Wow! I just finished watching WWE’s latest pay-per-view event, the 2019 Elimination Chamber, and man, that was freaking awesome. I mean, not all of the Elimination Chamber event was as good as the main event which saw Daniel Bryan defend his WWE Championship against AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, and Samoa Joe inside the insidious Elimination Chamber; I mean, oh man – that was one hell of a match that will be hard for other Elimination Chamber matches to top in the future… but as I was saying, not every match was as good as that main event, but where it was good, it was good; but where it was bad… well, let’s just say it was bad. I’m not kidding when I say that this event kind of falls right down the middle between good and bad, but that ending… that ending more than makes up for all the bad spots throughout the event. So, strap in and let me run down and review how I felt about each match of the 2019 Elimination Chamber in this review.
((Note: This review does contain spoilers, so if you don’t want to know the results for this event, stop reading here and come back after you’ve watched the 2019 Elimination Chamber event.))
Pre-Show Match: WWE Cruiserweight Championship Singles Match
Buddy Murphy (C) vs Akira Tozawa
I really don’t know why the Cruiserweight Championship, and the Cruiserweights in general, are still being regulated to the pre-show for these pay-per-views events when they are consistently some of the best and/or most entertaining match that the company puts on during the night – and this match was no different. Tozawa and Murphy really go all out in their singles match, and Tozawa even seemed to have Murphy on the ropes. But in the end, Murphy managed to put Tozawa away with Murphy’s Law to retain his Cruiserweight Championship.
Match grade: B+
Tag Team Elimination Chamber Match to determine the Inaugural WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville) vs Nia Jax & Tamina vs The Boss ‘N’ Hug Connection (Sasha Banks & Bayley) vs The Fabulous Glow (Carmella & Naomi) vs The IIconics (Billie Kay & Peyton Royce) vs The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan)
I’ll ignore the fact that the WWE is ignoring the fact that there was already a Women’s Tag Division in the WWE when it was known as the WWF (and thank you Beth Phoenix for bringing this up during the broadcast) and get right into what made this match special. Despite a few slip ups here and there, the women in the match really went all out to make sure the match was really memorable. Banks & Bayley started off the match along with Deville & Rose where they were eventually joined in by Logan & Morgan. Royce & Kay joined the match next before Carmella & Naomi joined in. Consequently, Carmella & Naomi were eliminated first by Royce & Kay. Jax & Tamina entered the match as the final team and swiftly eliminated Royce & Kay before also eliminating Logan & Morgan. After a missed spear that sent Jax through one of the pods, Jax & Tamina were eliminated by the four remaining women in the match. Ultimately, Banks forced Deville to tap out to a modified Bank Statement, eliminating Deville & Rose, and winning the inaugural WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
Match grade: B+
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Tag Team Match
The Miz & Shane McMahon (C) vs The Usos
Before the match, The Miz and his wife Maryse made the announcement that they were expecting another child, so congrats to the couple. McMahon & The Miz did their best against The Usos and started off the match fast to try and gain the advantage before The Usos showed why they are a more cohesive team (d’uh). The match is evenly paced before McMahon gets his chance to perform two coast-to-coast moves on the Usos in two different corners. McMahon hits the first one before getting super kicked mid-air as he goes for the second one. The Miz then places one of the Usos on the announce table and has McMahon deliver an elbow drop from the top turnbuckle onto him. The Miz then tries to win the match after hitting a Skull Crushing Finale on one of the Usos before getting surprised by a roll-up and gets pinned, making The Usos the new WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships.
Match grade: B-
WWE Intercontinental Championship Handicap Match
Bobby Lashley (C) & Lio Rush vs Finn Bálor
Oh man; this was the first of the three easily predictable matches of the night that kind of dragged down the overall experience of the Elimination Chamber event. Bálor looked strong during the match, and I like how Rush & Lashley worked together, constantly tagging in and out to keep the pace against anything that Bálor would defend against, but the end of the match came as Rush got a bit too overly confident and forcefully tagged himself in. When he attempted to deliver a splash from the top rope, he missed when Bálor moved out of the way. From there, Bálor managed to keep Lashley from getting back into the ring and delivered a Coup de Grâce onto Rush and pinned him for the win. I’m happy that Bálor is the new WWE Intercontinental Champion, but I hate it when WWE creative books matches with endings this predictable.
Match grade: C-
WWE Raw Women’s Championship Singles Match
Ronda Rousey (C) vs Ruby Riott
Let me get this off my chest as I am still pretty hot as to how this match went down. I don’t think it was no surprise that Riott would lose this match against Rousey, as Rousey is the better overall WrestleMania draw than Riott is. But what pisses me off about this match is how it was pretty much a glorified squash match with Rousey pinning Riott in under two minutes. Two minutes… two FUCKING minutes!!! Are you kidding me?! Riott is a superb all-around Superstar and is possibly one of the future leaders of the WWE Women’s Division and future WWE Women’s Champion. So, to have her lose to Rousey in under two minutes is a huge disservice to Riott and a huge show of disrespect for what she has contributed to the Women’s Division. This was an unnecessary burial of a great wrestler, all to set up a post-match segment between Rousey, Charlotte Flair (who was sitting at ringside), and an injured Becky Lynch (who came in through the crowd). Now, I love Becky Lynch and have been a vocal fan and supporter of hers for years; and I did enjoy the post-match beatdown that Lynch delivered to Flair and Rousey. But it sucks that Riott had to be the victim of circumstance here and made to look incredibly weak against Rousey.
