The Road To WrestleMania continues on with Elimination Chamber.
Who will win the Chamber matches to earn World Title shots at WrestleMania? Will Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens make it out of their Unsanctioned Match relatively unscathed? What will Cody Rhodes do about The Rock’s request for his soul?
Let’s find out the answers to these questions, and many more. It’s Elimination Chamber time!
Bianca Belair vs Roxanne Perez vs Liv Morgan vs Naomi vs Bayley vs Alexa Bliss – Women’s Elimination Chamber for a Women’s World Title shot at WrestleMania 41
Once again, WWE does a great job with selecting the opening match of a pay-per-view. This match is going to get the crowd in Toronto excited from the beginning.
The match is officially underway with Liv Morgan and Naomi as the first two women involved.
LOL @ Bayley in her pod, dancing and jamming along to everyone’s entrance music as they made their way to the ring.
Before the match can get underway, Jade Cargill makes her way to the ring. Liv looks terrified, but Jade sidesteps her and attacks Naomi to a huge “holy shit” chant. Bianca Belair is having a nervous breakdown in her pod, screaming and crying, as she watches her current tag partner get the shit beaten out of her. Jade completely mollywhops Naomi, and then simply leaves the ring. EMT’s and all sorts of officials are tending to Naomi, and it is announced that Naomi has been eliminated because she is unable to compete. The fans sing the “Na na na na hey hey hey goodbye” song as Naomi is removed. Hilarious.
Bianca Belair is the next woman to enter the match, and she runs over to check on Naomi. Liv attacks Bianca from behind to a big pop from the crowd. We really are in Toronto.
Roxanne Perez is the next entrant, and she begins to whoop on both Liv and Bianca immediately upon getting out of her pod.
The crowd has been relatively quiet early on. Commentary is playing it off as the air being taken out of the building after the attack by Jade Cargill. I’m sure at least part of it is them not really knowing how to react now, but I think there’s more to it than that.
Bayley is next up, and she continues her feud with Roxanne from the moment the pod opens up.
Alexa Bliss is next up, and all of the pods are now empty. I thought Alexa entering the match would wake the crowd up a bit, but I was incorrect.
With Bayley focusing on Roxanne, Liv sneaks up and hits Bayley with ObLIVion to pin her and eliminate her. Bit of a surprise to see Bayley gone so soon.
Bianca and Liv are fighting atop one of the pods, and Bianca uses her braid as a weapon, and it sounds like a gunshot went off in the building. Liv has a gnarly war wound on her ribs from the shot.
Twisted Bliss on Roxanne Perez, eliminating “The Prodigy” from the match. We’re down to three… Liv Morgan, Alexa Bliss, and Bianca Belair. One of them is about to earn a Women’s World Championship shot at WrestleMania 41.
Alexa hits Bianca with a Sister Abigail, but she doesn’t get to celebrate for long, as Liv rolls her up to eliminate her. The crowd is not happy with Alexa being eliminated from the match. Liv was brilliant here, using Bianca’s braid for extra leverage to prevent Alexa from kicking out. So, so good.
Not only does Liv have welts on her ribcage, she also has welts on her back and what appears to be a cut of some sort on her thigh underneath her fishnets. She isn’t going to have much fun when she wakes up tomorrow morning.
Bianca Belair is the winner of the match! Nice ending sequence with Liv hitting a Codebreaker, then going for an ObLIVion, only for it to be countered into a KOD from Bianca.
Look… I love Iyo Sky, but I need her to lose her match against Rhea Ripley on Raw. I’ve been waiting for Bianca vs Rhea at WrestleMania for a few years now, and we’re only one step away from it happening.
This match was a lot of fun. A bunch of really good action. 3.75 Stars
After the match, Rhea Ripley comes out for a face-to-face with Bianca in the aisle, only for Iyo Sky to join them. Like I said, I love Iyo, but I NEED Rhea vs Bianca.
Tiffany Stratton & Trish Stratus vs Nia Jax & Candice LeRae
I don’t know if the men’s Elimination Chamber or Sami vs KO is the main event, but I probably wouldn’t have them back-to-back on the card. Doing so probably means whatever happens between Cody Rhodes and The Rock will happen in between the two matches. Let’s hope so, anyway.
