Sigh. If you decided to skip WWE’s latest “premium live event” today consider yourself lucky. The Elimination Chamber PPV ended a little over 4 hours ago and it has most fans simply shaking their heads as to how boring, anti-climatic and mid this event was tonight.
The main card was as follows:
- Roman Reigns def. Goldberg to retain Universal Championship
- Bianca Belair def. Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, Piper Nevin and Nikki Cross to win the Women’s Elimination Chamber & a match for the Raw Women’s title at WrestleMania
- Ronda Rousey & Naomi def. SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair & Sonya Deville
- Drew McIntyre def. Riddick Moss in a Falls Count Anywhere match
- Becky Lynch def. Lita to retain the Raw Women’s Championship
- The Usos attacked The Viking Raiders. No match occurred
- Brock Lesnar def. Austin Theory, Matt Riddle, AJ Styles, Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley to win the Men’s Elimination Chamber & the WWE Championship
The Good…
The match between Becky Lynch and Lita was the match of the night for me. Both contestants brought good energy and told a good story. The match was really solid; not great but really solid. The match could’ve used a few more minutes to really let it cook. The crowd acknowledged Lita at the end of the match and it was well deserved. Lita is a Hall of Famer and a trailblazer for women’s wrestling. I personally would like to see her have one more title run.
The women’s elimination match, while predictable, was also a fun match to watch. Internet fans won’t be happy with Alexa Bliss & Liv Morgan losing but this was the right call putting Bianca over. Bianca Belair needs to right her story with Becky Lynch and there’s no better place to do it than at WrestleMania.
The Bad…
Most of the matches tonight were very mid. To protect Goldberg from possibly concussing himself again the match with Roman Reigns was booked at a snail’s pace. It was clearly a pace Roman Reigns is not used to and it looked that way on television.
While the idea of having Ronda Rousey fight with one arm behind her back seemed like a good idea on paper given Sonya Deville’s fake injury, it came off slowing the match down and making Rousey look even more awkward than she normally does. It also limited the move sets of the other competitors. Not giving Naomi the pin over Deville was also a mistake because it cheapens their rivalry. It also devalues Deville in that she could be submitted by a one-armed wrestler.
This time a year ago Drew McIntyre was getting set to fight for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 37. This year he’s in a middling feud with Riddick Moss & Baron Corbin. This match was complete filler despite the violence and it did nothing for everyone involved. Hey, at least the Saudi crowd went wild when Drew attempted to decapitate Corbin with his sword.
How would you like to be The Usos & The Viking Raiders who were flown over to Jeddah only to have your match thrown out and settle for a 2 minute spot? SMH…
The Ugly…
Can I ask a question? What the hell was the point of Bobby Lashley holding the WWE Championship if he was going to drop it back to Brock Lesnar in 3 weeks? Here’s another question — what was the point of Big E losing the WWE title to Brock on Day 1 only for Lesnar to hold it for 4 weeks before dropping it only for him to get it back 21 days after that? Vince McMahon & his merry band of writers continue to twist themselves into knots and in the process make EVERYONE not named Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar look completely pathetic. Seth Rollins and AJ Styles are top stars. Rollins owns wins over Brock Lesnar. AJ Styles held the WWE title for 371 days yet both were treated like props for Brock Lesnar, the one guy who absolutely does not need to be booked so dominantly. He’s BROCK FREAKING LESNAR!
Vince McMahon has spent all of his time focusing on a handful of people who he feels are star worthy. Outside of Roman, Charlotte, Becky, Ronda, Brock and to a lesser extent Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Sasha Banks, Bayley and Bianca Belair who else has Vince really pushed? This roster, even with all of the talent cuts made over the last two years, is loaded with talent but Vince pays absolutely no attention to them. You mean to tell me talent like AJ Styles, Big E, Kofi Kingston, Finn Bálor, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, Rhea Ripley, Asuka, Shayna Bazsler and others can’t headline “premium live events”?
Vince reportedly is concerned about the lack of star power heading into WrestleMania 38. That’s rich considering Vince has done nothing in terms of character development and booking to build up anyone other than the people I just named as the talent that Vince actually cares about. He’s also spent the last 2 years shedding talent like Bray Wyatt, Keith Lee, Karrion Kross, Mickie James among others. I get going back to the well to bring in Ronda and Brock because it’s always better to have star power but what good is it when those stars are booked to bury everyone & make them look weak and foolish? Why should I, a long time wrestling fan, care about Kevin Owens when he’s booked the way he is? I absolutely love Naomi but she is constantly booked as an afterthought. Tonight was a prime example of that type of booking. There’s only so many times Vince McMahon can go to that well before people just get tired of it. The fact WWE is putting ticket deals together to try and help sell out AT&T Stadium for WrestleMania is wild. Tuesday Wrestling Tuesday host Jonathan Hood has given numerous examples on his TWT podcast how WWE is struggling to sell out house shows. This is what happens when you constantly book only a handful of wrestlers strong. Yes… I know everyone can’t be in the main event but when you are building stars and booking correctly then fans will care.
WrestleMania is shaping up to feature only 3-4 matches that fans will somewhat care about. If WWE is going to thrive against rising competition like AEW then they have got to get better at booking stars correctly. I just don’t trust Vince and his minions to actually listen.
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