The Road to WrestleMania hits its final PPV this Sunday before the biggest event in Tampa this April. It’s the Elimination Chamber with not one, but two chamber matches.
Neither WWE Champion Brock Lesnar nor Universal Champion Bill Goldberg will defend their titles on the event so that their respective WrestleMania matches against Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns stay intact. But, most of the other titles are either on the line are have #1 contender matches for them coming up Sunday.
Here’s the full card:
- Women’s Elimination Chamber Match with winner to face RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch at WrestleMania – Shayna Baszler vs. Asuka vs. Liv Morgan vs. Natalya vs. Sarah Logan vs. Ruby Riott
- Intercontinental Championship 3-on-1 Handicap Match: Braun Strowman vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro and Sami Zayn
- Smackdown Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber Match: The Miz & John Morrison vs. The New Day vs. Lucha House Party vs. Heavy Machinery vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode vs. The Usos
- No Disqualification Match: Aleister Black vs. AJ Styles
- RAW Tag Team Championship: The Street Profits vs. Seth Rollins & Buddy Murphy
- United State Championship Match: Andrade vs. Humberto Carrillo
- Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak
That tag team match in the chamber should steal the show! I wouldn’t expect a ton of surprises, but you never know when Vince McMahon wants to shake things up. After all, we all thought we were getting Roman Reigns vs. The Fiend until Goldberg walked back in the door. Now, it’s John Cena back in the picture as Bray Wyatt looks for a six-year revenge on Cena for his WrestleMania 30 defeat.
WrestleMania Card:
- WWE Championship Match: Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre
- Universal Championship Match: Bill Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns
- NXT Women’s Championship Match: Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
- John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt/The Fiend
Star of the Week:
Randy Orton – No one is touching him at the moment! Will be interesting to see what they have in store when Edge returns this Monday night!
RAW
RESULTS
- RAW Tag Team Title Match: The Street Profits defeated Seth Rollins & Buddy Murphy to win the titles
- 24/7 Championship Match: Riddick Moss defeated Ricochet to retain title
- Aleister Black defeated Karl Anderson
- Aleister Black defeated Luke Gallows (DQ)
- AJ Styles defeated Aleister Black
- Liv Morgan defeated Ruby Riott
- Shayna Baszler defeated Kairi Sane
- Rey Mysterio Jr. & Humberto Carrillo defeated Andrade and Angel Garza
What we loved:
The Beth & Randy Story – Such a good angle that Randy Orton keeps delivering week after week. This week, Beth Phoenix was up to the task as well delivering the update on her husband Edge as he tries to comeback from his attack by Orton. When Orton told Beth that it’s her fault that Edge was attacked, you could hear a pin drop! Then, with a show-stealing RKO, Orton’s heel quotient went through the roof! You don’t mess with a man’s wife, right! I’m sure Orton should’ve learned that when he picked on Stephanie McMahon in his feud with Triple H. By far, it’s the best thing going these days in the WWE.
Aleister Black’s gauntlet – Love the push for Black. Having to go through The OC is good way to showcase his toughness while still keeping AJ Styles strong as he heads to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania.
Smoked Champions – With a side assist from Kevin Owens to stun Seth Rollins, The Street Profits are atop the Tag Team Division on RAW as new champs. It’s nice to see a tag team rule the roost and gives TSP some “smoke” in the ring to go with their mic skills. Now, Rollins and the Monday Night Minions will be plotting their revenge against Owens I’m sure for next week.
Holy Claymore! – Once, twice, thrice as nice as Drew McIntyre puts the boots, literally to WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. Let’s have these two get as physical as they can before Tampa’s title tilt at WrestleMania. This should be an all-out war!
What we hated:
Ricochet’s burial – What did Ricochet do to the powers that be in the WWE to make him loss a 2-minute match at Super Showdown to Brock Lesnar in his first shot at the WWE Championship. Then, King Ricochet gets pinned clean by Riddick Moss. Seriously? Losing to the 24/7 Champion in a very ordinary match isn’t what you’d like to see heading into the biggest event of the year. Makes me think something else could be up there.
