I just got through watching the 2013 edition of WWE’s Elimination Chamber PPV and so I wanted to review the show while everything was still fresh in my mind. All in all, I thought this was a pretty strong event that delivered quality in-ring action and even a couple of surprising results along the way.
Rather than run through every match, here are the things I remember from tonight:
Alberto Del Rio and Big Show kicked things off with the culmination of their World Heavyweight Championship feud. The weird part was that Del Rio and Show already had some very brutal Last Man Standing matches against each other over the past couple of months, so the fact that this was simply a title rematch with no added stipulations seemed a little anticlimactic to me from a story arch standpoint.
However, Del Rio and Show gave a pretty good effort to kick things off, and I love that the crowd was hot for Del Rio for most (if not all) of the match.
Meanwhile, Antonio Cesaro retained his United States Championship over banged-up Miz, but this wasn’t a clean finish nor was it anything special. I think Cesaro is destined for great things and his future is bright. As for Miz, I think his poorly timed face turn and his horribly unsatisfying adopting of the Figure Four has really set him back a long, long, longgggggggggg ways.
The next thing I remember is the Elimination Chamber match to determine Alberto Del Rio’s opponent for the Big Gold Belt title match at WrestleMania 29. Here’s a rundown:
–Kane and Daniel Bryan being the first two eliminated didn’t surprise me, though I was baffled that it was Mark Henry who took them both out instead of Bryan and Kane costing each other.
–It amazes me how over Randy Orton is and always will be with the WWE Universe no matter what his situation or his spot on the card. Randy really is in that “untouchable” kind of level when it comes to his fans, and I thought he looked inspired here even in defeat.
–Mark Henry definitely was booked to be THE destructive force in the match, but I am glad he didn’t win. Del Rio didn’t need another big man to go up against at WrestleMania and now Henry can be his big bad self away from the title picture.
–Jericho looked like a million bucks as always, and like everyone else I thought he was going to win the Chamber match. When Jack Swagger won, though, it didn’t surprise me. After all, Swagger’s new “Tea Party” like character is a perfect pure heel adversary for Del Rio to defend the title against next. At the same time, it is surprising that Del Rio vs. Swagger is going to be a WrestleMania title match and so I think Dolph Ziggler will likely be added to the mix to make this a Triple Threat. Or, you know, Ziggler cashes in before Mania and this remains a Triple Threat but with Dolph as the defending champion instead of ADR.
Moving on, I absolutely loved The Shield going over John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus. To me, this was the match of the night because it had both great action in (and around) the ring and an end result that was surprising if not shocking. I loved Roman Reigns’ spear on Sheamus through the barricade and the closing sequence of the match was well-executed as well. For the second time on PPV The Shield unsuspectingly won a high-profile match against three big-time opponents (the first one being over Ryback and Team Hell No and TLC), and they have certainly made a believer out of me.
Lastly, we come to The Rock vs. CM Punk for the WWE Championship. I thought this match went way better than their first contest, but it wasn’t anywhere near an instant classic either. I did like the fact that Punk was booked to look strong in defeat — first pinning Rocky while the ref was down and later kicking out of the People’s Elbow before ultimately losing via another Rock Bottom — but like Del Rio vs. Big Show this just didn’t seem like it should be the last match in their feud.
And, well, with Rock-Cena II already very quickly announced for WrestleMania just before Elimination Chamber faded to black, it looks like Punk will be moving on to face someone else on the biggest stage of them all.
My suggestion is this: If the Undertaker really can’t go, let Punk face Brock Lesnar with Paul Heyman as the special guest referee.
That’s all from me — CB.
