WWE Elimination Chamber (February 2018)

Original Airdate: February 25, 2018

From Las Vegas, Nevada; Your Hosts are Michael Cole, Jonathan Coachman, and Corey Graves

Opening WWE RAW Women's Title Elimination Chamber Match: Alexa Bliss v Sasha Banks v Bayley v Mickie James v Mandy Rose v Sonya Deville: The entrances eat up the first fifteen minutes of the show. Bayley and Sonya start, feeling each other out. Bayley takes her on a tour of all four corners with turnbuckle smashes, but goes to the well once too often, and gets reversed. Sonya tries sending her into the cage with a catapult, but Bayley lands on the bars to block, and sends Deville into the steel for two. Bayley with a kneedrop and a hotshot in the corner, followed by a saito suplex for two. Sonya tries to escape onto the platform, but Bayley dives with a flying elbowdrop out there, then rolls her back in to get two. She slaps on a chinlock until the buzzer brings in Mandy, and you can guess who she goes right for. Bayley fights off the double teams for a while, but ends up getting overwhelmed, and speared out on the platform. Deville and Rose scoop her up for a series of rams into the cage wall, and they stop to talk shit at Sasha through the pod. Mandy is seriously attractive. And it takes some serious hotness to overshadow Alexa. They keep working Bayley over until the period ends, and Sasha joins the party. She immediately hammers Sonya down, then throws Mandy into a pod, before stomping her down against the cage. She hits Sonya with a double-kneesmash against the cage, then takes her into the ring for another double-kneesmash for two. Bayley recovers to help her throw Sonya into the cage a bunch of times, but Rose catches Banks with a wheelbarrow facebuster. She goes for a follow-up, but Sasha counters with a lungblower into the Bank Statement at 13:48. Sad face. Mickie is next in, and she takes Sasha down with a Thesz-press, then unloads a kick combo before hitting both Banks and Bayley with clotheslines. Sasha tries a rollup, but gets reversed for two, and James nails Bayley with a neckbreaker. Flapjack on Sasha connects, but Mickie gets thrown into the cage by Sonya, and has to stop and deal with her - using a headscissors takedown out on the platform to do so. Mickie climbs the chamber, but Bayley follows, and they slug it out about a third of the way up - James able to knock her off. That allows Mickie to get onto a pod, and she dives at Sonya with a flying Thesz-press at 17:33. Unfortunately for Mickie, she's then treated to a lungblower from Sasha, right into the Bayley-to-Belly at 18:09. Bayley and Banks decide to rest up until the period ends, bringing Alexa into the match! Bliss tries to hold the pod door shut, but that doesn't go well, so she goes to plan-b, climbing the chamber, and trying to hide. Unfortunately for her, Banks and Bayley follow up on opposite sides, and the champion is cornered. She tries to hide on top of a pod, but gets nailed by Sasha - who then promptly turns on Bayley while offering Bayley a hand up onto the pod. That allows Alexa to run away again, and she's able to pick up the pieces of the resulting Banks/Bayley fight, going to work on Bayley while Sasha is down. Bayley fights her off with a saito suplex, but gets needlessly theatrical with a move in the corner, and Banks attacks. Sasha hits a flying frogsplash for two, but another trip up gets countered with the Bayley-to-Belly superplex - only for Alexa to dive on Bayley with a cradle at 25:33. Bliss tries covering Sasha right away, but the interlude allows Banks to recover enough to kick out at two. Alexa responds with the Twisted Bliss, but Sasha lifts her knees to block, and she goes to town on the champion with strikes against the cage. One too many, leaving Sasha with her foot caught in the bars, and Bliss escapes to the top of a pod again. She dives with a Twisted Bliss on the platform, but Banks turns it into the Statement upon landing! She rolls her into the ring in the hold, but Alexa manages to escape in the corner. She's feisty. Banks decides to climb onto a pod, but Bliss stops her at the top rope, and DDTs her down to retain at 29:34. Took some time to get off the ground, but got pretty good once it did. **

WWE RAW Tag Team Title Match: Sheamus and Cesaro v Titus Worldwide: The two guys who look like neo-Nazis jump the two persons of color to start, but thankfully the challengers manage to fight them off. Apollo dives onto both champions with a flying bodypress on the floor, and he rolls Cesaro in for Titus O'Neil to bodyslam. Apollo then dives with a flying splash, but Sheamus breaks it up at two, and the champs corner Apollo on the floor to turn the tide. They cut the ring in half with a flurry of chinlocks, but Apollo manages to dodge a charge from Sheamus in the corner, and he gets the tag to Titus - Roseanne Barr the door. Big boot on Cesaro gets two, but a running powerslam gets blocked, and Sheamus snaps his throat across the top rope. He tries a flying clothesline, but Titus catches him in a sitout spinebuster for two, and the champs bail. Apollo dives onto both with a somersault plancha, then rolls Sheamus in to hit with a flying bodypress for two. Standing moonsault, but Sheamus lifts his knees to block, and hooks a cradle for two. White Noise finishes at 10:01. I guess technically it was a combo move, but all Cesaro did was springboard, and land near them. Oh well, hopefully Titus' next team (probably something like 'Saturday Night's Main Event Players') will be more successful for him. Sheamus and Cesaro obviously weren't feeling it tonight, as this was a really lazy effort on their end. *

