Friday, March 29, 2024
EditorialeWN's Round Table Preview of WWE Elimination Chamber 2019

eWN’s Round Table Preview of WWE Elimination Chamber 2019

623 views

TRENDING

Welcome to another edition of eWN Round Table, where we gather some of the most active writers here on eWrestlingNews and share the platform to answer some questions surrounding a centralized topic, upcoming event, etc.

This is meant to showcase the potential for both a wide range of perspectives as well as how sometimes, there can be a group consensus no matter what your viewpoint is, so we also invite all of you to join in on the discussion by answering these questions yourself in the comments section below.

For this particular volume, we’ll be focusing on WWE Elimination Chamber 2019.

Participants for this round = Anthony Mango, Robert DeFelice, Richard Staple, Ethan Absler and Chris Holden.

1) “What’s the better pay-per-view name, Elimination Chamber or No Way Out?”

MANGO: Definitely No Way Out. I hate it when WWE just goes with the gimmick match as the name of the show. Nothing was a more egregious example of this than WWE Fatal 4-Way. No Way Out not only works with the cage aspect, it also solves the issue they have of needing to use the name No Escape in Germany, as they want to avoid using the word “chamber” there.

DEFELICE: No Way Out is a much better name. It’s about as much pandering as the Elimination Chamber name is but at least it’s kind of cool and doesn’t just slap you in the face with what is going on. Also, No Way Out can be used to host any kind of cage match in case they get over the Elimination Chamber gimmick down the line.

STAPLE: It will be a frigid day in hell when I think a PPV named after the stipulation attraction is better than the names of PPV’s we got in the Ruthless Aggresion Era. No Way Out until my dying day.

ABSLER: Besides the Royal Rumble PPV, I am usually against shows being named after one specific gimmick match. With that being said, I think the better name for the show would be No Way Out.

HOLDEN: If every match was in an enclosure, cage, cell or chamber, I’d be all for No Way Out. Since the PPV usually lives and dies around one match in the chamber, I’m okay with Elimination Chamber as the show name.

2) “Would you be annoyed if Finn Balor won the Intercontinental Championship by pinning Lio Rush instead of Bobby Lashley?”

MANGO: Only if they didn’t follow it up. If Balor beats Rush and then has to defend the belt against Lashley at Fastlane, then I’m cool with it. If they do that just to avoid having Lashley take a loss and then they move on to a new feud for both of those, I’ll be a little annoyed.

DEFELICE: Not at all in my opinion. In fact, I think it would show that he’s actually using his brain and taking advantage of the circumstances afforded to him.

STAPLE: It wouldn’t bother me because it’s legal and Finn would only be taking advantage of the stipulation. In fact, if he were smart, that’s what he should try to do. Not having to beat the champion to become champion is something WWE seems to be a fan of anyway. That’s how Roode and Gable won the tag titles.

ABSLER: I wouldn’t be upset if Balor pinned Rush to win the title. Of course a one on one match and win against Lashley would be preferred, but the handicap match rules allow for Balor to win by pinning Rush. So, if it happens that way, so be it.

HOLDEN: It probably makes the most sense to do that, if they want the win and belt to go Finn. Otherwise it means more of the same 50/50 booking that’s keeping anyone from catching fire.

3) “Does the lack of Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins and Asuka impact your view of this event being on the Road to WrestleMania?”

MANGO: It doesn’t kill it, but it does make me think that this is less of an important event than it should be. Not having the Universal Championship involved is something that I’ve gotten used to, but I shouldn’t have gotten used to it. Not having Asuka do anything at all means they really don’t know what they’re doing with her yet and that makes me nervous about her spot at Mania.

DEFELICE: I think it does a lot of damage to not have Brock Lesnar or Seth Rollins on this card. I understand why due to injury but Seth Rollins is Mr. Wrestling and I think it hurts his character to not be working this event. As far as Asuka goes, she just tapped out the most over wrestler on the roster. Why isn’t she on the show? Even if it was just in a makeshift tag team? This makes no sense.

STAPLE: Normally, it would, but since WWE is cramming in Fastlane as well, we’ll probably see them there. To me, there really should be only one PPV separating the Rumble and WrestleMania. That way, you can stagger more of the feuds and give them more time to develop, instead of devoting time to building to PPV’s in between two of the big four. Lesnar doesn’t appear at those kinds of shows anyway, but I do expect Seth and Asuka at Fastlane if anything.

ABSLER: I don’t think the lack of specific stars makes this PPV less “credible” for lack of a better word, when it comes to the Road to Wrestlemania. This card still has WWE Championship, and the Women’s Tag Titles, making this plenty significant in shaping the landscape of Wrestlemania 35.

