Elimination Chamber took place this past Saturday (February 28th) live from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Chamber is the last major stop on the road to WrestleMania and (for the most part) the last opportunity for the men and women on the roster to try and score a title match and a main event spot on the Grandest Stage of Them All. We saw both the Men’s and Women’s Chamber matches as well as Becky Lynch defending her Intercontinental Championship against AJ Lee, who was having her first singles match in over a decade. The hometown hero, CM Punk also defended the World Heavyweight Championship against a relentless Finn Balor. This was only a 4-match card, and it honestly kind of felt like it was. I’m so used to the Chamber matches feeling around an hour a piece and I don’t think either of these felt like near that, this show was a tight 2 hours and 50 minutes. That’s honestly on the short side for a WWE Premium Live Event and a lot of that time was filled up with ads as usual. What we did get was pretty entertaining and in ways quite unpredictable though, so without further ado let’s break it down!
The Women’s Elimination Chamber match started off the show and consisted of Tiffany Stratton, Rhea Ripley, Raquel Rodriguez, Asuka, Alexa Bliss, and Kiana James. Kiana James and Tiffany Stratton started off the match and I’ll be honest; Kiana had quite a good showing in this match and I wasn’t expecting that. Not even that I dislike Kiana, but I didn’t even expect her to be in this match to begin with and she hasn’t done much up on the main roster up to this point, so seeing her have some standout moments in this match was neat. I expected and was kind of pulling for Tiffany so seeing her start the match gave me some worries, but she had a good albeit somewhat brutal Chamber showing this year. She brutally slammed her back off the pod door early in the match and ended up busting her nose open at some point as well. Asuka was the 3rd into the match and Alexa Bliss followed shortly after. I know it’s supposed to be 5 minutes between entrants in these matches and I’m pretty sure it is for the 1st entrant, but it certainly isn’t for any entrant after that. Just whenever they get to the spot for the next person to enter. Next to enter was Rhea Ripley. Alexa Bliss had her big spot when she hit a Twisted Bliss off the top of one of the pods onto the field of women below. Moments later she was looking to finish off Kiana James with a Sister Abigail but was blinded by Asuka’s poison mist before being rolled up by Kiana for the 1st elimination of the match. Raquel Rodriguez was the final entrant into the match and made her presence known as the overpowering force she is. She hit Kiana with a fallaway slam and slammed Asuka with a Tejana Bomb onto Kiana before pinning them both for a double elimination. As Raquel had Tiffany in position on the top rope, Rhea laid her out with a flipping Senton which set Tiffany up on the top rope for the Prettiest Moonsault Ever which she connected to eliminate Raquel. Then there were 2. Tiffany looked to hit the PME once again on a downed Rhea, but she was able to shove Tiffany face-first into a pod and nail her with a Riptide for the win, officially punching her ticket to WrestleMania.
I knew coming into this match that Tiffany or Rhea were likely going to win and honestly, I wanted one of them to win as well. I was pulling for Tiffany a little more probably, but if I’m looking at this from a business point of view, I suppose it makes sense. Rhea is one of the most popular superstars on the roster today and WrestleMania is the biggest event of the year for WWE. They want her in the main event, they’re trying to sell them tickets and I get it. Jade and Rhea feel like a power showdown and it’s something we haven’t yet seen either, which I can’t say the same for Jade and Tiffany. Although that’s still probably my favorite match Jade has had in WWE. I kind of had a feeling something like this might be in the works though since RhIyo just dropped the tag team belts on Smackdown, but I was fighting believing it. I just especially hope this doesn’t leave Iyo or Tiffany in no man’s land for WrestleMania because they’re 2 of my favorite women on the roster right now and very much deserve to still have some sort of decent spot at the show of shows, which I’m sure they probably still will.
