Hey everyone and take a warm seat by the fire, perhaps in a red silk gown, slide into those slippers and grow a Tom Sellek mustache. Grab a pipe and listen to this tale, the second in what I hope to be a series of editions in which I preview and pick the PPV offering of any given month from World Wrestling Entertainment. Shall we begin?
This time round we have the elimination chamber PPV headlined by, as ever, two elimination chambers. This year one chamber is determining a #1 contender and the other is contesting the World Heavyweight Title. Where is the WWE title on the card? Being defended by the freshman champ, the Miz, against commentator Jerry Lawler. A year ago that would have sounded insane and, despite any pop King gets or how much heat Miz can get on the mic, it still sounds insane to me now.
Kofi Kingston (IC Champ) vs Alberto Del Rio - Non title
Methinks we start from the bottom of the card up. I mean in terms of match importance of course, chances are the Smackdown Chamber opens the show if this doesn't but I won't comment on that. I'm not going to give this match much thought because I haven't caught SD! very much as of late and having been keeping up with the build. I hear they've screwed each other over and had a Mexican themed beat down. Now, what I LOVE about this match is it has 3 star minimum written all over it. Both of these guys can really bring it and the athleticism of Kofi I'm SURE will compliment the style of Del Rio really well. They certainly need time for this match because another positive is getting Del Rio live on PPV in singles action because in 6 or so weeks he has the biggest match of his career. At the Rumble, the only thing that stopped me picking Del Rio as my winner was whether the crowd would buy him as a legit contender. He's getting there but he needs to go over in matches like these to build that. Therein lies the biggest issue though. Kofi is an equally strong future prospect and current IC champ. Way to crap all over that for what I don't believe is a big enough reason.
Killz Pick: Alberto Del Rio baby.
The Miz (c) vs Jerry Lawler - WWE Title Match
We'll build to the chambers. This match really rubs me up the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, consider this a disclaimer, giving Jerry his Mania match is a brilliant idea. He pretty much outpops everyone on Raw who's name isn't Cena, Orton or Rock and for a commentator that's superb. His ring psych isn't rusty, he still sells well enough for an older guy and I guess he has earned these last few nights in the sun. My issue is that it's hardly evident that the Miz can carry a main event match. The guy is improving ALL the time and is gold on the mic, hence his push, but that doesn't automatically equate to ring prowess. A lot of his matches come from facial expressions and holds right now, taking a leaf out of Orton's book, but is that going to keep a crowd invested when the opponent is Jerry Lawler who is almost certainly losing? So, it's down to Jerry to carry the Miz...does that even sound right? It's certain these two men can't just go toe to toe, dey aint no austin and rock yo, so to expect Jerry to carry the match just isn't fair. I can but hope they move to the likely dodgy finish quite quickly so that we can forget it. By all means, put Jerry on the Mania card. By all means put him on this card even! But why couldn't he have faced A-Ri or The Miz and A-Ri in a tag match leading to the Mania bout we're all expecting?
Killz Pick: The Miz
Smackdown Elimination Chamber - World Heavyweight Title
*WARNING: I am spoiler wrapping this next section as it contains details of tomorrow nights smackdown*
Killz Pick: Edge
Raw Elimination Chamber - #1 Contendership to WWE title
So this chamber is a little more...stale and predictable in its participants at least. The usual suspects from both the main event AND the mid-card fill the slots. I'd look for standout performances from Punk and Sheamus in this match as I don't think they'll work straight towards a Cena vs Orton confrontation because that sort of thing is so repetitive it just wouldn't get fans invested, PARTICULARLY if this goes on last. Being on last I fully expect to see Cena there however and I imagine he'll go over CM Punk as his final opponent. I've really enjoyed the work these guys (except Truth) have put in since pre-Rumble so it should be a really good match. I want to see something big from JoMo, in a way I want to see him make the last 3, just to show his stop-start push may not be over because the guy couldn't do more to make his in-ring theatrics and work make up for his poor mic skills. This match will certainly be slower in a lot of parts when compared to the Smackdown chamber but it will set in motion more of the Mania card than any other match on the show. You'd expect Punk/Orton and Cena/Miz to come out of this one match. Might be a decent chamber, I'm holding out hope.
Killz Pick: John Cena.
So there we have it! What do you guys think? What are your picks and what not? Thanks for reading!
- Other thoughts include whether we'll see appearances from guys like Hunter maybe back to set up his mania bout? If creative go with the rumoured HHH vs Taker feud likely not but Sheamus will still be about in the main event so we could see what many expected at the Rumble with HHH costing him somehow.
- Maybe some sort of confrontation between Cena and the Rock? There's a strong possibility if you ask me, even if it's via some lame pre-taped segment they have to tape for some reason or even just a Cena promo BACK to the Rock.
This time round we have the elimination chamber PPV headlined by, as ever, two elimination chambers. This year one chamber is determining a #1 contender and the other is contesting the World Heavyweight Title. Where is the WWE title on the card? Being defended by the freshman champ, the Miz, against commentator Jerry Lawler. A year ago that would have sounded insane and, despite any pop King gets or how much heat Miz can get on the mic, it still sounds insane to me now.
