Elimination Chamber Review: Breaking Down Every Match

The Smackdown brand was put in an unenviable position heading into the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Why, it was only two weeks ago that the Royal Rumble happened, which meant they only had two shows to build up to a whole new pay-per-view. That’s not a lot of time, but fortunately the event could rely upon the Elimination Chamber match, which is basically a sillier version of Hell in a Cell, a match type that Mauro Ranallo continually kept confusing it with. If nothing else, we’d get to see six men in a big metal cage, which is worth something. So was Elimination Chamber able to overcome its truncated lead up in order to put on an exciting event? Here’s a match-by-match breakdown of the pay-per-view, judged in the classic thumbs up/thumbs down fashion. Not included is the preshow match between Mojo Rawley and Curt Hawkins, which gets whatever the thumb equivalent of a shrug is.

Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James: Finally, we got to see Mickie James in singles action back in the WWE. While, as JBL had to point out to David Otunga, James has been wrestling the world over during his absence from the WWE, but a lot of people probably missed out on those years. Also, on a quick side note, Tom Phillips was chiming in during matches with commentary during the night, which is not usually his role. Are they considering using him as a face commentator to replace Otunga? We can only hope, but Otunga remains horrendous.

Anyway, it was smart to make James’ first match with Lynch, as she is Smackdown’s best wrestler, and also its most over female grappler. James has clearly stayed on top of things. She’s in excellent shape, and she was up to the task of going toe-to-toe with Lynch. James pulled off a few cool moves, even adding a little life to some rest holds, but in the end Lynch pulled off the win with a roll up. It’s always a bit disappointing to see a match end in a roll up, and it also feels like an odd choice to have James lose her first singles match. On the other hand, by having James lose this way it actually softens the blow. She didn’t tap out or get beat soundly. James even got to hit her finisher. As such, both women come out of this match looking good, and their feud can continue. Thumbs up.

Apollo Crews and Kalisto vs. Dolph Ziggler: It was hard to get excited for this match, and one way or another somebody was going to take a big hit to their “momentum,” it seemed. Crews and Kalisto couldn’t lose a handicap match, but on the other hand Ziggler can’t really afford another loss. So it made sense when Ziggler attacked Kalisto from behind, making it ostensibly a singles match between Crews and Ziggler. Now, Dolph could beat Crews one-on-one, and it would work a lot better.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Kalisto triumphantly returned from backstage to take part in the match. On his way to the ring, Kalisto staggered and held his back and looked really beat up. Then, Kalisto got in the ring and he seemed to completely forget to sell his back injury. Crews and Kalisto got the win, and then Kalisto went right back to holding his back. Not a good look. Naturally, after the match Ziggler attacked them both, and he stomped on a chair around Crews’ ankle a couple times. Overall it was a whatever match, but here was the real problem. The crowd was abjectly obnoxious in this match. Ziggler is a heel. He’s doing his damnedest to get over as a heel. The fans keep cheering him. Beyond that, they were cheering him attacking Crews and his ankle. They chanted “Thank you Ziggler after the match.” This is just stupid. It’s totally not cool to Crews, who is a good wrestler doing his best. This isn’t like fans cheering for A.J. Styles because he’s a great wrestler. They are just messing with the WWE’s programming and storytelling for no reason. The fans alone earn this match a thumbs down.

Tag Team Turmoil Match: Every tag team was in action, but in the end America Alpha retained the title. The journey there was fun, though. Fandango wrestled with fashion police tickets tucked into his pants, and proceeded to throw them onto Heath Slater. The match culminated with American Alpha beating the Usos, then getting beat up by the Usos before The Ascension entered the match as the final entrants. It seemed like the WWE was justifying why The Ascension was going to walk away with the titles, but then American Alpha staged the comeback and got the win. That’s fine, because who wants to see The Ascension win the tag team titles? The only problem was that The Vaudvillains got short shrift once again. Oh well. Thumbs up.

Natalya vs. Nikki Bella: Neither of these women are particularly good on the mic, which has made the buildup for the match kind of tedious. That also means it was hard to get too invested in the battle. However, at least the match was good. They did some shrewd storytelling about Nikki trying to prove she really knows how to wrestle and isn’t just a pretty face. She was mostly able to live up to that. Natalya only has a few go to heel mannerisms, which got a bit repetitive, but at least she tries. The match ended with a double count out. That’s a little lame, although it lets the feud continue with the women on even footing. It would have been better if it had been a double disqualification. Thumbs in the middle.

Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper: This was the most inevitable result of the night. Everybody headed in knowing Orton, who is going to headline WrestleMania, was going to win with the RKO. That’s exactly what he did. Fortunately, the match up to this point was really good. Harper, as it is often pointed out, is a really good worker for a big man. They had a fun match with some cool spots, which made up for the inevitability of it all. Thumbs up.

Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss: There are those on the internet who like to point out that Alexa Bliss is kind of green in the ring. Maybe that’s true, but there are two things she does really well. One, she sells her opponent’s offense. Two, she has great ring presence as a heel. Bliss is a delight, and her personality will carry her far. Naomi and Alexa had a solid match, which Naomi ended up winning. That feels like a bit of a surprise, because she’s Naomi, after all. Even though WrestleMania  is in her hometown of Orlando, it seemed unlikely they’d put the title on her. They did, though. To her credit, she’s gotten better as a wrestler, and her whole “Feel the glow” thing actually gives her a hook and some personality. It’s hard to get excited about Naomi, but it’s also hard to find a real to complain. Slight thumbs up.

Elimination Chamber: This match got off to a great start. Style and John Cena were the first two guys in the ring. Those two always work well together, so that was a smart move. The early going was full of big spots. Dean Ambrose was jumping off all sorts of stuff. Dudes were taking crazy bumps. Nobody was being eliminated. It was a delight. Then, The Miz was the last guy out of his pod, and the match headed into the end game. Baron Corbin was the first guy eliminated, he got rolled up by Ambrose, and then Corbin beat down Ambrose. The Miz, who had been essentially hiding in his pod, then ran to the ring to take advantage, pinning Ambrose. This was amusing.

Then, the match became much less hectic and the big spots started to dissipate. The final three men were Styles, Cena, and Bray Wyatt. Cena got eliminated by Wyatt with a Sister Abigail, and then Wyatt hit Styles with a Sister Abigail to win the match. Wyatt is your new champion. He will, evidently, face Orton at WrestleMania. We all know Cena wasn’t going to win, because they had Cena face Orton on the last Smackdown before the pay-per-view. From a storytelling standpoint, Wyatt makes the most sense. It’s cool to see him final get some real success. For a while, he’s been a guy who is over and is good on the mic, but never really got to win. Remember when he was losing to Kane? Those days are gone. Overall, this match was really good. You can’t see this many big spots and not be entertained. Thumbs up.