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Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: February 23 2014
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Attendance: 14,101
The Road To WrestleMania XXX was well and truly in effect by the time that Elimination Chamber rolled around, but where that path will lead to is anybody's guess. Not least due to the absence of CM Punk, who walked out of WWE the day after Royal Rumble, with people none the wiser as to why he did so, and with Punk still yet to return. Whilst WWE is dealing with this crisis off-screen, on-screen it has another big problem as fans have largely greeted Batista's comeback and Royal Rumble victory with disdain, whilst making it clear that contrary to WWE's wishes, they want Daniel Bryan and not Batista to main event WrestleMania XXX.
Elimination Chamber represented a chance for WWE to try and create some buzz for Mania outside of these issues, along with perhaps finding a remedy to the situation of the planned WM main event being unwanted by most. The card itself had two standout matches on paper: the Elimination Chamber match itself for the WWE Title, and a six-man tag pitting The Shield against The Wyatt Family. Would these or any other matches create interest for the April 6 mega-show?
After a pre-show match which saw The Brotherhood combo of Cody Rhodes and Goldust triumph over RybAxel, Elimination Chamber officially kicked off with Big E defending the Intercontinental Title against Jack Swagger, who won a pretty good Fatal Four Way match on a recent episode of SmackDown to earn this opportunity. Big E, incidentally, has had his name shortened; no longer is his last name "Langston". Why WWE has made this decision, I do not know. It makes even less sense that Cesaro has now lost his first name, meaning that he no longer answers to Antonio, again for unknown reasons.
This IC Title scrap was rather enjoyable. It had the potential to be a typical WWE big man match with two competent efforts but nothing distinguishing it from other matches on the card, but this encounter had some nice exchanges and surprisingly smooth reversals and near-falls. The highlights were the return of Big E's quite insane spear through the ropes to the floor, and some close calls for Swagger with the Patriot Lock submission hold. Big E wrapped this one up with the Big Ending, denying Zeb Colter his first of two chances to manage a titleholder following this card (and Cesaro's chances of winning the main event were very slim). This was definitely better than expected, and so it opened Elimination Chamber on a bit of a high.
Before the WWE Tag Team Title match, we had the first of what would be several interruptions by Bad News Barrett on a variety of heat-building topics, and we had the official on-air confirmation of Hulk Hogan's return to WWE, with him making his proper comeback on Raw the following night. Not seen in a WWE ring since 2007, Hogan's reappearance will create a good buzz for WrestleMania XXX, even if his back injury makes it unlikely that the Hulkster will actually have a match on April 6.
The Usos have had a steady push over the last eight months, which combined with the probable short-term championship run for multitime Tag Team Champions (of the worrrrrrrrld!) The New Age Outlaws suggested to me that a title change was on the cards here. That Jimmy and Jey Uso have become more popular and one of the most reliable doubles acts in WWE went unnoticed by this crowd, who loudly chanted for CM Punk throughout and later on the show as well. Expect that to become an ongoing thing, regardless of who was in the wrong with the Punk situation.
As noted, I thought that this would be The Usos' night, but instead The Outlaws picked up the surprise win (which seemed to deflate the Minneapolis crowd, when they weren't chanting for CM Punk anyway) when Billy Gunn rolled up Jimmy Uso for the pinfall win. Although this wasn't the big moment when The Usos finally won their first WWE Tag Team Titles since debuting back in 2010 (and having improved immensely since then), I still expect Jimmy and Jey to seize the doubles crowns soon from The Outlaws, perhaps at WrestleMania XXX.
Next up, we had Darren Young vs. Titus O'Neil. WWE made the odd decision to split up the Prime Time Players combo shortly after Royal Rumble, with O'Neil going heel and launching a fairly violent attack on DYoung. This was their grudge match and, whilst it was nice that WWE allowed such a feud to climax on a supershow, it was clear from the crowd responses that there wasn't enough oomph to this situation for fans to particularly care. It didn't help that the PTP seemed to have more to achieve as a team, having only turned babyface over the summer and with them having only one major televised title opportunity.
More surprising still was the outcome: Darren Young, as the wronged babyface, was presumed to get retribution on this show, but instead after some run-of-the-mill action, it was Titus who won the match by pinfall after hitting the Clash Of The Titus. O'Neil appears to be getting primed for a decent push as a heel, for obvious reasons (he's tall and muscular, which is enough for Vince McMahon to take a punt on someone in many instances). Whether it will succeed or not is anybody's guess; at this point, given O'Neil's ability level, I would predict that it probably will not work out. Certainly not for Young, who is now cast adrift as a low-card babyface, and one who lost to the former partner who betrayed him.
