WWE Elimination Chamber (February 2013)

 

Original Airdate: February 17, 2013

From New Orleans, Louisiana; Your Hosts are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and Justin Bradshaw Layfield

Opening World Heavyweight Title Match: Alberto Del Rio v Big Show: Show smacks him around to start, but Del Rio manages to take him down, and hammer. Show fights back with a spear, and he pounds on Del Rio for a while from there. Show with a pump-splash for two, but a charge in the corner runs into a boot. Del Rio tries a dive off the middle, but Show catches him in a bearhug, so Ricardo throws a bucket at the giant. Show responds by trying to powerbomb the champion, but Del Rio counters with a rana, and Show bails. Del Rio is on him with a tope, but Show beats the count, so Del Rio hits him with a dive for two. Show fights him off, but Del Rio bails before taking the knockout punch. Show drags him back in for a chokeslam, but Del Rio counters with a DDT, and covers for two. Del Rio with an enzuigiri in the corner for two, and he goes to a cross-armbreaker for the submission at 13:00. This was fine. They worked hard. * ½ 

WWE United States Title Match: Antonio Cesaro v Miz: Cesaro goes right after Miz’s taped up shoulder, and works the part with tenacity. To the outside, Cesaro tries to send him into the post, but Miz reverses. Cesaro rolls in, but Miz has caught a second wind, and clips his leg as he follows. Miz with a DDT for two, but the next exchange sees Miz accidentally knee Cesaro down low, and the referee calls a DQ at 8:21. Well, that was certainly a horrendous finish. ¾*

#1 Contender's Elimination Chamber Match: Randy Orton v Chris Jericho v Kane v Daniel Bryan v Mark Henry v Jack Swagger: Jericho and Bryan start, which is about the best we could hope for. They mostly feel each other out, until Swagger enters the match. He goes right for Jericho, slamming him around for a bit, before turning his attention to beating up Bryan out on the platform. Kane is next in, and Swagger goes a’bumping. Bryan recovers and tries to play nice with Kane, but Kane doesn’t want to play nice, and not nice things happen. Orton is next in, and runs wild on everyone. That’s what Randy do. We get a sequence where everyone hits superplexes to leave everyone looking up at the lights, and Henry comes in to pick up the pieces. He starts with a slam on Bryan to send him home at 16:32, then moves onto Orton, chucking him through a pod. Over to Kane, and a slam finishes him at 18:18. The Henry party comes to an end for a bit, as Jericho and Swagger battle next. Jericho tries the Walls, but Swagger blocks, so Jericho bulldogs him instead. Lionsault, but the Henry party is back, blocking him. Jericho takes a bump into the cage, but everyone is not feeling this Henry party anymore, and they decide to gang up and sing We’re Not Gonna Take It, ending in Orton soloing with an RKO at 23:16. But then Mark refuses to leave, and kicks the shit out of everyone. These Henry parties are fucked up, dude. Everyone fights to pick up the pieces once Henry is cleared out, and we get a good series of dramatic near falls. RKO finishes Jericho at 31:09. But before Randy can turn his attention to Jack, Swagger schoolboys at 31:14. This wasn’t bad, but way too long. **

Six-Man Tag Team Match: John Cena, Sheamus, and Ryback v Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins: Everyone brawls all around the ring to start, and the babyfaces hit a trio of hanging vertical supelxes to take control. The dust settles on Sheamus and Ambrose, and Sheamus unloads in the corner. Dean tries turning the tables, but gets destroyed for the effort, and ends up on the outside. Sheamus dives at him with a shoulderblock from the apron, but a distraction from Roman allows Dean to clobber him. Tag to Rollins, and the heels dominate Sheamus in the ring. Cena catches a tag a runs wild on Roman, but the Attitude Adjustment gets blocked. Cena fights off Rollins and puts Reigns in the STF, but Ambrose saves, and Rollins hits Cena with a dive to give Reigns two. Great teamwork from the Shield here. They work over Cena, until John manages to dump them over the top, and gets the hot tag off to Ryback - Roseanne Barr the door! Rollins catches Ryback with a spear to put it away at 15:35. Another one that wasn’t bad, but just went on for too damn long. * ¾ 

Dolph Ziggler v Kofi Kingston: Dolph dominates some feeling out early, but an attempt at some bad dog shit with AJ Lee backfires, and Lee hits Dolph with Trouble in Paradise for two. Kofi stays on Ziggler with a springboard flying bodypress for two, but another dive attempt gets him knocked off the top, and Ziggler puts it away at 3:55. This was an impromptu ‘bonus match’ so I’m guessing it was just filling time. And that’s about all it did. ¾*

WWE Divas Title Match: Kaitlyn v Tamina Snuka: Snuka tries powering her around, but Kaitlyn holds her own, and gets a takedown into a front-facelock. Kaitlyn with a suplex and a schoolboy for two, so Tamina hides out in the ropes. Kaitlyn pulls her off for a backslide for one, and a dropkick knocks Snuka to the outside. Kaitlyn is on her with a baseball slide, but Snuka fights her off on the way back into the ring, and lands a big boot for two. Snuka goes up for a flying splash, but Kaitlyn rolls out of the way, and hits a spear at 3:12. This was too short to be anything. ½*

Main Event: WWE Title Match: Rock v CM Punk: The title can change hands by countout or disqualification here. Posturing to start, dominated by the champion. To the outside, Rock sends him into the barricade, and catches him with a clothesline on the floor when Punk rebounds. Punk fights him off and delivers a swinging neckbreaker for two on the way back in, and he grounds Rock in a chinlock from there. Punk with a flying elbowdrop for two, and he dumps Rock on the announce table, and leaves him for dead so he can get the countout title win. Rock beats the count, so Punk hammers him with mounted punches, but Rock wins a slugfest, and makes a comeback. He goes for the uranage, but Punk blocks. Punk tries a springboard, but gets caught in the uranage for two. Punk bails, so Rock drags him back in, but the referee gets bumped as they go in. Punk hits the GTS, but there’s no one to count. Punk goes for a second GTS, but Rock counters to a spinebuster, and lands the People’s elbow for two, counted by a new referee. That referee promptly gets bumped as well, so Paul Heyman passes Punk the title belt. He charges, but Rock dodges, and Punk hits Paul. That allows Rock the uranage for the pin at 20:53. *

BUExperience: Don’t hate it, but don’t bother. 

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