Photo credit: wwe.com
The Elimination Chamber.
A concept created in 2002 by former RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff where six superstars put their body on the line for either a championship opportunity or for the gold itself. The chamber is surrounded by miles of steel and four lexicon glass pods.
Each pod will contain one superstar, and then the two remaining superstars will start the match. At a regularly scheduled interval, a superstar will be released from their pod at random. This will continue until all superstars have entered the match. Eliminations can occur inside the ring by pinfall or submission, and the only way to win the match is to be the last one standing.
For the 12th time in the last 13 years, the road to Wrestlemania goes through the Elimination Chamber, and this year the Pay-Per-View(PPV) will go down at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the home of Extreme Championship Wrestling. There will be two Elimination Chamber matches at this event and more, so let’s get to the breakdown!
Shayna Baszler vs Auska vs Natalya vs Ruby Riot vs Sarah Logan vs Liv Morgan. Elimination Chamber Match. Winner faces Becky Lynch for the RAW Women’s Championship at Wrestlemania
In my opinion, the biggest question about this card is: What is going to main event the show? For the first time since the Universal Championship was created back in 2016, both world championships will not appear on this show. So now we have to answer the question: Which Chamber match is more important?
You have the one for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships involving Miz and Morrison, the New Day, The Usos, Lucha House Party, Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler and Heavy Machinery. That match has some feuds going on in it, but it just doesn’t feel as big as this No. 1 contender’s match for the RAW Women’s Championship. The reason for that is because EVERYBODY in this match has a personal issue with somebody, Becky Lynch feels like a bigger star than the entire tag division, and Baszler vs Lynch I think is going to be pushed as a marque Wrestlemania match, though it shouldn’t.
Look, I like Baszler, but as I mentioned in my Royal Rumble preview, I already say Baszler and Lynch mix it up at Survivor Series with current Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley in the main event, and the match was “average” to be nice. Yes, Baszler will probably look like a badass inside the chamber, and the way she bit Lynch’s neck on RAW a month ago was sweet, but I just have a bad feeling about this match at Wrestlemania.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-padzHwu7ks
On the other hand, even though Auska suffered a wrist injury last week, she should be good to go in this match, continuing his rivalry with the veteran in this match Natalya. One of the most underrated parts of this match to me will be how Executive Director Paul Heyman books the three members of the Riot Squad. The Riot Squad was a fun faction for 18 months, and I thought they just needed better booking, and they could become the women’s version of The Shield, but in typical WWE fashion, just when they got hot, WWE split up the group in the 2019 Superstar Shakeup.
For the last year, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan have barely been on TV while Ruby Riot was away recovering from double shoulder surgery. Now, Riot is back as a heel, Liv has turned into a new person, and Sarah Logan is trying to figure out what the hell happened! Shield-style triple threat at Wrestlemania anyone?!
But in all seriousness, this feels like the biggest match on the card, so it should be the main event. It does feel weird that WWE would put on a main event without a bonafide superstar in the match, but this might just be Baszler’s first stepping stone on her way to becoming one.
John Morrison and The Miz (C) vs the New Day vs The Usos vs Lucha House Party vs Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler vs Heavy Machinery. Elimination Chamber Match. Smackdown Tag Team Championships
Whatever Chamber match main events, the other usually opens the show, and I think this match could steal the show. Look at the tag teams in this match! Miz and Morrison, New Day and The Usos are arguably the Top 3 tag teams in all of WWE right now, and they can work with anybody. Ziggler and Roode have poked the bear with poor Otis of Heavy Machinery too many times now hopefully (Dolph was so wrong to steal Mandy away from Otis!)! And then, there’s Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik of Lucha House Party… The only thing I have to say about them; it least they can hang with Morrison and Kofi Kingston in the HOLY SH*T THAT WAS AWESOME DEPARTMENT when they do some spider-man like maneuver off the top of the chamber!
Tag Team chamber matches are always interesting because there’s so many bodies, but they usually work out well. This will only be the third time in WWE history that an Elimination Chamber Match will be a Tag Match, and the previous two (2015 for the WWE Tag Team Championships and last year for the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Championships) did not disappoint. My pick here is Miz and Morrison, only because they won the titles just two weeks ago at Super Showdown, and I want to see them and The Usos mix it up at Wrestlemania. Plus, New Day needs to move on, Lucha House Party is just filler, and as mentioned above, Heavy Machinery and Roode and Ziggler should not be finished after Sunday. Otis needs to beat the holy hell out of Ziggler and take Mandy Rose back at Wrestlemania (that’s great long-term booking!). Ziggler and Roode will enter the chamber last because they won a gauntlet match on Smackdown Friday, which was well booked I must add!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_yjzZSfETQ
Braun Strowman (C) vs Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro and Sami Zayn. One-on-three Handicapped Match. Intercontinental Championship
On the Jan. 31 episode of Friday Night Smackdown on FOX, after months of chasing Nakamura’s IC Title, Strowman finally won his first singles championship in WWE, ending Nakamura’s brutally boring title run in the process. Since that night though, Nakamura and his stable, which includes Cesaro and “The Great Liberator” Sami Zayn, have kept coming after Strowman. Two weeks ago, this match was supposed to only be Strowman vs Nakamura with Cesaro and Zayn lurking around ringside, but Strowman said he wanted to fight all three during the contract signing, so here we are!
