This is POST Wrestling’s coverage of WWE’s Elimination Chamber show from the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Wai Ting and I will be live with our Elimination Chamber POST Show immediately after the card. Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso members of the POST Wrestling Café and can listen & watch the POST Show LIVE and have the option of calling in.
The kickoff show begins at 6 pm Eastern. They have added a tag match with the Viking Raiders taking on Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins for the kickoff.
The panel features Charly Caruso, Jonathan Coachman, Peter Rosenberg, and David Otunga.
The Miz and John Morrison were interviewed, and pretty sure Morrison said, ‘personal shit’.
Kayla Braxton spoke with Braun Strowman, he called Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro ‘two of the baddest dudes in WWE’ but anyone coming for his title will ‘get these hands’.
R-Truth joined the panel to discuss phone providers. Then, they previewed Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre that is not happening tonight. After Truth left, they moved to preview Bill Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns. Why is this kickoff happening?
VIKING RAIDERS VS CURT HAWKINS & ZACK RYDER
Erik was sent to the floor and Hawkins came off the apron with a clothesline. Ivar made the comeback after receiving a tag. Ryder with the Ruff Ryder but missed and hit Hawkins allowing the Viking Raiders to hit Ryder with the Viking Experience for the win.
WINNERS: Viking Raiders in 4:48
It was bare-bones and simple, just here to fill a slot on the kickoff show.
Sarah Schreiber spoke with Andrade and Zelina Vega. Vega said Humberto Carrillo will find success one day, but it won’t come at the expense of Andrade. That wrapped up the kickoff portion.
DANIEL BRYAN VS DREW GULAK
It started off with each trying to gain control of the other with a chess match between them. It was a completely different style from a typical WWE pay-per-view match.
It was a unique style to watch in a WWE ring, but it was clearly not getting over in the building in the early portion. They fell over the top during a vertical suplex attempt that the audience responded to. Gulak responded with added intensity hitting a Saito suplex.
They traded suplexes with a huge release German that dumped Bryan on his neck. Bryan beat the count into the ring and fired back. The audience was more engaged with Bryan on offense. Gulak hit the inverted superplex from the top, held on for the Gu-Lock and attacked the injured neck. Bryan rolled through and countered by applying the LeBell Lock with Gulak passing out.
WINNER: Daniel Bryan at 14:20
This was a solid opener on the show and will likely be the best match on the show. I could have done without the dangerous suplex on Bryan’s neck, but this should be applauded for presenting a totally different style in a WWE ring. It wasn’t a massive success in front of this crowd that didn’t seem to see Gulak as a star, even in his hometown but the intensity picked up and the audience was behind Bryan.
Braxton spoke to Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, who will enter their Elimination Chamber match last following their Gauntlet match victory on SmackDown. They guaranteed victory tonight and Ziggler dedicated the match to Mandy Rose.
ANDRADE VS HUMBERTO CARRILLO FOR THE UNITED STATES TITLE
Andrade immediately landed a spinning elbow for a two-count in the opening sequence. Andrade wore down Carrillo by attacking his left arm. He went to remove the padding on the floor and was interrupted by Carrillo. Andrade did a step-up with Carrillo against the ropes and Andrade was dumped to the floor.
Carrillo and Andrade were on the top with Carrillo landing a top rope huracanrana. Carrillo followed with the moonsault of the top that Andrade got out of the way from. Carrillo was tossed into the corner and hit with the double knees for a two-count.
Vega removed the floor padding to expose the cement. Carrillo avoided the hammerlock DDT to the floor with a back body drop counter. Carrillo went for several covers in the ring, they were battling back-and-forth, ending with Andrade’s counter to a Victory Roll, hooked the tights and scored the fall.
WINNER: Andrade at 12:32 to retain the United States title
This was a good match and picked up in the closing minutes with the near falls. The audience didn’t react to Carrillo as a major babyface and that hurt the comeback a bit. The finish was there to give an ‘out’ for Carrillo but was a good match and got enough time to be at the level of a good match on Raw without the commercial interruptions.
Caruso interviewed AJ Styles and he did some lame comedy making fun of Aleister Black. He said it won’t be a fair fight because he will have Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows with him. The interview ended abruptly.
JOHN MORRISON & THE MIZ VS KOFI KINGSTON & BIG E. VS THE USOS VS HEAVY MACHINERY VS GRAN METALIK & LINCE DORADO VS DOLPH ZIGGLER & ROBERT ROODE IN AN ELIMINATION CHAMBER MATCH FOR THE SMACKDOWN TAG TITLES
The New Day and The Usos began the match with new teams entering at five-minute intervals. Kingston slipped coming off the top rope. They didn’t even wait five minutes until Lucha House party entered at 3:30.
