I watched parts of that WWE Now Elimination Chamber Preview thing and with the couch setup it had a real voyeuristic vibe, like Mike Rome and Cathy Kelley were gonna pivot from predicting who would win the Intercontinental Title Handicap Match to a full-on makeout session. The Riott Squad harassing the production guy into making their graphics bigger was very good.
0. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Buddy Murphy [c] vs. Akira Tozawa
This was three incredible spots seamlessly woven into a good match with hell of a finish. The bullet tope catch into a Jackhammer, Dirty Dancing lift countered with frankensteiner, and rope-drape senton bomb were all spectacular, especially that first one which had a great fan moment in the front row where this guy’s face realizes he just saw something special directly in front of him. The crowd was into Tozawa’s comeback after Buddy did his thing and there were a lot of nice twists and turns at the finish, effectively teasing the Tozawa win. Tozawa knows how to up the ante on a finish too. Even Good Guy Mark Henry put this over in his promo after the match. ***3/4
1. Elimination Chamber – WWE Women’s Tag Team Title: Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. Naomi & Carmella vs. Nia Jax & Tamina vs. The Riott Squad (Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan) vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville vs. The IIconics
A few rough spots and we’ve come along way from the Elimination Chamber being dangerous, but this was also a cool-ass thing to happen and after enduring like two years of Sasha Banks and Bayley playing buffoons, a feel-good finish.
You get so used to seeing these girls in bullshit TV matches that it was cool to see them try some stuff: Sonya might have the best spear in the company, Liv and Sonya tried their hand at a strike exchange, The IIconics busted out what I will now call the IICONICS CLUTCH~!, and the Riott Squad went crazy and did dueling planchas off the Chamber pod.
The ‘moments’ were all laid out well enough, even though in between it all there wasn’t much cohesion, and cohesion is nice when you’re spending half an hour with a wrestling match – the Riott Squad vs. Fire & Desire showdown was a nice thought even if it didn’t get over, The IIconics going for pins right away and then going all Anderson Brothers on everybody was awesome, the big car crash sequence towards the end came off well, and they had a heck of a final few minutes between Bayley & Sasha vs. Fire & Desire including a callback to the Bayley/Sasha spot at last year’s Chamber.
But there was also some stuff that you just can’t ignore like that awkward thing where Deville was catapulted into Mandy but Mandy kind of… moved out of the way, which caused even the always-on Michael Cole to sound shook. In the end it was a messy, fun match – not exactly memorable, even if the result will probably be promoted so much that it becomes that way anyways. ***1/4
Loved Maryse getting a massive pop for her entrance. I had a baby right around the time her and Miz had their first, and that they’re having another so soon makes me both respect and fear whatever is going on in that relationship.
2. SmackDown Tag Team Title: Shane McMahon & The Miz [c] vs. The Usos
First of all I really enjoy the Usos new extra psychotic look and feel. One of these crazy dudes is squaring up with a cop – that’s real-life stupid, but pro-wrestling credibility. Plus there’s gray in their beards now! NOBODY on WWE TV just lets that happen. They must be fucking crazy!
This was another great Usos match held back by some awkward moments because Shane McMahon is old and still feels like he never really trained as a wrestler, but at the same time it was brought up by those awkward moments too because it was less a great cohesive tag match and more of an experience, and I’ll take the experience. Like, the Shane hot tag didn’t work. But also, if it did – is this match as fun? I don’t know!!
They tacked on a hot Usos finish plus a big Shane table spot and at the end of it I just sat in disbelief at how good the Usos can be. I mean these guys can WORK, and this match had no right being as quality as it was. ***3/4
3. Handicap Match – WWE Intercontinental Title: Bobby Lashley [c] & Lio Rush vs. Finn Balor
Leave it to the first pure RAW match to grind this show to a halt. Balor did the stuff he does and made the crowd go HORRAY! once in a while, but it was a match that wouldn’t be out of place on any crappy RAW from the last few months. Extra points for how big the reaction was for the finish, but very much one of those matches that was just………. fine. **1/2
4. RAW Women’s Title: Ronda Rousey [c] vs. Ruby Riott
Can’t believe they did Ruby like that! She takes a mean takedown though. *
Becky Lynch had another epic angle though. That smile as she got walked off by security… great stuff.
5. No DQ Match – Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin
Remember when EVERYBODY used to chant “GET THESE HANDS” instead of just a handful of folks still holding out hope that Braun Strowman might still be seen internally at WWE as a main event commodity? This was the same gimmicks we’ve seen before, not terrible but very much a house show type of thing. The Drew/Lashley/Corbin pairing continues to be bad. **
Epic Daniel Bryan promo pre-Chamber. He looks practically emasculated right now and it is making for some compelling professional wrestling in 2019.
6. Elimination Chamber – WWE Title: Daniel Bryan [c] vs. AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton vs. Samoa Joe
So good. So, so good. Bryan vs. Joe to start was awesome – Bryan stalling, Joe reacting to his piddly chops, grappling, stiff kicks, a powerbomb, the works.
For the rest of the match, you had the thread of Kofi Kingston emerging as a star surrounded by a handful of all-time greats just doing their thing, plus some other things they don’t usually do like Jeff’s awesome unique Swanton off the pod onto the turnbuckle. Kofi’s ascent was awesome – the run when he came in, Bryan trying to hide on top of the pod, Kofi leaping up and staring him down. The huge KO-FI chant after the trust fall pod dive was tremendous, and him pinning Orton after their feud TEN YEARS AGO was beautiful.
Kofi vs. Bryan was MOTY-level stuff. The crowd was completely prepared for a Kofi win, and he and Bryan took advantage of that atmosphere to put on a brilliant match. They were biting on everything – full-throated NO’s as Bryan did the Yes Kicks, the freakout for Kofi fighting back after taking those endless corner dropkicks, a tremendous reaction for a tremendous near fall when Kofi kicked out of the Knee+. All the shots of the crowd after that kickout really put it over the top.
Those last few minutes had me, man – Bryan’s face before he rained boots down, Bryan having to force Kofi into the YesLock, Kofi getting to the ropes, and finally his fatal mistake as he missed a splash and got put down with the Knee+. Empire Strikes Back stuff, man. Amazing. ****1/4
This show had a lot of great stuff – the Cruiserweight Title and Tag Titles matches, Kofi Kingston being awesome, the Becky Lynch angle. It also had some stretches that made you wonder if it was the same company running things. Either way, a fun show with the occasional trash. 7/10