Honestly, I think it would make sense if this was a tornado handicapped match, and Strowman still mauls through all three guys. I have wrote and talked about this multiple times on my show I know, but I have to say it again: WWE needs to make Strowman Strowman again! Yes, that is not a typo!
Since not cashing in his Money in the Bank successfully in 2018, Strowman has had no momentum. Strowman was one of, if not the hottest superstar in WWE for a two year period, but now, he’s turned into a skinnier Big Show if we are being honest; just a gentle giant with no direction.
WWE needs to give Strowman a legit one-on-one championship match this year at Wrestlemania with a legit heel that Strowman can put on a great match with, and Nakamura is just not that guy. In my opinion, let Strowman run through this comedy group, and then have him go up against “The Fella” Sheamus at the Showcase of the Immortals.
A.J. Styles (W/ The OC) vs Aleister Black. No Disqualification Match
This match is the personification of a “slow build” by Heyman. For the last eight months, Aleister Black has run roughshod over the entire WWE. He’s begged for somebody to “pick a fight with him”, and then he just overcomes said superstar, such as Cesaro, Buddy Murphy and Erick Rowan. But, a couple weeks ago the OC attacked Black because they believe Black hasn’t faced anybody as good as A.J. Styles yet, and Styles believes he can beat anybody from the past, present or future.
After promising Black a match on RAW Monday, Styles backed out and made Black face Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows before all three OC members decimated Black. This is the first time Black has ever been challenged, and I love the fact that this match is a No DQ match because Black will have to overcome more to come out on top. This match is also a good place-holder match for Styles before he goes mono-a-mono with The Deadman at Wrestlemania.
As for who wins this match, I honestly cannot tell you. This is one of those matches that is truly 50/50, but I do think Styles goes over because it is a lot easier to make Black look strong losing to essentially three guys than it is Styles, who needs to look strong going into that dream match in 28 nights from Sunday.
The Street Profits (C) vs Seth Rollins and Murphy. RAW Tag Team Championships
Remember in my Super Showdown preview when I claimed there’s no way the Street Profits would win the RAW Tag Team Titles from the “Monday Night Messiah” and Murphy? Well, I was right and wrong! I was right because they didn’t win the titles in Saudi Arabia, but the team that wants The Smoke captured the gold in a “last chance” match on RAW Monday.
I said I liked the Street Profits, but I didn’t think they were ready for gold, and I still don’t. There’s also not a tag team on RAW besides Seth Rollins’ stable that can challenge them, so I don’t know what the direction is here. Is WWE setting up a Rollins-Kevin Owens Wrestlemania match, or are they doing something different? That’s the question that’s going to have to be answered soon. As for right now, I do believe that the Street Profits and Rollins and Murphy will put on another good match like they always do, and I am going to say that once again Owens costs the heels the match like he did on Monday.
Andrade (C. W/ Zelina Vega) vs Humberto Carrillo. United States Championship
Ok, I am just going to be honest here: This is a nice mid-card rivalry, but it has gone on wayyyyyyyyy too long and needs to end Sunday. Andrade is a good heel and decent wrestler, but his title reign has been uneventful, and Zelina Vega doesn’t feel that important as a “business associate”. Humberto Carrillo can put on some decent matches, as we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks with Vega’s newest client Angel Garza, Carrillo’s real-life cousin, but he doesn’t feel like a big star either. I’m just hoping these two put on a decent match to keep the PPV going as this is the least intriguing match on the card to me. I’m picking Carrillo here, just so then hopefully we get a fresh title scene on RAW going into Wrestlemania.
Daniel Bryan vs Drew Gulak
This match might have the least build up on the card, but I’m excited for it. Since losing to “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt at the Royal Rumble, Daniel Bryan has found himself trying to impress Drew Gulak, who claims Bryan has many weaknesses in his game. Over the last few weeks on Smackdown, Gulak has scouted Bryan on commentary while Bryan has taken out Heath Slater and Curtis Axel with ease.
Now, in his hometown of Philadelphia, Gulak, one of the most underrated wrestlers and talkers in all of WWE, will get a chance to knock off Bryan, and show the world that his powerpoint presentations really do present the truth, and I think that is exactly what’s going to happen. It doesn’t matter if his opponent doesn’t get much screen time. Historically, Bryan can put on a good match with anyone if they have good wrestling ability, and if they are able to tell a good story in the ring, and I believe Gulak can be that guy. I can’t wait to watch these two wrestlers throw hands old-school style Sunday!
Brandon Lewis is the Web Director for Black Squirrel Radio. Follow him on Twitter @brandonlewis_7. Tune in to his show, “Brandon’s World” every Wednesday from 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. on blacksquirrelradio.com and follow his show Twitter @real_bworld.