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Elimination Chamber is the only thing that stands between us and Wrestlemania now. The second PPV of the year and without doubt one of the most sought after, Elimination Chamber will invade New Orleans, giving us an insight of the road to Wrestlemania.
With an extremely entertaining match card, this PPV is the probably the best transition from the Royal Rumble to Wrestlemania. With several questions to answer and a lot of drama to unfold, Elimination Chamber is all set to be in contention of being the biggest PPV of the year.
Will The Rock retain his WWE title? Will Del Rio beat the monster Big Show again? And will Team SuperCena be able to deliver justice? All the answers in just one night is indeed something worth watching.
Here’s a look at all the matches and what we can expect from them:
1. Pre-Show: Brodus Clay & Tensai vs Team Rhodes Scholars
Now, why would you pair up a team that you just broke up a few weeks back? It’s the first question that comes up when you see the name Team Rhodes Scholars in a match. Just after the team announced their break up here, they are set for one last match against a team that didn’t exist two weeks back.
Clay and Tensai got together after a dance off on RAW and have now become a strong tag team. These two comedic giants will be pushed as baby-faces.
The important question that needs to be asked now is whether Rhodes Scholars will stick as a team after this or have they been paired just to end up losing to this team. I don’t see Clay and Tensai losing this match, especially since this is their first match after their union.
The only solace however is that this is a Pre-Show and doesn’t really have a lot of say with regard to the PPV. So, does the WWE plan to bring in Rhodes Scholars together again or will the new team of Clay and Tensai get their first PPV victory? Let’s wait and watch.
2. Divas Championship: Kaitlyn vs Tamina Snuka
Well, I guess no one remembers the existence of such a match in the PPV card. There isn’t much to anticipate from this match as there has been no build up whatsoever. The Divas division is now experiencing its worse slump ever after Eve departed. With not many Divas to carry this division forward, it’s hard to expect the WWE to come up with a better match for this PPV.
3. United States Championship: Antonio Cesaro (C) vs The Miz
Antonio Cesaro has been one of the most impressive United States Champions in recent times. His ability and strength surely puts him among the wrestlers who will be considered a future star of WWE. Cesaro has been in the midst of a lengthy title reign and after scoring a clean victory over The Miz at Royal Rumble, it clearly seems as though Cesaro has the upper hand here.
As for Miz, it is hard to digest his role as a baby-face. He is clearly finding it difficult to gel well with his role and I would like to see the WWE give him some more time before he gets hold of a championship. The MizTV shows are quite boring and to see a speaker of Miz’s quality struggling does give us an indication that Miz needs some sort of change in his character.
Would WWE give The Miz some momentum into Wrestlemania by making him win the title? Or would Cesaro continue his impressive run?
4. World Heavyweight Championship: Alberto Del Rio (C) vs Big Show
We are now getting into the top four matches for the evening. As always, the WHC gets the least preference. Alberto Del Rio has lately pulled a lot of pranks against the Big Show. After his orange paint segment on the Big Show, it looks like Del Rio is having a lot of fun facing the Big Show.
The monster however, seems to have turned into a crybaby and is falling for every simple trap that Del Rio is setting for him. But how far will the Big Show remain calm? Will he unleash his wrath on Del Rio this Sunday? I guess we will have to wait for this answer.
But the biggest question surrounding this match revolves around Dolph Ziggler. Will he cash in his MITB briefcase? He has been very careful about cashing in his briefcase and in my opinion, a little too careful. It is high time that Ziggler goes on to cash in and win as I would love to see him as World Heavyweight Champion entering into Wrestlemania.
6. Elimination Chamber match: No.1 Contender match.
Finally, an Elimination Chamber match in Elimination Chamber PPV! It has become a sort of trend now to have very less matches of the type the PPV’s name boasts of having. We saw that in Hell in a Cell where only one match took place inside the cell and now Elimination Chamber has only one match inside the chamber.
Anyway, looking into this match, you have to agree that it has the potential to develop several feuds in the future. Randy Orton and Mark Henry, after their match in SmackDown seem to be heading into a feud of their own. Orton will have a huge score to settle after losing two matches on the trot.
Daniel Bryan and Kane have their own problems to handle. Bryan and Kane, despite being the Tag Team Champions are going to face each other and unlike in the past, these two are heading towards a break up. Bryan cost Kane a straightforward chance to make it to the chamber on RAW. Kane later had a match against Ziggler in SmackDown which he won to make it in. I personally feel Bryan will somehow impact Kane’s run and might even get him eliminated.
The remaining two are Swagger and Jericho. Both have been equally impressive in the ring in the recent past with Jericho giving us back to back quality matches. Swagger on the other hand looked extremely dominant and along with Henry, seems to be the top contender to win the Chamber match.
The most interesting aspect of this Chamber match is that none of the wrestlers participating have been involved in any sort of storyline with Del Rio or Big Show, leaving chances open to all the six contenders.
7. John Cena, Ryback & Sheamus vs The Shield
When you look at the names in each team, you can quite easily guess which team wins but one thing to be understood is that this match is poised at a very critical point. WWE has to now choose between their most successful stable in recent times and their top three baby-faces.
The Shield has undoubtedly been one of the most successful stables of WWE in the PG era. Also, given the fact that WWE has spent a lot of time making this group look like a strong force within the company, I don’t see them getting buried like Nexus. The single handed massacre of Nexus by the hands of SuperCena was without doubt one of the most irritating events in the history of WWE and hopefully WWE doesn’t repeat it here. Does this mean WWE will give the Shield a much deserved victory this Sunday?
Now, the above questions pose a lot of problems for the WWE. WWE has pitched in their three top baby-faces into this match and as most matches in recent times have seen, baby-faces emerge victorious irrespective of how badly they get beaten up (with the exception of Ryback). So, WWE wouldn’t risk making their top baby-faces lose to a wayward talented group that talks about delivering justice despite the loss not making a big difference to either of the three baby-faces.
Maddox will play an extremely important role if The Shield has to win here. It isn’t certain if he is with the Shield or against them. But one thing is sure, chances of the Shield winning depends hugely on Maddox’s interference.
8. WWE Title: The Rock (C) vs CM Punk
The biggest match of the night unfortunately is a singles match in a PPV that is named Elimination Chamber. This match also happens to be one of the most predictable with The Rock ready to walk into Wrestlemania as the WWE Champion.
However, CM Punk’s action on RAW this week seemed to indicate otherwise with him taking away the title after attacking the Great One. Punk vowed to win back the title that he feels was stolen from him and this is by far the only event in the entire feud that has given Punk some sort of credibility to win this match.
Also, not to forget, there is an added stipulation in the match that The Rock will lose the title if he is disqualified or counted out. Now this stipulation sounded very fishy right from the beginning. Maybe it has something to do with Brock Lesnar interfering.
Maybe Brock could attack Punk and cost Rock the title or Brock could attack The Rock instead and set up a feud between himself and Punk at Wrestlemania.
The top four matches make the PPV the most interesting and hopefully we will get to see results going the unexpected way.
