[Please note: I will mention the winner of the pre-show fatal four way, because I didn’t watch it. It’s not an issue.]
The road to Wrestlemania continues, as six of Raw’s top competitors, including the WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, are locked inside the Elimination Chamber, an unforgiving structure of steel and chains. Drew McIntyre will defend his WWE Title against five former champions, namely Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy and AJ Style, in what may well determine the main event of Wrestlemania. On SmackDown, Roman Reigns opted not to defend his gold inside the dangerous structure, and instead will face the winner – out of Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, King Corbin or his own cousin, Jey Uso – immediately after the match ends. Bobby Lashley defends his United Stated Championship against Riddle and the man who won a fatal four way on the pre-show, John Morrison, while the Women’s Tag Titles will be defended as Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler face the interesting duo of Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair.
+ Cesaro vs Jey Uso vs Kevin Owens vs King Corbin vs Daniel Bryan vs Sami Zayn (Elimination Chamber Match to face Roman Reigns on the same show): at one point, in the ring was Bryan, Cesaro, Zayn and Owens, and I couldn’t help but think that WWE needs to be publicly thanking Ring of Honor for that 2008 roster. With competitors of that calibre — including standout Cesaro, to nobody’s surprise — of course the in-ring action (or in cage, as it were) was great, and even King Corbin and Jey Uso added their own to this match. I liked this, and while I would have gone with a different winner, it played well into what came next
+ Roman Reigns (c) defended the Universal Championship against the winner of the Elimination Chamber match, adn frankly I really liked it. The match was what it was, but it had a few glorious call backs to matches from the past and an aftermath we may have all been expecting but still done really well
– Drew McIntyre (c) vs Randy Orton vs Jeff Hardy vs Sheamus vs AJ Styles vs Kofi Kingston (Elimination Chamber for the WWE Championship): the wrestling in this was fine, but I think they have ignored every single storyline leading into this, including those between competitors actually in this match. McIntyre has had a horrible run as champion over the last twelve months, and frankly nothing here proved that RAw deserved a Chamber match of their own. I wanted to like this, but frankly it just annoyed me
– Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax (c) vs Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair (Women’s Tag Team Championships): Nia Jax is not good. I don’t know how else to say it, and no matter how much they milk this “my literal asshole got damaged, so I’m going to scream about it” bullshit will not change the fact that Nia Jax is not good. Shayna has lost her aura from her NXT and early main roster stuff, and Sasha and Belair were a make shift team. This sucked
– Bobby Lashley (c) vs Riddle vs John Morrison (United States Championship): there was nothing bad about this match, but so much of it just didn’t make sense. Surprisingly, Riddle/Morrison looked really awkward together, and the best parts were when when Lashley was murdering the smaller men. Give me more monster Lashley, please
Should you watch this event: Overall, the wrestling action on this show was fantastic, but I question the result of almost every single thing that happened. How is one company so incompetent?
MoshFish Reviews 