WWE Elimination Chamber 2019 comes to us live from Houston, Texas and to quote Renee Young, there’s magic in the air. We know we’ll crown the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Champions tonight as six teams compete inside the Chamber for the right to be called ‘The First’
There’s plenty of other opportunities for change as we see The Uso’s take on Shane McMahon and The Miz for the Smackdown Live Tag Team Championships. Ruby Riott challenges Ronda Rousey for the Raw Women’s Championship. Will we finally see Finn Balor with gold around his waist as he faces Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush in a handicap match for the Intercontinental Championship? And of course, Daniel Bryan defends the WWE Championship inside the Chamber against a card so stacked and so unpredictable, anything could happen.
Women’s Tag Team Championship Match – Elimination Chamber Match
For those unaware of the Elimination Chamber rules, here’s a brief overview. There is a steel structure around the ring and at there are four enclosed pods in each corner. Four teams enter the pods. Two teams start the match as normal and periodically a pod will open, and another team joins the match. A team is eliminated when one member is pinned or submit. The last team standing wins.
The four teams in the pods are Naomi and Carmella, aka Fabulous Glow, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan, representing the Riott Squad, Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, The IIconics and Nia Jax and Tamina, aka Nia Jax and Tamina.
Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose and the Boss ‘N’ Hug Connection (Sasha Banks and Bayley) are the two teams who start the match. Deville and Rose are the absolute workhorses of this match. I am a huge fan of Deville, not just her in-ring ability but her overall persona. Mandy Rose, in my opinion, is an average wrestler but she exudes so much confidence, I don’t think it matters. She’ll convince you she’s great and you’ll believe her. It’s a very powerful statement to her as a person and a performer.
Bayley and Banks have stepped it up of late, particularly Bayley. She’s been pulling moves out of her arsenal that you’d almost forgotten about and is placing more emphasis on her Flying Elbow, which is one of her strongest signature moves.
The Riott Squad’s pod is the first to open. Sarah Logan has this fantastic Amazonian warrior look about her and she straight away shows she means business with calculated and vicious strikes. The match has a steady pace, all ladies aware, this is a marathon, not a sprint. You find these Chamber matches write themselves, as long as the pace is right.
The IIconics pod opens and these two ladies are just so fun to watch. They provide some always welcomed comedic relief and don’t take themselves too seriously. Royce pulls out a great spot in this math where she flips over the top rope, landing back first on Bayley and Banks. Great to see her being able to show off her agility and willingness to take risks.
Carmella and Naomi have worked really hard in a short space of time to gel and you know what? It works! They have a very natural chemistry and read each other well, to the point where they show boat together and moonwalk together. Naomi is probably the most athletic competitor on the women’s roster and her Split-Leg Moonsault is beautiful.
A great sequence occurs where all ladies are given a chance to show off their signature moves. It happens pretty quickly, so I’d just encourage you to watch it because it showcases each of them in a good light.
Jax and Tamina enter the match last and at this point, no-one has been eliminated. Hilarity continues when the IIconics get back in their pod and are subsequently dragged out, thrown about, given Samoan Drops and pinned. IIconics are the first team eliminated.
Liv Morgan attempts a Hurricanrana on Jax but her inability to sell a move becomes clear. Thankfully Bayley and Banks come back to life at this point and Banks stacks the Riott Squad in the corner and delivers a double- stacked, double knee drop to rescue the segment.
The ladies are up and down the steel structure and on top of the pods throughout the match. Sarah Logan and Carmella deliver flying Croosbody’s off the top of the pod. But it’s Tamina’s Frog Splash which sends the Riott Squad packing.
Jax charges full force into the pod and lays out up against the plastic, ultimately taking herself out of the match, leaving the reaming two teams to pick Tamina apart. With a Meteora from Banks and a Flying Elbow from Bayley, Tamina takes the pin, eliminating her and Jax (Notice how Jax didn’t take a pin)
A swift back and forth between the two remaining teams, who are actually the same two teams who started, quickly goes down hill when Deville accidently Spears Rose. Banks capitalizes with a Banks Statement and Deville taps.