The most anticipated match on the show was the first proper meeting of The Shield and The Wyatt Family, and the audience was electric before a blow had been thrown as the two squads stood in a pre-match face-off. They erupted when all hell broke loose at the opening bell, as a major brawl opened proceedings. Once things calmed down, the Wyatts took control of the match in the early going, although The Shield rebounded with flurries of offence when the Hounds Of Justice were able to make occasional tags. A Bray Wyatt-Roman Reigns exchange drew great heat from the crowd, and the fans were only drawn in more when the Wyatts regained control following a Luke Harper dropkick to Dean Ambrose, and Erick Rowan unleashing a painful-looking head crush submission hold with his clenched fists.
Seth Rollins tagged in and took this great match to another higher level with some phenomenal offence: a top rope German suplex was avoided with a stunning backdrop, and he followed that up with a suicide dive out of one side of the ring and a diving knee out of the other. Wyatt countered with a running back splash, and Harper unleashed an unexpected tope to the floor, followed by a similar dive by Rollins. The announcer's tables were then torn apart and as Bray and Ambrose fought through the audience, Rowan and Harper drove Rollins through one of the tables Shield-style. Back in the ring, Reigns made a great comeback on the Wyatts (his Superman Punch was an appropriate offensive weapon in this situation), but with Bray back in the mix, the numbers game caught up to Reigns and Roman was dispatched with Sister Abigail to give the win to the Wyatts.
This was exceptional. The match had been considered a future dream match for a long time, and whilst most expected it to be saved until WrestleMania, it was still great to see it happen on this show. By far the match of the night, it was also the best match to date for the Wyatt members, and for the Shield it was as good as their outstanding debut battle against Ryback and Team Hell No at TLC 2012. The seeds have been ever-so-slightly sewn that The Shield will break up on the Road To WrestleMania, so it remains to be seen if this result will have any impact on how long the faction will remain together. It'd be great to see a rematch at some point though, because this was superb.
AJ Lee defended her Divas Title against Cameron in a match that few really wanted to see. Judging by the way in which on-screen storylines were heading, it appeared that Cameron's fellow Funkadactyl partner Naomi would be getting the title shot here against AJ, but an eye injury suffered a few weeks back ruled her out, and so WWE decided to insert her dancing friend into that slot instead.
The downside is that Cameron isn't as athletic or as charismatic as Naomi, meaning that this match against the accomplished Divas titleholder had that dreaded filler feeling, especially since the action wasn't anything close to being special. To make matters worse, Tamina Snuka interfered to attack Cameron, resulting in the challenger winning by disqualification as fans booed. WWE would have been better off leaving this match off the show completely, since it benefitted nobody (Cameron may have won, but there is virtually no chance that she is going to end AJ's long reign as Divas Champion).
Batista was meant to fight Alberto Del Rio next, but ADR came out in a tracksuit and on crutches, stating that he was injured and couldn't compete. This was revealed to be a ruse, as Del Rio removed the trackie and pounded The Animal with one of the crutches. From there, Del Rio took control of the match, and had Batista in danger with the Cross Armbreaker. But Batista rallied and, culminating a short but enjoyable and logical bout, the big man hit ADR with the Batista Bomb for the win.
Of greater note than the action on displayer here were the crowd reactions. Just like at Royal Rumble, the audience here loathed Batista. Chanting "Boo-tista!" and loudly jeering his comebacks, and making their approval of the heel Del Rio clear, the reaction to Batista bordered on cruel, when you consider that his character hasn't done anything since his return to warrant the boos. They also chanted for hometown boy Brock Lesnar to appear, but that didn't happen at any point on the show (I'm not sure why). The match gave Batista something to do as he awaits confirmation of his WrestleMania opponent, but the reaction here suggests that WWE is really going to struggle to have Batista cheered on in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome when he gets his title shot. There is still time for WWE to find a remedy to the situation, and it's clear that it has to do something; a straight Batista vs. Randy Orton title match in the main event slot at WM could be the most poorly-received Mania match ever.
