The Elimination Chamber is back, though it never really left. This is the second free PPV for the month of may, so you can sense the desperation on WWE’s part to get more subscribers. Did the Elimination Chamber come through and leave a good final impression? Let us get right into it.
A New Day (C) def. Los Matadores, The Ascension, The Lucha Dragons, Team Kiddaro and the Prime Time Players – WWE Tag Team Championship (Elimination Chamber)
I think I might have set my expectations too high for this match. When it comes to this particular chamber match…..I don’t know man. My mind was all over the place. I quickly checked to see where the crowd was and I saw it was in Texas, that explained the deafness for most of the match. I thought there was some great action, but when the amount of wrestlers multiplied, the action started to slow down a bit. It sort of started to remind of a battle royal. However, I thought Cesaro, The Ascension and Titus O’Neil carried the load of the match and saved it from being a complete disappointment. I’d say if they would do a tag team title chamber match again next year, they have to find a way to quicken the action. Otherwise, don’t have it, because it started to get slow and dull in too many spots. I liked the ending sequence (insert black on black crime comment here), but I was expecting a bit more. Since this was the first chamber match for all but two participants in this match (Cesaro and Kofi Kingston), I’ll grade this match on a curve. I’ll reward them for effort, but the action was a bit lacking for me. ***1/4
Nikki Bella (C) def. Paige and Naomi – Divas Championship
When I heard the “this is awesome” chants in this match, I knew something was wrong with this crowd. Even by the horrible standards that the Divas, this was especially bad. It was sloppy, there was one embarassing botch where Nikki missed a kick from the top rope and Paige just covered her out of instinct, and the match just never got off the ground. I bet you the Divas from NXT were just having a good laugh in regards to how superior they are. I’m tempted to give it a quarter of a star out of pity, but it’s not even deserving of that. Awful match. DUD
Kevin Owens def. John Cena (Champion vs. Champion)
Safe to say I should eat my words. I’ll give WWE credit for finding the time to make a video package for this match. But damn, what an incredible match this was. I honestly didn’t think Kevin Owens had this much to his arsenal, but Cena is starting to bring out the best in his opponents. This was an absolute barn-burner. Match of the year candidate. Call it what you want. The cohesion was there, the chemistry was palpable, and the near-falls was astounding. Both men deserve a standing ovation if you ask me. The clean finish, needless to say, shocked me defiantly. I thought if Kevin would be protected, there would be a disqualification. But credit Cena for taking the clean finish. The post-match promo after was just the icing on the cake. This show was starting to fall off a cliff, but this match gave me new strength, and I can’t wait to see where Kevin goes after this. I called Cena winning a vote of no confidence, and I didn’t think WWE had the balls to do what they did, but man, what a match. I honestly had my doubts that Kevin can carry a great match for an extended period due to his vulgar physique. Boy was I wrong. If you have twenty five minutes to burn, get your eyes on this match. Watch it, love it and love it some more. ****1/2
Neville def. Bo Dallas
After the match that preceded it, you knew this was just nothing more than a placeholder match to burn time. At best, the action was inoffensive. I thought Neville should have been in the IC Chamber match, but instead they wasted his talents on Dallas. The match wasn’t anything really to see. Your typical RAW match really. Nothing bad, nothing great. Inoffensive at best. **1/4
Ryback def. R-Truth, Sheamus, Bad News Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, Mark Henry (Substitute for Rusev) – Intercontinental Championship (Elimination Chamber)
Oh no WWE. Nice try, but I’m going in on this match. Perhaps harder than I should, but this mini rant is warranted. won’t even blame the dead crowd for this atrocity. This was like working a chamber match in WWE 2k15. No flow, no crowd involvement, and just random moves without any flow to it. Of course this horrible match wouldn’t be complete without Truth pinning Barrett once again. Their first mistake was having Mark Henry be the sixth man in the chamber. He was not going to make things entertaining, and he certainly wasn’t going to speed up the action. Secondly, if I’m not mistaken, I believe this was called the Elimination Chamber. And the chamber was seldom used except for the first and latter parts of the match. Oh, and the match. Oh ho! It was too slow, too methodical, and I never got into it at all. There were numerous botches, some courtesy of the ref, and after Barrett got eliminated you can hear Ziggler call a spot saying “Stay there Mark. Stay there.” There’s a a Botchamania clip for you. I’m not sure if Rusev had been healthy, he can do this match justice. The lack of drama and the anti-climatic nature of the match just contributed to a total trash-fest of a chamber match. I didn’t think anything can be lower than the Divas match, but for a 25 minute chamber match with dull and typical moves, this match is getting my first ever negative rating. Call me too harsh on this match, but it’s deserving. Congrats to Ryback for getting the upset over the favorited Sheamus and his first title as it was a great surprise, but it came in one sloppy, sloppy chamber match. Easily the worst chamber match in its history. Even worse than December to Dismember. That’s hard to do. -**
Dean Ambrose def (DQ). Seth Rollins(C) – WWE World Heavyweight Championship
*Sigh* Thirty years later and we are still doing Dusty finishes? How original. I have seen much, MUCH better from these men. It seems since Rollins has been aligned with J+J and Kane on a permanent basis, the quality of his matches has gone down considerably. Even while he was with The Authority to initially begin when he looked like an X-Men character his matches were much better. This was an extended RAW match if I’ve ever seen it. I’m already reducing this match by one snowflake because of the Dusty finish. First of all, Seth could not have been booked any more weak if you can’t kick out of a finisher with a ref bump and another ref having to run all the way to the ring to make the count. Match picked up a little bit of steam towards the end, but the delivery just wasn’t there. Their RAW singles match a few weeks back was much better than this to put in perspective for you. I was waiting for the sequences where I can say, WOW, THESE GUYS ARE ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! I had those moments with their Falls Count Anywhere match and their Hell In A Cell Match last year. Didn’t have it this time. I was considering giving this at least three snowflakes, but the finish and action just dragged it down a few notches for me. By no means terrible and pretty decent for the most part, but I just didn’t thinkt he action warranted it. Give less time to the IC Chamber and more time to this match and it can be maybe 3 and a half stars. Eh. **3/4
Conclusion:
The show was free and we got a match of the year candidate in Owens/Cena, but other than that, everything else here is action you can bypass without feeling like you missed out on something huge. If of the chamber matches and/or Rollins/Ambrose could deliver big time, and it could have given WrestleMania a run for its money for the best PPV of the year. But this show left a sour taste in my mouth and the delivery was flat. One terrific match a great show does not make. Maybe I’m being too harsh on this show, but I’ve found that I’ve been more than generous to WWE in the past couple of reviews, even if it’s free. I’ll give it a thumbs in a middle because it was free, but leaning down because of it being a one match show. You know what? I’ll give it a thumbs slightly up. The Owens/Cena match was incredible and there was another match at least three stars. This show really was only meant to build to Money In The Bank anyways. Kevin Owens is going places people. Wait, Money In the Bank is in two weeks?!
