Hello it’s me TWB and I’m here to break down last night’s Elimination Chamber PPV from Houston, Texas.
Boss N Hug Connection Stand Tall
In the opening match of the main card PPV, Sasha Banks and Bayley won the inaugural WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships inside the Elimination Chamber. Banks and Bayley were the 1st entrants inside the chamber alongside Fire and Desire (Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose) and both teams would outlast the rest of their opponents.
Riott Squad were the 3rd team to enter the match and would put on an impressive effort, their main highlight would be jumping off a chamber pod and taking out their opposition. IIconics would be the 4th team and they would quickly dispatch Naomi and Carmella who entered in at number 5.
Nia and Tamina were the last
Kofi Just Falls Short
I think almost every wrestling fan last night was hoping and praying that Kofi Kingston would pull off the upset and win the WWE Championship in last night’s main event. Kofi would enter in at number 3 and would last right until the end of the match until he was eventually defeated by Daniel Bryan who retained his title.
Champion Bryan opened the match with Samoa Joe, and they shared some strikes before the aforementioned Kofi would enter. Joe would be the 1st eliminated from the match by AJ Styles after he was hit by a Phenomenal Forearm. Jeff Hardy only lasted a few minutes in the match, as he hit a Swanton Bomb off the pod onto Styles who was lying on the top turnbuckle, but then Bryan flew in and hit a Running Knee to eliminate him.
The final entrant Orton quickly hit an RKO onto AJ and the former WWE Champion was eliminated, Randy was then hit by a Trouble In Paradise by Kofi and we were down to our final two Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan. The crowd were firmly behind Kofi and for a few minutes I genuinely believed Kofi could pull off an upset, however after missing a splash off the top of the pod, Kofi would be hit by a running knee and Bryan would retain his title.
Much like the women’s Elimination Chamber match, I thought this was fantastic, the drama built up throughout the match and for a few minutes everyone hoped and believed that Kofi (someone who a week ago wasn’t in this match) could win the WWE Title. The closing shots of the PPV showing Kofi getting a standing ovation, makes me hope that this career renaissance and singles push isn’t over yet, I’m still thinking we’ll get Bryan Vs Kingston at Wrestlemania, with possibly Kofi winning the WWE Title on the ‘Grandest Stage Of Them All’
In what was the biggest surprise of the night the team of The Miz and Shane McMahon lost their Smackdown Live Tag Team Titles to The Usos. I think everyone would’ve guessed that especially after Jimmy’s arrest that The Usos had no chance in winning this match, however after Jimmy countered a Miz pinning attempt with one of his own we have new Smackdown Live Tag Team Championships.
What this leaves for The Usos at Wrestlemania I have no clue, but I think there’s a good chance they’ll be in some multi-man tag matches against the likes of The Bar, The Good Brothers and perhaps SAnitY. As for Shane and
Becky batters Ronda and Charlotte
After Ronda Rousey had obliterated Ruby Riott, her Wrestlemania opponent Charlotte confronted her in the centre of the ring but they were interrupted by the ‘suspended’ Becky Lynch, who was walking through the crowd on crutches. Becky would enter the ring and quickly strike Charlotte on numerous occasions with a crutch and would later turn her attention to Ronda as she laid both of them out.
I think it’s pretty obvious that at Mania, it’ll be a Triple Threat between Becky, Charlotte and Ronda, so this post match angle was fine and it made sense and keeps Becky looking strong heading into Wrestlemania.
Lashley and Lio are No More
In their Intercontinental Championship handicap match against Finn Balor, Lio Rush got a bit too cocky and arrogant and decided to tag himself in and ultimately it cost his partner Bobby Lashley to lose his Intercontinental Championship, Balor would take control over Lio and hit a Coup De Grace and pick up his first Intercontinental Title. Post match Lashley would lay out Lio Rush, likely signalling the end of their partnership.
Personally I’m not a fan of the decision to split up Lashley and Lio, Lashley struggles to cut promo’s, whereas Rush has buckets of charisma and brought a lot to Lashley’s character in a pretty short time, I’m not sure whether this means Lio will return to 205 Live and not be part of Raw or maybe stick around and have a feud with Lashley.
I was happy with Balor winning the Intercontinental Championship, although perhaps it could’ve been saved for the bigger stage of Wrestlemania, nonetheless having Finn hold the workhorse title makes sense as he’s one of the better wrestlers on the Raw roster, and will be able to put on good matches with almost anyone.
Corbin and Co take out Braun
In what was my least favourite match of the night, Baron Corbin, with a little help from his friends (Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley) defeated Braun Strowman in a No-DQ match. They did the Shield Triple Powerbomb to win the match, which makes me wonder whether either at Fastlane or possibly at Wrestlemania we could see Braun align with Ambrose and perhaps a returning Roman Reigns to take on this new heel trio.
If this leads to a leukemia free Roman Reigns return at Wrestlemania in a 6 man tag where he can do as much as he feels he can do, then I’m up for it, but if this is just going to be an extension to the already pretty average Braun Vs Corbin rivalry then it’s a no from me.
Those were my thoughts on last night’s Elimination Chamber, if I had to grade the show from A+ to F, I’d give it a solid B, I thought the PPV was bookended by two really enjoyable Chamber matches, which is the selling point of this PPV, and pretty decent mid-card portion of show where feuds were nicely built towards Wrestlemania.
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