WWE Elimination Chamber Reaction

The Elimination Chamber pay-per-view: the final pay-per-view before WrestleMania. And with a predictable card with a horrible build up, I wasn't expecting much from this show.

Pre-show:

Brodus Clay & Tensai vs Team Rhodes Scholars

My, we're off to a great start.

A Rikishi wannabe and Prince Albert vs a team that broke up, and out of nowhere got back together. I guess we're supposed to forget that they ever broke up in the first place. Go figure.

Anyway, the match was solid. Clay and Tensai showed some great teamwork. Rhodes Scholars always had great tag team presence, so it's nice to see nothing's changed. Slow, short match. Not bad. Clay and Tensai get the win with a double flop and Clay getting the pin.

I'll admit, the team of Brodus and Tensai has potential. I just PRAY they don't go overboard with the comedy stuff. A few short skits here and there and they'll be fine. There's no need for any long winded segments that get less funny as they go on. Keep it at a minimum, don't overload on the Nickelodeon humor and we've got something. Just keep Tensai as the serious guy with some flashes of dancing. No need to totally turn him into dancing goof like Brodus.

Looking at the other side of the spectrum, they break up Team Rhodes Scholars and have them get back together only to LOSE their first match back together. Um....?

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs Big Show

I was expecting the Elimination Chamber match to kick the show off, and this is quite a change.

This was a standard Del Rio/Show match. They told an ok story in the ring. Nothing really jumped out at me except Del Rio's change in moveset. Since his face turn, he's wrestled better and looser. In this match, he showed he had some serious hangtime on a couple of occasions. Del Rio gets the win making Show tap out to the cross arm breaker.

I just noticed, this was the first actual one-on-one match without an added stipulation to the match. It was just a straight forward match and it was good. Like I said above, Del Rio wrestles better as a face, There's just something different about how his moves flow.

Oh yeah, and there was a BOTCH! Del Rio missed a spot where he supposed to kick a bucket back into Show's face, but he missed him. He tried it again, but barely grazed the bald head of Show.

I'm pretty sure this is the end of their feud. Show has lost to Del Rio three times in a row now. Three strikes and you're out Big man. Their feud was enjoyable, I will say that. Started out good, but didn't have the same fire leading up to this match. I was also hoping Ziggler to cash in, but nope. Sooner or later, Ziggler has to cash that bad boy in. For now, Del Rio is going to WrestleMania as the World Champion and I don't have a problem with it.

United States Championship Match
Antonio Cesaro (c) vs The Miz

A match that I was somewhat excited to see. I've been telling people that Cesaro is the next big thing in this business. This match was pretty solid with both men telling a great story in the ring. This is one thing I love about Cesaro: not only does he show how good he is week by week, he can also tell a great story in the ring. This match was short, but still exceptional. The ending was kind of screwy. Miz was going for something, and Cesaro kicked Miz's leg and he landed on Cesaro's thigh, and he sold it like he got low blowed. The ref bought it and Miz was disqualified with Cesaro keeping the US Title. Miz gets angry and low blows Cesaro for real after the match.

The ending could've been a little better, but as long as Cesaro keeps the US Title, it's whatever. Because of this finish, I can see this feud going up until WrestleMania, but to do that, they're going to need to give this feud more life and substance. We had a taste of that on RAW last Monday when Cesaro threw Miz around the barricade like a rag doll. But it's not enough. The Miz's face run has been BAD so far. They need to tweak that a little bit. But anyway, the match was good, nothing special and Cesaro holds on to the US Title heading into WrestleMania and since I'm a big Cesaro fan, I don't have a problem with this.

Early on, I can see the crowd isn't that good, and the commentary is worse. Hopefully things pick up in this next match.

