Hiya!

We’re right smack dab in the middle of the Road to Wrestlemania but the trip was never going to be completed until Elimination Chamber finished. We did get confirmation of a couple of the matches at Wrestlemania after the Royal Rumble with Bayley and Cody winning their respective 30-man/woman battle royale. Sure, it took a while for Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns to actually get finalized because of all the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shenanigans but that was eventually cleared up thanks to all the “Cody Crybabies” such as myself.

It still took the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event to clear up who Rhea Ripley and Seth Rollins were going to face at the Showcase of the Immortals, though. So, Elimination Chamber is a big deal. So let’s go check out what went down during the show.

The first match of the night was the Women’s Elimination Chamber match featuring Becky Lynch, Tiffany Straton, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Naomi and Bianca Belair with the winner to face Rhea Ripley at Wrestlemania for the RAW Women’s Championship. Tiffany Straton looked like a million bucks here with a really good showing. I may not like Liv Morgan’s rather reckless manner of wrestling but it worked well for this kind of match as she did some weird stunts, like that sitout senton to Raquel Rodriguez from atop of one of the pods. Raquel Rodriguez was generally fine as she did showcase her strength and power, like suplexing Liv Morgan into the chain linked wall of the Elimination Chamber. Belair and Lynch were also pretty good but mostly for improving the spots of the other competitors. I also have to say Naomi was fine but she got eliminated fairly quicky and unceremoniously before the other cool spots.

The final three competitors were Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair and Liv Morgan, which was worth the ticket with all of them really doing some really cool spots with all of them contributing to the action. The finish came after Becky Lynch climbed the corner but Liv Morgan superplexed The Man. The EST then tried a 450 splash but Lynch countered by getting her knees up in time. Morgan then tried an enziguri but Belair ducked to avoid the blow.

Belair then tried her KOD finisher to Morgan but Morgan countered it into an awkward looking flipping jawbreaker. Lynch tried to hit the Manhandle Slam on Liv but Morgan countered that into a Codebreaker. Belair then tried to hit her KOD on Lynch but Becky blocked it. This allowed Liv Morgan to sneak behind Belair for a rollup pin. Morgan started to celebrate but forgot all about Becky Lynch who hit the Manhandle Slam on Liv to get the pinfall and win her spot to face off against Rhea Ripley at Wrestlemania.

This was a pretty good showing. There were some awkward moments, with some of the competitors pausing ever so slightly or moving to their correct locations to hit certain spots, sure. So, things didn’t flow incredibly smoothly. However, the action itself was top notch overall with Becky Lynch being the best choice to win here.

The next match had the team of the New Catch Republic of Tyler Bates and Pete Dunn going after the Unified Tag Team Championships of The Judgement Day, consisting of Damien Priest and Finn Balor. I love how much heel heat Dominik Mysterio got just by speaking here. Still, Dom did prove useful by saving the match for the Judgement Day once or twice before getting booted out, which I didn’t agree with as the referee didn’t actually see the interference. Innocent until prove guilty! The New Catch Republic might have a dumb name but I do like their wrestling style. I always liked Pete Dunne’s more unorthodox style and Tyler Bates’ more high energy way of wrestling. It really complimented The Judgement Day’s more conventional and more steady way of tag team wrestling.

The finish came after where Tyler Bates flipped out of Priest’s Razor’s Edge and awkwardly flung him into Balor because Priest stumbled. Bates and Dunne then hit a double team Burning Hammer to Priest for a 2-count. The New Catch Republic then wailed on Senor Money in the Bank with fists and perched him on the corner. Balor, however, prevented his partner from being tossed from the top, which allowed Priest enough time to recover and hit both Bates and Dunne with chokeslams from the second turnbuckle. Balor then hit the Coup de Grace on Dunne to get the pinfall victory and retain their Unified Tag Team Championship.