Your winners and first ever Women’s Tag Team Champions – The Boss ‘N’ Hug Connection, Sasha Banks and Bayley.
The crowd are going nuts and even I have a tear in my eye. ‘You deserve it’….. You know what? I think they do! Absolutely brilliant match!
Smackdown Live Tag Team Championship Match – Shane McMahon and the Miz (C) v The Uso’s
The segment begins with The Miz and Maryse announcing they’re having another baby. Congrats to them!
As the competitors make their way to the ring, I find myself mulling over this forced tag team lark and how irritated I am that Shane and The Miz are champions. I also find myself equally irritated by Jimmy Uso’s recent run in with the law, so before this match has even started, I have resigned myself to the fact, nothing will change. WRONG!!!
The Miz does most of the leg work as expected but Shane does pull off a couple of his high-flying Coast to Coasts, the second being met with a massive Superkick from Jey Uso. The Uso’s area head and shoulders above their opponents because they have their instinctive, natural chemistry, which, lets face it, The Miz and Shane don’t.
Shane’s big elbow drop from the top turnbuckle through Jey on the announce table renders them both out of the match. Jimmy’s Splash off the top rope looks amazing but The Miz pulls his knees up, blocking the impact and responds with a Skull Crushing Finale. Jimmy kicks out, rolls through and pins The Miz. We have new Tag Champs! The match ends with The Miz apologizing to Shane and they walk arms round each other back up the ramp. We all know this is going to implode and you can pretty much guarantee this is going to be your opening bout at Wrestlemania.
Intercontinental Championship Match – Bobby Lashley (c) & Lio Rush v Finn Balor.
I accidently saw the result of this match before I watched the pay per view (much to be husband’s disapproval. Sorry Mat) so I was hoping the match would be good and tell a good story. To start with, I wasn’t sure it did but after seeing what happened on Raw the night after, it does make sense.
Of course, this match was always going to involve Balor taking a beating in some capacity from Lashley with Lio Rush chiming in from time to time to distract Balor and throw a punch or two. Having Rush as Lashley’s spokesman is the absolute right thing to do because not only is he charismatic and good on the mic but he’s good in the ring too.
Balor bides his time, picking up momentum slowly until he sees an opening he can capitalize on. The match ends with a sequence of Balor’s Drop Kicks, Double Foot Stomps and Coupe De Gras, which earns him the victory.
Balor finally lifts a title belt above his head and doesn’t have his shoulder crunching and grinding as he does it. I am over the moon he won, I make no secret of how much I like him.
But Lashley was enraged and, of course, blamed Rush for the loss and slams him hard into the canvas.
Raw Women’s Championship Match – Ronda Rousey (c) v Ruby Riott
This was my least favorite match of the event because Ruby Riott was basically canon fodder to the Rousey, Lynch, Flair storyline. The match lasted less than 5 minutes. Rousey came out dressed as Sonya Blade from Mortal Kombat, delivers the Pipers Pit and an Arm Bar and Riott taps.
Becky Lynch appears out of the crowd on crutches, hobbles her way into the ring and then unleashes hell on Rousey and Flair with her crutches before being escorted out of the ring by security with a massive smile on her face.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love this storyline and I am so excited to see where it goes as we head towards Wrestlemania. I just wish they hadn’t done this at the expense of Ruby Riott.
Baron Corbin v Braun Strowman – No Disqualification match
Do you ever get the feeling that WWE just don’t know what to do with these guys?
The match itself was very underwhelming, to the point where even the commentators made remarks about it. Further props to Renee Young for the ‘What’s he gonna do, throw a pen at him?’ comment.
A kendo stick comes out, the steel stairs are used as a weapon. There’s lots of forearms and shoulder barges from Strowman and he gets a decent pop when he delivers a Running Powerslam to Corbin through a table.