Match grade: D-
No Disqualification Match
Braun Strowman vs Baron Corbin
And this is the third and final of a trio of predictable matches that dragged down the Elimination Chamber event down in overall presentation. To no one’s surprise, this NO DQ match ended up having Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley interfering on Corbin’s behalf when it looked like Strowman was about to pick up the win. The trio of Corbin, McIntyre, and Lashley then put on a five-minute beatdown on Strowman, ultimately delivering a huge powerbomb on Strowman through a few tables from the ring steps that were position in the ring, delivering the pin to Corbin in the process. Ugh, and that’s all I really want to say about this match because McIntyre, Lashley, and Strowman are too good as competitors to be grounded down by booking like this, especially when they are paired with Corbin, who I feel needs to go back to NXT for further development.
Match grade: F
And, for some reason, Lacey Evans walked up and down the ramp before heading backstage. Now, I’m not complaining that Evans came out as I am a huge Lacey Evans fan, but I was hoping for a little bit more than just a glorified walk-on cameo.
Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship
Daniel Bryan (C) vs AJ Styles vs Jeff Hardy vs Kofi Kingston vs Randy Orton vs Samoa Joe
I’ll be honest: this match almost entirely saved the event from completely sucking as the last three matches before this one really ended up stinking up the joint with how lousy the matches were. But this Elimination Chamber match will probably go down as one of my favorite Elimination Chamber matches of all time. Bryan and Joe started off the match against each other and delivered stiff shot after stiff shot on each other before Kofi Kingston entered the match as went after both men. After some great spots between the three men, Styles entered the match and the pace seemed to pick up even more as the four men went on to work each other over pretty hard. But after a Phenomenal Forearm from Styles, Joe is the first one eliminated from the match. Hardy then comes into the match next and gets in some pretty fast offense, mainly on Styles, even delivering a Swanton Bomb on a prone Styles atop the top turnbuckle, but just as quickly, he is eliminated from the match after eating a Running Knee from Bryan and is swiftly eliminated. Orton is the final entrant in the match and will then eliminate Styles after delivering an RKO on Styles from the top rope. But Orton is eliminated seemingly a couple of minutes later as Kingston hits the Trouble in Paradise on Orton to eliminate him from the match. And we are now left with Kingston and Bryan as the final two men – and for the next twelve or so minutes, we are treated to some of the best back-and-forth action we have seen in 2019 in all of professional wrestling. Each near-fall had the crowd on their feet, especially as the crowd seemed to be firmly behind Kingston for the entire time in was him and Bryan alone. Now, I had no illusions that Kingston would win the match, and this was also an easily predictable outcome – but the way that the match was booked in the final act was so entertaining, so enthralling, so exciting, it really had me thinking at times that this might just end with Kingston picking up the win. Ultimately, Bryan hit Kingston with a Running Knee and pinned him to retain his WWE Championship. And after the match, the rest of The New Day, Xavier Woods and Big E, came out in support of Kingston and all three men walked up the ramp together to end the night. And man, am I tired just talking about that match. It really was one for the record books.
Match grade: A
Overall rating for the 2019 Elimination Chamber event: C+
My final thoughts on the 2019 Elimination Chamber event are this:
- The Cruiserweights definitely needed to be promoted out of the pre-show and on to the main show portions for these events, and this match was another example as to why.
- The bookends of the main Elimination Chamber event (the Women’s Tag Team Chamber match & the Men’s Chamber Match) were a great beginning and ending to the event. They started off high and ended even higher.
- The SmackDown Tag Team Championship match was better than I expected and even ended differently than I predicted.
- The trio of really predictable matches (the Intercontinental Championship, the Raw Women’s Championship, and the No Disqualification match) all really weighed down the event unnecessarily. And even though the IC and Women’s Championship matches had some high points, there was no excuse for them being that predictable.
- Also, to follow up on that thought, the No DQ match had no right being on the main show and should have been relegated to the pre-show, especially with how bad it ended up being and how predictable it was to watch.
- And finally, I really hope that two people who participated in this PPV get some good deals coming out of this event. Riott, for eating such a horrible and nonsensical loss that completely buried her; and Kingston for showing that he is very much the main event level guy everyone knows that he is – everyone but the WWE creative staff that is.
And those are my thoughts on the 2019 Elimination Chamber event. What about you? Leave me your thoughts about the event in the comments section as I would like to know what you all thought of the show overall.
