Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialElimination Chamber 2017 Review and Match Ratings

Elimination Chamber 2017 Review and Match Ratings

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Becky Lynch def. Mickie James

Interesting choice of wardrobe from Becky..

While watching this match, I just kept waiting for the match to pick up. And I waited. And waited, and waited some more, but ultimately I don’t think this match was ever able to get off the ground. It started off simple enough with some basic grappling and some reversals, and then Mickie started to incorporate some psychology by attacking the left arm (though it was hard to tell because she also seemed to target her shoulder tossing her into the ring post). Then, of course, the inevitable moment in the match was going to come when Becky would make her comeback, but I don’t think it really amounted to much in the end. I also have a beef with the finish. Mickie has cost Becky Lynch the Smackdown Women’s Championship, and things have gotten personal between the two, so you’d think that with all of that in context, the finish would be a bit more decisive. Are you trying to tell me two women who hate each other ends with a fluke jackknife cover? Maybe I’m nitpicking, but I would have much preferred to see Becky hit her submission finish. With that in mind, I assume that this isn’t the last time these two will see each other. I had Mickie winning this match because I didn’t think that WWE would have her lose her first PPV match since returning (though in al candor she doesn’t need to be winning anything now), but Becky probably needed the victory more in hindsight after losing her feud to Alexa Bliss. It wasn’t bad or anything, and I understood why they had the match first because it’s kind of hard to jam in three women’s matches all in the middle portion of the show. However, all we got here was pretty much an extended Smackdown match. The effort was there, but the execution **1/2

 

Apollo Crews and Kalisto def. Dolph Ziggler – Two On One Handicap Match

Yeah, so this sucked.

Ziggler just can’t any momentum. He turns heel by brutally attacking Kalisto while ambushing him and Apollo Crews with a steel chair in another instance. Then, you have Ziggler come out, ambush Kalisto, have Apollo and Dolph do their little thing and then have Kalisto come back and have a tag team finish? What I don’t get on top of all of that is that Ziggler took out Apollo after the match. I don’t see why they couldn’t have Dolph do this without taking a pinfall. I mean, it’s a two on one handicap match, yes, but Kalisto and Apollo aren’t exactly the cream of the crop if you get what I’m saying. Having Ziggler take a pin to a man who he took out 2 minutes later isn’t something that I like, and that’s one of the reasons why I absolutely hate handicap matches unless there are certain conditions where it’s necessary. Here, the finish wasn’t necessary and it was a shame that Ziggler is being degraded to this. It’s just hard to take him seriously. As for what we saw in the ring, well, I didn’t like it. It would have made more sense to have Ziggler and Crews face off in a singles match, because not only do I think they could work well together, Kalisto’s presence here was unwarranted seeing as how Ziggler defeated him in about 3 minutes. The beef is more with Apollo anyways. So yeah, this was meh. Actually, it’s not even meh. Didn’t like it. It was a mess. *

 

American Alpha (C) def. The Usos, The Vaudevillians, Heath Slater and Rhyno, Breezango and The Ascension – Smackdown Tag Team Championships

This tag team division is really sad.

I think this match would have benefited more by having four of the tag teams in the ring all at the same time as opposed to the turmoil format. I’ve never been a fan of the latter. I think if you put American Alpha, The Ascension, Slater/Rhyno and The Usos in at the same time, that would be better, because Breezango and The Vaudevillians really didn’t add anything to the match and was just there to burn time (while also reminding us that they are in fact tag teams that exist). Putting all six of the tag teams in this division sort of highlights how weak and thin the division really is. American Alpha has now defeated every tag team, including the team they took the titles off of, The Wyatt Family. So, really, who else is left? I think they were building something up with The Ascension with their victory on Smackdown last week, and for a second I thought they were ready to pull the trigger on them winning with The Usos laying them out, but apparently not. I don’t know when The Revival is getting their main roster call-up, but let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later. The match was……well I don’t know. Smackdown-esque? The champions didn’t appear in the match until about the halfway point. Everything prior was just, again, meh. The Usos started to pick things up in the ring and I think were by far American Alpha’s best opponent here, and everyone else really just got a participation trophy. Oh, and this was FAR too long. **

 

Nikki Bella vs. Natayla – No Contest

I am beyond caring for these two at this point.

I think that this women’s match had the energy that Mickie and Becky needed. Seeing as how this rivalry was a bit more seething, I could see why. I liked the physicality that both women showed, both women had to bust out everything that they had, and I thought they played up the hatred that they had for each other well. It also appeared that the Phoenix crowd started to buy into the finishing sequences towards the end. It must also be said that it’s embarrassing that Nikki has to show her boyfriend how to properly execute his own submission move. Notice how Cena puts his hands around his opponents and how not just Nikki, but everyone else wraps their hands around their opponent’s necks, suffocating them. Cena looks like he’s trying to tie a knot. With the times both women have been in each other’s faces, and the insults that were hurled both ways, I understand why this ended in a no contest, and in my opinion, it was the right finish. As much as I hate indecisive finishes on PPV, neither women could have afforded a loss here, much less a clean loss. As for what we saw, it was par for the course for the evening’s festivities thus far. Nothing special. **1/2

 

Randy Orton def. Luke Harper

Pair an underrated talent with a motivated Orton, and great things happen.

