tells Tamina to leave early but Tamina attacks her. Beth kicks Tamina to the floor and works her over with a chin lock and a dragon sleeper. Tamina makes a comeback and hits a Samoan drop before Beth hits a superplex. Tamina makes another comeback and hits the Superfly Splash, but Beth kicks out. Beth hits the Glam Slam for the win. Tamina is very inexperienced and had a couple clunky moments but Beth carried her to an acceptable filler match. Match Time: 7:18     Star Rating: **

 

John Laurinaitis comes out next for his big “announcement”. Alberto Del Rio, Mark Henry, and Christian all eventually join him in the ring. They all basically run down Teddy Long and talk about why he is a bad General Manager, and also endorse Laurinaitis as General Manager of Raw. I don’t know what the point of this was to be honest, and I’m not sure what the “announcement” was. Moving on.

 

• Elimination Chamber Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Daniel Bryan(c) vs. The Big Show vs. Wade Barrett vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Santino Marella vs. The Great Khali

 

It was really weird not having either Chamber main event the PPV. Barrett and Show start this one off very sluggishly. The entire match dragged before Bryan came in. Rhodes entered third and him and Barrett targeted Show’s leg. Santino entered 4^th to a massive pop and Show immediately went to work on him. Barrett and Rhodes double suplex Show on the steel floor. Rhodes hits a moonsault to Barrett for a near fall. Khali enters 5^th and hits the double chokeslam on Rhodes and Barrett, but Show spears him for the quick elimination. Show stares down Bryan, who is in the last pod, and eventually breaks into his pod by tearing apart the chain roof and crawling in over the top. Show pummels Bryan before the time interval expires and the door opens. Bryan crawls out, but Show hurls him through the glass. Show chokeslams Bryan in the ring, but Barrett boots Show in the head. Rhodes hits the Beautiful Disaster kick once off the ropes and again off the chain wall, and Barrett hits a flying elbow drop to eliminate Show. Santino then immediately rolls up Rhodes for another elimination. Santino is crazy over with the crowd. Barrett powerbombs Bryan into the chain wall and chokes Bryan with one of the pod doors. Barrett and Bryan both toss each other into the pods before Bryan hits a flying head butt to Barrett and Santino covers for the elimination. We’re down to Santino and Bryan who had an AWESOME finishing sequence. Bryan kicked Santino in the head for 2 but missed a flying head butt and Santino scored a near fall with the Cobra. Bryan eventually forced Santino to submit to the LeBell Lock. The crowd really boosted this match due to the insane pops Santino was getting. Once Bryan entered the action really picked up but the action was sluggish for the first 15-20 minutes, which kept the match from being great. Still, the final 15 minutes were very exciting and made this match highly enjoyable. Match Time: 34:05     Star Rating: ***3/4

• United States Championship Match: Jack Swagger(c) vs. Justin Gabriel

 

This match was set up in a backstage segment a few minutes before it occurred. Just a filler match between the Chamber and the main event. It was very short and they did a little bit of light back and forth before Swagger got the win with the ankle lock. This was a Raw match in a nutshell. Match Time: 3:07     Star Rating: *

 

• Ambulance Match: Kane vs. John Cena

 

It was weird to see this main event over two Chamber matches, but considering all of the air time this feud got on Raw, it wasn’t too surprising. This was awful. The feud had been terrible up until this point so it was expected that this match wouldn’t be that great. The crowd was in and out of it throughout the match and couldn’t care less about Kane. Lots of brawling outside the ring. There were a number of goofy spots including Cena hitting Kane with a backboard, Kane trying to wheel Cena to the ambulance in a wheelchair, and Cena putting Kane in the wheelchair and pushing him into some stage equipment. Kane chokeslammed Cena off the steel steps through the Spanish announce table, put him on a stretcher, and pushed him up the ramp to the ambulance. Kane shut one door but Cena blocked the second door and attacked Kane. They went up to the roof of the ambulance and Cena hit the AA to Kane off the top through what was likely a crash pad to the side of the stage. Cena picked up Kane, put him in the ambulance, and shut the doors for the win. At long last this horrendous feud has ended. Really bad main event, most of the match was just so hard to take seriously due to the goofy spots and the poor quality of the feud. I’m thrilled that we can move on from this garbage and focus on Cena taking on The Rock at Wrestlemania. Match Time: 21:21     Star Rating: *1/2

 

Overall PPV Rating: 7.25/10

Tagged with: Change Of Pace, Chris Jericho, Cm Punk, Cross Body, Elbow Drop, Elimination Chamber Match, Famouser, John Cena, Kofi Kingston, Main Event, Mid Air, Miz, Rapid Change, Rvd, Springboard, Star Power, Steel Floor, Thud, Top Rope, Wwe Championship

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