Elimination Chamber
Elimination Chamber was a fine pay-per-view, it could’ve been worse, it could’ve been better. The preshow match between The Club (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) and The Miztourage (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) went exactly how anyone should’ve guessed it would, with The Club getting the win over The Miztourage. Then Elimination Chamber started with the Women’s first ever Chamber match. While it was good, it was not as entertaining as the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble. Obviously there’s a bit of comparison that isn’t fair there because Rumbles are typically more exciting but anyway, Alexa Bliss retained the RAW Women’s Championship. The RAW Tag Team Championship match ended with The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) retaining because Titus Worldwide never gets a win when it matters. Then we got Asuka vs Nia Jax with Asuka winning because do you really think WWE is gonna break Asuka’s streak against Nia Jax on a B rating PPV? No. They aren’t, that’d be ridiculous. Following that match, we got “Woken” Matt Hardy defeating Bray Wyatt. They will likely be going to to WrestleMania together in a feud. This isn’t close to being over. Oh yeah, Ronda Rousey signed her RAW contract and had an altercation with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. This is also being set up for WrestleMania and we will likely see Rousy and Kurt Angle vs Trips and Steph. We’ll see. Other people being speculated for it are Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or one of her UFC friends. We will see. In the main event, Braun Strowman defeated five other Superstars in the Men’s Elimination Chamber match, but ultimately lost to WWE’s star child Roman Reigns for a shot at Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Mania. Braun Strowman defeated every other man in that match and if it had not been the first ever Seven-Man Elimination Chamber match.
Monday Night RAW Highlights
#1 – The Miz came out and was very adamant about how the Intercontinental Championship was the most prestigious belt and that he was the most important IC belt holder ever. He asked who dared challenge him (not necessarily for the belt but to see if anyone wanted to step-up) and Seth Freakin’ Rollins stepped up to the plate. In fact, Rollins beat our Intercontinental Champion against all odds. He took out Miz and the Miztourage with a suicide dive, then laid Miz out with a Frogsplash and a pin. Then Finn Balor came out to fight Miz as well, and the Miztourage was ejected from ringside. General Manager also included that if Miz wanted a road to WrestleMania, the match would need a clear winner. Balor hit Miz with a Coup De Grace for the win. I don’t know how much I like it, but I think this will turn into a Triple-Threat Match at WrestleMania for the IC belt.
#2 – Roman Reigns came out to give a decent promo about how he was not afraid of Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, and how he was basically a sad excuse of a champion. Lesnar was also supposed to be at RAW on Monday per Paul Heyman’s words, but was not, proving Reigns’ case even more.
#3 – John Cena also gave a very good promo on Monday. In fact, he goes into how he planned on fighting The Undertaker at WrestleMania and he had the crowd PUMPED about that match… until he ripped off the Band-Aid saying that WWE would not let that match happen. Then he showed up on SmackDown last night to pave his road to Mania. Here’s what I think is going to happen: Cena is working everyone and at Fastlane on March 11th, Taker will screw Cena out of whatever match he is in. Then their match will be set at Mania, finalizing Taker’s retirement match.
SmackDown Live! Highlights
#1 – Free Agent John Cena arrives back on SmackDown to pave his way to WrestleMania! He goes real ballsy and wants to be added to the Fatal-Five Way match for the WWE Championship. He’d be facing WWE Champion AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, and Baron Corbin. So what does SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan do? Makes the Main Event of last night’s SmackDown a PPV worthy match (in fact, we’ve seen it at SummerSlam!) between Cena and Styles himself. If Cena wins, he goes into the Fatal-Five Way. And John Cena, of course, beat AJ Styles. As I said earlier, though, I firmly believe that Undertaker will screw Cena in that match. No DQ or anything, Taker can do whatever he wants to Cena to ruin that opportunity for him.
#2 – The New Day is reviving their feud with SmackDown Tag Team champions The Usos. The New Day are currently four-time tag team champions and are looking to tack on another reign there at Fastlane, where they have a tag team championship opportunity. The Usos cut a promo last night about how they were on the road to their first WrestleMania after being in the company for nine years, to which Big E responded with how the New Day had worked for every opportunity they’ve gotten and will enter WrestleMania 34 as five-time champions. Of course, then there’s the Bludgeon Brothers on the horizon… as soon as 2B walked to the ring, New Day and Usos got the heck outta dodge. The question is this: when will the Bludgeon Brothers demand their well-earned championship opportunity?
#3 – Another match worthy of highlight position last night was Sami Zayn vs Baron Corbin, which culminated with the Lone Wolf taking down Zayn. Probably the only reason Corbin won was because Sami Zayn got distracted by friend Kevin Owens being sprawled out at ringside. What Zayn missed, however, was Dolph Ziggler superkicking his best friend in the head. Either way, Zayn was so concerned with KO that it allowed Corbin to hit an End Of Days on him and pin him for the win.