Elimination Chamber Match: Winner becomes #1 Contender for the World Title at WrestleMania
Chris Jericho vs Daniel Bryan vs Kane vs Randy Orton vs Mark Henry vs Jack Swagger

This was a surprisingly GREAT Elimination Chamber match! I didn't expect much, this match played out very well with stories told throughout. It was lengthy with great wrestling and near fall moments that got the crowd out of their seats. Kane and Bryan going at it, Mark Henry coming in and cleaning house, and Jack Swagger's new attitude coming full circle at Elimination Chamber. Great match, solid spots, but I knew before the match started who was going to win. Zeb Coulter and Swagger came out first and cut a promo. Then it hit me, a proud American is in this match and there's a proud Mexican as our World Champion. Predictable much? Swagger's new heel character, his heel manager pushing American Patriotism and there's a Mexican as the World Champion. Giving away the ending before the match even goes down. For shame.

If Ziggler cashed in, then things would've been a lot different as to who could've won, but since Del Rio debuted and Swagger's mouthpiece cut that promo for him, it was an open and shut case. Jericho, Orton, Kane, and Bryan were all faces; no way they were going to win. The ending looked like this: Orton eliminates Jericho, Swagger comes out of nowhere and rolls up Orton for the win. That ending could've gone better, but it shows Swagger as the opportunist and he's going to WrestleMania.

Getting back to the match, again, it was pretty good. I was really taken back by the great wrestling and moments in this match. All 6 of these guys did a great job putting this match over and going all out. Of course, there was the OMG moment when Henry tossed Orton through the Chamber Pod glass. Henry was the best part of this match.

Jack Swagger, the proud American vs Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania. This reeks of JBL/Guerrero or  even Angle/Guerrero from WrestleMania 20 in terms of storyline purposes anyway. The whole racist American/Mexican storyline heading into WrestleMania has potential, but how far are they willing to go to make it interesting without offending anybody? WWE is PG after all. They need to tread lightly with this thing We're not in the early 2000s anymore.

Now that Swagger has a mouthpiece, I see a lot of potential in this feud. This could make up for Jack Swagger's last abysmal appearance in the World Title scene. Should be interesting to see.

6 Man Tag Team Match
John Cena, Sheamus, & Ryback vs The Shield

Going into this match, I was saying how The Shield needed the win, but would WWE really let their top 3 faces lose? This match answered my questions and then some.

The Shield have only had one match in the WWE and it was a Match of the Year Candidate at TLC. This match was no different. The Shield are an exceptionally gifted trio. The way they wrestle brings me back to the Attitude Era. The Shield don't have slow, methodical paces. The pace is fast, quick tags and great athleticism and team wrestling. This, along with their personalities, are why I love this unit.

The way the match started got me worried. I thought it was gonna be a straight burying of The Shield, but the match progressed and I was impressed. These young guys put on one hell of a show with the three top faces in the WWE at the moment. It did drag at times, but it was still a great match that got even better towards the end. Roman Reigns is a very underrated member of The Shield. First, he spears Sheamus through the security wall almost taking out Lillian Garcia in the process and then just flat out takes Ryback down with a Rhyno-esque GORE while Ryback had Rollins on his shoulders. Rollins gets the win over Ryback.

I am SO glad The Shield got the win here. A loss for The Shield tonight would've deemed them irrelevant. How could we have taken them seriously if they got squashed by the Justice League of the WWE? They needed this win and they did it impressive fashion. Great match, great job. Believe In The Shield!

What they do now is going to be most interesting indeed.

John Cena and Sheamus don't lose anything here. John Cena is still going to WrestleMania to challenge for the WWE Championship and Sheamus is the face of SmackDown. They'll be fine. Ryback on the other hand has not won a single pay-per-view since September I think. You could see how mad he was when he just walked away. Ryback maybe a big deal, but with each loss, his credibility takes a hit. This may have been the boiling point.

Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston

I love seeing Dolph wrestle, but what was the point of this? To get Ziggler on the card? A backstage promo would've sufficed.

These two have wrestled a dozen times, so it was really nothing new. Don't get me wrong, it was a solid match, but these two wrestle each other all the time. You almost come to know just what they're going to do. Ziggler wins with the Zig Zag.

