Andrew gives us ratings and some review thoughts on WWE Elimination Chamber!

Well admittedly, I had no hype for this show. I figure the Chamber matches will be fine, but this really feels like one of those cards that get smothered a bit since all it does is feed to Mania.

Also it’s a little odd how WWE tends to bring back titles, but then not use the lineage when they setup these new incarnations. It’s definitely frustrating that a company that prides itself on history and “Then, Now, and Forever”, tends to forget the Then in favor of the Now.

But let’s see what we get out of this show.

Ratings:

• WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Buddy Murphy (c) vs Akira Tozawa: Murphy retains via Murphy’s Law @13:25 – ****
• Women’s Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber: The IIconics vs Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan vs Tamina & Nia Jax vs Bayley & Sasha Banks vs Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville vs Carmella & Naomi – Banks wins via Modified Bank Statement @33:00 – ****
• SmackDown Tag Team Titles: Shane McMahon & The Miz (c) vs The Usos: Usos win via Crucifix Pin @14:10 – ** 3/4 – TITLE CHANGE!!
• Intercontinental Championship Handicap Match: Lio Rush & Bobby Lashley (c) vs Finn Balor @9:30 – ** 1/4 – TITLE CHANGE!!
• Raw Women’s Championship: Ronda Rousey (c) vs Ruby Riott: Rousey wins via Armbar @1:40 – N/A
• NO DQ: Braun Strowman vs Baron Corbin: Corbin wins via Shield Powerbomb (Lashley and McIntyre interference) @10:50 – *
• WWE Championship Elimination Chamber: Kofi Kingston vs Randy Orton vs AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe vs Jeff Hardy vs Daniel Bryan (c): Bryan retains via Knee Plus @36:35 – **** 1/2

Review:

Pre-Show is mostly forgettable save for Liv saying they’ll be first ever Women’s Tag Champs and five minutes later Beth Phoenix references the Glamour Girls and Jumping Bomb Angels…so yay consistency.  Sam tries to call out the fact that Finn Balor sucks without the Demon and there’s a Moment of Bliss that’s amusing, but generally typical pre-show stuff.

Cruiserweight match was a bit better than I expected. Murphy used his size to dominate Tozawa for a while, but then we get split screen so Kayla can talk to Xavier and Big E about Kofi in a throw away amusing spot. Why has WWE decided to interrupt so many of their matches lately for dumb crap? Yes New Day is funny, but why did that have to happen during the CHAMPIONSHIP match? Ugh. Both Tozawa and Murphy shine at different points, Tozawa hits his big Senton while Muprhy is draped across the middle rope for a near fall. Bicycle Knee and a quick Murphy’s Law later, Murphy retains in a fairly close fight.

Well the beginning of this chamber match started off pretty awful actually. But once the rest of the teams got involved, the match actually got better. Riott Squad performed really well, IIconics had a nice tandem pin to eliminate Naomi and Nia took the Big Show bump of crashing through a pod. Honestly a little surprised they put the belts on Sasha & Bayley right away. With Sasha’s injury and faces chasing belts usually being an easier way to write a Mania angle, they instead took the easy route and just put the belts on the fan favorites right away. Surprised not because it doesn’t make sense, surprised because WWE usually takes detours and goes around the block a few times before eventually ending up where it should’ve been. But yea, bad first couple minutes, but turned into a damn good match.

Miz starts things off with announcing that Maryse is pregnant with baby number 2! The match was more or less what you’d expect, a few interesting spots, Shane jumping off of stuff and getting caught once or twice. Miz did a Springboard Axehandle and after connecting, he surprised himself and played to the crowd. The match was perfectly fine, Usos barely won the match, so I’m not sure if we’re slowly setting up for someone’s turn, but I’m a little curious to see where this goes.

Oh it’s the handicap match…I just remembered I still have Ring Dings. Ahh those are yummy. Oh- the match? Do I care? Do YOU care? No…stuff happened, it was underwhelming, Lio’s arrogance was the undoing of the team. Finn rallied against the smaller man, kept Lashley out of the ring and Coup de Grace wins the match and his first title since his Universal Title 24 hour reign and the first without the Demon. So yea…that’s something I suppose. But Ring Dings…

Oh – and Lashley slammed Lio after the loss, so I guess they’re done.  Again, no one cares.

Charlotte comes out and drones on in an anti-Becky, ‘she panders too much’ promo. Cause we need a vapid promo on a PPV from someone who cuts a promo as well as cheese cuts bricks. *falls into a coma*

Well now Ronda comes out dressed like Sonya Blade, and squashes Ruby. Liv and Sarah look competent, but the leader gets run over. That makes sense…sure. Thank go Becky Lynch shows up and just starts beating up everyone with her crutches and her inverted Kill Bill color schemed motorcycle outfit. Cause she’s not The Bride, she’s The Man. And if that’s the reference they were going for, I’ll take it. So hey at least now I care more about this show then Ring Dings again.

Dammit wait, that means Baron vs Braun is next. BACK TO THE COMA!

Stuff stuff stuff, Braun Running Powerslam’s Corbin through a table, but Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley show up. Corbin’s group is back together and they take out Braun. Punctuated by a Shield Powerbomb through two tables. Gives everyone something to do moving towards Mania, but it wasn’t a good match, those kind of finishes are always lacking…just…it is very whatever. Maybe the Samoan Sex Machine returns as one of Braun’s teammates, and the Shield Powerbomb was a hint.

Not gonna lie, this Chamber match started off slow and awkward. Bryan trying to run away from Joe was fine and perfect for his character, but some of the spots were just big for the sake of being big *coughJeffHardycoughcough*, or stupid like the Spider German Suplex/Superplex combo. But towards the end the story telling came into play much more and Kofi trying to will himself to his dream, caused for some surprising kick outs and moments. Even though Bryan retained in the long run, Kofi was the real star of the show.

Overall Score: 6/10

This was a weird show. Cruiserweight and Chamber matches were great, but the rest of the show was kinda lame. They book ended the show well, and the main event was awesome…but getting from the beginning to the end felt like work. Miz will probably stay babyface since he seems the most broken up and disappointed with the loss, plus a baby on the way will make him hard to boo. So if that angle is going the way most of us see, I guess Shane is going to go full “McMahon” for the WresleMania match.

Finn winning without the Demon should’ve been something, but in a weird match, with a dumb stipulation in a feud that had no buzz/heat, it fell so flat. Good for him, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Finn, but, it’s not how you’d expect his second main roster title. Ronda…meh. Braun/Baron was just a means to I guess get everyone involved in an angle, and that’s fine. But as I said, the match was pretty crap so we’ll see if this goes somewhere decent.

So yeah, the show was fine, but would’ve scored a lot higher to me, if the middle wasn’t coma inducing.