I'm pretty sure the plan was Shawn vs Bret 2 which kinda makes me wonder what their plan with Austin was at WrestleMania.
Reviewing every WWE PPV in order from worst to best
- Thread starter Jarf
- Start date
-
Welcome to "The New" Wrestling Smarks Forum!
I see that you are not currently registered on our forum. It only takes a second, and you can even login with your Facebook! If you would like to register now, pease click here: Register
Once registered please introduce yourself in our introduction thread which can be found here: Introduction Board
Really? Thats... weird, I figured the plan would've been Owen vs Davey Boy. And listen, no disrespect to Davey Boy, but with how hot Austin was at the time, it would've been like their idea to have Bryan fight Sheamus at Mania 30
Elimination Chamber 2020
Match 1: Daniel Bryan def. Drew Gulak (14:20)
Starting the night off with a great wrestling match. Obviously, I don’t think anyone expected Gulak to win but maybe not put up the fight he did. The story coming into the match is that Gulak claims that Bryan has many weaknesses that he knows how to exploit. And he kind of does that. This was just a very good wrestling match pretty much. Kinda slow paced. Bryan has to leave the ring to reevaluate his opponent. Which was a nice touch. Gulak seems to have Bryan scouted as he counters him several times. Gulak hits a back suplex where Bryan lands on the back of his head, and it seems like Gulak is going after Bryan’s neck. Bryan manages to hit a dragon suplex that Gulak kicks out of. Gulak reverses and goes behind Bryan, hitting him with a German suplex which Bryan kicks out of. Gulak hits another one, this time releases Bryan, who lands disgustingly head first on the mat! Bryan has to roll outside and nearly gets counted out. But he makes it back inside. The fight continues and Bryan finds himself seated on the top rope, where Gulak hits an inverted suplex from! Gulak rolls over Bryan, keeping hold of Bryan’s head to apply the Dragon Sleeper. He elbows Bryan in the chest and falls back with Bryan. But Bryan continues to roll to escape Gulak’s grasp, before he grabs Gulak’s arm and rolls into a Lebell Lock. He elbows Gulak in the head to weaken him so he can actually apply it. Gulak passes out in the Lebell Lock and Bryan is declared the winner.
My Rating: ****
Match 2: United States Championship Match - Andrade (c) def. Humberto Carrillo (12:20)
Andrade starts the match with a hard back elbow that gets a two count. Humberto shows off his agility throughout this match. Andrade gets the upper hand and starts wearing Humberto down. But Andrade looks like he’s about to go for a monkey flip from the ropes, but Humberto falls backward and dumps Andrade over the ropes. And here is when Humberto starts to come back with kicks. It’s pretty even up until the end from here. Both men wind up on the top rope, Andrade was seated until he stood up, and Humberto stood up on the ropes as well. Humberto leaps up to hit a hurricanrana to Andrade from the top! Andrade hip tosses Humberto into the corner and hits the double knees. Zelina Vega takes apart the protective covering on the concrete outside and Andrade looks like he’s going for a piledriver, but Humberto backdrops him onto the floor. Humberto goes back in the ring and dives over the ropes to the outside! Humberto tries for a victory roll, but Andrade rolls back and pins Humberto to the mat to retain the title.