Once again, what was the point? If they wanted to fill the time, where was the Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett? Didn't he have a feud going with that kid Bo Dallas? So, they take those two off the show to job Kofi out to Ziggler when he could've just cut a promo.

Moving on.

Divas Championship Match
Kaitlyn (c) vs Tamina

There's not much I can say about this match. It didn't even last that long. After Tamina missed the Superfly Splash, Kaitlyn hit a sloppy looking spear for the win.

I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I need to rant about this again. It's sad to see what the Divas Division has become. The Divas today have no personality, barely any wrestling ability, their matches are less than a minute, the crowd is asleep during their matches, and even the commentators sound bored. For God sakes, Michael Cole was telling some dumbass story while the match was going on! The action was barely called!

The Divas Division needs a SERIOUS facelift and breath of fresh air because the way this keeps going, there will be no Divas Division a few years from now.

By the way, why is WWE trying to make Kaitlyn look like Trish? I'm talking about ring gear, hairstyle, stuff like that. Look at that picture and tell me she doesn't look like a buff Trish Stratus.

WWE Championship Match
The Rock (c) vs CM Punk

The build up to this match has been good, and I expected a match that surpassed their match at The Rumble and I think they did just that. I think this rematch easily surpassed their match at The Royal Rumble. Sure it was a tad bit shorter than their Rumble encounter, but there was better storytelling and better back and forth action between both men. Rock still can sell with the best of them, making Punk look like a ring general. The crowd was pretty HOT for this match and rightfully so, and both men delivered. Even the commentary, for the first time tonight, was spot on and well and sold this match as well.

As far as the ending goes, I thought when the ref went flying to the floor, The Rock would get DQ'ed, Vince would come out, restart the match, etc, but one ref after the other went down and after the 2nd Rock Bottom, Rock pins and beats CM Punk. I feel as if this isn't over. I feel like Punk is going to come out on RAW tomorrow and replay the clip of Rock hitting the referee and implying that Rock should've lost and Punk will ask for another rematch.

But The Rock retains and I'm fine with it. The CM Punk fanclub on the other hand are probably throwing tantrums, taking their anger to Twitter, and recording themselves to go on Youtube later as I type this. I wouldn't be surprised. The surge of Punk fanboys that have come out of nowhere is very annoying. I feel sorry for all of you. But I'm pretty sure that with Rock-Cena II pretty much set for WrestleMania, The Rock retaining shouldn't be much of a surprise to anybody. If you expected anything else, you need help.

For the past two months, I have enjoyed the Rock/Punk feud. I say it was better than Rock and Cena's feud. I mean, what is there to look forward to with Rock and Cena II? They're going to hurl out the same insults they did last year. Only the WWE Title is going to be mentioned more.

We'll know in the next couple weeks if Undertaker will be at Mania. If Punk is added to make it a Triple Threat, either no Taker or Taker vs Lesnar. If there's no appearance by Taker tomorrow night or next Monday, we'll have our answer.



This pay-per-view was pretty good. The Rock and The Shield saved it from being a straight faceplant. Not to mention The Elimination Chamber match was damn awesome. Jack Swagger is going to WrestleMania, the Intercontinental Champion was nowhere to be found, Ziggler had a pointless match, the Divas continue to be irrelevant, and Del Rio retains the World Title. Thank God for The Rock and The Shield. They stole the show with their matches.

I'm going to be VERY generous and give it a 6.5 out of 10. If not for an epic Chamber match, The Rock, and The Shield, score would've been much worse, but I'll stick with this score and call it a night.

The Road to WrestleMania gets started tomorrow night. This is when WWE usually turns it up a few notches. Hoping for some great TV between now and WrestleMania.


Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

WWE Royal Rumble Reaction

The Road to WrestleMania has officially begun with the first WWE major pay-per-view of 2013: The Royal Rumble! To be honest, the only major reasons to order this show is for The Rock and CM Punk and the 30 Man Royal Rumble Match. Let's get down to business.