A tarantula, WTF! – Seriously, after weeks and weeks of Erick Rowan hiding what’s in that damn cage he brings to the ring, we get that fake as anything looking tarantula! And it gets revealed as just a matter-of-fact thing. Typical WWE. Build it up only to see it fall flat in the end. It just seems that it wasn’t thought out and turned into a throwaway. Wasted time and effort, IMHO!
NXT
RESULTS
- Steel Cage Match: Dakota Kai defeated Tegan Nox
- NXT Women’s Championship #1 Contender’s Ladder Qualifying Match: Chelsea Green defeated Shotzi Blackheart
- The Undisputed ERA defeated Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan
- Austin Theory defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
- Steel Cage Match: Roderick Strong defeated The Velveteen Dream
What we loved:
The Dream’s bigger plan – When’s the last time you saw someone throw a win literally out the front door? Well, that’s exactly what The Velveteen Dream did, tossing Roderick Strong out of the steel cage to give him a victory only to keep NXT Champion Adam Cole in the cage with him. The Dream’s new quest for the title could be Cole’s latest nightmare!
High flying in the cage – Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox, with a cross-body block off the top of the cage, put on a high-flyin’ show atop the steel cage at Full Sail Wednesday night. Plus, how about that move by Raquel Gonzalez trapping Nox along the outside of the cage with the backside of the steel cage door. Never seen that one before! Well done!
You think you know me! – No, it wasn’t Edge making an appearance on NXT, but Johnny Gargano taking it to Mauro Ranallo in a gripping, intense one-on-one interview that got to the bottom of Johnny Wrestling’s betrayal of Tommaso Ciampa at TakeOver: Portland. Love the grit to Gargano’s latest chapter.
What we didn’t love:
Two steel cage matches – While both matches on their own were very good, it’s a bit of overkill to have two on the same show. It takes away the bigness of it.
Next week’s NXT – Are we really getting an NXT show from the WWE Performance Center? Seems like a step backwards rather than branching out into something bigger and better.
SMACKDOWN
RESULTS
- Bayley & Sasha Banks defeated Lacey Evans & Naomi
- Sheamus defeated Apollo Crews
- Liv Morgan & Sonya Deville defeated Carmella & Dana Brooke
- Tag Team Gauntlet Match: Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode defeated Heavy Machinery, The Miz & John Morrison, The New Day, Lucha House Party & The Usos
What we loved:
Otis, My Man – Heavy Machinery nearly runs the gauntlet, beating The New Day, Lucha House Party, The Usos and the tag team champs, The Miz & John Morrison before bowing to Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode. Would’ve thought we’d have a Mandy Rose sighting there in the main event.
The Glitch – Killer Kross & Scarlett Bordeaux?
Is it me? – For being the Smackdown Women’s Champion, Bayley sure does get herself involved in a whole lot of tag team matches.
Is it me, two? – Why the sudden brakes on the Otis-Mandy fun? We know it’s not over with Mandy’s “it’s too late” edict to Otis this week, but this storyline is fizzling after a red-hot start that we thought was headed towards a WrestleMania smooch! Main event, as we stated previously, gave HM a boost in the ring though.
Is it me, three? – Kind of odd booking to have your tag team champs lose two straight TV matches after winning the titles in Saudi Arabia. Seems like a lock they win the Chamber match, right?
Awkward – Boy, that opening segment of A Moment of Bliss with the NWO was a bit awkward! A bit off in the timing department for sure and it’s sad to see Nash and Hall, once masters on the mic, put in the spot of silly one-liners. But, in this age where the old stars get you ratings – witness Goldberg’s and John Cena’s spike in the FOX ratings last week – it’s what we were going to continue to get. And oh yeah, that start with Nikki Cross was just awful! Alexa Bliss deserves better.
Parting shots:
Congrats to JBL – The newest nominee to the WWE Hall of Fame is John “Bradshaw” Layfield. Loved JBL’s talk about the way to be a heel this past Tuesday on WWE Backstage. The way he put John Cena over and on the map is a blueprint for bad guys all over the wrestling world to learn from.
Thank you, Matt Hardy, – The end of Matt Hardy’s contract and WWE days came as March rolled in this past week. He went out with a blaze of glory being attacked by Randy Orton. Now, will it be AEW, Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling or somewhere else for Hardy and one of his alter-egos? Time will tell and the pro wrestling world will be glued!
Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots and Red Sox fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND!