My Rating: ***1/2
Match 3: SmackDown Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber Match - The Miz & John Morrison (c) def. The Usos, The New Day, Heavy Machinery, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode & Lucha House Party (32:55)
God damn, I loved this! The first 10 minutes isn’t so inspiring but they really amp things up after that. The match begins with The Usos and New Day. Always a good match so thats a great start. First team out of their pod is Lucha House Party, represented by Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado. They show off a bit. Lince goes up to the top of their pod after being chased up by Big E. Kofi follows him up, but then Metalik goes up too. They lion king Kofi for Lince to dive on The Usos and Metalik to dive on the New Day. And with everybody down, in comes Miz and Morrison next to pick the bones. Not much to note here other than a sweet hurricanrana with Metalik leaping off the pod to Morrison who was standing on the top rope! Next team is Heavy Machinery who just run through everybody else in the match. They bulldoze everyone (appropriately considering their name) Lince Dorado scales the chamber wall and the ceiling! Flipping off the ceiling to a sea of people below! But he failed to take out Heavy Machinery and they eliminate the luchadors by pinning Gran Metalik a moment later. You got your spot, now get out. And then they await the release of Ziggler and Roode. Dolph escapes Otis by climbing the wall and standing on a pod, but Tucker isn’t above climbing the wall, he bashes Ziggler’s head off the wall and then throws Ziggler into the arms of Otis, before he dives off into the crowd below him! Otis disposes of Roode before he turns back to Ziggler, and runs at him. Ziggler dodges and Otis barrels through the pod door out the back of the chamber! Tucker, concerned for his partner and more pissed than anything tries to take on Dolph and Roode by himself, but he eats a superkick and a DDT to eliminate Heavy Machinery. Tucker helps carry Otis out. That’s why it broke my heart to see Tucker betray on Otis for legitimately no reason. They were boys! Kofi hits Dolph with Trouble in Paradise, Big E. hits Roode with the Big Ending and The Usos each hit a splash on them from the top of the pods to eliminate them next. The Usos and New Day work together to stomp out Miz and Morrison, literally. Jey tells them all to stop for a moment… and then says “Okay, again” and they stomp them out again! Even back then, Jey had more personality than Jimmy. Usos and New Day turn on each other and Kofi basically eliminates himself by diving off the top of the pod, because that worked out for him last year. Jimmy moves out of the way and Kofi misses. Miz and Morrison cover Kofi together and New Day are out. That leaves us with The Usos and Miz and Morrison to give us an excellent final stretch. Usos hit Miz and Morrison with a double superkick off them springboarding. (Yes, Miz did a springboard) Miz hits Jimmy with a Skull Crushing Finale and sits on him while hooking the leg to pin him. Jimmy kicks out and from there, Miz puts Jimmy in the Figure 4, and while Jimmy is locked in, Morrison hits the Starship Pain. He’s about to pin Jimmy, but Jey comes from behind to roll up Morrison! Morrison kicks out. And the way they beat Usos is clever. Miz slides through Jey’s legs from the outside and puts Jey in a powerbomb pin position, while Morrison flips inside, holding Jey’s legs in a sunset flip pin. I forgot how good this match was. Holy crap!
My Rating: ****
Match 4: No Disqualification Match - Aleister Black def. AJ Styles (23:15)
A match I was really looking forward to at the time, but unfortunately, it just falls short. Gallows and Anderson are at ringside with AJ, but surprisingly don’t do anything until the end. The match is decent but its so slow. The counters and spots are just enough to carry it, but it doesn’t save it by much. AJ attacks Black’s legs and pretty early in the match puts him in a Calf Crusher. Black uses a kendo stick to escape. And he also sets up a table outside. One thing I will say that they did perfectly was selling. They made it seem like everything they did, even though it wasn’t much, look like it hurt. At some point in the match, Aleister bounces off the middle rope in the ring to moonsault AJ, but Styles catches him perfectly in a Tombstone position! But Black rolls through and escapes before he kicks Styles into a chair set up in the corner. Black hits a meteora through the table set up on the outside. And it’s not until Black sets AJ up for the Black Mass that Gallows and Anderson get in the ring and they start ganging up on Aleister. They hold Black in place for the Phenomenal Forearm, but the lights go out and when they come back on, Undertaker has Luke and Karl by the throats. AJ springboards and Taker turns around and catches Styles by the throat. He hits a chokeslam, the lights go out and Taker is gone again. Black gets up and waits for Styles to get up and turn around. Then Black drops Styles with an awesome Black Mass! Black wins.