Which brings us to the main event of this show, the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The slightly ramshackle line-up included titleholder Randy Orton, John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, Cesaro and Christian. It was weird seeing Captain Charisma inserted into such a big match so soon after his abrupt return from injury, and though "Peeps" are now more invested in the likes of Daniel Bryan than the man they were once fiercely loyal to, it nevertheless stood that Christian was main eventing in the final PPV before WrestleMania. Same for Cesaro, except that his momentum has been steadily increasing over recent weeks, and his crowd-pleasing signature moves combined with superb performances (and upset wins like the recent SD victory over Randy Orton) suggest that he could be in line for an interesting future over the next few months.
Cesaro and Sheamus began the match with some physical exchanges. Daniel Bryan was #3 and came out to a massive pop; as if it couldn't have been predicted beforehand, Bryan was by far the crowd favourite in this match. Christian was in next, and despite his babyface status, he acted slightly heelish when he rammed the door of one of the Chamber pods into Bryan's arm. John Cena came in next to a predictably hostile response, and the boos for Cena only increased when he had a thrilling square-off with the too-over-for-words Bryan. Cesaro elicited a huge cheer as he struck Cena with a massive mid-air uppercut, around which time defending titleholder Randy Orton was the sixth and final man to enter the action, with no eliminations having occurred up to this point.
Which of course meant that they would now come thick and fast: once Orton had taken a fair share of punishment (including a ridiculous 30-rotation Giant Swing by Cesaro), the Viper recovered enough to hit a suplex off the ropes to Sheamus, which Christian followed with a major splash off one of the pods to surprisingly have the Celtic Warrior eliminated first. Christian didn't last much longer though, as he almost immediately tasted a Bryan Running Knee to have him removed from proceedings. Another Bryan-Cena square-off led to the impressive sight of Cesaro suplexing Cena whilst he had Bryan in AA position, but Cena countered with an AA to Cesaro himself, and after locking in the STF, the Swiss Superman tapped out, although his brilliant effort on the night and in recent weeks make him one to watch going forward.
Three men were left, but three quickly became two as the Wyatt Family somehow found a way into the Chamber and pounded Cena to the extent that he was pinned by Orton (to loud "Thank you Wyatts!" chants, which illustrates how much this crowd hated Cena). The run-in pretty much confirms the Cena-Bray match for WrestleMania which was first teased back at Royal Rumble. From there, it was Orton vs. Bryan, so the audience were obviously wanting Bryan to win the WWE Title. During this time, (Corporate) Kane found a way to enter the match, and he too took blows from Bryan, who was on fire as he levelled Orton with a Running Knee. Kane interrupted the cover and took further abuse, before an Orton RKO appeared to end it. When Bryan kicked out, the fans erupted, believing that WWE would atone for the Royal Rumble situation with Bryan winning the title here. But instead, another shot by Kane led Bryan into a second RKO, which allowed Orton to win the match and retain the title, much to the dismay of the Minneapolis crowd.
On the surface, it seems that WWE had raised and dashed fan hopes for Bryan again. However, the clear emphasis on Bryan's Authority-caused setbacks by Michael Cole and the lingering close-ups on the faces of disappointed fans, and Bryan himself, suggests that WWE were pointing this out for a reason. Are WWE planning to acquiesce to fan demands and find a way for Bryan to actually get that WrestleMania title opportunity? WWE must surely realise that presenting Orton vs. Batista will flatline after emphasising the latest obstacle put in front of Bryan. The story has only one ending; the question is, will WWE deliver it? That was the point to ponder after an impressive main event within the chain-link structure.
So, that was Elimination Chamber. The WWE Title match remains the same as it had been beforehand, but could the closing scenes provide a hint that Daniel Bryan might just find a way to crash the WM main event party? If not, he will surely oppose the Authority in some way at Mania. Elsewhere, John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt now seems assured, and the lack of a Brock Lesnar appearance suggests his opponent will be somebody completely different (The Undertaker?). The six-man tag was by far the match of the night, but the headliner was also worth watching, and the opener exceeded expectations. WWE still has many gaps to fill in order to satisfy fans, and it remains to be seen if WWE and CM Punk can reach a compromise on their differences, but enough developments happened and enough subtle hints for upcoming plot twists happened that Elimination Chamber just about served its purpose, setting up what should be a memorable WrestleMania. Hopefully, WWE will ensure that WM XXX is remembered for the right reasons rather than the wrong reasons.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10 - Good
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