Elimination Chamber kicks off on the pre-show with Kane and New Day negotiating terms for their title defense in the Chamber, since the New Day assisted the Authority last week, Kane will allow all three members to participate in the match… which also means all three members will be crammed into one waiting pod. The other option is to start the match. Woods nearly blows it, but Big E. and Kofi Kingston shut him up.
In the ring, we have Star Dust vs. Zack Ryder. Short match, and Star Dust gets the win via the “QueensCrossbow.” Huh.
Backstage with Tom Phillips, we have the #AskLana segment. While Twitter obviously got ugly, Phillips went with what appeared to be obvious storyline-pushing questions about her leaving Rusev, if her relationship with Ziggler is real, and her feelings about America. Bland segment. Not very revealing.
In the ring, Summer Rae introduces Miz TV. He gloats about his direct-to-DVD releases and is dressed like the biggest tool I have ever seen. Bryan comes out, Miz berates him. Daniel Bryan announces he will return to the ring… We just do not know when. Miz puts the jerkface into overdrive and berates Bryan even further. Since Bryan is not cleared to fight, he brings out Macho Mandow and AxelMania. They clobber Miz, old school style.
Backstage, Roman Reigns announces he will be in the corner of Dean Ambrose to fend off any Authority interference. Interesting.
As we transition into the WWE Network Event, JBL gives the live crowd the rundown of the rules of the Elimination Chamber match. JBL botches up his lines trying to hype up the championship matches.
We begin the pay-per-view with the Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber match. The Ascension and The Lucha Dragons start the match while the Prime Time Players, The New Day, Los Matadores, and Brass Ring Club all await within their pods. The Dragons climb up the pods, and Kalisto is caught constantly by New Day. Cesaro & Kidd are next out in this Texas Tornado-style tag match. Third in are Los Matadores, and during the fray Kalisto climbs the entire chamber and leaps down onto everyone. Right after that stunt, Ascension goes on a rampage, eliminating Los Matadores and Lucha Dragons consecutively. However, the Prime Time Players halt the rampage and eliminate the former NXT Tag Team Champions. Following a triple Suplex, Cesaro and Kidd hit the big swing, however Young rolls up Cesaro while Kidd covers Kofi, except the ref counts Cesaro’s shoulders down and the former WWE Tag Team Champions are out. We are down to PTP and New Day. Titus put on the performance of his career, but it is not enough as the New Day cut down O’Neal, Kofi striking the final blow with the Trouble in Paradise.
Winners and Still WWE Tag Team Champions: The New Day
Promo runs for Money in the Bank, showing Dolph Ziggler cashing in and winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Alberto del Rio. Also a recap showing Rusev breaking his foot on SmackDown. Backstage, Lana wishes Ziggler good luck in the upcoming chamber match for the Intercontinental Championship.
Naomi vs. Paige vs. Nikki Bella in a “We Can’t Remember Who is Scripted as Face or Heel” and for the Diva’s Championship
Naomi and Paige carried the match, with Nikki showing up to hit the big spots. The real spot was Naomi nearly breaking Paige with a reverse hurricanrana. Good grief. Nikki then shows up to hit the Rack Attack on Naomi for the win. I don’t think she broke a sweat.
Promo for the WWE Network show, Swerved.
Also a nod to The Offspring for supplying the theme for tonight’s event.
Champion vs. Champion – Non Title Match
NXT Champion Kevin Owens vs. United States Champion John Cena
Beautifully crafted promo highlighting Kevin Owens and the scathing promos he cut on Cena. Wonderful. Owens looked like a beast staring down Cena. Match started off a slow brawl, but gradually Cena and Owens busted out their movesets. Owens missed a nice top rope moonsault, Cena hit his top rope legdrop and the new springboard stunner, also kicking out of a Pop-Up Powerbomb. Owens had a nice reversal, Cena went for a top rope superplex, but Owens twisted around with a superplex of his own. Owens mocked Cena throughout the match, using his taunts and even some of his moves, including the AA. At one point, Owens had Cena set up for what in Ring of Honor would have been a cradle piledriver, however we got a powerbomb out of it instead. Cena hit two decapitation lariats, but the third missed, and he wound up eating a second Pop-Up Powerbomb, which shocked the world as Owens pins Cena for the win.
Winner by Awesome: Kevin Owens
Post match, Owens cuts another scathing promo on Cena. Says Cena needs to go home, and the real champ “is here.”
Adrian Neville defeats Bo Dallas
Neville as always MVPs his matches, and Bo Dallas put on a fair showing himself. Unfortunately for Dallas, Neville proved to not only be his superior in NXT, but in WWE as well, putting away the demotivational one down with the Red Arrow.
Elimination Chamber Match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship
In a surprise, Mark Henry comes out first, replacing Rusev in the match. The match begins with King Barrett and Dolph Ziggler start it off. Barrett owns the match, beating down Ziggler, then taking out R-Truth before he even gets out of his pod. Barrett then makes a mistake by breaking the pod holding Henry, who just darts out and starts mauling people. Ryback is in next, and everyone is going after each other. Sheamus is supposed to enter last, but his pod door seems to have jammed. We later see he placed his Celtic Cross in the metal, jamming the door. Before he entered, everyone ganged up on Barrett, eliminating him first. Truth goes out second via Shell Shock. Sheamus enters, nailing the Brough Kick on Henry, ending his run for the title. Ziggler and Sheamus go at it for a while, Ziggler eating a lot of bumps throughout the match, eats a Brough Kick and no title for him. Down to Sheamus and Ryback, the Celtic Warrior mauls Ryback until a miscalculation allows for Ryback to lob Sheamus clear over the ropes with a powerbomb, followed by the Shell Shock, and the shocking win.
Winner and new Intercontinental Champion: Ryback
Post match: Daniel Bryan presents the championship belt to Ryback, as Ryback then calls Bryan “an inspiration” as the two celebrate.
I will say, the match seemed off-kilter, miscommunications, sloppy? Not sure, but the bout felt off to me.
Before the main event, we find out from Triple H is banning Roman Reigns from the ring, and Kevin Owens will face John Cena once again in two weeks at Money in the Bank. Also, we learn six of the participants in the actual Money in the Bank match. Yes, there will be more than six.
So far, we have Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Roman Reigns, and Adrian Neville. Nice lineup.
Main Event Time!
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins
JBL is very adamant the world will collapse if Dean Ambrose wins the title. Ambrose and Rollins had a good ol’ fashioned slobberknocker. Rollins hit his big moves, Ambrose did the same. Ambrose put life and limb on the line, throwing himself through the ropes, over the ropes, under the ropes, over the table, even with constant interference from The Authority. I’ll just cut to the chase, Rollins causes the ref to take a bump, and Ambrose inevitably hits the Dirty Deeds. A second ref dives into the ring, administers the three count, and the crowd loses their minds. Sadly, the first ref wakes up, and agrees that Dean Ambrose won the match, however by disqualification. The crowd boos wildly as the Authority beat up on Ambrose, until Roman Reigns makes the save. Ambrose gets his hands on the belt, and runs away with it to close the show.
So there was the big tease. For a moment, we thought Ambrose was WWE Champion, but alas, in the history books, we know this not to be true.
Overall, a good pay-per-view, the Kevin Owens/John Cena match was great, the Tag Team Title Chamber match was the better of the two. The undercard was pretty good also. Solid showing tonight, and keep in mind, two weeks away is Money in the Bank!
Comments are closed.