My Rating: ***1/4
Match 5: Raw Tag Team Championship Match - The Street Profits (c) def. Seth Rollins & Murphy (18:30)
I don’t know what it is, but I wasn’t into this match. I don’t think it was that good. It doesn’t help that the crowd was dead as hell. The Profits won the titles on Raw with help from Kevin Owens, so Seth has the Authors of Pain with him, and has them check ringside. To me, this just felt like a TV match. Nothing special. But it goes on for like 18 minutes which makes it worse honestly. Rollins and Murphy wear down Angelo, who makes the tag to Montez after a few minutes. But while the referee isn’t looking, AOP toss Montez into the barricade. The Viking Raiders come down to battle AOP to the back. The match continues for some time, with Seth and Murphy keeping Ford away from his partner. Montez eventually does make the tag though and the pace starts to pick up. Kevin Owens walks through the crowd to come to the ring eating a bag of popcorn. He distracts Seth long enough so Dawkins can push him into the barricade, the Profits catch Murphy as he dives over the ropes and throws him into the barricade before they finish him in the ring with a spinebuster and a frog splash. Profits retain. And as Seth berates Murphy who was laying outside, Owens comes in and gives Seth a stunner.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 6: Intercontinental Championship 3-on-1 Handicap Match - Sami Zayn, Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura def. Braun Strowman (c) (8:30)
This match got shit all over on Cagematch, but I don't know, I thought it was okay. I thought it showed how smart Sami Zayn was even though it made him look cowardly. This whole feud, Braun hasn't been able to lay a finger on Sami. And shockingly enough, that continues in this match. Cesaro and Shinsuke do all the work and Sami only gets in when Braun is down. Braun runs over Cesaro and Nakamura on the outside while he's chasing Sami. Cesaro and Shinsuke manage to save Zayn before Braun could get to him. Braun runs into the ring post, Shinsuke Kinshasas Braun's head into the post. Cesaro and Nakamura lift Braun up in a suplex, allowing Sami to kick Braun to the mat and pin him. And because it was Sami who made the cover, he becomes the Intercontinental Champion.
My Rating: **1/2
Main Event: Raw Women’s Championship #1 Contenders Elimination Chamber Match - Shayna Baszler def. Asuka, Natalya, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott & Sarah Logan (21:00)
Ooooh this damn match… okay I'll start off with some pros here. One, Shayna looked like a beast. That's good. Two, Shayna brought some brutality back to the chamber, that's good. Three, Liv Morgan says "Oh fuck" just out of nowhere. That's hilarious. Everything else though is a con. But we'll get to that. Match starts off with Natalya and Ruby, they just grind each other into the cage. Sarah Logan comes out third and she gets to come off the pod so that's something. Shayna comes out fourth and now it's her match. She taps out Sarah and Ruby both in less than a minute. One of the things they kept talking about was the break up and fallout of the Riott Squad. Well that's made completely irrelevant by the fact Shayna eliminates Sarah and Ruby before Liv even gets out of her pod. And then she slams one of the empty pod doors into Natalya repeatedly before tapping her out. And then she has to just stand in the ring and wait for Asuka or Liv to get out of their pods which gets old very quickly. Then Liv gets out of her pod and Shayna rushes her. Liv gets a few shots in before Shayna kills her too. Right in front of Asuka, Shayna sits on the top turnbuckle and lifts Liv off the floor in a chokehold. Liv does tap out, she passes out and the referee tells Shayna to let go. So now Shayna has to stand around for another 4 minutes until Asuka gets out, what the hell. Asuka eventually does get out and gives Shayna a bigger fight than the rest of the competition, even getting Shayna in the Asuka Lock. But Shayna twists Asuka's wrist which was apparently injured. Asuka is able to escape the Kirifuda at first but Shayna inevitably slaps it back on and makes Asuka pass out. So Shayna wins as literally everyone expected. Now here's my beef with this match. I love that Shayna was made to look dominant, but if you're going to do that, have her come out last, not fourth so we don't have to watch her stand around and wait! Everyone knew Shayna was winning too! Nobody on the face of the earth thought Shayna was gonna lose. So the only reason to watch it at that point would be in hopes that it's good! It's made even worse by the fact that Shayna loses at WrestleMania pretty easily. How do you make her look like a beast here and then not only have her lose at Mania, but lose in 8 minutes?!
