Results, Recap, Review of WWE Elimination Chamber 2019
Tonight was an important stop on the Road to Wrestlemania and a historical one as the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships were re-introduced. Elimination Chamber has always been a great way to build towards Wrestlemania. With championships on the line and people looking for spots on the biggest show I had high expectations for this pay-per-view. Before I begin with my thoughts on if my expectations were met here are the results of the Elimination Chamber:
-Preshow: Buddy Murphy defeated Akira Tozawa to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
-Bayley and Sasha Banks defeated Mandy Rose/Sonya Deville, Nia Jax/Tamina, The IIconics, The Riott Squad and Carmella/Naomi to win the Women’s Tag Team Championships
-The Uso’s defeated Shane McMahon and The Miz to win the Smackdown Tag Team Championships
-Finn Balor defeated Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush to win the Intercontinental Championship
-Ronda Rousey defeated Ruby Riott to retain the Raw Women’s Championship
-Baron Corbin defeated Braun Strowman
-Daniel Bryan defeated Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe to retain the WWE Championship
The opening match of the night was the Women’s Tag Team Championship Match inside the Elimination Chamber Match. This match went exactly how I thought it would with the Nia Jax and Tamina coming out last. To no one’s surprise Naomi and Carmella were the first team out and followed by that were the IIconics. The final two teams came down to the Sasha Banks and Bayley along with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. These two teams had a really good showing to end the match. I believe Bayley and Sasha Banks are going to have an interesting Road to Wrestlemania and my guess is they will have a big time match at the biggest show of the year. The Miz andis right around the corner so I am intrigued as to where their story goes from. Shane McMahon’s story has been a very fun one in recent months. I don’t know where they go from here, but I will be looking forward to The Miz and Shane chemistry in the coming week. I am so disappointed in WWE’s decision to put the titles on The Uso’s again. I don’t care who wants to be fired, because in my opinion you don’t reward bad behavior. Almost provoking a fight with a police officer is not something that should be rewarded. I really hope their reign is short and teams like Sanity, Heavy Machinery, and The Good Brothers get a chance.
One guy that has deserved to be rewarded has been Finn Balor. He should have had a title over two years ago when he came back from injury. He was the first ever Universal Champion and it’s been a long time since he’s treated like a champion, a main eventer and held a top spot. I hope he goes into Wrestlemania as Intercontinental Champion and has a classic title match like the championship should have on grandest stage of them all. A match that came together fairly quickly was Ronda Rousey and Ruby Riott, and it ended as quickly as it got put together. I think it’s a shame that Ruby wasn’t allowed to shine in this match. I know Ronda’s the big time attraction, but how are you suppose to build up the Women’s Division once Rousey is gone if you have her decimate everyone she faces. After the match was over, all hell broke loose between Rousey, Flair and Lynch. The story with Becky Lynch has been the best story WWE has had in a very long time. I think she along with Flair and Rousey are going to tear the house down at Wrestlemania.
Anytime Braun Strowman gets in the ring something always gets torn apart, but tonight was not a career night for Strowman. The way they have booked Braun Strowman in the last six month has been the worst booking of someone’s career I’ve seen in a very long time. This guy should been WWE Universal Champion for the last two years and it’s either been the Brock or Roman show. The fans have been behind Strowman for almost three years now and all he’s gotten is a ridiculous one day tag team title run with a ten year old. I really hope they figure out what to do with Strowman really soon. The Main Event was the Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship. The first two men that started were Samoa Joe and Daniel Bryan, and the literally beat the crap out of each other for the first five minutes. Kofi Kingston and AJ Styles came out and got very innovative with the Chamber and used it as a weapon. I was really shocked that Samoa Joe was eliminated first, but then again I put him right up there with how Braun Strowman is being used. Jeff Hardy was the second person eliminated after a sick and twisted Swanton Bomb on AJ Styles. Orton came out last as he, Bryan, Styles and Kingston were the final four in the ring. Styles was eliminated by Orton, then Orton eliminated by Kofi and it came down to Bryan and Kofi. These two went to war and we saw another side of Kofi Kingston that we’ve never seen before. He’s been in WWE for eleven years and he’s accomplished it all except the WWE Championship. I truly believe he should have won the title tonight after the impromptu showing he had on Smackdown. I hope this opened everyone’s eyes to Kofi Kingston and hope he gets a top tier match at Wrestlemania.
With Elimination Chamber in the books we move on to Fastlane, which is an unnecessary pay-per-view. The WWE should only have one major stop between Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. Two pay-per-views in between is overkill and takes away from the importance of the Road to Wrestlemania. Tonight I will have to give a 7 out of 10 because they made a couple of really bad booking decisions. At the same time the right people were put in the spotlight tonight. As we approach Wrestlemania the Road to Wrestlemania will start speedup and the next stop is Fastlane. Hopefully, the people who lost momentum tonight will gain some of it back.
