Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler & JBL
Pre-show
Brodus Clay & Tensai defeated Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow (Team Rhodes Scholars) after big splashes from both Clay and Tensai.
Main Show
World Heavyweight Championship
Alberto Del Rio (c) (w/ Ricardo Rodriguez) vs Big Show
After two Last Man Standing matches, this was the first straight-up one-on-one match between the two. A pin or submission over Big Show from Del Rio was definitely needed to legitimise his standing as World Champion. Leading up to this, Show stated that Del Rio had never pinned him. This would suggest that a pinfall victory would be on the cards to end this match and, in turn, the feud.
In moving forward, Del Rio needed a good showing here - this was produced as the two had another good match. This added to the Last Man Standing matches that the two had already put on. Credit to both guys during this feud - it has been a good elevation for Del Rio after he became a face out-of-the-blue at the end of last year.
More praise should go to Big Show, though. Not only has he put in the best heel performance of his career in the last six months, but he has also elevated Sheamus (further) and Del Rio to be genuinely credible Champions. He has also had some of the best matches of his career in this period.
I did expect a Dolph Ziggler cash-in at the end of this match, which didn't happen. Therefore the Elimination Chamber winner can be narrowed down to either Randy Orton, Mark Henry or Jack Swagger (if Dolph would've cashed in then my pick was Chris Jericho).
Winner (& still World Heavyweight Champion): Alberto Del Rio by submission - Cross-armbreaker
United States Championship
Antonio Cesaro (c) vs The Miz
Until the flat finish, this was a pretty nice, flowing match. The focus was definitely on Miz' injured shoulder (that Cesaro administered on Raw). This was Miz' 'out' if he were to lose and also to gain him sympathy due to trying to fight the odds.
This ended with an accidental knee to the groin, which gave Cesaro the disqualification victory. Therefore, not a definitive end to this feud - there's plenty of time to build these two to Wrestlemania now.
Winner (& still US Champion): Antonio Cesaro by disqualification - low blow
Jack Swagger (w/ Zeb Colter) vs Kane vs Randy Orton vs Mark Henry vs Chris Jericho vs Daniel Bryan
To start with it should be noted that only four of these guys had a genuine chance of winning this match. Daniel Bryan and Kane have their own issue to deal with heading to Wrestlemania, so were purely here to make up the numbers. This was confirmed when they were the first two to be eliminated from the match.
The other four all had good reasons to win: Chris Jericho, not only has beef with Dolph Ziggler, but also seems to have a history with Del Rio and his family (as discussed on Main Event this past week) - this could've been explored further if Jericho would have won the Chamber. If Ziggler were to have cashed in earlier in the show, then Jericho would've been a genuine contender to win this match. Seeing as Dolph didn't, Jericho was then out of the equation in my eyes. He did, however, put in the performance of the match - lasting thirty minutes and being in the final three.
Randy Orton has been complaining for a while now that he hasn't been in the World Title picture. The stage was set for a possible win for him, and maybe heel turn should he have won.
Mark Henry was a favourite in this match due to his return and reopening of the 'Hall of Pain'. In the last few weeks, Henry has destroyed everyone in his path and has become one of the most dominating monsters again. Unfortunately, his downfall came when Jericho delivered a Codebreaker, followed by an Orton RKO. A positive from this match for Henry is that he decimated everyone when he entered the match. On leaving the Chamber, he returned to deliver World's Strongest Slams to Jericho, Orton and Swagger, before being confronted by referees and GM Booker T. Booked very strong.
The eventual winner, Jack Swagger, entered at number three and put in an impressive showing. He has a new gimmick (Xenophobe), a new manager (Colter) and even new music. There is a genuine mean streak about him, too. These are all positives going forward.
Order of entry: (Started match) Daniel Bryan & Chris Jericho (3) Jack Swagger (4) Kane (5) Randy Orton (6) Mark Henry
Order of elimination: (1) Daniel Bryan (by Henry - WSS) (2) Kane (by Henry - WSS) (3) Mark Henry (by Orton - RKO) (4) Chris Jericho (by Orton - RKO) (5) Randy Orton (by Swagger - roll up)
Winner (& No. 1 Contender to the WHC): Jack Swagger
Note: This is great going forward as Swagger/Colter are Xenophobes and the World Heavyweight Champion is Mexican. Result.
Another great showing from The Shield. They look the part and, more importantly, look like they belong in the ring with the three 'Superfaces'. Periods of this match saw them dominate Sheamus and, for the main part, Cena. JBL pointed out again that they are the 'greatest three man team' in the history of WWE.
