Sunday, 2 March 2014

WWE Elimination Chamber 2014 Review

The final PPV before Wrestlemania XXX, Elimination Chamber, took place at the Target Center in Minnesota. Who will be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion going into Wrestlemania and face Batista? Let's take a look

The Kick-Off match is between Cody Rhodes and Goldust and Curtis Axel and Ryback. This match wasn't too bad with a nice bit when the Rhodes do cross bodies to their opponents. Despite Ryback and Axel getting some momentum wearing down Goldust, it was not enough as Cody gets the hot tag and; after a Cross Rhodes on Axel, gets his team the win. I know a lot of people would like the Rhodes to be break up so that they can face each other at Wrestlemania. However, I can't see them splitting up for a while and they might get another title reign.
Winners: Cody Rhodes and Goldust
Predictions: 1 for 1

The event starts with Jack Swagger challenging Big E Langston for the Intercontinental Championship. Big E shows his agility being dominant over Swagger and spears him against the ring post. Swagger gets the advantage after arm dragging Big E out of the ring followed by a clothesline. The match goes back and forth between both guys with highlights being Big E spearing Swagger out of the ring and later on, Swagger hits a belly to belly suplex from the top rope. In the end, Swagger applies the Patriot lock and Big E manages to stand up and kick him in the back of the head and then he hits the Big Ending to win the match and retain the Championship. I really enjoyed this match and I wouldn't mind seeing a rematch between the two at Wrestlemania.
Winner: Big E
Predictions: 2 for 2

After the match, we get to see Bad News Barrett in a segment in which he announces that Russia had won more medals than the US in the Winter Olympics. I like what Barrett is doing with his gimmick and I hope that the WWE stick with it. However, he needs to start wrestling otherwise I feel that the gimmick might end flat. We get Barrett making announcements after each match.

We now get the Tag Team Championship match as The New Age Outlaws defend their titles against The Usos. The Outlaws start to focus their attack on Jey Uso after Road Dogg sends him flying into the corner, hurting his knee. After a while, Jimmy Uso gets the hot tag and hits a superkick on Billy Gunn for 2. In the end, however, Gunn takes advantage of Jimmy dealing with an attempted distraction by Road Dogg to do a roll up to get the win. I quite enjoyed this match but I didn't like the ending with Gunn doing a roll up. As for the Outlaws being Champions, it seems that they're the Champions thanks to them being friends with Triple H. It certainly looks like that way. However, as long as they lose the Championships at Wrestlemania, I'd be happy.
Winners: The New Age Outlaws
Predictions: 3 for 3

The next match is between Darren Young and Titus O'Neil. Titus takes advantage of the referee speaking to Darren to hit a cheap shot and get the momentum. Titus sends Darren flying over the turnbuckle then starts slamming his back into the ring post. Despite Darren making a comeback, Titus hits the Clash of the Titus to get the win. This match wasn't bad but it seemed to be a slow pace. It also doesn't help that there was little build up to this which is a shame as they both have potential.
Winner: Titus O'Neil
Predictions: 4 for 4

Next is the match that a lot of people are looking forward as we get a six man tag team match between The Shield and The Wyatt Family. Before the match even starts, the crowd are chanting “This is awesome”. There are so many highlights in this match: the mini-match between Reigns and Wyatt; Wyatt flattening Ambrose with a brutal avalanche splash; Rollins getting out of a super overhead belly-to-belly suplex by landing on his feet; and Harper hitting a Boss Man Slam on Rollins. Reigns gets the hot tag from Rollins and after a bit of 6-man chaos, Reigns and Rowan hit each other with clotheslines. Ambrose stops Rollins from getting put through the Spanish announce table. Ambrose and Wyatt go off and brawl in the crowd. Wyatt returns and Harper and Rowan put Rollins through the Spanish announce table. This leaves Reigns to face the Wyatts by himself. Wyatt goes for the Sister Abigail but Reigns powers out of it and hits a Samoan drop followed by Superman punches to Rowan and Wyatt. Reigns tries to hit Wyatt with the spear but Harper sacrifices himself and gets hit instead. This gives Wyatt the opportunity to hit the Sister Abigail to get the win. I really enjoyed this match and once again, they made Roman Reigns look really strong. Even though it was technically a heel versus heel match, it worked because all the guys involved are good workers and the fans like both of these groups. It will be interesting to see if they continue with this feud. However, events later on in the main event might suggest a different path for the Wyatts.
Winner: The Wyatt Family
Predictions: 4 for 5

