WWE Elimination Chamber 2019 is in the bag and it’s time to look back on what happened and assess the damage, praise the positives and talk about what went down.
Per usual, at the end of this post, you’ll see my regular Smack Talk Pay-Per-Viewpoint post-show podcast, which reviews the event in more detail, but for those who want a more condensed version of my thoughts, I present to you my “quicker than a hiccup” reaction to the different parts of the evening:
Cruiserweight Championship Match: Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Akira Tozawa
Great match, as expected. I’m sure practically nobody saw it, as it’s the cruiserweight division and it’s on the kickoff. That’s such a shame. Go watch it if you haven’t. This was good.
Women’s Elimination Chamber Match: Nia Jax and Tamina vs. The Riott Squad vs. Bayley and Sasha Banks vs. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville vs. The IIconics vs. Naomi and Carmella
Maybe not everyone was the biggest fan of this, but I dug it. I think it was pretty well booked from start to finish with taking Banks out of the match, having The IIconics do their double-pin on Naomi, taking Fabulous Glow out first, having Jax go through the pod, etc. The right call was made with the winners, too. Thumbs up in my mind.
SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The Miz and Shane McMahon (c) vs. The Usos
I definitely didn’t expect this, not just because of the arrest situation, but because I thought Miz and McMahon would be holding the titles heading into WrestleMania. Now, I’m wondering if this was done to appease The Usos to keep them in WWE instead of going to AEW, or if this was the plan all along. Curious.
Intercontinental Championship Handicap Match: Bobby Lashley (c) and Lio Rush vs. Finn Balor
I actually thought this match was kind of flat. I wasn’t too interested in it at all, outside of the very end of it and the fact that Balor actually won the title. In a sense, I’m more interested in what the next step is, rather than what this match had going for it. Hopefully, it’s not a hot potato.
Raw Women’s Championship Match: Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Ruby Riott
Squash. This didn’t matter. All that mattered was the interactions between Rousey and Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch after the match, and even that wasn’t anything that particularly kept my attention or made me go “wow” in any way.
No Disqualification Match: Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin
I had a feeling this was going to be nothing more than a vessel for Drew McIntyre to interfere well before the No DQ stipulation was added. Once that happened, it was a guarantee. The Bobby Lashley interference was a bit surprising to me, though. This was kind of meh. The most interesting aspect of this is who the two people will be that befriend Strowman to counterbalance the triumvirate. Kurt Angle and who?
WWE Championship Elimination Chamber Match: Daniel Bryan (c) vs. AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton vs. Samoa Joe
I wasn’t as super into this match as the previous Elimination Chamber match, but I still liked it. In particular, the ending with Kofi Kingston was the best part of it. The rest of the people were just filler, which is a shame for them. I’m still wondering where this leads at WrestleMania with Daniel Bryan, but for a pit stop and a means to put over Kingston so well, even in a loss, I enjoyed it.
For more opinions on the show as a whole, check out the latest edition of the Smark Out Moment wrestling podcast SMACK TALK as the panel reviews Elimination Chamber with our immediate reactions following the event before the dust has fully settled.
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