WWE Elimination Chamber (February 2022)

Original Airdate: February 19, 2022

From Jeddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia; Your Hosts are Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, and Corey Graves

Opening WWE Universal Title Match: Roman Reigns v Goldberg: Roman gets control out of the initial lockup, and he dumps his challenger to the outside. Roman follows, but Goldberg reverses a whip into the barricade out there. Roman fights him off on the way back inside, but Goldberg manages to pull off a spear. Jackhammer, but Reigns counters with a uranage for two, and Goldberg is somehow bleeding from the top of his head already. Superman punch finds the mark, but Goldberg counters a second one with another spear. “Roman Reigns never saw it coming,” the announcers note. How? It’s one of, like, three total moves the guy does. Jackhammer, but Roman counters with a guillotine choke this time. Goldberg tries railroading into the corner to force a break, but Roman just won’t let off, and Goldberg passes out at 5:59. Nothing to this one. ½*

#1 Contender's Elimination Chamber Match: Bianca Belair v Rhea Ripley v Alexa Bliss v Liv Morgan v Nikki ASH v Doudrop: Winner gets a WWE RAW Women's Title match at WrestleMania. Alexa getting a swingset in her pod is a cute touch. Liv and Nikki start, and ASH dominates, but fails to smash Morgan into the cage. She settles with a matslam on the platform instead, and a whole lot of nothing happens until Doudrop enters the match. Nikki tries forming an alliance, but Doudrop shrugs her off with a headbutt, and then rams her into the cage. She grabs Morgan for more of the same, and adds a senton splash on the platform. Rhea is next in, as this thing continues to chug along with little direction. Riptide finishes Nikki at 6:19. Bliss is next in, and somehow dominates the field, despite being all of four feet tall. Morgan catches Doudrop with a sunsetbomb in the chaos, eliminating her at 8:53. Morgan’s outfit is really stretching the bounds of the dress code for this show. Belair is last in, and she teams with Ripley to abuse the blondes. With that out of the way, she and Ripley engage in a slugfest - won by Belair. KOD, but Rhea blocks. Morgan takes them both down, but then Bliss takes her down, and a Twisted Bliss sends Liv home at 12:07. Bliss then hits Ripley with a DDT, and Belair capitalizes with a KOD on Rhea at 12:45. Bliss nails her with a canadian destroyer for two, but an attempt at a flying seated senton on the platform ends badly when Belair catches her, and bashes her into the cage a bunch of times. Belair with a flying 450 splash on the way back in, but Bliss dodges. DDT, but Belair counters with a suplex, only for Bliss to block. DDT, but Belair blocks again. Handspring moonsault, but Bliss lifts her knees to block, and cradles for two. Schoolgirl gets two, so Belair punches her in the face, and delivers a KOD at 15:40. This felt really uninteresting, but it wasn’t terrible, and the final bit with Belair and Bliss was alright. * ¼ 

Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville v Ronda Rousey and Naomi: Ronda has to wrestle with one arm tied behind her back for this one, while Sonya has her arm in a sling. She immediately reveals that to be a trick, and attacks at the bell. Sonya pounds her into the corner and grabs a headlock, but Ronda quickly escapes, and starts knocking her around with leg strikes. Over to Naomi for a Thesz-press, and she unloads some mounted punches. Bulldog, but Sonya sends her into the corner to block (in brutal fashion), and Deville delivers an inverted DDT for two. Clothesline, but Naomi ducks, and bulldogs her into the turnbuckles. Back to Rousey for a takedown, but Flair saves her partner from getting caught in an armbreaker. The heels go to work on one-armed Ronda, but she slips away from Flair long enough for a tag, and Naomi comes in hot. She cleans house, and dives at Flair with a corkscrew plancha, then with a flying bodypress for two on the way back inside. Rana, but Flair counters with a sitout powerbomb for two. Figure four, but Ronda saves, so Sonya dumps her to the outside. Deville blasts Naomi with a kneesmash for two, and apparently she’s “quarterbacking the team.” By running in and attacking someone? Is that what the kids are calling it these days? No wonder Tom Brady retired. And then Ronda just puts Sonya in a cross-armbreaker at 9:14, as Charlotte just stands on the apron looking on. I guess she’s just running-backing the team. ¾*