The next match is for the Divas Championship as AJ Lee is challenged by Cameron. AJ, having defeated everyone in the Divas division, understandably thinks that will be an easy match. Cameron does give AJ a decent match to begin with before AJ shows her dominance. AJ starts mocking Cameron with the pom-poms. Cameron starts to make a comeback, which is helped by Tamina inadvertently superkicking AJ's head off. Tamina redeems herself by putting AJ's leg on the ropes. Cameron doesn't take that well and goes after Tamina, who clotheslines her getting AJ disqualified. This match wasn't too bad although I really don't get that why they would protect Cameron by giving her a victory by disqualification.
Winner: Cameron
Predictions: N/A

We now get Batista facing Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio comes out in a neck brace and a crutch thanks to Batista fucking him up over the last few weeks and states that he is unable to take part. That turns out to be a crock of bullshit as he attacks Batista, with the crutch, takes off his neck brace and suit and the match is underway. Del Rio's plan looks like it's going to work as he comes close to winning a few times. However, it doesn't end well for him as he tries for the cross armbreaker and Batista pushes him into the turnbuckle that had been exposed by Del Rio earlier and he follows that with the Batista Bomb to get the win. The match was ok but the crowd don't seem to like Batista as they were booing him even though he is the good guy here.
Winner: Batista
Predictions: 5 for 6

The main event is for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as Randy Orton defends the title in an Elimination Chamber match against Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Antonio Cesaro, Sheamus and Christian. Sheamus and Cesaro start off the match and after 5 minutes, Daniel Bryan followed by Christian, John Cena and Randy Orton. Surprisingly, there are no eliminations before all the wrestlers enter the match. Orton starts beating on everyone but flees back into his pod when his opponents start to gang up on him. Sheamus decides to brogue kick down the plexiglass to get to Orton. Cesaro does the giant swing to Orton then perhaps shockingly, Sheamus is the first to be eliminated after a superplex by Orton followed by a splash from on top of a pod by Christian. Christian doesn't get a chance to celebrate as he gets hit with a running knee by Bryan to get eliminated. Cesaro gets hit with AA to the steel followed by a STF by Cena to get eliminated, which annoyed me because Cesaro tapped out a but too easily for me. Anyway, it looks like Cena is going to eliminate Orton with the STF. However, the Wyatt Family pay a visit and proceed to attack Cena and Bray Wyatt hits Cena with the Sister Abigail. Orton, being inspired by Edge's manual “How to be the Ultimate Opportunist”, pins Cena to eliminate him. We now left with Orton and Bryan as Corporate Kane comes out to admonish the Wyatts and check on Cena. Bryan hits Kane with a knee from the top turnbuckle as revenge for Kane injuring his shoulder the previous week. Bryan focuses on Orton and they go back and forth for a while before Bryan hits the running knee. It looks like the match is over but Kane, not taking his knee to the head very well, stops the referee from making the count and Orton hits the RKO for 2. Kane hits a cheap shot on Bryan and Orton hits another RKO to get the win. I really enjoyed this match as it was a lot of fun. I was slightly miffed by the way that Cesaro was eliminated but despite that, it has set up a couple of matches with the possibility of Cena facing the Wyatts and Bryan facing Kane or maybe Triple H.
Winner: Randy Orton
Predictions: 6 for 7


I thought that Elimination Chamber was a decent event. There were some matches that weren't that great but despite that, most of it was fun to watch; especially the 6 man tag match. It looks like the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match will be between Randy Orton and Batista. However, due to the crowd reactions towards Batista, having it a one on one match might not be a wise idea. I can see WWE sticking to their guns with it but I won't be surprised if they add someone else to it.

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