Friday, April 3, 2015

WWE Elimination Chamber 2014 Review

Match 1: Intercontinental Championship - Big E (c) vs. Jack SwaggerGood choice of opener as the crowd is surprisingly pretty hot behind Big E. Swagger also doesn't really get the attention he deserves, too. It's hard to believe he was in one of the main events of last year's WrestleMania. Fun opening match that saw Big E hit an Ankle Lock for the win. Crowd was hot for Big E and especially for the finish. Nicely sets up the show.
Winner: Big E
Rating: **1/4

Match 2: WWE Tag Team Championships - The New Age Outlaws (c) vs. The Usos
Crowd really isn't into Billy Gunn or Road Dogg which isn't much of a surprise since this is a PG crowd. Fun tag match as The Usos have become a joy to watch. So much energy that the crowd can't help but react to them, a definite fresh taste in what has become a stale division. However, they weren't able to convert their energy into gold as The New Age Outlaws retain the belts.
Winners: The New Age Outlaws
Rating: **1/2

Match 3: Darren Young vs. Titus O'Neil
After a heel turn from Titus O'Neil when he tore apart Darren Young in a beating reminiscent to Batista turning on Rey Mysterio in 2009, the former team clash here. Titus is a big dude and I'm interested to see how far he will go as a singles competitor. Basically, this match saw Titus beat down Young with Young doing his best to try and retaliate but to no avail. Titus wins with a move he calls Clash of the Titus in a short filler of a match.
Winner: Titus O'Neil
Rating: *

Match 4: The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family
The two biggest factions in the industry in one ring going at it for the very first time. This is going to be awesome. As a matter of fact, the crowd is even chanting that before the match even begins. This all began on an edition of Raw when The Wyatts interfered in a match with The Shield that cost them their entry into the Elimination Chamber match. They built the match around two guys, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt. They teased them getting tagged in but it was mainly the other four for the better part of the match. WWE always does a great job when it comes to production values and this was no different, they captured perfect facial reactions from Reigns and Wyatt so nicely that you just felt the urgency for them to get in the ring. You just knew something was going down when they would get tagged in. But that's not discounting what was going on in the ring between the other four at all. Because they tore the house down. A frenzy from start to finish with the crowd being behind them every single step of the way. So many unique spots and close finishes that even saw The Wyatts slam Seth Rollins hard through the announcers table as Bray watched with a stoic face. The only member of The Shield left to handle was the juggernaut of the group, Roman Reigns. They surrounded the ring the same way The Shield does and went to work. Wyatt looked to end Reigns before Reigns powers out of Bray's finisher and took out The Wyatts on his own! He looked like an animal and the crowd loved it! Superman Punches for everyone! However, Bray Wyatt got the better of the exchange and scored the big win. What a match. No slowing down from the start and I loved it. Definitely one of the best matches in recent WWE history and hopefully, for a long time to come. However, it did feel like they pulled the trigger too early on this match which makes me question how long these two teams will be together for. Either way, awesome stuff.
Winners: The Wyatt Family
Rating: ****1/2

Match 5: Divas Championship - AJ Lee (c) vs. Cameron
Where do I start on this? They want to build the Divas division. And this just isn't the way to do it. Right after a hot match, these two go at it and start messing around with pom poms. AJ had Tamina Snuka accompany her ringside and Snuka and interferes which led to disqualification. What am I watching?
Winner: Cameron
Rating: 1/2*

Match 6: Alberto Del Rio vs. Batista
Crowd is so rapidly against Batista, it's pretty crazy and in my opinion, unfortunate. But they want what they want and they sure as hell want their Daniel Bryan. Del Rio comes out in a track outfit along with a cast around his neck and a crutch. He then attacks Batista from behind with the crutch and reveals that he was faking the injury. They go back and fourth a little bit before Batista hits his Batista Bomb for the win. Crowd crapped all over it and the announcers weren't helping the cause. Little feeding match for Batista as we head into New Orleans.
Winner: Batista
Rating: *1/4

Match 7: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Elimination Chamber - Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena vs. Christian vs. Cesaro vs. Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan
We have Cesaro and Sheamus to start the pacing of the match. They then had Bryan come in to the huge delight of the crowd as he took on both competitors before Christian and Cena make their way into the match. So far, the action has been fun but nothing overwhelming until Orton comes into play as he stomps around the ring before everybody decides to wake up and turn their heads to him. Orton weasels his way back into his pod before Sheamus Brogue Kicks the glass off and gets his hands on Orton. Such a cool spot that really makes a bigger difference than it seems, Orton is such a coward but Sheamus will stop at nothing to get his hands on him. However, the first elimination finally comes nearly 26 minutes into the match as Sheamus gets ousted first before Christian does moments later by Daniel Bryan. We're down to four with Cesaro looking like the dark horse of the match. He and Cena go after another in a pretty fast and furious exchange before Cesaro gets caught in the STF and becomes the third elimination. Lights go off and The Wyatt Family appear out of nowhere! They take out a rushing Daniel Bryan before they take out Cena which allowed Orton to slither in for the pin. It's now Orton vs. Bryan. Kane is out to seemingly restore order as he yells viciously at The Wyatt Family but out of nowhere, Bryan flies onto Kane and takes him out. Orton tries to take advantage of the situation with an RKO but Bryan kicks out! Out of nowhere, Bryan lands a Running Knee but Kane pulls out the referee! Bryan then gets drilled with a second RKO as Orton retains and scores the victory. Great main event that only gives out more questions leading into WrestleMania XXX. The eliminations were great and while The Wyatts interfering was kind of odd, it ignites Cena's match for WrestleMania. Great ending to a decent show.
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: ****

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Two matches define this show and everything else is forgettable. As a matter of fact, everything else were basically matches that could be seen on a Monday Night Raw! Lots of questions heading into WrestleMania XXX with the main one surrounding Daniel Bryan. While the PPV wasn't the greatest thing ever, it served its purpose in hyping up the next show, WrestleMania. The next few weeks should be very interesting. 
Rating: 7/10

No comments:

Post a Comment