Next up, Becky Lynch defended her belt against the woman she can’t seem to get out of her head AJ Lee. As I mentioned earlier, this was AJ’s first singles match in 10 years, which is crazy. Makes me feel kind of old to be honest. They made sure to let you know early on in the match that Jessika Carr was refereeing and her and Becky have beef so you knew that was somehow going to come into play. AJ caught the overzealous Becky on a few occasions early on in the match, which frustrated Lynch, but once Becky got the upper hand, she maintained it through a lot of the matchup. Later in the match, Becky was frustrated that she couldn’t keep AJ down and exposed the turnbuckle, but ref Jessika Carr got sent into it as she tried to put the turnbuckle pad back on. Moments later, a dazed Carr caught a kick to the side of the head from Lynch and went down. AJ locked in the Black Widow and Becky tapped out but the ref didn’t see. Becky brought a chair into the equation for a moment as well as Carr was still down and used it to her advantage to take back the upper hand from AJ. Becky nailed AJ with a Manhandle Slam, AJ shockingly kicked out at 2. Becky was sent face first into the still exposed turnbuckle off of an AJ reversal, which gave AJ the opening to lock the Black Widow submission in again and Becky tapped out again, this time for real, giving AJ the win to become the NEW Women’s Intercontinental Champion.
I’m not mad at it, I am happy for AJ and actually wanted and really expected her to win the Intercontinental Championship at some point. I just predicted Becky to win here because I thought the story would be better to have her lose her first singles match back and kind of shock/upset the audience but make it mean even more by having her earn herself another chance with Becky at WrestleMania and then picking up the belt at the Show of Shows. Was this match a bit basic and general at times? Yes it was, but as I’ve mentioned multiple times now, this was AJ’s first singles match in 10 YEARS. I wasn’t expecting anything too crazy, but I thought they delivered and it did exactly what it needed to do for the story moving forward.
Next up, Chicago’s Own CM Punk put the World Heavyweight Championship on the line against a very game Finn Balor. Punk walked through the backstage area as the iconic 90’s Bulls entrance song “Sirius” played and the Bulls stadium announcer gave him a special ring announcement, before coming out to Cult of Personality as he entered onto the stage. That was a big time, almost WrestleMania feeling like entrance that helped set the stage and add some much-needed oomph for this match. Balor was hellbent in the early goings of this bout, outwrestling and even kind of dominating Punk and quieting down this very pro CM Punk crowd. A later in the match Coup de Grace attempt was reversed by Punk into a Sharpshooter, that although put on a bit sloppy was a very neat reversal and moment that helped to turn the momentum and tide of the matchup. Balor had Punk down and looked to be thinking about calling Judgment Day down to the ring but had second thoughts and waved it off. The distraction was enough for Punk though who hit Balor with a GTS, but Finn slid or fell out of the ring saving himself from the pin. Balor hit Punk with a running dropkick through the barricade while on the outside and brought him back into the ring looking for the pin. Punk came to life though and lifted Balor up and connected with his 2nd GTS of the match for the pin to retain the championship. After the match Balor showed some growth and shook Punk’s hand before leaving the ring.
Again, this was pretty good. I had no doubts in my mind that Punk was going to retain the belt here since the Mania match with Roman has already been announced, so I wasn’t at all shocked by anything in this matchup, but they delivered a well put together and entertaining bout. As you’d expect from 2 guys of their caliber. I think I prefer their Raw match in Dublin to this one still, but maybe that has to do with being legit caught by surprise with a match of that caliber on the main event of Raw and the stakes overall feeling a little more believable. Balor seems to be turning a corner in his character here and it was displayed through this match as well. He’s bickering with the Judgment Day and seems to be purposefully trying to distance himself from them or their shenanigans as of late, so it seems like only a matter of time before that faction disintegrates as Liv and Raquel have had a lot of friction lately as well.
Next up, Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis came out to finally open up and reveal what was inside that damn box that’s been backstage on the weekly show these last few weeks. They cracked it open and revealed a coffin. Out the coffin came a bunch of ladies in wigs with bangs, Elvira like latex outfits, and Danhausen make up. Then out pops Danhausen who walks to the ring with the GirlHausens doing a choreographed dance behind him while he’s doing his cursing pose. He then hands a jar of teeth to Michael Cole, poses once again in the ring with the girls, and disappears in a puff of smoke/pyro. The crowd seemed somewhat confused and mildly disappointed about this, but I loved it. I’m not even entirely sure what Danhausen is supposed to be, but he’s like right up my alley of weird and silly if they do it right. To me he feels like if Pee-Wee Herman played a vampiric magician on ‘The Munsters’ that could curse people. I’ve heard it said he’s like if a late-night talk show host was possessed by some sort of comedic ghoul. Whatever. If they let him cook and just do his thing, I feel like I’m going to love it, so I’m excited to see him within the world of the WWE now.
