Elimination Chamber 2018 Review

Elimination Chamber 2018

Las Vegas, NV
T-Mobile Arena

2/25/18

It's time for the final Raw PPV before WrestleMania and the road to WrestleMania makes a stop at the Elimination Chamber. For the first time, there will be a seven-man chamber match featuring the top male superstars on Raw and the winner will become the number one contender for Brock Lesnar's Universal Championship.  The women superstars of Raw will also be competing inside the Elimination Chamber for the first time ever. In addition to these two huge Chamber matches, we will also see Ronda Rousey sign her Raw contract.

I have enjoyed Raw for the past month as it is far and away better than Smackdown currently is. I feel the writers got a bit lazy once Jason Jordan got injured and they decided to just shove Rollins in this match and make a seven-man chamber match. On the go home Raw they did a great job of showcasing all seven men that will be in the match by putting them in a gauntlet match that lasted for almost two hours and above all else it made Rollins look super good on his way to Mania and reminded people just how great of a singles star he can be. While I expect Roman to win this I feel WWE is making a huge mistake by not giving Braun Strowman the title match at WrestleMania as he is super over with both the casual and hardcore fanbase. One story going into this match that has been terrible is the one where John Cena is trying to convince people that he will not have a WrestleMania match if he doesn't win this, nobody in the entire world believes this story as we all know Cena will end up on the card somewhere (likely against Undertaker), I mean hell Curt Hawkins at least makes the battle royal.

The women's division has also been really good the past month as there have been some pretty good matches on Raw. It looks like we are finally moving toward that Bayley vs Sasha Banks match that everyone wants to see at WrestleMania. Alexa Bliss has also done a great job the past month, I especially enjoyed the promo she cut on Kurt Angle forcing her to put her title on the line in this match but not making Brock defend his title on the show. I also like how she has tried to mend fences with Mickie James going into this match so she can have an ally. Nia Jax has also looked really strong heading into her match against Asuka, but with that said there's still no chance she breaks the streak. I expect Rousey's WrestleMania program to get started on the show as well during her contract signing.

Kick Off Show Match #1
Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows def The Miztourage via Pinfall

It looks like Bo Dallas's fashion sense is rubbing off on Curtis Axel as they both came to the ring wearing shiny golden jackets. 

This was a decent match, but nothing that you wouldn't see on an episode of Raw. The finish comes when Gallows catches Axel in mid-air with a kick and then The Club hit the Magic Killer for the win. Rating: **1/4

Match #1

Alexa Bliss (c)  def Sash Banks, Bayley, Mickie James, Sonya Deville, & Mandy Rose (Raw Women's Championship - Elimination Chamber Match)

I really enjoyed this match and thought all six women look really good in the match, especially Bayley who may have put on her best performance since she has been on the main roster. I didn't expect either of the Absolution girls to start out the match but I think Sonya did a good job setting the pace for the match along with Bayley. I liked Bayley's fire during the match and how she took it to both members of Absolution before they had a chance to double team her. Mandy looked a lot better here than she did on Raw Monday where she was sloppy. I liked that the running gag is continuing having Mandy being eliminated first just like she was in the Royal Rumble match. Between this match and the Royal Rumble match, Sasha has finally found her groove again as she is back to being the Sasha we all loved in NXT. I liked the double hip toss spot on Sonya into the chamber wall. I loved Mickie's Wonder Woman outfit and wish she could have gotten a bit more time in the match as she was really looking great in the match with some really nice strikes. Not sure why they played up the whole Alexa and Mickie working together thing leading up to the match if Mickie was going to end up being eliminated before Alexa got in the ring.

Alexa played her part well as the chicken shit babyface and trying to get away from Sasha and Bayley. We finally got what I'm guessing is the official Sasha turning on Bayley as she knocked her off the chamber wall. I liked that after Sasha turned on her, Bayley was like screw this I'm tired of her shit and just goes to town on her and finally did what was in her best interest and didn't care about teaming up anymore. I think it would have worked better for the story if Sasha had eliminated Bayley instead or vice versa instead of Alexa eliminating Bayley. Alexa hit a nice Twisted Bliss to a standing Sasha who turned it into a Bank Statement. I liked the finish where Alexa shoved Sahsa face first into the top of the pod and then hits the draping DDT for the win. Rating: ****1/4

After the match, we got what seems to be a babyface promo by Alexa, but just when everyone started believing she was turning babyface she turned the promo back on the crowd and went heel again which was brilliant. There is a reason why Alexa is one of the best promos in the entire wrestling business. This could have just been a tryout to see how the fans took to her as a babyface as I don't see how she stays heel if the rumored match against Nia Jax is happening as Alexa would have to be the underdog babyface in that feud.

Match #2

The Bar (c) def Titus Worldwide w/ Dana Brooke via Pinfall (Raw Tag Team Championship)

Just like at the Royal Rumble it doesn't feel like there is any thought or attention paid to the matches on the undercard as this match was nothing special and was only slightly more entertaining than the kickoff show match. There really isn't much to say about this match as it was pretty generic with the exception of a couple of nice dives by Apollo and the always fun hot tag sequence by Titus. The Bar gets the win after Cesaro chop blocks Apollo as he is trying to hit his powerbomb finisher and then The Bar hit the assisted White Noise for the win. Rating: **1/2

Match #3

Asuka def Nia Jax via Pinfall

I liked how they had Nia step on one of Asuka's masks and smash it to pieces before she made her way out to the arena. 

