Sunday, February 17, 2013

WWE Elimination Chamber 2012 Review

Match 1: WWE Championship - Elimination Chamber - CM Punk © vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz vs. R-Truth
Surprised that this is the match they decided to kick off the show with. Had a gut feeling that they were going to close out the night with Punk. Michael Cole quickly notifies the audience that in its ten year existence, the Chamber is a high risking way for titles to change hands. Only three champions have retained inside the Chamber. Taking the fact that this was the opening contest of the night, the match served its role brilliantly. It was great, had a nice flow, and had the crowd going. The match also made sure to not overstay its welcome and not steal the show to tale away the flame for the rest of the night. Every man in the match was over and looked good. The eliminations weren’t sudden and for good reason, they take away the idea of putting men over inside the Chamber. Punk and The Miz were the final two and Punk hit the GTS to retain. Great match and a great win for CM Punk.
Winner: CM Punk
Rating: ***¾

Match 2: Divas Championship - Beth Phoenix © vs. Tamina Snuka
Beth Phoenix is having a pretty damn good reign and it continues here tonight against Snuka. Hard to believe that a Divas match would be a really fun roller coaster but these two managed to pull off an impressive showing. The two look really great in the ring and Phoenix is starting to get really over as a Diva. She wins by hitting a Gland Slam.
Winner: Beth Phoenix
Rating: *¾

Match 3: World Heavyweight Championship - Elimination Chamber - Daniel Bryan © vs. The Great Khali vs. The Big Show vs. Santino Marella vs. Wade Barrett vs. Cody Rhodes
So with this, we will be getting John Cena vs. Kane in the main event. On paper, this match looks to be another fantastic Chamber match as Bryan looks to defend and retain his belt for only the fifth time in the Chamber’s existence. The booking of this match was absolutely brilliant. From getting Khali out of the match quickly, to having Show destroy Bryan inside his pod, to Rhodes elimination Show, and to Marella nearly pulling off the Milan Miracle Part II. The drama, action, and excitement was definitely through the roof and the crowd really enjoyed this one more than the one earlier. Bryan makes Marella tap out to retain. Sheamus later comes out after the match and takes out Daniel Bryan. Things are getting interesting.
Winner: Daniel Bryan
Rating: ****

Match 4: United States Championship - Jack Swagger © vs. Justin Gabriel
This was basically just a simple squash match to kill some time and put a quick spotlight on Swagger. Nothing special, served its purpose finely. Gabriel has a lot of talent and probably deserves better. Too bad he ran into the push that is Jack Swagger.
Winner: Jack Swagger
Rating: ½*

Match 5: Ambulance - John Cena vs. Kane
This has to be one of the oddest feuds in recent memory. It also happens to be the marquee match of the night. This is the first Ambulance match in over ten years and it’s John Cena trying to overcome the hate against Kane. The crowd is pretty hot for this one and both men take the fight around the arena and really go at each other. Surprised to see Cena take some big bumps before his match against The Rock including getting a Chokeslam through the table. However, the seriousness of the match took a toll when Cena took a microphone and asked Booker if he was apart of his top five. I understand that they’re just trying to have some fun, but I really felt like it took a lot of the drama. Cena eventually gained the victory after delivering a cool Attitude Adjustment to Kane off the ambulance. Decent match and a fitting way to end the last PPV before WrestleMania. As much as one of the Chamber matches would be great to close out the night, Cena needs to stand tall before going up against The Rock.
Winner: John Cena
Rating: **¼

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Had high hopes for the show that just weren’t realized. While the Chamber matches were great, it just simply wasn’t enough to give the PPV that extra push. I understand that the objective of this show is to simply create more buzz for the next one, however, it shouldn’t be an excuse for a PPV to finish so poorly.
Rating: 5.75/10

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