My Rating: *3/4
Cagematch Rating: 6.26
My Rating: 7/10
Honestly, the show was going pretty well for the most part, it's just the incredibly underwhelming final stretch that brings it down. Opener, great match. US Title, pretty good. Tag Chamber, awesome. No DQ, solid. That last hour and a half though… killed it, and not in a good way.
Match 1: Daniel Bryan def. Drew Gulak (14:20)
Starting the night off with a great wrestling match. Obviously, I don’t think anyone expected Gulak to win but maybe not put up the fight he did. The story coming into the match is that Gulak claims that Bryan has many weaknesses that he knows how to exploit. And he kind of does that. This was just a very good wrestling match pretty much. Kinda slow paced. Bryan has to leave the ring to reevaluate his opponent. Which was a nice touch. Gulak seems to have Bryan scouted as he counters him several times. Gulak hits a back suplex where Bryan lands on the back of his head, and it seems like Gulak is going after Bryan’s neck. Bryan manages to hit a dragon suplex that Gulak kicks out of. Gulak reverses and goes behind Bryan, hitting him with a German suplex which Bryan kicks out of. Gulak hits another one, this time releases Bryan, who lands disgustingly head first on the mat! Bryan has to roll outside and nearly gets counted out. But he makes it back inside. The fight continues and Bryan finds himself seated on the top rope, where Gulak hits an inverted suplex from! Gulak rolls over Bryan, keeping hold of Bryan’s head to apply the Dragon Sleeper. He elbows Bryan in the chest and falls back with Bryan. But Bryan continues to roll to escape Gulak’s grasp, before he grabs Gulak’s arm and rolls into a Lebell Lock. He elbows Gulak in the head to weaken him so he can actually apply it. Gulak passes out in the Lebell Lock and Bryan is declared the winner.
My Rating: ****
Match 2: United States Championship Match - Andrade (c) def. Humberto Carrillo (12:20)
Andrade starts the match with a hard back elbow that gets a two count. Humberto shows off his agility throughout this match. Andrade gets the upper hand and starts wearing Humberto down. But Andrade looks like he’s about to go for a monkey flip from the ropes, but Humberto falls backward and dumps Andrade over the ropes. And here is when Humberto starts to come back with kicks. It’s pretty even up until the end from here. Both men wind up on the top rope, Andrade was seated until he stood up, and Humberto stood up on the ropes as well. Humberto leaps up to hit a hurricanrana to Andrade from the top! Andrade hip tosses Humberto into the corner and hits the double knees. Zelina Vega takes apart the protective covering on the concrete outside and Andrade looks like he’s going for a piledriver, but Humberto backdrops him onto the floor. Humberto goes back in the ring and dives over the ropes to the outside! Humberto tries for a victory roll, but Andrade rolls back and pins Humberto to the mat to retain the title.
