The Aftermath of Elimination Chamber

[We Are Legion]

Prior to tonight, I hadn't watched a full WWE ppv since Money in the Bank last year, and a lot of that has to do with my lack of interest in WWE's transitional phase right now. Now before you brush this off as another rant from an Attitude era fan bitching and moaning about his disapproval of the current product, it is seriously nothing like that. I actually admire the fact WWE is pushing really hard to move this company forth with a new generation of superstars and still maintaining it's traditions. The Elimination Chamber 2012 ppv, however, is a clear-cut example of everything WWE is not doing very well.

I tuned into this ppv based on the sheer fact I love the concept of the Elimination Chamber match and I think it is the best match stipulation the WWE has devised since the ladder match (or since they adopted the ladder match, you know what I mean). And unlike the Hell in a Cell and Money in the Bank matches, it's a stipulation I actually feel warrants it's own ppv.

So the ppv starts off with the Raw Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship... the most coveted championship of the most coveted show. Maybe I'm missing something here, but is this really how any booker in their right mind wants to start a show? These are your curtain-jerkers now? This is the match you want to get out of the way early? It's definitely not the first time a world championship match has taken place first on the card, but when the match turns out to be the best one on the card and contains most of the company's most popular superstars (a few of which who have been know to steal the show on numerous occasions), I have a tough time understanding how anyone thought this would be a good idea.

CM Punk and Chris Jericho were definitely the odds-on favorites to win this match, so the outcome wasn't a shock. But I'm not sure how WWE plans on making Jericho a Mania Main Event-caliber antagonist in the short amount of time they have to work with by having him lose cheaply. Isn't a dangerous heel supposed to win cheaply? That's what most classic WWE villains do, right? And after Kofi was pinned by Jericho and started getting brutalized afterwards, I really thought the match was about to take a turn for the best. Instead, Punk shoves Jericho out the door, Jericho receives medical attention for the next 10 minutes, and Punk concludes the match by pinning someone who hasn't been relevant in months. Not only does this not give Punk an ounce of momentum heading down the 6-week stretch to Mania, but it doesn't do any favors for Jericho either, who is supposed to be Wrestlemania's biggest antagonist. Who's afraid of a loser who falls out of the ring, bumps his head, and doesn't get back up? I'm sure the rivalry will pick up during the next 6 weeks, but given Jericho's relatively recent return in January, he needs to be taken a lot more seriously than this right now, because I definitely don't want to see Wrestlemania open with the WWE Championship match like it did tonight.

Diva match... about what we've come to expect from WWE with this stuff. It wasn't terrible, but whether these two particular women can wrestle or not, Phoenix and Snuka are unbearably boring characters and I'm just not sure women's wrestling is needed or even compatible with WWE's current product, sorry. If WWE doesn't want to devote adequate time for these women to build a story line on Raw and Smackdown, why on earth do they wrestle on ppv's? I would really like an honest answer to this question because I doubt even WWE knows. I guess 4 billed matches looks better than 3, and no other reason.

Glad to see WWE giving Santino some face time tonight. Definitely wasn't expecting him to have the showing he did. Not sure what I think about him taking Wade Barrett to school, but I'm glad I'm not a big fan of Barrett right now. Getting owned hard by Santino Marella pretty much guarantees your employer has no serious plans for you anytime soon.

Dolph Ziggler continues to impress and took about fifty thousand serious hits for the team in that chamber tonight.

Wasn't surprised with Daniel Bryan retaining either, but is this guy really ready to carry the World Heavyweight Championship into Wrestlemania? Already? As much as I loved the guy in ROH, I'm just not sure about that. I already didn't like the fact he won his first world championship via MITB briefcase, but now I get the feeling he's only in the spot he is right now because Alberto Del Rio was injured. Real talk. And the fact WWE has established so many of their new stars via MITB in recent years is another serious gripe I have with the lackluster booking WWE has fallen into a rut with, and I really hope this changes soon. MITB could use a year or two off honestly. It was a great idea for the first couple of years, but now it's nothing more than a fast and easy express method of establishing literally ANYONE on the roster you want despite what the crowd or anyone who buys merchandise thinks of that wrestler. He came out to dead silence for months until WWE gave him a briefcase, now all of a sudden, he's defending the World Heavyweight Championship at Mania. Seriously... ditch the MITB breifcase, it's run it's course.