I get the connection here, with Trish being from Toronto and all, but this just feels like a match that could’ve taken place on television instead. Smackdown was in Toronto last night. That would’ve been the perfect spot for this. Was this an olive branch from the company, after all of the complaints that the women weren’t being used properly?
Even the addition of Toronto’s own Trish hasn’t really gotten the crowd going. Sad.
Tiffany gets the pin on Nia to pick up the win for her team. I’m pretty surprised it wasn’t Trish pinning Candice. The match was decent enough. It wasn’t enough to change my opinion that it should’ve taken place on television, though. It had some slow moments, but nothing too egregious. 3 Stars
Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens – Unsanctioned Match
Oh, boy. Time for some insane violence.
On commentary, Michael Cole references that Sami Zayn was once known as El Generico. He does a lot of research, but he’s wrong. I have it on very good authority that Sami and El Generico are two completely different people. Tsk tsk, Michael.
Sami looks like he’s wrestling in church pants. What a psychopath.
The biggest pop of the night is Sami pulling a hockey stick from underneath the ring.
KO traps Sami against the ring post with the hockey stick, and then he legitimately starts biting Sami’s forehead and the tip of his nose.
The fight has been taken into the mass of humanity!
“He just hit Kevin Owens in the head with Dominik Mysterio!” – Pat McAfee, on commentary, after Sami hit KO with a garbage can.
Sami is thrown from the top rope, crashing through two stacked tables at ringside. Moments later, Sami is slammed onto a steel chair with a brainbuster, completely denting the chair. Jesus.
Sami goes for a Helluva Kick, only for KO to pull the Referee in front of him to take the move. Another Ref comes out to count a pin, but KO attacks him, too, after not getting a three-count.
Fisherman Buster from the top and through a table! Another big time bump from Sami Zayn. This guy is crazy.
Sami pulls a steel chair out from under the ring, followed by pulling another chair… with the second one being wrapped in barbed wire. “E-C-W” chants ring out.
Drop toe hold onto the barbed wire chair! Blue Thunder Bomb onto a bridge of chairs, landing on the barbed wire chair! The bumps look absolutely insane, but the lack of blood tells you that it’s gimmicked barbed wire. “This is awesome” chants from the crowd, who are fully invested in this one.
Owens wraps a steel chair around Sami’s neck, and then rams Sami into the ringpost twice. He follows that up by powerbombing Sami onto the ring apron. Goodness gracious. Another powerbomb onto the ring apron! WWE Officials are out there, pleading with Kevin to stop things. He obliges, but by rolling Sami into the ring and picking up the victory by pinning him.
Insane brawl. It was as wild and physical as you’re going to see in WWE. Crazy bump after crazy bump. You can take some “points” away for the gimmicked barbed wire if you want, but everything was very well done here, and it was a blast to watch. 4.25 Stars
After the match, Owens went to attack Sami some more, but Randy Orton made his return and hit the ring to get some revenge on the man who put him on the shelf recently. An RKO takes Owens down, and then we get a tease of a steel chair attack, but Orton throws the chair out of the ring and instead lines up for a Punt. Unfortunately, it’s intercepted by a bunch of security guards, allowing Owens to get out of the ring and scurry away.
CM Punk vs Logan Paul vs Damian Priest vs Seth Rollins vs Drew McIntyre vs John Cena – Men’s Elimination Chamber for a WWE Title shot at WrestleMania 41
Cody and Rock are getting the “main event” spot?? C’mon, son! That’s not necessary.
Logan Paul makes his entrance, waving an American flag for some extra heat. The Star Spangled Banner was heavily booed during the pre-show, continuing the streak of Canadian sports fans disliking America. The funny thing is that it didn’t really add much heat to what he was already receiving. It did allow Pat McAfee to rant about how super duper awesome America is for the 84th time tonight, though, so… yeah. It would be nice if Pat shut the fuck up every now and again.
Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre are going to start the match off. Sounds like a good plan to me.
Damian Priest is next to step out of his pod. As expected, Rollins and McIntyre had a physical time with each other. Lots of stalling, though, with McIntyre taunting and talking trash to CM Punk outside of Punk’s pod.
“Fuck you, Logan” chants for no reason other than the fans hate him. He’s still in his pod.
Well, he WAS in his pod, as he is now the next entrant.