My Rating: ***1/2
Match 3: SmackDown Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber Match - The Miz & John Morrison (c) def. The Usos, The New Day, Heavy Machinery, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode & Lucha House Party (32:55)
God damn, I loved this! The first 10 minutes isn’t so inspiring but they really amp things up after that. The match begins with The Usos and New Day. Always a good match so thats a great start. First team out of their pod is Lucha House Party, represented by Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado. They show off a bit. Lince goes up to the top of their pod after being chased up by Big E. Kofi follows him up, but then Metalik goes up too. They lion king Kofi for Lince to dive on The Usos and Metalik to dive on the New Day. And with everybody down, in comes Miz and Morrison next to pick the bones. Not much to note here other than a sweet hurricanrana with Metalik leaping off the pod to Morrison who was standing on the top rope! Next team is Heavy Machinery who just run through everybody else in the match. They bulldoze everyone (appropriately considering their name) Lince Dorado scales the chamber wall and the ceiling! Flipping off the ceiling to a sea of people below! But he failed to take out Heavy Machinery and they eliminate the luchadors by pinning Gran Metalik a moment later. You got your spot, now get out. And then they await the release of Ziggler and Roode. Dolph escapes Otis by climbing the wall and standing on a pod, but Tucker isn’t above climbing the wall, he bashes Ziggler’s head off the wall and then throws Ziggler into the arms of Otis, before he dives off into the crowd below him! Otis disposes of Roode before he turns back to Ziggler, and runs at him. Ziggler dodges and Otis barrels through the pod door out the back of the chamber! Tucker, concerned for his partner and more pissed than anything tries to take on Dolph and Roode by himself, but he eats a superkick and a DDT to eliminate Heavy Machinery. Tucker helps carry Otis out. That’s why it broke my heart to see Tucker betray on Otis for legitimately no reason. They were boys! Kofi hits Dolph with Trouble in Paradise, Big E. hits Roode with the Big Ending and The Usos each hit a splash on them from the top of the pods to eliminate them next. The Usos and New Day work together to stomp out Miz and Morrison, literally. Jey tells them all to stop for a moment… and then says “Okay, again” and they stomp them out again! Even back then, Jey had more personality than Jimmy. Usos and New Day turn on each other and Kofi basically eliminates himself by diving off the top of the pod, because that worked out for him last year. Jimmy moves out of the way and Kofi misses. Miz and Morrison cover Kofi together and New Day are out. That leaves us with The Usos and Miz and Morrison to give us an excellent final stretch. Usos hit Miz and Morrison with a double superkick off them springboarding. (Yes, Miz did a springboard) Miz hits Jimmy with a Skull Crushing Finale and sits on him while hooking the leg to pin him. Jimmy kicks out and from there, Miz puts Jimmy in the Figure 4, and while Jimmy is locked in, Morrison hits the Starship Pain. He’s about to pin Jimmy, but Jey comes from behind to roll up Morrison! Morrison kicks out. And the way they beat Usos is clever. Miz slides through Jey’s legs from the outside and puts Jey in a powerbomb pin position, while Morrison flips inside, holding Jey’s legs in a sunset flip pin. I forgot how good this match was. Holy crap!
My Rating: ****
Match 4: No Disqualification Match - Aleister Black def. AJ Styles (23:15)
A match I was really looking forward to at the time, but unfortunately, it just falls short. Gallows and Anderson are at ringside with AJ, but surprisingly don’t do anything until the end. The match is decent but its so slow. The counters and spots are just enough to carry it, but it doesn’t save it by much. AJ attacks Black’s legs and pretty early in the match puts him in a Calf Crusher. Black uses a kendo stick to escape. And he also sets up a table outside. One thing I will say that they did perfectly was selling. They made it seem like everything they did, even though it wasn’t much, look like it hurt. At some point in the match, Aleister bounces off the middle rope in the ring to moonsault AJ, but Styles catches him perfectly in a Tombstone position! But Black rolls through and escapes before he kicks Styles into a chair set up in the corner. Black hits a meteora through the table set up on the outside. And it’s not until Black sets AJ up for the Black Mass that Gallows and Anderson get in the ring and they start ganging up on Aleister. They hold Black in place for the Phenomenal Forearm, but the lights go out and when they come back on, Undertaker has Luke and Karl by the throats. AJ springboards and Taker turns around and catches Styles by the throat. He hits a chokeslam, the lights go out and Taker is gone again. Black gets up and waits for Styles to get up and turn around. Then Black drops Styles with an awesome Black Mass! Black wins.