This was a good match while you were watching it. Dominik earned his pay using his pure heel heat. The team of Bates and Dunne still need some fine tuning but they worked well enough together. I didn’t really like the ending as Priest recovered too quickly from the drubbing he was taking and even incapacitated both members of the New Catch Republic with one move. Balor was fine in general. I say it was good when you’re watching it because there aren’t exactly any moments which stuck out in my mind. Still, a good watch.

The next segment saw Grayson Waller interviewing Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. This could easily be boiled down to Cody Rhodes challenging The Rock to a match, which won’t be at Wrestlemania because that’s already booked. Seth Rollins then said he has Cody’s back. Austin Theory tried to imitate The Rock and gets blasted by both Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins with Grayson Waller standing on the sidelines because he didn’t want to get involved.

This was pretty much a nothing segment and just inserted just so the WWE fans of Perth have an excuse to see Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins even though they don’t have any matches on the card. Seemed like a waste of time because, even though Cody did challenge The Rock, we didn’t get any details. It’s like an old-school promo where the guy just challenges people to a match.

The next match was the Men’s Elimination Chamber match. This had Drew McIntyre, LA Knight, Bobby Lashley, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton and Logan Paul competing to see who would challenge Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania for the biggest prize on RAW, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. There weren’t any real high flying moments here, seeing that only Logan Paul is the luchador type here. However, they made up for that with just pure violence. Some fun spots, like LA Knight smashing McIntyre’s face into KO’s pod while Owens smashing back from behind the glass, Kevin Owens entering Logan Paul’s pod for a beatdown, Bobby Lashley spearing Logan Paul through a pod and many more. We even saw AJ Styles go roughshot on LA Knight with a chair. Imagine, AJ Styles bought himself a ticket to Australia just so he could do a run in!

The final 3 Superstars were Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton and Logan Paul. All 3 of them were downed at one point but Logan Paul got to his feet first. He took out some brass knuckles but, before he could use them, the Viper hit an RKO out of nowhere to eliminate the Maverick. Orton hits his trademark draping DDT on the Scottish Warrior. Orton signaled for an RKO but McIntyre blocks it and hits a spinebuster. McIntyre signals for the Claymore but Orton slumps to the mat. The Viper was playing possum, though, as he did this to lure McIntyre in and hit an RKO. However, Logan Paul, although he was eliminated, never left the Elimination Chamber and sucker punched Orton with the brass knuckles, knocking him out cold. McIntyre crawls over, pins Orton and books his ticket to Wrestlemania against Seth Rollins.

This was a pretty good match because of hot intense things got. There weren’t any real high spots when it comes to aerial acrobatics but the hard hitting action was great. Some of the eliminations were cleverly written. Having Drew McIntyre win was also the best pick out of all the combatants.

The final night of the night had Australia’s very own Rhea Ripley defending her RAW Women’s Championship against Nia Jax. I will say it was a good choice to pit the hometown hero against The Irresistible Force as, even though Rhea Ripley is known for her strength and power, Nia Jax is the type of monster she needs to face to make her look like an underdog. The majority of the match did show Nia Jax dominate Rhea Ripley with her power, like performing a double powerbomb to the RAW Women’s Champion. Mami did get in some moments to try and mount a comeback and show off some power moves like lifting Jax into an electric chair position before slamming her face down in an terrible looking turnbuckle spot.

The finish came after Jax tried to hit another Banzai Drop to Ripley but the Judgement Day’s Enforcer tossed her foe over the top rope. Ripley tried to drag the Irresistible Force up for a superplex but Jax shoved Ripley off. Jax climbed to the top but Ripley met her up there and did hit the superplex. Ripley then went for her Riptide finisher and hit it to get the pinfall victory and retain her RAW Women’s Championship. This was just an okay match. If it weren’t for the super hot crowd, I don’t think I would’ve cared too much for it. However, the electric crowd did help elevate the match from just okay to good.

Byee!

What did you think of this year’s WWE Elimination Chamber show? Let me know in the comments section below!