Bizarrely, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley end up involved and manage to set up a structure in the ring which comprises of two lots of steel steps and two tables stacked on top of each other. They then Shield Bomb Strowman through it. This whole sequence takes aaaaaages to come together and for the impact it received, it was hardly worth it. But credit to Strowman for taking that massive bump.
Backstage segment of The Miz getting mad and Shane McMahon sending him home. We return to ringside to see Lacey Evans walk down the ramp and back up it. Not sure why. She’s fierce and graceful but I don’t quite get why that happened but moving on.
WWE Championship Match – Elimination Chamber Match
Kofi Kingston enters the arena to a chorus of cheers, applause and a standing ovation, having lasts 70 minutes in the gauntlet match on Smackdown the previous week. He, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton and AJ Styles are locked in the pods and it’s Daniel Bryan and Samoa Joe who start the match.
This match again, is one for the ages. Bryan and Joe do a great job of warming things up, but it’s when Kingston enters the match that things really come to life. I honestly think he’s got to that point in his career where he hasn’t got anything to lose. I also think it’s really important that guys like him have a say in the production of a match.
He scales the Chamber like Spider Man, at one point Renee Young (yes, she was on fire last night) says ‘Marvel, are you watching?’
When Styles enters the pace slows a little but he’s so captivating to watch, you barely noticed. He lands a Moonsault off the top rope and somehow manages to catch Bryan and Kingston in a DTT and Reverse DDT at the same time. And the follows up with a Phenomenal Forearm to the back of Bryan’s neck as he scales the Chamber walls.
Joe sets up Kingston in the Cochina Clutch, but it’s reversed, Joe runs into a Phenomenal Forearm and, much to his surprise, is the first eliminated just in time for Jeff Hardy to enter the match.
Jeff Hardy is one of my all time favorite wrestlers but I have found him to be lacking somewhat. His style isn’t always geared towards longevity but with some of the subtle adaptations he’s made, I think he’s trying to prolong his career. He spends less time on the top rope and when he hits his sit-down moves (double leg crotch drop) he doesn’t jump as high as he used to. His performance in this years Rumble wasn’t as memorable as I was hoping for and his time in the Chamber was the same.
Having delivered his signature Whisper in the Wind and a Swanton Bomb off the top of the pod onto Styles, who was laid out across the top ropes, he met Bryan’s running knee and was subsequently out of the match. There was a small part of me wondering if WWE might just give Hardy one more title reign before his swansong but obviously, that will have to wait.
Kingston, Styles and Bryan execute this incredible looking Superplex where Styles is underneath, set up for a German Suplex, Bryan has Kingston set up for a Superplex and it’s all executed perfectly and just looks amazing.
Orton comes in to break up the party.
Styles seems to be hung upside down in the corner for a long time and his groin area takes a rather brutal looking shoulder barge from Kingston. When he finally gets back to his feet, he sets up for a Phenomenal Forearm off the top rope but Orton, sly and quick catches him and lands a beautiful RKO. Styles is eliminated.
There isn’t even time to catch your breath before Kingston is landing his Trouble in Paradise which eliminates Orton.
The crowd are firmly behind Kingston and are fired up as this match draws to a close. Kingston’s SOS lands him the closest of near falls where everyone sits up and grabs their face. Kingston again unleashes his offense but sees himself inadvertently Drop Kicking the side of one of the pods. Bryan capitalizes with a Running Knee but only manages a two count.
The crowd are so loud and cheering for Kingston. I’m sat upright on the edge of my seat. Kingston lands another Trouble in Paradise which Bryan kicks out of at 2 and a half. Bryan responds with his Labell Lock and the crowd are willing Kingston to the ropes to break the hold.
Back up the steel walls they go and onto to the pod where they exchange blows and tease a Suplex. Bryan jumps down, Kingston misses a splash off the pod. Bryan capitalizes with his signature running knee, which lands with intense impact and secures Bryan the victory.
As the event draws to a close, the remaining members of the New Day run down to the ring to pick Kingston up and carry him off. But the crowd won’t let him leave without showing their upmost respect for him.
Bryan may have won the match, but Kingston won our hearts.