Chaos ensued towards the end of the match; Roman Reigns delivered an impressive Spear to Sheamus to send him through the safety barrier... shortly after, it seemed that Cena and Ryback were going to deliver stereo-finishers on Ambrose and Rollins, until Reigns entered the ring again to spear Ryback out of his boots, allowing Rollins to fall on him and cover for the three count. A very impressive win for The Shield, solidifying their position. Cena, Ryback and Sheamus were never going to be hurt by this loss - Shield would have been, though - so this was the right result. Ryback really needs something soon, though; he can't keep suffering PPV loss after loss.
Winners: The Shield - Spear from Reigns allowed Rollins to pin Ryback
Dolph Ziggler (w/ AJ & Big E Langston) vs Kofi Kingston
This was an impromptu match set up by Booker T after Dolph complained that he was not booked to compete. Surely, the future of the company should be on every PPV that he can be? I'd have liked a match to have been made leading up to the pay-per-view instead though; not just throwing Ziggler into any old match.
What made this match even more of a last minute thing was the inclusion of everybody's favourite jobber, Kofi Kingston. When he came out I feared that this was going to be the turning point for Kofi - maybe the start of him winning again. I hoped not as Kofi has fallen so far in such a short amount of time that it would have been ridiculous for him to gain a victory over Ziggler. Especially with Ziggler being in the position he is in at the moment.
I was pleased to see that after interference from AJ and Big E, Kofi fell victim to the Zig-Zag. Basically, a drawn out squash match. This could have been saved for a Raw or Smackdown; it was a worthless win for Ziggler as it was thrown in there at the last minute, and was over someone that has lost so much credibility lately that it means absolutely nothing. This segment was concluded when Big E got in the ring and destroyed Kofi. I took great pleasure in this - a good piece of exposure for Langston here, too.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler - Zig-Zag
Diva's Championship
Kaitlyn (c) vs Tamina Snuka
This is probably the best that the Diva's division has - apart from the wasted Natalya. This was my initial thought to this match that was later confirmed when the other divas were shown backstage watching; Aksana, Natalya, Layla and the Funkadactyls; Naomi and Cameron... a sorry looking division compared to years gone by.
Winner (& still Diva's Champion): Kaitlyn - Spear
WWE Championship - If Rock is counted out or disqualified, he loses the title
The Rock (c) vs CM Punk
Not a lot to say here really. The stipulation was put in place to add an element of intrigue into this very predictable match. There was only one time this was utilised, though, with CM Punk Rock Bottoming Rock on the Spanish Announce Table (I say 'on' and not 'through' as the announce table stayed strong for the first time in its career!) before Rock made it back in the ring at the count of nine. As soon as The Rock won at Royal Rumble the inevitable was reality. This match was just to pass the time before the final build-up to Wrestlemania.
A positive to take from this match, and feud, is that CM Punk more than hung with The Rock. He easily won the battle on the microphone and stood up to the challenge in the ring. He also looked strong, especially in this match; kicking out of the Rock Bottom and People's Elbow before succumbing to a second Rock Bottom. He'll also have something to say about not getting the win when he hit a GTS with the referee down. Hopefully, when Rock's left for Hollywood again, Punk will be as strong as ever when he takes up chasing Cena for the belt.
Winner (& still WWE Champion): The Rock - Rock Bottom
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed this pay-per-view. The first four matches were very strong and continued stories and builds of certain individuals.
Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry and The Shield came out of this looking better than ever. The Miz and Antonio Cesaro continued their feud and for the first time I can see this feud having legs. Hopefully WWE will use the next seven weeks to build this to its full potential.
I was disappointed that Ziggler didn't cash-in or get involved in the Chamber to screw Jericho. It would've just been nice to get the ball rolling on their feud leading to Wrestlemania. I was also disappointed that they just threw the match with Kingston together. It was a worthless win due to a worthless opponent. Maybe the intention was to give Big E some time in the ring and show what he brings to the table.
By the main event, I was still hanging onto the memories of the first four matches. I had no excitement or expectations from Rock vs Punk. I knew that the stipulation was added to give the impression that Punk could sneak it but this was just NEVER going to happen. Cena vs Rock has been carved in stone for, quite possibly, the last year. A good match still, but it's hard to invest in a match emotionally when you know the ultimate goal and end result.
Still, not to take anything away from this pay-per-view - a very positive showing from WWE leading up to Wrestlemania.
@jimmosangle
No comments:
Post a Comment