By: Frank Hyden
The Elimination Chamber this year featured some big title changes and some excellent matches. Let’s get to the rundown.
GOOD- John Morrison beat Ricochet, Mustafa Ali, and Elias to get a U.S. Title shot
Keith Lee was unable to be in the 3-way for the U.S. Title later so the winner here would take his place. As expected, this match ended up being one of the better matches on the card. It was very fast-paced and had a good ending. Morrison deserves a push for his excellent ring work.
GOOD- Daniel Bryan wins the Smackdown Elimination Chamber
All 6 guys got their moments to shine, though Bryan was the best choice to win. Everyone knew the winner was going to be sacrificed to Roman Reigns (with a great built-in excuse) so there’s no need to have Cesaro face Reigns yet. I liked this match, it had some good moments.
GOOD- Roman Reigns beat Daniel Bryan, will face Edge at WrestleMania
Roman immediately came out after Bryan’s win and quickly choked him out. Then got speared by Edge, who pointed at the sign to signify he’ll challenge Reigns at WrestleMania. That moment always looks better in the build-up packages WWE makes. In live-action it always looks stilted and kind of cheesy.
GOOD- Riddle beat John Morrison and Bobby Lashley to win the U.S. Title
Riddle and Morrison bumped like crazy for Lashley, who’s been built up tremendously. They double-teamed Lashley a lot but he fought through it and took them both out. The finish came when Riddle used MVP’s crutch to attack Lashley, then went after Morrison and pinned him to become the new champ. It’ll be very interesting to see what happens with Lashley after what happens in the main event…
GOOD/BAD- Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler beat Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair
The match itself was fine, primarily when Baszler was in there. She matches up much better with Banks and Belair. They did some overbooked finish where Reginald came out and tried to hand Sasha a wine bottle to use as a weapon but the ref saw and the distraction allowed Jax to hit Banks and get the pin to retain. Eh, this was ok, but the ending takes it down a bit.
GOOD- Drew McIntyre wins the RAW Elimination Chamber
There were a few more big dives off the pods in this one, and it also had some cool moments, like when McIntyre and Sheamus squared off for a few minutes while everyone sold. Like the Smackdown match, every guy was given some time to shine in this match. McIntyre winning the match wasn’t unexpected, but it was cool. I like Drew so I liked this. After the match, Bobby Lashley came out and destroyed McIntyre, which led to…
GOOD- The Miz cashes in and pins Drew McIntyre to become WWE Champion
Miz ran out and cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and hit a few moves on McIntyre and pinned him. He celebrated as the show went off the air. This is great, tonight’s RAW is going to be more interesting than it’s been in a very long time.
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