Asuka v Nia Jax: If Nia wins, she's added to the title match at WrestleMania. Couldn't she just get herself into the Chamber match earlier? Five people got a title shot there, they can't be that hard to come by. And are the likes of Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose really ranked higher than her? Stuff like that really drives guys like me, who grew up with kayfabe, nuts. Jax uses her size to knock Asuka around at the bell, but Asuka keeps sticking and moving. Jax pounds her down for a bow-and-arrow, and a backbreaker leads to an avalanche. Nia adds an elbowdrop for two, so Asuka tries to grapevine the leg, but Jax dead lifts her way out of it, and drops Asuka in the corner. Nia tries a torture rack, but Asuka counters to a guillotine choke, but Jax powers out of that as well. Asuka tries firing off a kick combo, runs walks into a Samoan drop. Jax tries adding a legdrop, but Asuka moves, and fires off a seated dropkick for two. Another kick combo puts Nia down for two, so Jax tries a 2^nd rope sit-down splash, but Asuka dodges. Nia tries a somersault senton splash, but Asuka dodges. Avalanche, but Asuka dodges. This time she grabs Nia in a cross-armbreaker, but Jax powers to a vertical base, and drops her into the turnbuckles to escape. Powerbomb, but Asuka counters with a victory cradle at 8:11. Severe lack of flow, but decent enough. * ½

Bray Wyatt v Matt Hardy: I'll take 'Feuds I Could Not Give Less of a Shit About' for $100, Alex. Both guys play mind games before the bell, and Matt unloads, so Bray tries psyching him out with a lazy version of the crabwalk thing, but Hardy laughs it off, and hits a DDT for two. Wyatt pounds him down to take control, and hits a DDT of his own for two. Chinlock, but Matt escapes, so Bray drops him with a DDT on the apron, and leaves Hardy out there to take the count. He looks to have it won that way, but then gets cold feet, and decides to go out to drop Matt on the steps, but Hardy blocks. Wyatt drills him with a clothesline instead, and then rolls Hardy back in to cover for two. Well, eventually. He had waste time pounding on the announce table like a hyped up child first. More time is wasted before trying an avalanche, which misses. That allows Hardy a tornado DDT, and he starts making a comeback. Side Effect gets two, but Bray counters the Twist of Fate with a uranage, and adds a senton splash for two. He tries another one off the middle rope, but Matt moves, only to have the Twist blocked. That allows Bray an avalanche to set up Sister Abigail, but Matt blocks, and another exchange ends in the Twist of Fate at 9:55. Yuck. ¼*

RAW General Manager Kurt Angle brings Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Ronda Rousey out to do Ronda's official WWE contract signing. Everything starts off all nice and polite, but then Angle starts stirring up shit about the heat between Ronda and HHH/Stephanie stemming from the incident back at WrestleMania 31. HHH gets rightly annoyed as Angle tells Ronda that they want to hold her down as payback for that incident, but tries to squash it by noting that Kurt has the flu, and is obviously delusional. Hunter sends Angle packing, but not before Kurt chimes in with a little bit about Stephanie going around telling everyone that she can 'take' Ronda. That gets Rousey in Stephanie's face, so HHH has to step in there to try and cool things down, but Ronda responds by slamming him through the table set up for the signing! That triggers a slap from Stephanie, and that's a bad choice. And Stephanie knows it. She takes off running before Ronda can respond, however. And then we get about two dozen replays of the slap, as if seeing it from five different angles is going to unlock some hidden nuances of it, or something. It's a slap, guys. Good segment