HOLDEN: It certainly takes some of the shine off proceedings when neither of the top two stars from a show are on a big card; having said that, if Brock was to compete, it’d have to be against Rollins, rendering Mania moot. So I guess it’s no loss, really.

4) “Which match do you want to be the main event of this card?”

MANGO: The women’s tag team match. It’s guaranteed to have a new set of champions crowned and the only other option is the men’s Elimination Chamber, but I could see that opening the night instead.

DEFELICE: The WWE championship should absolutely be the main event. It features the event’s namesake match and it’s for the most coveted prize in the industry. Anything else is just pandering.

STAPLE: If you’re gonna call the PPV Elimination Chamber, it probably should be the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Title. Unless Ruby Riott has impressed enough people backstage that is.

ABSLER: I think the WWE Championship match should be the main event, but that is Interchangeable with the Women’s Tag Title match. That could very well main event and also make logical sense. Either one would work.

HOLDEN: WWE World Championship Elimination Chamber match.

5) “Which match are you most excited to see on this pay-per-view?”

MANGO: The men’s Elimination Chamber match is probably the one I think will be the best, so that has my vote. The women’s match is close to that, but when you compare the two, I think the men’s has the overall better performers involved.

DEFELICE: The men’s Elimination Chamber. definitely one of my favorite gimmick matches featuring six of the guys that I really grew up watching. It’s going to be just a feel good experience to shut off my brain and watch some of my favorites go at it for the richest prize in the game.

STAPLE: Probably the WWE Title Elimination Chamber. Everything else except the female tag chamber match is just thrown together at the last minute. I mean, Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin? Ronda vs. Ruby? There’s no backstory behind any of those matches, and I have no reason to care.

ABSLER: I am most excited for the WWE Championship match. The field of competitors this year is awesome and the Chamber is one of my favorite match stipulations.

HOLDEN: Probably the men’s title chamber match, but I’m very interested to see how the ladies tag chamber bout plays out.

6) “Which superstar do you feel is the biggest omission from this lineup?”

MANGO: Ignoring Mustafa Ali and the Rollins/Lesnar/Asuka situation from above, I’d vote for something that is regularly missing here, which is the United States Championship. How is there no Triple Threat between Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura and R-Truth? Then again, why isn’t there a Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade blowoff match? I’d go with those two, actually. Shout out to Harper and Tye Dillinger. I would have had either of those in the Elimination Chamber over Kofi Kingston as the replacement for Mustafa Ali.

DEFELICE: Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins for all the reasons I listed above.

STAPLE: The easy answer is Seth Rollins or Asuka, but I’m actually gonna say Andrade. The dude has been killing it with Rey on SmackDown, and I think he was deserving to be Mustafa Ali’s replacement.

ABSLER: I think Seth Rollins is the biggest omission from the card. The Kingslayer is one half of the Wrestlemania main event and with no Brock Lesnar on TV, I’m surprised WWE didn’t have Rollins booked on the card.

HOLDEN: I’m barely following SmackDown these days, and I’m not sure I’m “missing” anyone from Raw… it that worse that not being able to name an omission?

7) “If you could add one more match to this card, what would it be?”

MANGO: R-Truth vs. Rusev vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, or Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio in some kind of gimmick. I’m tired of the United States Championship being forgotten about, and I think Mysterio/Andrade isn’t over yet.

DEFELICE: If I could add one more match to this card, it would be Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle. Okay, I know the comment section is going to crap all over me for being super fantasy booker here, but just hear me out. Kurt Angle is going through a depression. Why not give him one more in event match against arguably his greatest rival? This would also keep Brock Lesnar fresh and give Brock Lesnar a match with somebody who is arguably his greatest rival. No, it won’t be WrestleMania 19. But in an era where we just saw DX take on the Brothers of Destruction, I don’t think I’m crazy for thinking that these two great American athletes could do something fun for one month.

STAPLE: It’s kind of hard to say, because there’s not a lot of matches that I could think of that would make sense on the card. I suppose for the hell of it, maybe R-Truth defending against Shinsuke and Rusev in a triple threat.

ABSLER: If I could add one match it would be Rusev vs Nakamura vs R-Truth for the US Title. This triple threat match needs to happen in order to settle the hot potato passing of the US Championship over the last few months. I think these guys deserve to be on the card.

HOLDEN: A men’s tag team title chamber match. Maybe next year.

Big thanks to everyone who took part in this edition!

Those are our thoughts, but what do you have to say about these issues? Keep the discussion going by chiming in via the comments section below!

- Advertisment -

LATEST NEWS

- Advertisment -

Related Articles