Lastly, came the Men’s Elimination Chamber match to determine who would face Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. Cody Rhodes, Trick Williams, Randy Orton, Jevon Evans, LA Knight, and Logan Paul went to battle inside the steel structure. Jevon and Cody were the first 2 in the matchup and were joined shortly by Trick. After some moments of battle and back and forth, Paul was brought into the matchup next and all 3 men ganged up on Logan immediately and momentarily removed him from the equation. LA Knight joined the fold next and the first big collision happened in the match as Knight and Jevon chased Logan up to the top of a pod before tossing him down onto Trick and Cody below. Jevon hit a Frog Splash onto a downed Trick below but was nailed with a nasty looking Paulverizer courtesy of Logan as he got to his feet and was eliminated by pinfall. LA Knight then hit Trick with a BFT but was nailed with a low blow and rolled up by Logan Paul and eliminated, Logan’s 2nd of the match and both within a few moments of each other. Paul felt like he was leaving Trick in there as bait and capitalizing off the distractions. Rhodes then hit Trick with a Cross Rhodes, but Logan drove him into the ring post and stole the pinfall for his 3rd of the match. A mystery masked man attempted to get into the Chamber but was caught by security, revealed to be no one familiar, and drug out of there. As this distraction was happening though, another masked man entered the ring for real and kicked Logan in the midsection before hitting him with a Stomp, allowing Cody to pin him and eliminate him from the match. The masked man then revealed himself to be the returning Seth Rollins who stared down Cody and then exited through the crowd as Paul Heyman absolutely lost his mind on the other side of the cage. As the door still stood open amidst all this chaos, Drew McIntyre entered the cage and nailed Cody with the WWE Championship before beginning to beat him down. Orton stopped Drew and dropped him with an RKO. As Drew got up, Cody did as well, and Cody hit him with a Cross Rhodes, but Orton immediately capitalized and nailed Cody with an RKO as he got to his feet for the pin and win officially sending Orton to WrestleMania.
This match was a bit of an overbooked mess, but I’m not mad at it. There was a lot of crazy mishaps and run-ins near the end of the match, but I’m a huge Seth Rollins guy so I’m never going to be mad at him returning and popped pretty big for that. Clearly there was going to be some sort of spot with the masked man as well with how hard they were pushing to make sure a member of ‘The Vision’ got inside the Chamber. The Drew spot was maybe a bit much, but this is the story that’s being told. He’s been screwing over Cody and Jacob Fatu every opportunity that he can get. That’s why as cool and sort of shocking as it was for Randy to win the Chamber, I still see Cody and probably Fatu both ending up in the title match at Mania. Which in ways makes the Chamber match feel a bit pointless, but it’s still a big and important win, and a bit of a surprising one at that for a veteran Randy Orton. Everything at Chamber was decent, nothing was horrible and nothing blew my mind, but it all delivered and did what it needed to do for the stories moving forward. Not going to be show of the year, but I’m satisfied with it. Seth Rollins returning and Danhausen debuting were probably my favorite moments of the night.
Match Ratings: 1-10 scale (.25 applicable)
Women’s Elimination Chamber match: Tiffany Stratton vs Rhea Ripley vs Asuka vs Alexa Bliss vs Kiana James vs Raquel Rodriguez– 7.75/10
Women’s Intercontinental Championship match: Becky Lynch (c) vs AJ Lee– 7/10
World Heavyweight Championship match: CM Punk (c) vs Finn Balor– 7.5/10
Men’s Elimination Chamber match: Cody Rhodes vs Jevon Evans vs Trick Williams vs Randy Orton vs Logan Paul vs LA Knight– 8.25/10
That’s all for this one though folks! Thanks for taking some time to read a bunch of pro wrestling opinions and analysis from a schmo like myself. Make sure to like and follow my page on social media to keep up with all my latest posts over WWE wrestling, horror films, newly released movies, and so much more! Thank you and until next time, be good to one another.