Metalik and Dorado double-teamed with Jimmy Uso with a sequence of moonsaults. New Day attacked Lucha House Party and there was a spot where Dorado was thrown against the cage and had his feet caught in a tree of woe position. Dorado and Metalik each dove off the pod.
The Miz & John Morrison entered at the 8:10 mark of the match. The champions were picking off everyone. The highlight of this portion was Morrison balanced on the top rope and Metalik came off the pod with a beautiful huracanrana sending both to the mat, it looked incredible.
Heavy Machinery entered at 14:10 of the match. Lince Dorado had the big spot in this period where he scaled the top of the Chamber and flipped into a shooting star and came down on everyone. This led to Lucha House Party’s elimination as Heavy Machinery hit the Compactor on Metalik and Otis pinned him.
Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler entered last just before the 18:00 mark. Ziggler climbed onto a pod to escape Otis when Tucker climbed and attacked Ziggler on the pod. He tossed Ziggler and was caught by Otis. Tucker followed with a somersault off the pod onto New Day and The Usos.
Otis charged at Ziggler, missed and ran through the pod and landed on the floor. Tucker was concerned. He went after Ziggler and Roode but got hit with the superkick from Ziggler and Glorious DDT that eliminated Heavy Machinery. The angle between Ziggler and Otis was something the crowd was clearly into and has generated the most heat on the show.
Kingston hit Ziggler with Trouble in Paradise and Big E. landed the Big Ending to Roode. This was followed by The Usos hitting splashes off the pods to simultaneously pin Ziggler & Roode.
New Day and The Usos went back at it ending with Kingston missing a high cross off the pod, didn’t hit anyone and Miz & Morrison jumped on top and pinned him.
The Usos went for their double splashes, Miz got his knees up and led to a spot where a member of each team got a near fall at the same time. Jimmy Uso kicked out of the Skull Crushing Finale, Miz applied a figure-four with Morrison landing Starship Pain while Jimmy was in the hold. Then, they got into several near falls and ended with Jey being stacked by Miz while Morrison leaped over him for a jackknife cover with Miz using the middle rope for leverage.
WINNERS: The Miz & John Morrison in 32:54 to retain the SmackDown tag titles
It was a pretty entertaining match with some great spots from Lucha House Party, who treated this as a major match to stand out in. The Otis and Ziggler angle continued and was met with a strong reaction including the big spot reserved for Otis to crash to the floor. The ending had some strong teases between Miz & Morrison and The Usos.
The promoted Steve Austin’s appearance for the March 16th episode of Raw.
Natalya was interviewed and was furious over Randy Orton’s actions against Beth Phoenix and insulting Phoenix as a mother. She said Edge and Phoenix are family to her and will unleash her legacy in the Elimination Chamber tonight.
AJ STYLES VS ALEISTER BLACK IN A NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH
Styles entered with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in his corner.
Black attacked Styles’ left leg with big kicks while preventing Anderson and Gallows from getting involved. Styles took advantage by clipping the knee and grounding Black. Styles began using a kendo stick, he missed the leg and was nailed with a head kick.
On the floor, Black set up a table when Styles attacked his bad leg with a chair. Styles continued inside the ring, applied the calf crusher and Black used the kendo stick on the face of Styles to break free. Black attacked using the kendo stick with several big shots. Styles stopped him going back to the knee, he hit a forearm smash into the ring and a brainbuster. Black stopped him with several big knee strikes including one to Styles on the turnbuckle.
Styles caught the quebrada and did the throat slash for the tombstone that was countered by Black. This was a solid match, but the crowd wasn’t into it.
Styles tackled Black over the announcer’s desk. Black kicked out the legs of Styles on the desk, then put Styles through the table with a Meteora off the desk. Black set up for Black Mass in the ring, The OC ran in and Black attacked them, but they jumped Black 3-on-1.
Anderson and Gallows hit the Magic Killer and Styles set up for the Phenomenal Forearm when The Undertaker’s gong hit and the arena exploded. The lights came on with The Undertaker in the ring, he caught Styles with the Phenomenal Forearm attempt and hit a chokeslam as the lights went out. Black returned and hit Black Mass for the win.
WINNER: Aleister Black at 23:12
In watching it, I enjoyed the match a lot and the work was strong with the two displaying great chemistry, but the lack of crowd heat significantly affected this match. The Undertaker’s appearance generated the loudest response of the show – and nothing else is remotely close.