I liked how they had Nia move out of the way to avoid the hip attack. I really enjoyed the spot where Nia powered out of the guillotine choke and turned it into a jackhammer, even if the jackhammer looked a bit sloppy. I'm not sure if she's done it before, but I like Nia using the Banzai Drop and hope she keeps that in her arsenal even though she missed it this time. Not sure if Nia hitting Asuka on the back of her legs with that senton was supposed to happen, but it didn't look good. Asuka finally gets the win after countering a powerbomb with a roll-up out of nowhere. The fact that Nia took everything Asuka dished out and turned it back on her and it took a roll up for Asuka to finally win did a good job of making Nia look strong. This was a good match and neither woman came off looking weak after it, especially Nia who had one of her better performances I have seen from her in a while. Rating: ***1/4

After the match, Nia spears Asuka through the barricade and stands tall afterward leaving Asuka laid out at ringside, much to the delight of Alexa Bliss who was watching backstage. In an interview with Renee, Alexa says that nobody is ready for her.

Match #4

Matt Hardy def Bray Wyatt via Pinfall

I don't know why in the hell this match needed a video package as absolutely nothing has happened in this feud except for them laughing at each other.

Bray tries to do one of his spooky sneak up behind you during the spliced in cutscene, but when we come back Bray is in the ring alone as Matt has vanished. We then hear Matt's voice on the speaker saying that Bray will fade away and become obsolete and I was hoping this meant Jeff was returning, but sadly it was only Matt playing audio tricks before he reappears from out of nowhere and attacks Bray to officially start the match.

After having the really good women's match before this we go back to our unspectacular undercard with this match, although I will say I enjoyed it more on a second viewing. The problem with this match wasn't the match itself it was more the fact that the fans didn't care about this match as the feud has been on repeat for the last month with the same thing happening every week. I'm begging for them to either do something creative and different with this feud or just drop it as it has gone from a feud that people were somewhat interested in and has now gotten to a point where people are using this match as a bathroom break. What made this even worse was that someone in the crowd had a damn beach ball and the rest of the crowd started creaming their pants at the sight of it and completely turned their attention off this match, where was Cesaro when we needed him.
Rating: **1/4

Ronda Rousey Contract Signing

This segment went pretty much the way that I expected it to as it set up Ronda's match for WrestleMania. Judging by the way the segment went it looks like Kurt Angle might be Ronda's partner to take on the team of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, which makes sense as he has a beef with Triple H stemming back to Survivor Series. One thing that I noticed during this segment that worries me is Ronda's mic skills as she seemed very shaky and if she doesn't improve she will need someone to talk for her.

A lot of people were complaining that when Ronda showed up at the Royal Rumble she was smiling too much and needed to be more mean looking, at that time she didn't have a reason to look pissed but in this segment she had a reason to be pissed and she brought out the mean face when it was needed. At the beginning of the segment the crowd was mixed on Ronda, but by the end, after she slammed Triple H through the table she had the crowds full support. I don't know about in the future but as long as Ronda is feuding with Stephanie she will have no problem getting cheered. I'm interested to see where this goes tomorrow night on Raw.

Match #5

Roman Reigns def Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, John Cena, Elias, & The Miz (Elimination Chamber Match)

This match was also really good, but for some reason I didn't quite enjoy it as much as the Women's Chamber match. It felt like the match really didn't kick into the gear it needed to until Braun entered the match as the sixth entrant, once Braun came in the match was all about him and making him look even more like an indestructible monster. I loved that they had Braun eliminate everyone except Roman and that he kept taking everyone's finishers and kept kicking out, there were several times when I thought Braun was done, but he kept coming back. I also thought both Balor and Rollins had a really great showing in this match and they have done a great job between this match and the go home Raw gauntlet of making Rollins a big deal and have gotten me back interested in watching him wrestle. I hated that we are still going with this stupid story of Cena not having a spot at WrestleMania and to make it even worse he came off as such a dick in this match. Overall the match was good, but I felt it took a bit too long to kick into the gear it needed to be in. Rating ***3/4

I know a lot of people are upset with Roman winning, but we all knew it was coming so I don't know why there is any use in getting mad about it, but with the way the night ended with Braun leaving Roman laying in a heap inside one of the pods gives me hope that he will end up being in the Universal Title match at WrestleMania. I know there is a 95% chance that Roman will walk out of WrestleMania with the title and that Braun won't have his crowning moment there, but the fact that he is in that title match would make me happy enough as he deserves to be after the year he has had and being the MVP of Raw.

Overall this show was not that great from top to bottom and only had one match I gave over four stars. We have Fastlane happening in two weeks and I'm not looking forward to that show as Smackdown has been the shits lately and I don't expect that to change at least until after WrestleMania. Show Rating: D+

Elimination Chamber 2018 Match Ranking
6. Gallows & Anderson vs The Miztourage
5.  Matt Hardy vs Bray Wyatt
4. Raw Tag Team Championship 
3. Asuka vs Nia Jax 

2. Men's Elimination Chamber
1. Women's Elimination Chamber