February 13, 2017
HOLY BALL NUTS GUESS WHAT’S BACK!!!!! It has been WAY too long since I sat down and wrote a column about one of my true passions in life, Pro Wrestling, but damnit this weekend really did it for me and I want to talk a little about the world of the WWE coming out of their annual Elimination Chamber PPV and how it looks as we shape up toward Fastlane and Wrestlemania at the beginning of April.
So back to last nights Annual Elimination Chamber Pay-Per-View. This year the event was a Smackdown exclusive show which I wasn’t sure of at first but once I heard the participants in the main event chamber match I was sold. But before we get to the chamber match itself, let’s talk about the ladies.
There were 3 womens matches all spread throughout the card, and honestly all three of the matches were decent quality. None of them really stole the show but I do believe that for the first time in a WWE product there were 3 womens’ matches with 3 distinct storylines that all worked to give the ladies some decent in ring time rather then all being cramped together and stupid things like that.
The Dark Horse match of the night for me was easily Orton vs. Harper. This was the beginning of a magnificent singles run for Harper if the WWE will continue to book him the way he needs to be booked. Even in the loss I thought that Harper looked amazing and in the end came out shining like a damn diamond after that match was over even though he lost. Some people have suggested he should have won, and I don’t think there would have been any harm in it, but the results were still spectacular either way.
So now onto the main event, the elimination Chamber match that occurred in a newly redesigned chamber. Not only was the chamber different, but for the first time the chain flooring had padding covering which was kind of a cheap ploy to some. However, I think it added to the safety of the match. It also allowed for some bigger spots that should have been possible in the chamber before, but weren’t until now. In any case, let’s talk about the participants. Miz was spectacular like always and played the coward heel role up pretty well. Then you had Baron Corbin who, while getting eliminated first, made a hell of a statement at destroying Dean Ambrose the current IC Champion. In doing so he allowed for the Miz to pick up the scraps and pin Ambrose, and eliminate him before eventually getting caught with the AA and eliminated third. This brings me to the final three men in this match, AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, and current WWE World Champ John Cena.
There were rumblings going in about who might walk out the winner but the fact is no one really believed they’d pull the trigger…. Until they did. In what turned into a hell of a back and forth, Bray Wyatt eliminated first John Cena, then AJ Style to capture his first World championship. Here’s what’s surprising about the whole thing. The first of the two is that AJ outlasted John Cena. There are speculations for this but one of the biggest ideas behind this is because it was a way of rewarding AJ for dropping the title to Cena back at Royal Rumble. The second one is obvious and that’s that WWE pulled the trigger on making Bray the champion. It was a holy shit moment if there ever was one.
So now it’s Monday night and we have one more Pay-Per-View before Mania and that is FastLane, the Raw exclusive Pay-Per-View that takes place on March 5. So, for now I’m going to take a bit of a stab at predicting the Wrestlemania Card. Let’s try this:
Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton for the WWE World Championship: Winner Bray
Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal Title: Winner Brock
Jericho vs. Owens for the United States Championship: Winner Owens
Dean Ambrose vs. Barron Corbin for the IC Title: Winner Corbin
Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Sasha vs. Nia Jax for the Women’s Championship: Winner Bayley by beating Charlotte.
Naomi vs. Becky vs. Alexa vs. Mickie James for the Smackdown Women’s Championship: Winner Naomi
Raw 4 corners Tag Team Match: Club/ Enzo & Cass/ New Day/ Shamus and Cesaro: Winners- Club
SD Tag Team Turmoil: Winners American Alpha
Roman Reigns vs. Undertaker: Winner Taker
Cena/Nikki vs. Miz/ Myrese: Winner Cena/ Nikki
Seth Rollins vs. HHH: Winner: Seth Rollins
Big Show vs. Shaq: Winner Shaq
Now, I’m missing some people like Finn Balor, The Cruiserweight Championship, among a few others who will surely be on the card. So what do you think how close do you think I am to the main final card for Wrestlemania 33? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Next week I’ll be talking about WWE’s biggest failures as far as characters and wrestlers go. Until then feel free to like me on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter, Until next week, I’m Kyle Robinson putting the pencil down and close the book on this subject.