Saturday 28 March 2020

WWE Elimination Chamber 2020 Review

WWE Elimination Chamber, the last PPV before Wrestlemania, took place on Sunday 8th March at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. How will Wrestlemania look after this show? Let's take a look.

The match on the Kick Off Show was The Viking Raiders taking on Zack Ryder and Kurt Hawkins. After a few minutes, The Viking Raiders hit The Viking Experience on Ryder to get the win. The match wasn't memorable.
Winners: The Viking Raiders

The first match of the event was Daniel Bryan taking on Drew Gulak. The match starts as a technical match before Gulak gets the advantage by focusing on the neck, hitting moves such as a dragon suplex. Bryan mounts a brief comeback but Gulak hits an inverted superplex then goes for the Gu-Lock. Bryan gets out of it and applies the Yes Lock to get the win by submission. This was a very good match with a lot of technical ability being displayed by both men.
Winner: Daniel Bryan (0 for 1)

The next match is for the United States Championship as Humberto Carrillo challenges Andrade. The match starts with Andrade hitting a back elbow and he goes on to press his advantage. Andrade tries to expose some concrete so that he can DDT Carrillo onto it but he gets stopped. Carrillo hits a jawbreaker to start his comeback. After a lot of pinning combinations, Andrade manages to pin Carrillo with a handful of tights to get the pin. I quite enjoyed this match, which was very physical to addition to the high flying style that we expected.
Winner: Andrade (1 for 2)

We now get our first Elimination Chamber match as The New Day, The Usos, Heavy Machinery, Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler, and The Lucha House Party challenge John Morrison and Hollywood Miz for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship. The New Day and The Usos start the match; then after 5 minutes, The Lucha House Party join them. They are followed by The Miz and Morrison then Heavy Machinery. They hit Gran Metalik with The Compactor to eliminate The Lucha House Party then Roode and Ziggler enter the match. Roode eliminates Heavy Machinery after hitting Tucker with a Glorious DDT but they get eliminated after a Uso Splash by The Usos. Kingston misses a splash off one of the cages and Miz and Morrison take advantage to pin him and eliminate The New Day. In the end, Morrison and Miz, with some help of the ropes, pin Jimmy Uso to get the win. I thought this was a fun match to watch.
Winners: The Miz and Jim Morrison (2 for 3)

The next match is a No Disqualification match between AJ Styles and Aliester Black.  Styles' buddies, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, distract Black a few times to help Styles get the advantage and focus on the leg. Styles puts Black in the calf crusher but he uses a kendo stick to get out of it. After some back and forth, Black looks like he's about to hit the Black Mask when Gallows and Anderson gang up on him. When Styles is about to finish it, The Undertaker suddenly appears, hits Styles with a chokeslam then disappears. Black manages to recover and hits the Black Mask to get the win. This was a good match, although I feel that they could used the no disqualification stipulation a bit more.
Winner: Aliester Black (3 for 4)

We now get the RAW Tag Team Championship match as Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy challenge The Street Profits.  Angelo Dawkins doesn't see Murphy tagging Rollins, and this gives him the chance to chop block Dawkins and give his team the advantage. Dawkins sends Murphy over the top rope, and this gives him the chance to tag in Montez Ford. When AOP interfere in the match, The Viking Raiders come out and fight with them to the back. After both teams have a chance to win it, Kevin Owens appears out of the crowd and throws popcorn in Rollins' face. This gives Dawkins the chance to shoulder charge Rollins into the barrier and then take out Murphy with a frog splash by Ford to get the win. Afterwards, Owens hits Rollins with a Stunner. It was a decent match but I wasn't a fan of the ending as I feel that The Street Profits needed to win clean to establish themselves as Champions.
Winners: The Street Profits (4 for 5)

The penultimate match is for the Intercontinental Championship as Cesaro, Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura challenge Braun Strowman in a handicap match. Strowman is dominant for most of the match but he constantly tries to get at Zayn. Nakamura takes advantage with a dropkick to the knee. Strowman makes a comeback and goes after Zayn. That turned out to be a bad idea as Nakamura and Cesaro hit a double suplex with a Helluva Kick by Zayn. Zayn then pins Strowman to become the new Intercontinental Champion. This turned out to be quite a good match and I liked the story of Strowman being too focused on Zayn and it leading to his downfall. I'm happy that Zayn is the Intercontinental Champion. It's a shame that Strowman will probably fuck him up at Wrestlemania.
Winner: Sami Zayn (4 for 6)

The main event is a Elimination Chamber match to determine the No 1 contender for the RAW Women's Championship with Asuka, Liv Morgan, Natalya. Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan and Shayna Baszler taking part. Riott and Natalya start the match followed by Logan and then Baszler. Baszler immediately gets Logan and Riott to sumbit to the Kirifuda Clutch within 60 seconds. A couple of minutes later, she gets Natalya to submit to the Kirifuda Clutch, leaving her by herself. A few minutes later, Liv Morgan enters the match but she doesn't last long as Baszler fucks her up and gets her to pass out due to another Kirifuda Clutch. Eventually, Asuka enters the match and she puts up a fight, putting Baszler in the Asuka Lock. However, it was not enough as she gets Asuka to pass out to the Kirifuda Clutch and get the win.

I wasn't a fan of the match. I feel that they made Baszler too dominant. I'm a big fan of her but I'm worried that if it really hurt her if WWE decide to book Lynch to win at Wrestlemania. Also, there was a lot of the match where Baszler was the only one in the ring and you can't have in the main event.
Winner: Shayna Baszler (5 for 7)

With the exception of the main event, I thought that Elimination Chamber was pretty good.  The Wrestlemania card did look pretty good. However, with the Coronavirus pandemic affecting it, I now worry about how it will go.

Sunday 8 March 2020

WWE Elimination Chamber 2020 Preview

The final PPV before Wrestlemania, Elimination Chamber, will be taking place this evening. at the Wells Fargo Center in Pittsburgh. How will the landscape change on the Road to Wrestlemania? Let's take a look at the card.

Daniel Bryan vs Drew Gulak
I'm looking forward to this one and I think that Gulak will find a way to win here
Predicted Winner: Drew Gulak

Andrade vs Humberto Carrillo
United States Championship
I think that Andrade will retain.
Predicted Winner: Andrade

Aliester Black vs AJ Styles
No Disqualification Match
I think that, despite Styles getting help from The OC, Black will get the win.
Predicted Winner: Aliester Black

The Street Profits vs Seth Rollins and Murphy
RAW Tag Team Championship
The Street Profits have only been Champions for a couple of weeks so I'll be surprised if they lose here.
Predicted Winner: The Street Profits

Braun Strowman vs Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro
Handicap Match for the Intercontinental Championship
I don't get why they've done this match. If Strowman wins, it will bury 3 talented wrestlers. If Zayn, Cesaro and Nakamura win, it will devalue the Championship. I'm going for the least worst option, which is Strowman to retain.
Predicted Winner: Braun Strowman

Hollywood Miz and John Morrison vs The New Day vs The Usos vs The Lucha House Party vs Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode vs Heavy Machinery
Elimination Chamber Match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship
It should be a good match and I'm going for Miz and Morrison to retain.
Predicted Winners: The Miz and John Morrison

Ruby Riott vs Liv Morgan vs Sarah Logan vs Shayna Baszler vs Asuka vs Natalya
Elimination Chamber Match to determine the No 1 contender for the RAW Women's Championship
There is no way that Shayna is going to lose this, right?
Predicted Winner: Shayna Baszler

It will be a couple of days before I put up the review. I hope you all enjoy the show.