It’s been a few years since we have had a No Way Out show. The last one, for those of you keeping count at home was back in 2009, and was more or less replaced by Elimination Chamber in 2010. Let me back up. There is no more or less about it. No Way out was, up until this year, a PPV that took place in February. It featured Elimination Chamber matches Elimination Chamber and No Way Out are the exact same PPV, but under different names. In fact, In Germany the Elimination Chamber PPV continues to be called No Way Out. So now that they’re brining back No Way Out, but putting in the June Slot to replace…Capital Punishment (Had to look that one up, couldn’t remember) what big draw do we have now? A Steel Cage match. Translation, This No Way Out, has no real resemblance to earlier No Way Out events, but it sure is hoping to cash in on the name recognition.
Let me harp a little more for a moment on the difference between the Elimination Chamber and A Steel Cage match. Like Hell in a Cell, Elimination Chamber tends to get dramatic nicknames from WWE when trying to promote the event. A little over the to maybe but they do make the thing sound cool and I for one really like the Chamber. Lots of different parts from the outside steel to the pods, which allows for different, creative things to happen from match to match. The Elimination Chamber does seem like a situation that could present unique danger for those entering. Add to that the fact that we only get to see the chamber one night a year, and the rarity makes the whole thing more special.
And then we have the Steel Cage. Steel Cage matches are presented as matches to really end feuds. There can be no escape or interference we are told. There must be a victor in the steel cage. But this isn’t really the case. Thinking back to just this past year two cage matches come to mind, one at the Royal Rumble and one this past week on Raw. In both cases, nobody was pinned in the match. Both ended instead, with somebody’s feet touching the floor, having escaped the cage. The PPV is called No Way Out but the main event is a match that is based around the fact that there is a way out. In fact there are multiple ways out since wrestlers can either climb over the top or leave through the door. Now John Cena’s “never say die” character probably means that he won’t be trying to win the match by escape, and I’m not sure I would trust the Big Show’s ability to climb that cage, but the fact remains that a cage without a roof doesn’t really evoke the same feeling that the Elimination Chamber once did.
But all that is just about one match of the night, and if we are being honest one of the matches that I am least looking forward too. Lets talk for a minute about the WWE Championship match that will be happening. Pretend for a moment that you had taken a month long break from any sort of wrestling information and then asked a friend to describe what the storyline for the WWE Championship match was. It’s a match where a love interest will most likely play a major role in interfering with the match. It’s a match that teases Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk but sticks Kane in there as well, just because. And to top it all, it’s another storyline where Kane has a love interest. With plot points such as those it’s hard to pick what part of this match I should be hating the most. Yet for some reason, when this all comes together, this storyline is really working. I personally give a lot of credit for this to AJ. Love stories in the WWE tend to have a habit of ranging somewhere between we kind of forget about them and pretend they never existed (Things like Daniel Bryan and Gail Kim or Santino and Tamina) to terribly, terribly wrong and we wish that they in fact never existed. (You know what goes here) AJ has been able to stay on entertaining, and interesting side of things by creating her character that can really only be described as a “crazy chick.” The fact that all three guys react to AJ’s antics in different ways, ways that are true to their characters no less, helps things out as well. And to top it all off, Punk, who we are supposed to be cheering for in all of this, is not some love struck fellow being duped here. No, he sees things exactly as they are, and like us, just seems entertained and along for the ride.
Somewhat Related Thought: For those that really care, since Germany has already had a No Way Out PPV, the event this Sunday will be called No Escape.