Main Event: #1 Contender's Elimination Chamber Match: Miz v Roman Reigns v John Cena v Braun Strowman v Finn Balor v Seth Rollins v Elias: Since there's an extra guy in this one, three men start - Miz, Balor, and Rollins in this case. Lots of posturing to start, until Miz tries to make an alliance with Seth, but that goes nowhere. Undeterred, Miz then tries to make with Finn instead, but that backfires on him, as now Seth and Finn decide to work team up on him! They dump Miz over the top onto the platform, and then Rollins immediately turns on Balor with a schoolboy for two. Well that sure didn't take long. Miz comes back in with a slingshot sunset flip on Balor, but Finn rolls through into a seated dropkick, and crotches Miz in the corner. He snapmares Seth over to set up a kick for two, but Rollins fires back with a knee to the gut for two. Suplex, but Balor counters with a schoolboy for two - only to get schoolboyed by Miz for two! Rollins hits Balor with a backbreaker, then springboard clotheslines Miz to set up a floatover suplex/falcon arrow for two. Rollins hits both guys with a double flying somersault neckbreaker off the middle rope for two counts on each, just as the period ends to bring Cena into the match. He gets into a shoving match with Seth, and a reversal sequence ends in Cena slamming him to set up the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Miz interrupts, so Cena slams him as well, and delivers a double Shuffle - only to get taken down by Balor for a double stomp for two. Finn adds a sling blade on Miz, but Rollins cuts off the corner dropkick with a superkick, and starts unloading on everyone until Cena grabs him for the AA - only to get countered with an enzuigiri. Miz sneaks up on Seth with a neckbreaker for two, as big Braun strokes his beard in his pod, waiting his turn. Balor takes Cena out onto the platform for a few flying stomps off the cage wall, but John recovers with a vertical superplex back into the ring - just as Rollins is doing the same thing to Miz in the opposite corner! Cool spot, though I don't think it played out exactly how they were envisioning. Roman is next in, and he drops anything that moves with right hands. He's just drilling these dudes. He hesitates doing the same to Seth, allowing Miz to sneak attack him, then hit Rollins with a DDT for two. Miz lets the crowd decide who he should give yes-kicks to, but then decides to give it to everyone anyway. Cool spot, but the other four guys all kneeling before him and waiting as he made his decision like a scene from Eyes Wide Shut requires perhaps a bit too much suspension of disbelief. Would have been better it they'd at least blocked. Not that it matters, Reigns pops up and starts slamming everyone, hitting Cena with a Samoan drop for two, and hitting Miz with a sitout powerbomb for two. He sets up a Superman Punch, but before he can execute, Braun enters the match. He kills Seth as a warning to the others, then starts popping everyone with stuff - except for Miz, who is wisely hiding. Cena and Rollins try to tandem suplex him, but Braun easily reverses, then uses Balor as a weapon to hit Reigns with. That leaves Miz, so he starts climbing to try and get away, but Braun catches up to him atop a pod - throwing Miz off like a spear into the other guys. Strowman is making this match right now. He press-drops Seth out onto a platform, then drills Miz with a running powerslam to score the first elimination at 20:15. Elias is last in, but he politely declines entry, knowing Strowman as waiting. Luckily for Elias, the others all gang up on Braun, buying him time. They work out a plan to do a four man powerbomb on Braun, but even with all four guys covering at the same time, Strowman still kicks out. Reigns tries a spear, but it only gets two. Rollins tries a curb stomp, but Braun bails out onto the platform to avoid getting covered - only for Finn to dive after him with a flying double stomp! Unfortunately, the team effort breaks down, and everyone starts going after each other, until everyone is left down. That's Elias' cue to come in, and he makes covers on each of the downed men, but can't score a fall. Electric sitout powerbomb on Reigns gets two, but trying the same on Strowman proves to be a fatal mistake at 26:07. Yeah, no shit. Braun decides to do the same to Reigns, but Rollins leaps off the top with a flying high knee to save, and everyone starts hitting the big man with something. Cena's piece of the assault is a flying bodypress, but he gets caught in a front-powerslam at 27:24. Strowman slaps the remaining guys around, but little Finn manages to get some strikes in, and blocks the powerslam. It takes a pair of corner dropkicks to put Braun down for the flying double stomp, but even then it only gets two. Seth tries sneak attacking, so Balor pele kicks him, and hits the 1916 for two. Roman sneak attacks, but Balor fights him off with a sling blade, and lands the flying double stomp - only for Strowman to grab his ass in a front-powerslam at 31:38. They really should have worked together to get rid of Braun, the idiots. The Shield are at least smart enough to try and do that now, but of course turn on each other. Sigh. Seth hits a springboard clothesline and the buckle bomb, but Reigns rebounds with the Superman, as Strowman is left alone to recover. Seriously, JUST GANG UP ON HIM, YOU IDIOTS! He grabs Seth for the powerslam, so Rollins slips out and starts climbing, managing to escape to the top of a pod. Strowman follows, but gets brought down via Samoan drop from Reigns, and Seth flying frogsplashes Strowman for two. Kinda. I mean, that's what happened, but I'm glossing over the fact that Reigns dropped him on the platform, and Braun then crawled into the ring to position himself perfectly for the splash. Huge, huge pet peeve for me with these modern matches, as everything is so obviously manufactured, and a lot of the spots don't feel at all organic. Rollins with a pair of superkicks, but the curb stomp is countered with the front-powerslam at 37:30. Reigns gets in his face, but Strowman casually shoves him out onto the platform. He tries the powerslam out there, but Reigns escapes, and hits a tope suicida, then puts Strowman through a pod. Superman Punch knocks Braun back into the ring, where Reigns lands a second one. Spear, but Strowman counters with the powerslam - Reigns able to slip free. He hits the spear on the second try, but Strowman keeps coming, so Roman spears him again, and that's enough at 40:39. The ending felt kind of anticlimactic after everything else, but it was what it was. Fun match overall, with Strowman actually carrying it, and lots of cool sequences. Far from perfect, but very entertaining. *** ½

BUExperience: Really not worth investing your time in. And it’s not a small investment, either. Though only 5 matches take place, this show runs a bloated 3.5 hours, and is packed to the gills with filler.

DUD