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Drew McIntyre v Madcap Moss: The announcers hype up WrestleMania as the “most stupendous two night WrestleMania in history!” Not exactly a high bar there, guys. Moss and Happy Corbin attack together since it’s no DQ, which kinda makes you wonder why McIntyre didn’t just keep hold of that giant sword he brings down to the ring with him. The double teaming continues on the outside, and Moss delivers a fallaway slam on the ramp for two. Drew gains control on the way back in, but Corbin pulls Moss out of the ring to avoid a Claymore kick. Drew chases Corbin on the outside, allowing Moss to try a sneak attack, but McIntyre suplexes him. Another suplex onto an announce table goes sideways on them, as they do a replay of Drew delivers an inverted whiplash moments before, and Moss is lucky he still has feeling in his legs after that one. That looked absolutely brutal. McIntyre sets up a Claymore on the floor, but Corbin whacks him with a chair before he can, and they put him through the barricade for two. Moss goes to the top on the way back in, but McIntyre superplexes him for two before he can dive. Slugfest ends in Moss hooking a backslide for two, but McIntyre shifts the kick out into the Future Shock DDT for two. He grabs the sword before hitting the Claymore, and having the weapon in hand repels Corbin - allowing McIntyre the pin at 9:06. I like that they managed to incorporate the sword, at least. *

WWE RAW Women's Title Match: Becky Lynch v Lita: The announcers note that this is “as much about Lita’s satisfaction as it is for the WWE Universe to enjoy,” really giving new meaning to the term ‘masturbatory booking.’ They measure each other in the early going, and Becky gets control. Becky with a springboard legdrop for two, as the announcers note that Lita hasn’t wrestled a one-on-one match in sixteen years. Strong message about the strength of the roster there, if you can just come back in after a sixteen year break and immediately get a title shot. Lynch with a few suplexes, but Lita counters a third one with a DDT, and she makes a comeback. 2nd rope bodypress gets her two, but Becky blocks the Twist of Fate. That leads to a pinfall reversal sequence, and Lynch nearly beats her with a leveraged cradle, but Lita counters to a sleeper. Lynch makes the ropes, so Lita powerbombs her for two. Flying moonsault, but Becky rolls to the outside before the challenger can dive, so Lita chases. She drags the champion back inside for a modified Twist, but Becky blocks the moonsault again. Dis-Arm-Her looks to finish, but Lita makes the ropes to save herself. Becky responds with a uranage for two, but Lita dodges a flying moonsault, and delivers another Twist. That allows her to go up for the flying moonsault again, and she nails it this time, but only gets two anyway. Lita tries to figure out what to do next, but Lynch is able to capitalize on her confusion, using a uranage to retain at 12:13. This was fine. * ¾ 

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Title Match: The Usos v The Viking Raiders: The Viking Raiders are still on the roster? The Usos attack during the entrances, and deliver a brutal beating, putting the Raiders out of action, and resulting in the match needing to be called off. Well, that was certainly pointless.

Main Event: WWE Title Elimination Chamber Match: Bobby Lashley v Brock Lesnar v Seth Rollins v AJ Styles v Riddle v Austin Theory: Apparently this is Lesnar’s first Chamber match, which is another surprising fact to go along with him never winning a Royal Rumble before this year. Rollins and Theory start, and Seth big-times him. Of all the people who might possibly try big-timing you, it must be especially annoying when it’s Seth freakin’ Rollins. Austin peppers her with some stuff to get control, and a fisherman suplex gets him two. Rollins fights him off with a pair of superkicks, as the announcers note that you “never know when that pod is going to open up.” It’s literally on a timer! They fight out to the platform, where Seth powerbombs Theory through Bobby’s pod, and Riddle enters the match. Riddle runs wild on both guys, as the announcers talk about EMTs coming in to attend to Lashley. So, for those keeping score, Rollins is now taking out innocent bystanders with his powerbombs. That’s Nia Jax level stuff. Bobby is helped out of the chamber, as Seth hits Riddle with a flying frogsplash for two. Styles is next in, and he runs wild. Victory cradle on Riddle gets two, and a torture bomb on Rollins gets two. We get the obligatory tower of doom spot, and Riddle hits a dive on Theory for two. Riddle runs wild, and Lashley’s pod counts down, but he’s out of the match, so no one enters. That doesn’t sit right with Brock, so he busts out of his pod, and F5s Seth at 9:51. Another one takes Riddle out at 10:04. F5 finishes Styles at 11:00. And then there were two. Brock stalks his terrified prey, cornering him in a pod, and suplexing him on the platform. Austin manages a low blow to buy time, and he capitalizes with a DDT for two. He starts begging off instead of continuing to follow up, however, and he tries climbing the chamber to escape. He’s so tiny that he actually manages to squeeze through the holes, but Brock pulls him back through before he can escape. Lesnar bashes his skull into the glass a bunch of times until Theory collapse, and an F5 off of the pod sends Austin crashing down to the platform! Inside, that finishes at 14:54. Nothing special, but the finish was cool. * ¼ 

BUExperience: Not a ‘bad’ show, just another pointless one in an increasingly long line of them.

DUD