THE STREET PROFITS VS SETH ROLLINS & MURPHY FOR THE RAW TAG TITLES
AOP was in the corner of Rollins and Murphy.
The audience was chanting ‘we want the smoke’ at the beginning of the match. The challengers got the advantage on Angelo Dawkins and worked the leg before Montez Ford received the tag. Ford hit both with a tope con giro. Rollins distracted the referee as AOP attacked Ford and sent him into the barricade when the Viking Raiders came out to attack AOP and fought to the back.
Ford fought to his corner to tag Dawkins, who was double-teamed with superkicks followed by a double superkick to Ford as he went for a springboard. Rollins flew into a jab from Dawkins, then got his knees up on Ford’s big splash and cradled him for two.
A Tower of Doom launched by Rollins put all four down when Kevin Owens appeared with popcorn in the crowd. Owens climbed over the barricade and threw popcorn into his face as Dawkins tackled Rollins into the barricade and then the Street Profits drove Murphy into it and Ford pinned him with the top rope splash.
WINNERS: The Street Profits at 18:21 to retain the Raw tag titles
There was a lull in this match between the Viking Raiders appearing and when Kevin Owens showed up near the end. It was the level of a good match you would see on Raw, it’s a broken record as the audience was up and down in this match. In the long run, it will benefit Ford, Dawkins, and Murphy to be doing these long matches on a regular basis.
Rollins was upset with Murphy after the match and Owens hit Rollins with the stunner and poured popcorn on Murphy.
BRAUN STROWMAN VS SHINSUKE NAKAMURA, CESARO & SAMI ZAYN IN A 3-ON-1 HANDICAP MATCH FOR THE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE
They explained whoever could pin or submit Strowman will win the title. Sami Zayn cut a promo backstage and said Strowman has not laid a finger on him yet but tonight he will go toe-to-toe against Strowman and bring the title back to where it belongs.
Zayn was going to start but quickly tagged Nakamura to avoid Strowman. Zayn would tag in when Strowman was down and tag out before he could get up. Strowman cleared the ring, chased after Zayn and knocked over Nakamura and Cesaro on the floor while Zayn hid under the ring. The capitalized and sent Strowman into the steps and he kicked out from the Kinshasa.
Strowman continued to chase Zayn, missed Cesaro in the corner and was hit with a Kinshasa into the post. Cesaro and Nakamura lifted Strowman for the Helluva kick and Zayn pinned Strowman.
WINNER: Sami Zayn at 8:23 to win the Intercontinental title
For the role he is playing, Zayn is starting to click in it and played his part well evading Strowman and playing the coward that comes out with the title after the upset after the other two did the work. There seemed to be as many people behind Zayn as against him in the crowd.
SHAYNA BASZLER VS ASUKA VS NATALYA VS LIV MORGAN VS RUBY RIOTT VS SARAH LOGAN IN AN ELIMINATION CHAMBER MATCH
The winner gets the Raw women’s title shot against Becky Lynch at WrestleMania, who was shown watching backstage.
Natalya and Ruby Riott started the match. Natalya applied the sharpshooter on the panel out of the ring and Riott sent her crashing into the pod to break free. They spent the period fighting on the panel and using the cage.
Sarah Logan entered at 4:15 of the match. Logan hit a crossbody off the pod to Riott and Natalya and crashed down outside the ring.
Shayna Baszler was in at the 7:25 point. Baszler immediately eliminated Logan with the Kirifuda Clutch. She hit a Storm Breaker, knee strike, and submitted Riott next with the Kirifuda Clutch. Then, she slammed the door of the pod repeatedly on Natalya before applying the Kirifuda Clutch and Natalya tapped.
Baszler had to wait forever until Liv Morgan entered at 12:40. Baszler took Morgan and swung her into the cage and the pod. Baszler lifted Morgan on the turnbuckle and choked her while staring at Asuka and caused Morgan to give up.
Asuka was the final entrant at 17:30 to square off with Baszler. Asuka was able to apply the Asuka Lock and Baszler rolled out of the ring and drove Asuka into the fence and attacked her wrist. Baszler hit her version of the Storm Breaker, the knee strike and applied the Kirifuda Clutch and Asuka passed out.
WINNER: Shayna Baszler at 20:59
This was all about making Baszler the most dangerous opponent for Becky Lynch at WrestleMania by steamrolling the other women and it accomplished the primary goal. It wasn’t a dramatic match but it was effective and the goal of making a big match for WrestleMania.
