WWE missed so many opportunities last night at Elimination Chamber

WWE Elimination Chamber 2021: 5 missed opportunities from the show

WWE presented its second pay-per-view of the year last night live from the ThunderDome. Elimination Chamber was an integral part of the road to WrestleMania, as fans saw two title changes that will have WrestleMania implications.

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Riddle and The Miz could have already confirmed their place on the WrestleMania card after winning the United States and WWE Championships, respectively. Meanwhile, Edge finally made his WrestleMania decision.

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The Rated-R Superstar Speared Roman Reigns following his Universal Championship match against Daniel Bryan. Then, he pointed at the WrestleMania sign to make it clear that The Tribal Chief was now his target.

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While several interesting talking points are coming out of last night's event, many missed opportunities have left members of the WWE Universe scratching their heads.

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#5 Asuka didn't defend her WWE RAW Women's Championship

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Asuka was initially set to defend her RAW Women's Championship against Lacey Evans last night at Elimination Chamber. However, after Evans revealed she was pregnant last week on RAW, WWE decided to scrap the match.

Interestingly, the company chose to wait until around an hour before the show started to scrap the match and then didn't even announce a replacement.

It meant that Asuka lost her place on the card, even though the show ended earlier than expected. The company could've given The Empress of Tomorrow a lengthy match if it had any belief in her.

Since she has been busy in the WWE women's tag team picture, it's been months since Asuka last defended her title on pay-per-view. Sunday provided an excellent chance for her to show that she deserves to be champion.

Asuka didn't even win a title match to become RAW Women's Champion last May, since Becky Lynch relinquished the belt ahead of maternity leave.

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Asuka's whole reign as RAW Women's Champion has made her look like a weak champion, and last night could have changed this. All it would have taken was Rhea Ripley answering an open challenge.

Instead, the WWE Universe still awaits Ripley's main roster debut, and Asuka has no feud leading into WrestleMania at present.

#4 Roman Reigns could've had a competitive WWE Universal Championship match

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Daniel Bryan was treated somewhat unfairly by WWE's creative team last night. He was not only one of the men who started the Elimination Chamber match but was then forced to fight Reigns straight after.

Bryan had to go through five other WWE stars inside the structure where his knee injury became a target before Roman Reigns came out to the ring fresh and made quick work of his challenger.

It's unclear why Reigns had such a comfortable night. The match could have taken place ahead of the main event or even last since Edge sent quite the message afterward.

Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns have had some incredible matches in the past. Still, this time around, Bryan was hardly able to stand and was rendered unconscious by the Universal Champion quite quickly.

At least Reigns will finally be forced to defend his title in a hard-hitting match against Edge at WrestleMania.

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#3 Why didn't Seth Rollins appear at WWE Elimination Chamber?

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Seth Rollins returned to WWE TV two weeks ago and picked a fight with Cesaro ahead of Elimination Chamber. Cesaro went on to qualify for the SmackDown Chamber match, and many believed that it would lead to a bigger storyline with Rollins.

Cesaro retained his place in the match and put on a clinic alongside Daniel Bryan when they kicked off the WWE's Elimination Chamber. There was plenty of time throughout the match for Rollins to become involved and cost Cesaro his place. The Chamber was even broken so that someone could climb inside.

Rollins could even have waited and cost Cesaro his match against Roman Reigns. if he had won in the Chamber. But, The Swiss Cyborg wasn't the victor.

Seth Rollins didn't appear on last night's pay-per-view at all, which was a missed opportunity. The former Messiah is one of WWE's most popular stars at present and needs a feud heading into WrestleMania.

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#2 Mustafa Ali and Kofi Kingston didn't continue their feud at WWE Elimination Chamber

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Mustafa Ali has been targetting former WWE Champion Kofi Kingson over the past few weeks. Ali seemingly hasn't forgotten the time that Kingston was his replacement inside the Elimination Chamber.

Back in 2019, Kingston's run inside the structure later lead to KofiMania, and Ali hasn't forgotten that it could have been him. Last night at WWE Elimination Chamber was the perfect time for Ali to get even. All he had to do was order RETRIBUTION to take out Kingston ahead of the match and then take his place.

Kingston even looked around on his way down the ramp because he was sure this was going to happen, but it didn't. Ali was instead featured on the kickoff show, where he was pinned by John Morrison in a United States Championship No. 1 contender match.

It's unclear how the feud between Kingston and Ali will be able to continue on WWE RAW, since there has been no continuation of the story.

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#1 Randy Orton was eliminated from the WWE Elimination Chamber early with no Fiend interference

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There have been rumors for months that The Fiend would make his return to WWE TV to set up a match with Randy Orton at WrestleMania.

The Fiend hasn't been seen since TLC back in December. However, Alexa Bliss has been able to continue the storyline with The Viper in his absence.

It was almost poetic that The Fiend should have returned last night, since Bray Wyatt has so much history inside the Chamber and knew how to get inside.

Instead, Randy Orton was the first man to be eliminated from the WWE Championship match. He was rolled up by Kofi Kingston and The Fiend wasn't part of the night.

WrestleMania is now just 47 days away and WWE has just squandered all of Orton's momentum. As of writing, he is still without a WrestleMania opponent.

2 more stars coming from AEW to WWE? More details right here

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Edited by
Alex Turk
 
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