My Rating: ***1/4
Match 5: Raw Tag Team Championship Match - The Street Profits (c) def. Seth Rollins & Murphy (18:30)
I don’t know what it is, but I wasn’t into this match. I don’t think it was that good. It doesn’t help that the crowd was dead as hell. The Profits won the titles on Raw with help from Kevin Owens, so Seth has the Authors of Pain with him, and has them check ringside. To me, this just felt like a TV match. Nothing special. But it goes on for like 18 minutes which makes it worse honestly. Rollins and Murphy wear down Angelo, who makes the tag to Montez after a few minutes. But while the referee isn’t looking, AOP toss Montez into the barricade. The Viking Raiders come down to battle AOP to the back. The match continues for some time, with Seth and Murphy keeping Ford away from his partner. Montez eventually does make the tag though and the pace starts to pick up. Kevin Owens walks through the crowd to come to the ring eating a bag of popcorn. He distracts Seth long enough so Dawkins can push him into the barricade, the Profits catch Murphy as he dives over the ropes and throws him into the barricade before they finish him in the ring with a spinebuster and a frog splash. Profits retain. And as Seth berates Murphy who was laying outside, Owens comes in and gives Seth a stunner.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 6: Intercontinental Championship 3-on-1 Handicap Match - Sami Zayn, Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura def. Braun Strowman (c) (8:30)
This match got shit all over on Cagematch, but I don't know, I thought it was okay. I thought it showed how smart Sami Zayn was even though it made him look cowardly. This whole feud, Braun hasn't been able to lay a finger on Sami. And shockingly enough, that continues in this match. Cesaro and Shinsuke do all the work and Sami only gets in when Braun is down. Braun runs over Cesaro and Nakamura on the outside while he's chasing Sami. Cesaro and Shinsuke manage to save Zayn before Braun could get to him. Braun runs into the ring post, Shinsuke Kinshasas Braun's head into the post. Cesaro and Nakamura lift Braun up in a suplex, allowing Sami to kick Braun to the mat and pin him. And because it was Sami who made the cover, he becomes the Intercontinental Champion.
My Rating: **1/2
Main Event: Raw Women’s Championship #1 Contenders Elimination Chamber Match - Shayna Baszler def. Asuka, Natalya, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott & Sarah Logan (21:00)
Ooooh this damn match… okay I'll start off with some pros here. One, Shayna looked like a beast. That's good. Two, Shayna brought some brutality back to the chamber, that's good. Three, Liv Morgan says "Oh fuck" just out of nowhere. That's hilarious. Everything else though is a con. But we'll get to that. Match starts off with Natalya and Ruby, they just grind each other into the cage. Sarah Logan comes out third and she gets to come off the pod so that's something. Shayna comes out fourth and now it's her match. She taps out Sarah and Ruby both in less than a minute. One of the things they kept talking about was the break up and fallout of the Riott Squad. Well that's made completely irrelevant by the fact Shayna eliminates Sarah and Ruby before Liv even gets out of her pod. And then she slams one of the empty pod doors into Natalya repeatedly before tapping her out. And then she has to just stand in the ring and wait for Asuka or Liv to get out of their pods which gets old very quickly. Then Liv gets out of her pod and Shayna rushes her. Liv gets a few shots in before Shayna kills her too. Right in front of Asuka, Shayna sits on the top turnbuckle and lifts Liv off the floor in a chokehold. Liv does tap out, she passes out and the referee tells Shayna to let go. So now Shayna has to stand around for another 4 minutes until Asuka gets out, what the hell. Asuka eventually does get out and gives Shayna a bigger fight than the rest of the competition, even getting Shayna in the Asuka Lock. But Shayna twists Asuka's wrist which was apparently injured. Asuka is able to escape the Kirifuda at first but Shayna inevitably slaps it back on and makes Asuka pass out. So Shayna wins as literally everyone expected. Now here's my beef with this match. I love that Shayna was made to look dominant, but if you're going to do that, have her come out last, not fourth so we don't have to watch her stand around and wait! Everyone knew Shayna was winning too! Nobody on the face of the earth thought Shayna was gonna lose. So the only reason to watch it at that point would be in hopes that it's good! It's made even worse by the fact that Shayna loses at WrestleMania pretty easily. How do you make her look like a beast here and then not only have her lose at Mania, but lose in 8 minutes?!
My Rating: *3/4
Cagematch Rating: 6.26
My Rating: 7/10
Honestly, the show was going pretty well for the most part, it's just the incredibly underwhelming final stretch that brings it down. Opener, great match. US Title, pretty good. Tag Chamber, awesome. No DQ, solid. That last hour and a half though… killed it, and not in a good way.