Elimination Chamber 2010
The build for Wrestlemania continues tonight with the second pay-per-view of 2010. The February show is always a slightly awkward one. January has the Royal Rumble, with the winner getting a title shot in the main event at Wrestlemania… in March. Once they started running monthly pay-per-views, that left the question of what to do in February. Since the brand split has left the company with two versions of the world title, an obvious solution would be to pick the second challenger in February. But for some unfathomable reason, the WWE has instead decided that February is an ideal month to have both world titles defended in convoluted six-man cage matches. This has never struck me as the best way to build to the biggest title matches of the year, but there we go.
And so, in keeping with the policy of giving every pay-per-view its own gimmick, the February show is now Elimination Chamber.
The Elimination Chamber is basically a six-man elimination cage match. You have a big steel structure surrounding the ring. Two guys start in the ring, the other four are in little pods inside the cage. Every five minutes one of the pods opens at, ahem, “random” and another guy joins the match. Elimination occurs by pinfall or submission. Last person left in the match is the winner. As usual with these staggered-entry matches, the rules are absurdly unfair to the people who start the match, but it does mean that you can have six participants without too much clutter at any one time.
The WWE are very fond of the Elimination Chamber, which usually draws a decent audience for PPV. Besides, the cage apparently cost a lot of money, so they’re determined to get plenty of use out of it.
This show has two Chamber matches, one for the Raw world title and one for the Smackdown version. Until recently the company also had a third brand, ECW, with its own unloved and unwanted version of the world title. But ECW was axed last week, its wrestlers are being reassigned to Raw and Smackdown, and the ECW Championship is being retired. For what it’s worth, the final champion was Ezekiel Jackson, a heel who inexplicably won the title from Christian in the last match. Perhaps the idea is that he can carry his empty title belt around with him as a heel gimmick.
ECW is being replaced by something called NXT. In typical form, the company announced the launch of NXT before they’d actually figured out what it was. It’s apparently some sort of hybrid wrestling programme and reality show. Eight “rookies” – in other words, wrestlers currently working in the Florida developmental promotion – are paired with an established mentor, and in some as-yet-undefined way they fight to win a slot on the main roster. The first batch consists of Bryan Danielson, a hugely experienced indie worker who’s widely regarded as one of the best wrestlers in the world, and seven other people who are not Bryan Danielson and who are therefore probably screwed. (The other respected veteran indie wrestler currently in developmental is a guy known variously as Low-Ki, Senshi and Kaval, who isn’t in the initial cast. Presumably they’re saving him for the second batch.) This could turn out to be a hastily-assembled mess, but at least it’s something different, and should avoid the ECW stigma of being the same show with C-listers.
As for the Royal Rumble, that was won by Edge, making a surprise, unannounced return from injury. Edge hasn’t yet decided which title to challenge for at Wrestlemania, on the entirely reasonable grounds that he’s waiting to see what happens tonight, and then he’s going to pick the softer target.
But back to tonight’s show…
1. WWE Championship, Elimination Chamber: Sheamus v. John Cena v. Randy Orton v. Kofi Kingston v. Ted DiBiase v. Triple H. This is the Raw match. Sheamus, an Irish wrestler doing an Oirish gimmick, won the title from John Cena in December. As is often the case when midcarders win the title for the first time, the WWE has been a bit hesitant in how they’ve used him. He’s retained the title against both Cena and Randy Orton, but by disqualification rather than by cleanly defeating them. And his storylines are not the centrepiece of the show. But on the other hand, if they won’t let him beat main eventers cleanly in a match, at least they let him dominate in other contexts. He’s certainly doing better than CM Punk or Rey Mysterio did in their first title reigns.
If Sheamus retains here then he goes on to one of the big matches at Wrestlemania, the biggest show of the year. That would be bold, but to be honest, it’s not like the company has any great dream matches on Raw that would do better. Any of the matches with bigger names have been done to death and become stale. Triple H v Sheamus – which has apparently been talked about – isn’t really a marquee main event, but frankly, nor is anything else that they could realistically do at this point.