Kofi Kingston (IC Champ) vs Alberto Del Rio - Non title
Methinks we start from the bottom of the card up. I mean in terms of match importance of course, chances are the Smackdown Chamber opens the show if this doesn't but I won't comment on that. I'm not going to give this match much thought because I haven't caught SD! very much as of late and having been keeping up with the build. I hear they've screwed each other over and had a Mexican themed beat down. Now, what I LOVE about this match is it has 3 star minimum written all over it. Both of these guys can really bring it and the athleticism of Kofi I'm SURE will compliment the style of Del Rio really well. They certainly need time for this match because another positive is getting Del Rio live on PPV in singles action because in 6 or so weeks he has the biggest match of his career. At the Rumble, the only thing that stopped me picking Del Rio as my winner was whether the crowd would buy him as a legit contender. He's getting there but he needs to go over in matches like these to build that. Therein lies the biggest issue though. Kofi is an equally strong future prospect and current IC champ. Way to crap all over that for what I don't believe is a big enough reason.
Killz Pick: Alberto Del Rio baby.
The Miz (c) vs Jerry Lawler - WWE Title Match
We'll build to the chambers. This match really rubs me up the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, consider this a disclaimer, giving Jerry his Mania match is a brilliant idea. He pretty much outpops everyone on Raw who's name isn't Cena, Orton or Rock and for a commentator that's superb. His ring psych isn't rusty, he still sells well enough for an older guy and I guess he has earned these last few nights in the sun. My issue is that it's hardly evident that the Miz can carry a main event match. The guy is improving ALL the time and is gold on the mic, hence his push, but that doesn't automatically equate to ring prowess. A lot of his matches come from facial expressions and holds right now, taking a leaf out of Orton's book, but is that going to keep a crowd invested when the opponent is Jerry Lawler who is almost certainly losing? So, it's down to Jerry to carry the Miz...does that even sound right? It's certain these two men can't just go toe to toe, dey aint no austin and rock yo, so to expect Jerry to carry the match just isn't fair. I can but hope they move to the likely dodgy finish quite quickly so that we can forget it. By all means, put Jerry on the Mania card. By all means put him on this card even! But why couldn't he have faced A-Ri or The Miz and A-Ri in a tag match leading to the Mania bout we're all expecting?
Killz Pick: The Miz
Smackdown Elimination Chamber - World Heavyweight Title
*WARNING: I am spoiler wrapping this next section as it contains details of tomorrow nights smackdown*
There is certainly a lot of future star power in this match Wade, Drew and Dolph have particularly bright futures on Smackdown in my eyes and with the perennial performers Mysterio and Kane thrown into the mix it would appear this is quite a difficult call to make. It's made all the more difficult by the fact that Ziggler will be "fired" come Sunday night and there will be a spot open in the chamber. Does Dolph get back into the chamber? Perhaps but what of another entrant? It throws up a lot of questions. Prior to the jumping around of the WHC and Dolph's "firing" I'd have said Edge retaining is a sure-fire bet but it could go several different ways now. I'm excited to see if they'll maybe pull the trigger on Rey getting his revenge on Alberto by winning the gold perhaps? Maybe Dolph does get in and wins and we get Dolph vs Edge vs Del Rio at Mania? Maybe another 6th man takes Ziggler's spot? Who knows. All I know is, there's a lot of athleticism in this match, some opportunity for Drew and Wade to stake their claim so to speak and some meat in Kane for Rey Rey/Ziggler to land on. This should be an entertaining chamber.
Killz Pick: Edge
Raw Elimination Chamber - #1 Contendership to WWE title
So this chamber is a little more...stale and predictable in its participants at least. The usual suspects from both the main event AND the mid-card fill the slots. I'd look for standout performances from Punk and Sheamus in this match as I don't think they'll work straight towards a Cena vs Orton confrontation because that sort of thing is so repetitive it just wouldn't get fans invested, PARTICULARLY if this goes on last. Being on last I fully expect to see Cena there however and I imagine he'll go over CM Punk as his final opponent. I've really enjoyed the work these guys (except Truth) have put in since pre-Rumble so it should be a really good match. I want to see something big from JoMo, in a way I want to see him make the last 3, just to show his stop-start push may not be over because the guy couldn't do more to make his in-ring theatrics and work make up for his poor mic skills. This match will certainly be slower in a lot of parts when compared to the Smackdown chamber but it will set in motion more of the Mania card than any other match on the show. You'd expect Punk/Orton and Cena/Miz to come out of this one match. Might be a decent chamber, I'm holding out hope.
Killz Pick: John Cena.
So there we have it! What do you guys think? What are your picks and what not? Thanks for reading!
- Other thoughts include whether we'll see appearances from guys like Hunter maybe back to set up his mania bout? If creative go with the rumoured HHH vs Taker feud likely not but Sheamus will still be about in the main event so we could see what many expected at the Rumble with HHH costing him somehow.
- Maybe some sort of confrontation between Cena and the Rock? There's a strong possibility if you ask me, even if it's via some lame pre-taped segment they have to tape for some reason or even just a Cena promo BACK to the Rock.