More “fuck you, Logan” chants, followed by “you still suck” chants after Logan hit Priest with a flurry of offense.
John Cena is next up, and the crowd goes nuts. Cena is also going nuts, laying out anything that moves.
McIntyre hits Cena with a Claymore out of nowhere, but before he can follow up with a pin, Priest rolls him up for the win. Drew is our first elimination. Before he leaves the Chamber, Drew hits Priest with a Claymore. This allows Logan Paul to hit Priest with a Frog Splash from the top of CM Punk’s pod, and Priest is now eliminated, as well.
Cena and Punk are about to square off, much to the delight of the crowd, but Rollins breaks it up by attacking Punk.
Rollins and Cena have a “boo/yay” punch trade-off, but Rollins is constantly looking just off-camera. Eventually, Logan Paul hops over the top rope with a Buckshot Lariat, taking both men out. That looked like a poorly timed spot from Paul, who probably should’ve hit the ring a few seconds earlier.
GTS from Punk to Logan Paul, and Paul has been eliminated! We’re down to CM Punk, John Cena, and Seth Rollins. One of them is going to WrestleMania to face Cody Rhodes.
Punk and Cena with a tribute to Canada, delivering an old school Hart Attack to Rollins. Very nice.
STF on Punk! Reversed into an Anaconda Vice! Punk and Cena are having themselves a fun mini-match here, putting in a vintage performance.
Punk kicks out of an Attitude Adjustment!
Punk kicks out of a Stomp! Business really picked up in this match once McIntyre, Priest, and Paul were all eliminated.
GTS sends Rollins staggering into Cena, who picks him up and drops him with an Attitude Adjustment. Punk makes the cover, and Rollins has been eliminated. We’re down to Punk and Cena. Hello, 2011!
Cena goes to shake Punk’s hand, but Punk lifts him up for the GTS, but it gets a two count. Cena is back up, and he drops Punk with an Attitude Adjustment for another two count.
Rollins was still in the Chamber! He wasn’t shown on camera, but when Punk crawled to the ropes, Rollins dropped Punk with a Stomp! Cena drags Punk back into the ring and locks him in an STF. Punk passes out, and John Cena is going to WrestleMania to face Cody Rhodes!
That was a blast. It was good to begin with, but it got REALLY good once we got down to the final three. Great stuff. 4.5 Stars
The WrestleMania card has really started to look like what I wrote about in my “what I would do if I were in charge” column a while back. Kudos to me.
As Cena celebrates in the ring, the lights go down and Cody Rhodes makes his way to the ring. Here we go.
Cena and Cody are congratulating each other, but The Rock’s music hits… and then switches into Travis Scott’s music. Mr. Scott takes approximately 128 sips of whatever he’s drinking in about 33 seconds, looking goofy as all hell, then the music switches back to The Rock, bringing The Final Boss out.
Once again, Rock asks for Cody’s soul, damn near demanding it.
Cody gets on the mic and says that his soul no longer belongs to him… because he gave his soul to “this ring” and “these people” a long time ago.
“Hey Rock, go fuck yourself!” – Cody Rhodes, to a huge pop.
HOLY SHIT.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT.
Cena and Cody embrace in the ring, and with Cody’s back to Rock, Rock signals to Cena to end things… and John Cena turns heel in the middle of the ring by kicking Cody in the balls.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Cena attacks Cody repeatedly, eventually busting Cody wide open. Travis Scott’s stupid ass has no idea what he’s doing as he tries to get physical in restraining Cody, and he needs to be directed twice, once by Rock and once by Cena. Rock takes off his weight belt and whips the hell out of Cody.
On commentary, Michael Cole is completely beside himself, cussing and yelling at Cena for the decision he made. Cole mentions the millions of children around the world that look up to Cena.
Rock, Cena, and Travis Scott’s dumb ass leave the ring and stand in the aisle. Michael Cole runs in to check on Cody, and we go off the air with the heel trio walking away.
Holy shit. That might be the most shocking thing I’ve ever seen as a wrestling fan. I thought there was less than zero percent chance we’d ever see Cena turning heel, and the numbers were even less once he announced his retirement tour.
Wow.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
Looks like I need to change the subject of my next column.
The show was good, and well worth watching by itself, but I’m giving it a full recommendation, just so you can say that you witnessed history. My mind is completely boggled right now.
