WWE Elimination Chamber (February 2011)

Original Airdate: February 20, 2011

From Oakland, California; Your Hosts are Michael Cole, Booker T, and Josh Matthews

Opening Match: Kofi Kingston v Alberto Del Rio: Kofi’s WWE Intercontinental title is not on the line. Del Rio dominates early, but walks into a dropkick, and he wisely bails before Kofi can put him away. Kofi drags him back inside, but trying to climb the ropes ends in Del Rio shoving him into the post. Del Rio sends him into the steps for good measure, and Alberto hooks the leg for two on the way back inside. Matslam gets him another two count, and a side suplex is worth two. Kofi comes back with a springboard flying bodypress, and they slug it out from there, won by Kingston. Kofi with a jumping clothesline to set up the Boom Drop, but Del Rio ducks Trouble in Paradise. Kofi goes upstairs with a flying bodypress instead, but Del Rio catches him in a gutbuster for two on the way down. Kofi fights him off and manages the dive on the next try, but Del Rio kicks out at two. Del Rio with another gutbuster for two, so Kofi drops him with an SOS for two, but misses a corner dropkick. That allows Del Rio a neckbreaker, and the cross-armbreaker finishes up at 10:28. This was fine. *

World Heavyweight Title Elimination Chamber Match: Edge v Big Show v Rey Mysterio v Kane v Wade Barrett v Drew McIntyre: Edge and Rey start, and Rey takes him off the top rope with a rana for two. They spill out onto the platform, where Edge sends him into the cage a few times, complete with Rey’s goofy selling noises. Is he some sort of bird? Wade is next in, and he unloads on Rey, but loses a slugfest with Edge. Kane is next in, and he comes in strong, knocking all three other guys around. McIntyre is next, and Booker’s entire commentary thus far is basically him just saying “did you see that? Did you see that?!” after every move. Easy money! McIntyre puts Barrett through a pod, as Booker declares him as the future of WWE. Took a while for that one to pay off, but he was kinda right. Show is last in, and everyone gets smacked around. Show wants Barrett most, so he gets an extra beating, before a big punch polishes him off at 18:47. Kane dives with a flying clothesline on Show after the pin is counted, and Edge punctuates it with a flying elbowdrop for two. Drew adds a double-arm DDT for two, and Rey dives off a pod with a flying seated senton for two. Everyone keeps ganging up on an increasingly tired out Show, ending in Kane chokeslamming him at 20:52. Kane adds a chokeslam on McIntyre at 21:09, so Edge and Rey decide to work together against the monster, and they put him away with an Edge spear at 22:49. Rey with a schoolboy for two, but Edge rolls through a springboard bodyrpess for two. Reversal sequence ends in Rey delivering a wheelbarrow bulldog for two, but Edge comes back with a sitout powerbomb for two. Sharpshooter looks to finish, but Rey escapes, so Edge spears him instead for two. Rey fights back with a 619 to set up a springboard flying splash for two, but another dive is blocked by a spear at 31:28. The match had its moments throughout, and the last portion with Edge and Rey was strong, but this was just way too long overall, and not booking the first elimination until some nineteen minutes in made it drag. * ½ 

WWE Tag Team Title Match: Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov v Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel: The champs dominate Slater to start, and Justin gets the same treatment after tagging in. Kozlov ends up running into trouble when trying to pull Justin back into the ring, and the challengers are quick to double up on him. They work Kozlov over, until Santino gets the tag, and runs wild. He misses a cobra on Slater, allowing the heels to take control again, and they go back to cutting the ring in half on their new victim. Justin misses a slingshot somersault senton splash to allow the tag back to Kozlov, and he hits Justin with a front-powerslam, but Slater is legal, so no tag. Slater hits Kozlov with an inverted DDT to turn the tide again, and Gabriel dives with a flying 450 splash to win the belts at 5:07. Solid enough, albeit filler. *

