WWE Elimination Chamber 2015.

This event was broadcast live on the WWE Network on Sunday May 31st, 2015.

WWE Tag Team Championship.
Elimination Chamber.
New Day beat Prime Time Players, Cesaro & Tyson Kidd, The Ascension, The Lucha Dragons and Los Matadors to retain their championship.

If the primary goal of this opening contest was to increase heat on New Day then mission accomplished. During the introductions, we were told all three members were legal. New Day cheated from inside the pod early on and received “New Day Sucks!” chants.

If the second goal of the match was crowd warming this was also achieved thanks to wild dives from the cage roof and additional high spots. Eventually it came down to New Day vs Prime Time Players who had a good showing. Titus rallied with his power moves but the numbers game was too much to overcome as ‘The Players’ were pile on pinned for the loss.

Divas Championship.
Triple Threat Match.
Nikki Bella defeated Naomi and Paige to retain her championship.

The ladies tried hard but this was a sloppy effort. They hit a tower of doom but the impact was diluted because we saw a similar move in the first match. Nikki won with the Rack Attack. My complaints from Payback remain here. New blood from NXT and better storylines are urgently required.

Kevin Owens pinned John Cena.

This was thrilling, four-stars and an instant classic with a shocking ending. Logical booking made Owens a genuine star in one night. Abbey Arthur, wrote this article for Pro Wrestling Mania before the event. I thought her points were valid but didn’t believe WWE creative would have the balls to pull the trigger.

Fortunately they did. Kevin Owens pinned John Cena clean, without any interference or cheating after a back and forth war of attrition. A heavily invested crowd enhanced the drama and a post-match promo by Owens cemented his newfound superstar aura. The undisputed highlight of the show. Go out of your way to watch this, you won’t be disappointed.

Neville beat Bo Dallas.

What a comedown after the previous epic. No wrestlers want to be in that slot. It told a simple but effective story. Bo used his technical wrestling ability to keep Neville grounded and take away his speed. Neville made a comeback and hit the spectacular Red Arrow for the victory. They may have longer NXT style matches again down the road but this wasn’t their time.

Intercontinental Championship.
Elimination Chamber.
Ryback beat Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, Mark Henry (replacement for Rusev), R-Truth and King Barrett to win the vacant championship (formerly held by Daniel Bryan).

The second chamber outing was the weaker of the two by some margin. This match was cursed by Rusev’s withdrawal (due to a foot injury), a snoozing crowd and the announcers who failed to highlight the door cheating antics of Sheamus. In the end, Ryback eliminated ‘The Celtic Warrior’ and won his first championship. Fresh storylines are possible now, even if ‘The Big Guy’ is arguably keeping the belt warm until the injured Rusev returns.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Dean Ambrose beat Seth Rollins via disqualification, Rollins retains his championship.

The return of the Dusty finish was a satisfying conclusion to the worthy main event. Backstage earlier on the show, Triple H told Roman Reigns his interference would cause a disqualification for Dean Ambrose. That removed the likelihood of Reigns getting involved and inadvertently costing Ambrose his championship opportunity.

Cowardly champion Rollins had his usual entourage of Kane and J & J security at ringside. Inevitably, they interfered and Ambrose took a lot of punishment to demonstrate his fighting spirit. After hitting an elbow drop onto Kane and J & J, the emotional rollercoaster began.

Ambrose went for another elbow drop but Rollins pushed the referee, who took a full force bump. Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds but nobody was present to make the count. Suddenly, a second official ran down for the 1-2-3! I couldn’t believe it and neither could the crowd who suddenly woke up with roars of approval. With the decision reversed, “Bullshit!” chants rained down and The Authority prepared their ambush. Reigns made the save, he and Ambrose then took off with the championship.

Overall, Elimination Chamber was wildly inconsistent but still exceeded expectations with two high level matches. WWE tested the waters for Ambrose becoming champion in the not-so-distant future. Will he make it to the top before his buddy Reigns? We’ll get those developments, Cena/Owens II and much more at Money in the Bank. I’ll be covering it all for another instalment of philreganreviews.

See you then wrestling fans.