WWE continues its quest for world takeover by holding a show at Optus Stadium in Perth, Western Australia. The venue looks great, and when all is said and done, the attendance will be in the vicinity of 50,000 people.
It’s a bit of a strange card. Roman Reigns isn’t defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Title. Seth Rollins isn’t defending the World Heavyweight Title. Gunther isn’t defending the Intercontinental Title. Logan Paul isn’t defending the United States Title, although he is on the show nonetheless as a participant in the men’s Elimination Chamber. Iyo Sky isn’t defending the WWE Women’s Title. There are only four matches on the main show, with two of them being of the Elimination Chamber variety. With all that said, there’s still a lot of excitement, as we’ll learn a lot more about what will take place at WrestleMania 40 once this show is over.
It’s just about 3am where I am, but I’m not complaining. For one, I would’ve been awake, anyway, as this is usually the time when I’m working on my columns. More importantly, though, I understand the sacrifices that wrestling fans outside of North America have to make to watch shows live, so I can stand to make a similar sacrifice every now and then.
Time to rock and roll.
Becky Lynch vs Liv Morgan vs Raquel Rodriguez vs Naomi vs Bianca Belair vs Tiffany Stratton – Elimination Chamber Match for a Women’s World Title shot at WrestleMania 40
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the Chamber matches is starting the show. With two of them on a four-match show, the odds were pretty good to begin with, but it’s a great choice to get the crowd amped up right off the bat.
With multiple video packages and then six entrances for the opening match, the opening bell didn’t happen until nearly 18 minutes into the show. That’s one way to stretch a four-match show out.
In the early going, I find myself being very appreciative for Tiffany Stratton. Becky Lynch and Naomi started the match by showing almost no in-ring chemistry, seemingly wrestling in slow motion at times. Stratton was the next entrant, and things immediately picked up as soon as she joined the match.
Tiffany might be the most over person in this match. The crowd loves her. So much so that there were boos for Liv Morgan after Liv entered the match and went right after the newly minted main roster member. I can’t even remember the last time I heard Liv get booed for anything. As I typed all that, Becky Lynch locked Tiffany in the Disarm-her… and got booed.
Loud “bullshit” chants after Liv eliminates Tiffany from the match. Liv, to her credit, played the heel role up nicely with a mock crying face after getting the pin. Even though she didn’t win the match, Stratton looked great here, and will probably end up being the most memorable part of the match.
You know… after that unfortunately poor start, things got REALLY entertaining. Becky, Liv, and Bianca had a fun Triple Threat to close things out. Becky Lynch wins and has punched her ticket to WrestleMania. It was the expected outcome here, but that didn’t take anything away from the overall product. 4 Stars
Judgment Day (Damian Priest & Finn Bálor) vs New Catch Republic (Tyler Bate & Pete Dunne) – WWE Tag Team Title Match
During the pre-match introductions, Dominik Mysterio grabs the mic to cut a promo and he is literally drowned out by the crowd booing. The man was yelling his promo, and he could still barely be heard. Amazing.
The opening bell takes place 1:04 into the show.
“Dominik’s a wanker” chants. Yeah, we need more big shows outside of North America.
All three members of Judgment Day are getting great heel reactions from the Perth crowd.
This was so much fun. Just a great tag team match with all four men looking like a million bucks and getting to shine in their own way. I don’t think anyone believed the outcome was ever in doubt, but like the first match, I don’t think that hurt anything. The champions retain their titles, but the challengers made a statement and appear to be legit contenders moving forward. That works for me. 4.25 Stars
Even though we’ve been told on multiple occasions that The Rock wouldn’t be in Australia for the show… he wasn’t there for the show, and that probably disappointed a bunch of people. Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes were the guests on The Grayson Waller Effect, and it was a relatively house show-ish segment. Outside of Cody challenging Rock to a one-on-one match whenever Rock wants to make it happen, there wasn’t much to talk about here, but hey, at least it helped to stretch the show out even further. We’re going to top the two-hour mark with only two matches taking place.
Randy Orton vs Drew McIntyre vs Logan Paul vs Kevin Owens vs Bobby Lashley vs LA Knight – Elimination Chamber Match for a World Heavyweight Title shot at WrestleMania 40
After more video packages and a talk show, it’s time for another match that features six full entrances. If I had my way, a four-match show would’ve been wrapped up in two-ish hours, similarly to how NXT used to handle their Takeover events. As it is, we’re probably going to end up with a show that tops the three-and-a-half hour mark, which is pure insanity.
The opening bell here takes place 2:16 into the show. Jesus Herbert Christ.
Maybe it’s the large gaps between the matches, or maybe it’s because sound doesn’t come across as well on television during outdoor shows, but this crowd hasn’t been as hot as I would’ve hoped they’d be.
AJ Styles snuck his way into the Chamber as the door was opened for Bobby Lashley’s elimination, and he attacked LA Knight with a chair. The beatdown led to Knight being eliminated, so it looks like we have another WrestleMania match being put together.
It’s such a hot and humid night in Perth that the ring mat is completely covered in wet spots from sweat. Drew McIntyre looks like prime Patrick Ewing, completely drenched from head to toe. Even the Referee is soaked.
To the surprise of just about nobody, Drew McIntyre picks up the big win here. A great Chamber match that helped to set up multiple WrestleMania matches. Drew gets the shot against Seth Rollins. LA Knight and AJ Styles look like they’re set up for a match. It also looks like we’ll be getting Randy Orton vs Logan Paul after Logan, fresh off of being eliminated, hit Orton with brass knuckles to cost “The Viper” the match. I dig it.
Tons of action from bell-to-bell in this one. It continues the streak of fun matches on the show. I just wish we weren’t getting so much filler. 4.25 Stars
Rhea Ripley vs Nia Jax – Women’s World Title Match
As soon as this show was announced as taking place in Australia, people were predicting that Rhea would be in the main event. Sure enough, it is happening. That’s pretty cool. It sucks that it has to involve Nia Jax, but it’s still a pay-per-view main event for Rhea nonetheless.
The opening bell takes place almost 3:14 into the show.
“Fuck you, Nia” chants ring out. I like you, Perth.
You know what? Credit where it’s due… this was fun. We know that Rhea is more than capable of delivering high quality performances in the ring, but this was easily one of Nia’s best matches. Nia bumped her ass off for Rhea here. This was physical, and it didn’t overstay its welcome. 3.5 Stars
Four matches. All four of them were really entertaining. You could complain about the lack of surprises if you want, but the argument against that line of thinking is that everything we saw was logical and helped to advance stories in the right way.
If you’re looking for a recommendation, you got it. The show was absolutely worth checking out. Just make sure you’re ready to skip through a ton of filler to get to the good stuff.