WWE Title Match: Miz v Jerry Lawler: Lawler hooks him with a schoolboy for two right away, stunning (and infuriating) the champion. A backslide gets the King another two, and an inside cradle is worth two, so Miz grabs a headlock to slow him down. Lawler forces a criss cross, so Miz tries a hiptoss, but Jerry counters with a short-clothesline for two. Another criss cross ends in Lawler throwing a bodypress for two, and he corners the champion for a ten-punch count. Clothesline sends Miz over the top, and the King chases, but gets distracted by Alex Riley, and shoved into the post. Miz goes to work, but a trip to the top ends in Lawler superplexing him down for two. Jerry’s execution there was interesting, turning in midair so he can land on his knees, instead of taking a back bump. Which is just smart, even in kayfabe. Lawler with a pair of dropkicks and a backdrop to set up a fistdrop for two, so Riley trips him up to end the comeback. The referee ejects him, and Jerry gets back on track with a schoolboy for two. Piledriver, but Miz blocks, and big boots him down for two. Jerry counters the pin into a cradle for two, so Miz charges, but Lawler ducks, and the champ takes a spill over the top. Lawler follows, but gets distracted by a ranting Michael Cole, and Miz nails him. Miz tries a smash into the announce table, but Lawler reverses, and chucks Miz into Cole to shut him up! Lawler with a flying punch for two on the way back in, and a hiptoss follows. DDT sets up a 2nd rope fistdrop for two, but Miz blocks the piledriver again. That triggers a pinfall reversal sequence that ends in Miz nailing him, and the Russian facebuster finishes at 12:07. Lawler was never the best worker (the man couldn’t have a good match with prime Bret Hart), but he’s a great storyteller, and that has better shelf life than pure workrate. **

Main Event: #1 Contender's Elimination Chamber Match: John Cena v Sheamus v Randy Orton v CM Punk v John Morrison v R-Truth: Winner gets a WWE Title match at WrestleMania. Sheamus and Morrison start, and do some feeling out. Out to the platform, allowing John to springboard off of the cage with a kick for two, and Orton is next in, hitting both guys with snap powerslams. He dumps them both out to the platform, and Punk is next in, but gets stuck coming out of his pod. That allows Orton to drop him with an RKO for the first elimination at 9:00, but the anonymous RAW General Manager pings Cole to announce that Punk is not eliminated due to the malfunctioning pod. So Punk is not only allowed back into the match, but back into the safety of his pod, getting a complete do-over. Okay then. All that allows Sheamus to attack Orton with a uranage backbreaker for two, and Cena is next in, but gets clobbered by Sheamus right away. Truth is next in, and he runs wild on everyone, but runs into a Brogue kick from Sheamus at 17:30. Punk is last in, and Orton is waiting, but Cena distracts him. He tries an Attitude Adjustment, but Orton counters with an RKO on the platform, and Punk attacks Randy. GTS, and good night Randy at 21:32. Morrison then climbs to the top of the chamber, and dangles off with a dive onto Sheamus at 25:16. Morrison is kinda dead after that, leaving Cena to make a comeback on Punk, but Punk bails to the platform to avoid the AA. Cena chases for an AA on the platform, but Morrison springboards onto both guys to break it up. That gets Punk a two count on Cena, and he puts Cena in modified headscissors, but Cena powers to a vertical base. Morrison gets to the top rope to aid with an electric chair/flying clothesline combo on Punk for two, but he’s spent, and Cena hits him with an AA. Cena is groggy, allowing Punk to blast him with a knee, and Punk adds a dive on Cena for two. Punk catapults Cena into a pod, but an attempt to do that with Morrison backfires when Morrison springs off of the pod. He rolls Punk in for the Starship Pain, but it misses, and the GTS ends his night at 32:49. Cena is right there, however, and an AA on the platform wins it at 33:10. This dragged a lot, and other than the drama with Punk, there was very little intrigue before it got down to the final three guys. * ¼ 

BUExperience: Nyet.

DUD