As for the challengers… Cena’s an established main eventer, but he’s already being paired up with Batista for a Raw vs Smackdown match at Wrestlemania, so he’s highly unlikely to win the title here. Orton is also established, but he’s caught up in the on-again-off-again storyline of his heel faction, Legacy, turning on one another. It certainly looks as though they’re planning a Legacy break-up match for Wrestlemania, which would again seem to rule Orton out of winning here. Kingston is a midcarder who’s there to make up the numbers. DiBiase is a member of Legacy, and he’s there to further that storyline. That really only leaves Triple H as a likely winner. But if he’s going to win the title, he might as well do it in a singles match next month.
So I’m betting on Sheamus to retain. A win for Triple H wouldn’t shock me. Anything else would be a major surprise. The talent level is pretty high in this match, so it’ll probably be good stuff.
2. World Heavyweight Title, Elimination Chamber: The Undertaker v. John Morrison v. CM Punk v. Chris Jericho v. Rey Mysterio v. R-Truth. The Undertaker is the defending champion on Smackdown. But for the last couple of months, the company has been building up Shawn Michaels from Raw as his Wrestlemania opponent. The idea is that Shawn wants a rematch from last year’s Wrestlemania and is driving himself crazy trying to get it. Plainly the only possible pay-off is that they do the match. Since Shawn isn’t on the Smackdown roster and shouldn’t be challenging for their title, presumably the Undertaker is losing tonight, freeing him up to do the rematch next month. And chances are that Shawn Michaels interferes somehow to cost him the match.
Who does that leave as the next champion? John Morrison is supposed to have an ankle injury right now, although they might be playing it up for storyline purposes. Regardless, I don’t see him as a big enough name to headline next month. R-Truth is there to make up the numbers; the company seems to quite like him at the moment, and I expect they’ll try and make him look good, but there’s no way he’s defending the world title at Wrestlemania.
CM Punk and Rey Mysterio are former world champions who’ve both settled into an upper midcard role. There was talk at one point of pairing them up at Wrestlemania for a hair-versus-mask match (which is why Punk’s been doing all those skits where he shaves the heads of his devoted followers), though they might have changed their minds. It’s a plausible match, though, and it’d probably be good.
And that leaves Chris Jericho, one of the biggest stars on the roster. Which would be ideal, because Edge has a motivation to go after Jericho (who turned on him after his injury). So, if Jericho wins then Undertaker can fight Shawn Michaels, Edge can challenge Jericho, and everything works out nicely.
With Undertaker past his prime and Morrison apparently working injured, the quality of this match may be a bit more erratic, but there’s enough talent in here that it ought to be generally good.
3. Intercontinental Champion: Drew McIntyre v. Kane. McIntyre is a rising midcard heel who’s held the title since December. The company clearly likes him a lot, and he’s been given the “chosen one” gimmick of being singled out as a future world champion. Obviously, this has the potential to backfire if the fans think he’s being shoved down their throats, and so far McIntyre remains in the awkward position of not having as much heat as his screen time and push would lead you to expect. He’s a perfectly decent wrestler but not an especially flashy performer, and so far something doesn’t quite seem to be connecting. Nonetheless, there’s no obvious upside to putting the title on Kane, who’s been around for years and whose position in the pecking order is secure and unalterable. So presumably the idea is for Drew to get a big win over him and sail serenely on to another defence next month. I don’t have great hopes for this match – it’ll probably be okay, but that’s about all.
4. Divas Championship: Maryse v. Gail Kim. This is Raw’s version of the Women’s Title, except with a sillier name and an outrageously garish title belt. (It has a giant pink butterfly on it.) The title is currently vacant after Melina became injured, so they’re doing a tournament to crown the new champion. It’ll probably be Maryse, who was supposed to be winning the title before the injury happened. She’s got great heel charisma but isn’t the best of wrestlers, and in an ideal world she’d be better employed as a manager, but that’s not how the company thinks. As a French Canadian, she’s recently unveiled a new gimmick where she’s disingenuously nice to her opponents, and then insults them in French while smiling sweetly. Obviously, the flaw in this concept is that very few viewers speak good enough French to get the joke. Kim is technically one of the better women on the roster, but I don’t see her having a classic match with Maryse. If it’s short, it’ll be fine.