Have to say, I didn’t have rocket high expectations for the match, but I thought these two brought it to another level here. They had a very good match on Smackdown a few weeks back, but on PPV, these two turned it up a bit more. What I loved about this match was that it highlighted how Lule Harper is perhaps the most underrated guy on the roster, wrestling wise. I don’t know how many big men can do spot-on superkicks, outside rope sentons and tell a story despite being a guy that doesn’t say much. The man has it all, and I think the crowd let him know that he’s appreciated at least in Phoenix. While the winner of the match was never in doubt, I certainly bought a few of the finishes down the stretch. Orton, on the other hand, showed that when he’s determined, he’s still an elite prospect in the ring. Considering how thin the undercard was, I had my eye on this match and felt that it needed to at least deliver a serviceable performance to balance things out, and boy did they ever. I wonder what they’re going to do next for Harper seeing as how he lost. I certainly hope he doesn’t get lost in the shuffle, because the man deserves a lot better. The show was pretty much falling off a cliff, but Orton and Harper did a tremendous job in keeping the crowd engaged, telling a great story and displaying tremendous ring work. Bravo to both men. ****

Naomi def. Alexa Bliss (C) – Smackdown Women’s Championship

Well, it is Black History Month…

Honestly, there are probably more storyline opportunities with Naomi than there is with Alexa Bliss. If Bliss were to retain, who would she fight next? Naomi again? Becky again?  And everyone else is heels. So I can understand why they put the title on Naomi. Oh, and I also assume to make sure we remember that WWE, does, in fact, cares about black people, she had to win, I suppose. Maybe it’s also an “I’m sorry” from WWE for leaving Naomi off Total Divas advertising. I’ll be honest here. I was tuning in and out of the match. I just couldn’t get into it. It also seemed to happen so fast. There was some stuff, some moonsaults, some botches and all of that jazz. The finish was sort of lousy, as well. If that was supposed to be a split legged moonsault, then somebody missed their cue, because that finish absolutely did not look right. But it wasn’t bad or anything. However, you can tell that Naomi absolutely has a passion for the business and loves doing what she does. She’s also been around a while and hasn’t gotten a real chance to shine, and she’s getting it now. Hopefully she can make the most of it, so congrats to her. Alexa’s still hot though .**1/2

 

Bray Wyatt def. John Cena (C), AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, The Miz, and Baron Corbin – WWE Championship (Elimination Chamber)

Predictable? Yes. Well-deserved? Hell yes.

I don’t know who came up with the concept for the new Chamber, but whoever did needs to be fired on the spot. Excuse me, WHERE OH WHERE ARE THE METAL GRATES? The Elimination Chamber is supposed to be about immense pain and suffering with no way of getting comfort. All parts of the chamber are supposed to cause pain. Aesthetically, from the outside, it looks like a big old log cabin. I wish I was kidding when I say that. It looks a bit taller, but why they chose to get rid of the old design, I have no idea. Anyways, let’s talk about the match. Usually, the Elimination Chamber match is used to highlight pain, torture and potential WrestleMania matches. From this match, I can deduce that we will likely have Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin for the Intercontinental Championship, the Cena/Nikki vs. Miz/Maryse mixed tag match and, unfortunately, AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon. Cena and Styles were great choices to start the match off, because not only do they have fabulous chemistry, but they would be able to effectively carry the match for the majority of the time that they would be together. I don’t know if you noticed, but once Ambrose came in, they started to repackage some of the spots that they used at No Mercy last year. I also loved the ingenuity that Ambrose and Styles used early on by trying the typical Spider Man routine in the Chamber to produce more bark on their moves. I was kind of surprised at the minimal showing that Corbin had in the Chamber. He got his End of Days move on Styles and Cena in sucession, and losing via a fluke roll up was a good way of protecting him and setting up his next feud. I would have liked to have seen him in the ring much longer, however, because then at least we can build up how much of a threat he is, as opposed to being the first man eliminated in the match. The Miz was also unfortunately a non-factor for most of the match. He was more of a scavenger, picking up the scraps of the carnage that lay in front of him. Him getting pinned by Cena will almost surely lead to them beefing as well, because all of the guys in the match had been in there for considerable amounts of time. The final sequence was really telling to me though. You may not be keeping track, but Bray has been booked as an elite superstar for the first time in his career. Think about it. At Survivor Series, he pins both Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns to give team Smackdown LIVE the victory. Then, here at the Elimination Chamber, he pins AJ Styles and John Cena, two men who have been at each other’s throats for about 8 months, CLEAN with his finishers. Say what you want about Bray, but they finally pulled the trigger, and it was long overdue. It sucks that it was an obious choice, because I think the crowd would have reacted better had he won as a surprise. In spite of that, the actoin between Styles and Wyatt towards the end was all sorts of awesome as well. While I didn’t like the new Chamber structure, what I saw in the ring was splendid. Certainly one of the better Chamber matches I’ve ever seen. Now it’ll be interesting ot see where they go from here with Bray. And now who remembers Cena’s legendary 16th title reign which lasted two weeks? ****1/4

Conclusion:

This show was heading to a clear recommendation to avoid rating, but once we got to Luke Harper vs. Randy Orton, business picked up. That match was PPV quality and much better than what I was expecting. The Elimination Chamber match also delivered in the way I hoped it would. Couple that with two new champions, and I believe this Smackdown-exclusive PPV earns the benefit of the doubt with a slight thumbs up. That being said, this PPV also exposed how lacking the roster is in terms of depth. While this was the first WWE PPV to feature three women’s singles matches, it was fluff for the most part, and almost everything else other than Orton/Harper and the chamber match was just mostly there to fill up time. It certainly didn’t help that six of the top of the Smackdown roster were all confined to one match, because if that weren’t the case we may have seen more balance. I’m certainly not watching the entire show over again, and if you want PPV quality, watch frmo Orton/Harper onto the end of the show. Everything in the beginning was to just make sure the show was at least three hours. The A+ performances from Orton, Harper, Styles, Wyatt and Cena saves this PPV from what was looking to be a horrible disaster. Until next time.

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