Ahh, Elimination Chamber. Nobody’s favourite pay-per-view… Sitting in that gap between Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania, it should really set you up nicely for Mania, solidify rivalries and hammer home the importance of the main event. But when the main event of Mania this year was the worst kept secret in months it’s hard to get too excited, even when faced with CM Punk getting his WWE title rematch after dropping the belt to The Rock at Royal Rumble (seriously, don’t me started on that, the swear jar’s already full).
To be fair, their match this time is a vast improvement on their Rumble match up. Punk is, as usual, a joy to watch and his 434 day title reign will go down as one of the greatest in WWE history; but the flyers for Mania got sent to the printers months ago and they can’t very well change it now.
The actual Elimination Chamber match itself is there to decide the number one contender for the Heavyweight title at Mania. Inside the Chamber – which I can only describe as some sort of mad S&M wendy house – we have Daniel Bryan, Kane, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, Mark Henry and daft, eagle-cuddling racist Jack Swagger. Bizarrely, for a match that starts with Bryan and Jericho, things don’t really get going until Mark Henry’s appearance. Still though, from then on we’re treated to a proper back and forth match where each guy plays their respective role to perfection.
The winner of that match would go on to face either Big Show or Alberto Del Rio, who square up here for the title in a disappointing match. Both guys seem a step or two off the pace and it has the air of a feud that neither man is all that interested in and probably should’ve been wrapped up after their previous match.
One of the biggest surprises of the night comes when The Shield score a huge win over John Cena, Sheamus and Ryback, at that time three of the top faces of the company (although Ryback is now a heel and we know this because he has a hat on and seems cross). The Shield are one of the most exciting things to happen to WWE in many a year and keep your attention for every second here. When he’s not in the ring you can still hear Dean Ambrose outside shouting at their opponents, playing the unhinged psycho perfectly.
The supporting card includes a US title match between then champion Antonio Cesaro and The Miz,whose face turn has so far been a bit of a disaster (if you listen carefully you can hear the crowd go mild when he appears). There’s a pretty standard win for Dolph Ziggler (who also cuts a great promo) over Kofi Kingston and a decent Divas title match between Tamina Snuka and Kaitlyn.
As I said at the beginning, it doesn’t have anywhere near the importance of any of the ‘big four’ PPV’s but there are probably just about enough decent bouts here to make this DVD worth checking out in the future.
Oh and apparently WWE have an app. They might’ve mentioned that at some point. I forget.