And speaking of terrible booking, how about that unscheduled United States Championship match, huh? Wahoo McDaniel is rolling over in his grave and the championship that once made him one of the most prominent names in wrestling is hardly worth being called a championship now. The wrestlers today could tie a red, white, and blue pantyhose stocking around their waist and it would carry about as much merit as the United States Championship does now. It's got to the point where it doesn't even deserve a story line ffs, doesn't even get announced for the ppv in advance because apparently WWE thinks even the Diva's Championship draws more buys than it. Why not use this championship and the Intercontinental Championship to build all these young stars instead of the routine MITB method? I mean... they have the titles, so why aren't they using them? Seriously, what the blue hell is the POINT of championship if literally NO ONE on earth gives a rat's ass if you're the champion? Just so it makes that wrestler look a little cooler during his entrance? It sure isn't being used to establish any new stars, so what the hell? Either WWE scraps MITB or they need to let the US and IC titles rest in peace because it's clear they can only have one or the other. Putting at least a modicum of effort into booking the title matches would be a big, big plus too, just saying.

And finally we get to the only non-titled match on the card, a match that does not take place in an Elimination Chamber, at a PAY PER VIEW called "ELIMINATION CHAMBER". Okay, I'll lay off that obvious mind f*** for the sole purpose John Cena is involved in it, but let's not pretend this match was important to either wrestler or had any bearing on anything coming forth at Wrestlemania. In a overly-gimmicky match reminiscent of casket matches, stretcher matches, dumpster matches, and every other match that is won by stuffing your opponent in one silly object or another, Cena buries the most legit heel in WWE right before the home stretch of the biggest event of the year. Obviously we know what Cena is doing at Mania already (sadly as we have for the past 11 months) and it will not involve Kane, but it's still a terrible time to discard the most-established active heel in the company. I feel WWE under-values good heels and has developed a very warped concept of what a heel should be like. Since it's clear WWE has no intention of using Kane in any serious way at Mania, why not use the opportunity to either turn Cena heel or at least take a pace down that path. I mean really, why not? At least then Wrestlemania's main event would actually have a heel, which has traditionally been a pretty big deal the past 28 years. It would have been risky, but dammit, the way the biggest star in the company has been handled this past year has been super-conservative. Give us something. Don't just waste our time and bury Kane again for the 50 billionth time in that poor man's career.

Also, no sign of Triple H or Undertaker. Great set-up for the EPIC MANIA REMATCH.

After watching the ppv, I feel WWE's situation with antagonists has reached the lowest point it's been in 20 years. Antagonists are more important than the babyfaces because they make the babyfaces popular. Period. And if WWE wants to continue to develop a new younger generation of superstars, this is something they will have to correct. Even the commentators during the Raw EC match frequently made mention of Miz being last year's main eventer at Mania and now he's struggling just to get a match on the card. They can't even keep this dire situation from bleeding over into kayfabe ffs. So unless WWE wants to keep bringing Rock and Austin back to Wrestlemania five years from now, it would be a good idea to pinpoint what is broken with their current system and fix it. Personally, dropping MITB and unifying the world championships would be the first thing I would do. The Royal Rumble should be the only match that can just give "anyone" a shot at the world title. But when WWE has that, 2 EC matches, 2 MITB matches, and at least one other match similar all in the span of 1 year, it just goes to show WWE is really not sure who their next Rock and Austin are, and that's why we have all of a sudden started seeing Rock again, and likely Austin next year. It's nothing more than desperation.

 

[SAL]

Good work here. I completely agree with your last point, that title shots have been spread way too thin. The Royal Rumble only matters because it's a thing that's been around for a while, otherwise they might as well scrap it.

 

[Clydefrog]

I totally agree with the Royal Rumble statement in that it should be made to be the 2nd or 3rd biggest ppv in the year!

luckily i live in the UK so we got Elimination Chamber for Free but if i had to pay for that with poor booking and horrible skits i would of been pissed!