Preshow: 

WWE United States Championship Match
Antonio Cesaro (c) vs The Miz

The preshow kicks off with the United States Championship Match between The Miz and Antonio Cesaro. First of all, I can't stand The Miz and his face turn. His jokes are corny and everything seems forced. He needs to go back to being a heel. All that aside, it was a pretty basic match. Very technically sound match with a lot of holds. Nothing too fancy. When Miz landed on his ankle, I think he tweaked it a bit. Hope it's not serious. Cesaro gets the win and retains the title. Hoping to see more Cesaro exposure heading into WrestleMania.

Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Championship 
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs Big Show

The Royal Rumble kicks off with the Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Championship and to be honest, this was a GREAT match. I'm always against the idea of having the World Title go on first, but this was a great way to set the tone for the night. I think that this even trumped their match from SmackDown a few weeks ago.

I LOVE Alberto Del Rio as a face. He's played the role well so far. Getting to the match, there was a lot of great action. The match started off slow, but soon after, it picked up and picked up in a BIG way. Del Rio uses the same aggression he had as a heel and fights with the same style. Great spot with Big Show chokeslamming Del Rio off of the light structure at the top of the set through a table! Great spot! And the ending works for me. It furthers Del Rio's character and how much of an asset Ricardo is to him. He tapes Big Show's feet to the ropes so he can't get up and Del Rio retains the World Title. Kinda lame, but how else were they supposed to end it?

Good move here. I didn't expect Del Rio to drop the title to Big Show here. I feel confident that Del Rio is going to walk into WrestleMania with the World Title. I'm really enjoying this face turn he's on. Don't know where Big Show goes from here though.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Team Hell No (c) vs Team Rhodes Scholars

This match is, hopefully, the last installment of this feud. It's been going on for 4 months too long now. I predicted Team Hell No would win this and they did. Their face turn has been going so well. The crowd loves them, they put on entertaining segments, and they're just a great team overall. I don't see them losing the titles until WrestleMania.

It was a great match. Classic tag team wrestling by both teams. Loved it. All four men really put it on the line. Rhodes Scholars really worked well as a team in this match, and Team Hell No simply work better as a team. I like the way they booked this match. Team Hell No gets the win here and I'm not mad about it. Hopefully they move on from this feud and Team Hell No takes on The Shield.

Royal Rumble Match

Ok then, Royal Rumble in the middle of the show. That means something big is going down in The Rock and Punk Main Event.

What can I really say about the Royal Rumble Match? It was Amazing! I thought last year's Rumble was entertaining, but this one was better. I say better by miles. Loved seeing Dolph come out cutting a good promo before facing CHRIS JERICHO! The fans were LOUD for Jericho when he came out. That was the loudest they've been all night and Jericho got a very deserved standing ovation. Great moment with Dolph and Jericho. Shows how far Dolph has really come. He looked  like he hasn't missed a beat as usual. It was great seeing guys Goldust giving some good minutes and The Godfather (even though he lasted two seconds.)

I would've liked to see Dolph in the Final Four. Kind of bland when the final four are all faces. The Rumble always provides some great energy and the crowd always gets into it. This year was no different. Final Four came down to Ryback, Cena, Orton, and Sheamus and the Final two were.....wait for it......John Cena and Ryback. Guess who won? Yup, you guessed it. John Cena. I think everybody in the world saw that coming. It's whatever. I'm not gonna go on some long rant about Cena, but it's whatever. Cena is going to WrestleMania to compete for most likely the WWE Championship.

Overall, I LOVED this Royal Rumble Match. Great energy, great atmosphere, great Rumble match. There was just a certain energy about this Rumble better than last year's. Dolph Ziggler has come a long way, Ryback has come a long way, Jericho coming out was a HUGE surprise and there were better moments. Like Kane and Daniel Bryan's funny moment, Barrett being eliminated by a rookie, and Kofi's little stunt with the chair. I still think John Morrison's spot from 2011 was better, but that's just me.