5. ??? They’ll have to do at least something else to fill out the show, but nothing’s been announced. There was talk at one point of doing Edge v. Batista, but it would be crazy not to promote Edge’s first proper PPV match since returning from injury. My guess would be something with the tag titles, probably Miz & Big Show v. MVP & Mark Henry, but frankly it could be anything.
Worth buying? Well, the two main events will probably be decent, and they’ll probably account for an hour of the show. But the rest of the card consists of two matches which probably won’t be much good, and a huge question mark, and that’s a bit worrying.
Jericho winning the title would be grand, even if he would just be keeping it warm for a month for Edge.
Quite frankly, Sheamus retaining (or at least entering first & lasting until the final 2) would be the only thing to salvage his run. I’m Irish so naturally I’m loving him as champion, but his reign taken on its own has been really weak.
I can see Triple H winning and them doing a rematch at Mania. HHH doesn’t care if the match is big enough, as long as he is in a Wrestlemania title match it qualifies as being a must-see event.
I’m glad they are taking the relatively slower route with McIntrye, I think he’ll be in a much better position say a year down the line than Sheamus.
I see Cena winning. Batista was obsessed with the World Title and I can see his match with Cena being a thing where he decides it was a mistake to jump to Smackdown and he wants back on the A show.
I was thinking about it and honestly, I’m not so sure Sheamus is having a better first run than Punk. Sheamus gets to look like a killer more often but at least Punk got to have a decisive victory against a former world champion in JBL. Sheamus hasn’t been able to decisively beat anyone of worth in a match since he won the thing.
I don’t see what the big deal about a decisive win is. He’s looked good in his matches and his dq’s against Orton weren’t him getting himself dq’ed it was other people helping Orton.
Sheamus has been made to look great in and out of the ring. Wins don’t really matter.
Sheamus is doing way better than Punk. Punk won the title by ambushing Edge, lost two straight title defences via DQ against Batista, got one clean win over JBL in a match that was fourth down the card on PPV, lost the title in a match he didn’t even appear in, and was quite correctly called a fluke champion by several characters on-screen.
Three months after losing the title, he was feuding with William Regal for the Intercontinental Championship. It wasn’t until the following year when he turned heel against Jeff Hardy that he was finally solidified as a main-eventer. Sheamus may not be the focus of the show, but he is being pushed as a powerful champion, and he won’t be disappearing back into the midcard after Wrestlemania. More likely, he’ll be drafted to Smackdown after his feud with HHH ends.
Sheamus retaining the title via DQ over both Orton & Cena has been to protect THEM not HIM. That those 2 along with HHH have been the main event for Raw for years now, it would have made them look really weak to lose clean to a relative newbie, even if he is the WWE Champion.
Even how Sheamus won the title was seen as a fluke by many, including portrayed as such by the commentators who act as a gateway between the WWE and us.
Sheamus has looked like a great bully sure, and his promos have been grand, but as a champion he has not looked strong at all. Anytime he lays somebody out it is usually him capitalising on a distraction or sneak attacks. Good heel tactics, but he looks like a chump for having to resorting to that method especially given his size and build.
In regards to NXT, the seven guys who aren’t Bryan Danielson aren’t automatically screwed.
You have to remember that this is a WWE product. The show isn’t about finding the best wrestler, it is about creating exposure and building storylines. And just because there is only one “winner” doesn’t mean that the WWE won’t bring up as many guys as they want.
Indeed, the storyline and exposure aspect doesn’t even guarantee that Danielson will win. Even if whatever competition is legit and above board, the WWE has a long history of manipulating even legitimate contests. They could easily see Danielson as a shoe-in without the show, and instead manipulate things to favor someone else and promote Danielson to the main roster afterwards.
from what I understand it’s not a competition at all. These guys will all end up on the main roster.