Still, I think the Royal Rumble should ALWAYS close the show. It's tradition, but I guess WWE these days don't respect tradition anymore.

WWE Championship Match
CM Punk (c) vs The Rock

Main Event Time! A feud that's been developed since the Summertime has culminated in this Royal Rumble showdown for the WWE Championship. Let's get right to it!

I'm gonna go ahead and say The Rock is getting too old for this. Sure he can still sell moves and he made Punk look like GOLD, but Rock doesn't have the same energy and explosiveness like his younger days. There's a big difference between being in shape and being in "wrestling" shape. This is what age does to people. That aside, I think this match was better than Rock/Cena. I'm not blowing smoke up Punk's ass, but he can carry a match better than Cena can. His moves are more fluid and he can make a good match, a great match.

Both men told a great story in the ring. Match started off fast pace and back-and-forth, and then Punk started to take control and dominate a good portion of the match. Rock came back towards the end and the energy in the building went up a few notches. Too bad the table spot didn't work and it collapsed since the weight was too much.

The ending of the match was pretty out of nowhere, but very well done. Rock goes for the people's elbow, the lights go out and The Shield puts the Rock through the table. All of this in the dark. Impressive. Punk capitalizes and get the win. Or does he? Remember when Mr. McMahon said if The Shield interfered, Punk would be stripped of the title? Yeah. Out comes Mr. McMahon to a BIG pop and was about to strip Punk of the title, but Rock refuses and advises the match to be restarted. The match restarts, Rock hits the people's elbow and the match is over! The Rock has become the NEW WWE Champion!

I know there's A LOT of people that have mixed reactions about this. The Punk fanboys are upset that their Champion lost to a part-timer, while others, me included, are glad to see The Rock wear the WWE Championship one more time. I enjoyed CM Punk's reign as WWE Champion, and it was a GREAT ride as the Champion, but it had to end sooner or later. Great moment for us fans to see one of our childhood heroes win the WWE Championship.

Here's my take on the matter. CM Punk's Championship reign had to end sooner or later. Punk is already a star. This year long title reign has boomed Punk's career so much and losing the title isn't a bad thing. What do you want? Punk to hold the title for 20 years? Open your eyes people. Don't drink the Kool-Aid. For those saying Punk should've beaten The Undertaker.....stop....now. Rock winning does a number of things. 1) brings the casual fans back into the WWE seeing a guy they watched as a kid hold the title and 2) gives the WWE great exposure heading into WrestleMania. Losing the title can open up new opportunities for Punk's character to get even better. It's not about nostalgia. It's about putting over the young guys and making them look good. Punk is going to benefit from this. I LOVE CM Punk, but some of you out there need to relax. Who better to end CM Punk's great reign as Champion than The Rock himself. Arguably Top 5 of all time.




Overall, The Rumble was a great show. Not really worth $50 Bucks, but a watchable show. TLC was better. Too predictable, but that's WWE these days. Only entertaining part of the show was The Royal Rumble Match. It SHOULD HAVE closed the show. I know Rock and Punk was a big deal, but it's tradition that The Royal Rumble Match end the show. I think that was the best part of the show. Loved The Rock winning the title. Great moment, but the Rumble should've closed the show. Oh yeah, and there was SUPPOSED to be a Divas Match that was advertised and barely talked about, but I guess they couldn't spare the 2 minutes. Life goes on I guess.

I'll give it a 6.5 out of 10. Great show, but let's not get too crazy.

This opens up possibilities for WrestleMania. It SHOULD be Rock vs Punk vs Cena, but it's gonna be Rock/Cena II. Really don't want to see that match again. Punk and Rock and Cena's paths have been paved  and this a serious money making match.

I would like to see Del Rio face off with Dolph Ziggler for the World Title. Get some fresh faces in the title picture. We've already seen Orton and Sheamus. Let Del Rio ride this face turn into Mania and square off with Ziggler. That'd be a match I'd love to see.

The Road to WrestleMania has begun and there's no telling what could happen and how plans could change.


Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete