Welcome to POST Wrestling’s coverage of WWE’s Elimination Chamber event, its last domestic pay-per-view on the WWE Network before the Peacock deal goes into effect.
John Pollock will have coverage throughout the night and then, tune into the Elimination Chamber POST Show immediately afterward with John & Wai Ting reviewing the show. LIVE access for the POST Show is available to Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso members of the POST Wrestling Café.
RESULTS:
WWE Championship: The Miz def. Drew McIntyre (champion) in 0:27
WWE Championship Elimination Chamber: Drew McIntyre (champion) def. AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus & Jeff Hardy in 31:20
Women’s Tag Team Championship: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (champions) def. Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair in 9:37
United States Championship: Riddle def. Bobby Lashley (champion) and John Morrison in 8:39
Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (champion) def. Daniel Bryan in 1:32
Elimination Chamber: Daniel Bryan def. Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, King Corbin, Cesaro & Jey Uso in 34:09
Kickoff Show: John Morrison def. Mustafa Ali, Ricochet, and Elias in 7:01
The kickoff show featured Charly Caruso with the panel of Booker T., JBL, and Peter Rosenberg.
Cesaro was interviewed and said winning the Chamber and title would taste like the perfect shot of Espresso “just so sweet”.
They officially announced that Keith Lee is out of the United States title match. There will be a four-way involving Ricochet, Mustafa Ali, John Morrison, and Elias to determine who will replace Lee in the triple threat match.
The panel spoke with MVP, who compared Lashley to Godzilla and you will need FEMA to deal with his destruction. Billie Kay presented MVP with her resume to join The Hurt Business, he said her voice “hurts his ears” and won’t be in touch.
During the discussion of Lacey Evans’ pregnancy, Booker T. did rule out Ric Flair as the father since Booker’s father had him at 59 years of age. The panel asked who would step up to challenge Asuka in place of Evans.
Sonya Deville joined the panel to preview the women’s tag title match. She said Sasha Banks doesn’t play well with others and gave the edge to the champions. The Street Profits showed up asking about a tag title shot and Deville was upset they didn’t ask in private.
Ricochet vs. Mustafa Ali vs. John Morrison vs. Elias
The winner joins the triple threat match with Bobby Lashley and Riddle on the pay-per-view.
T-Bar, Mace & Slapjack were in Ali’s corner. No Jaxson Ryker or The Miz with the others.
There was a four-way neck breaker spot with Ali delivering one to Morrison with the others attached.
Slapjack pulled Elias off Ali during a pin attempt. Elias hit a sit-out chokeslam to Ricochet and Ali broke the cover. Morrison hit Moonlight Drive on Ricochet for a two-count, missed Starship Pain and all four were down.
Ricochet landed a 450 splash on Ali and Retribution pulled Ali out of the ring. Ricochet went for a dive, was caught and thrown into the post. Meanwhile, Morrison grabbed Ali with a roll-up for the win.
WINNER: John Morrison in 7 minutes and 1 second
The story was Retribution was too busy dealing with Ricochet that they left Ali alone and Morrison capitalized.
It didn’t have the time to build but Ricochet got more focus than usual and meshed well with Morrison and Ali.
The opening video for the pay-per-view featured highlights of past Chamber matches and was edited very well.
Daniel Bryan vs. Cesaro vs. Kevin Owens vs. Jey Uso vs. King Corbin vs. Sami Zayn in an Elimination Chamber Match
The winner will challenge Roman Reigns later tonight for the Universal title.
Zayn entered the pod and his documentary crew was banned from ringside by referee Jessika Carr.
Cesaro and Daniel Bryan started the match. Bryan began selling his knee after executing a Frankensteiner off the turnbuckle. Bryan got an armbar and tried to point Cesaro’s thumb for the full application of the submission but Cesaro broke free.
The third entrant is King Corbin, who drove Cesaro into the pod. Corbin hit Bryan and Cesaro with the Deep Six and each kicked out when Corbin went for covers. Corbin attacked the knee of Bryan by driving it into the pod and wrapping his leg around the post.
Sami Zayn is the fourth entrant and keeps the door shut while Corbin tries to open it. Bryan attacked Corbin. As Zayn mocked Corbin, Cesaro entered his pod and attacked Zayn. Zayn missed a Helluva kick on Bryan and struck the pod. Cesaro and Zayn fought on the top of a pod, they scaled the fence ending with Cesaro kicking him off to the floor and doing pull-ups on the Chamber. Cesaro did the swing on Corbin into the sharpshooter and Corbin tapped for the first elimination.
It was almost eight minutes until Kevin Owens entered fifth. Zayn offered a pact with Owens, who was thrown into the pod repeatedly by Owens. Owens landed a superkick on Zayn and hit cannonballs to the three inside the ring. After a series of finishers, all four men were down.
The final entrant is Jey Uso at the twenty-three-minute mark. Owens attacked Uso and tossed him into a pod. Owens climbed onto a pod and hit a moonsault to all four and began hitting stunners, including one to Zayn, and eliminated him.
Uso shut the Chamber door on Owens’ arm and hit repeated superkicks, and a splash off the top to pin Owens.
Cesaro caught Uso with a flying uppercut and then swung him into the fence several times. This led to a several-minute match between Bryan and Cesaro by themselves. Cesaro did a one-legged swing on the bad knee, which was stopped by a superkick from Uso. Uso hit the splash and eliminated Cesaro.
Uso followed with a splash to Bryan for a near-fall. Then, he tried one off of the pod, but Bryan got his knees up. Bryan landed the Busaiku knee and pinned Uso.
WINNER: Daniel Bryan in 34 minutes and 9 seconds
This was a pretty great Chamber match and they went with the less obvious choice in Bryan where it felt like Cesaro was a red herring after his focus the past few weeks. It was the same story of Bryan beginning the match and exhausted after the lengthy match.
This was a strong match with many creative elements and everyone getting a degree of momentum from the match.
Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan for the Universal title
Reigns went for the spear and it was immediately countered with the Yes Lock. Reigns broke free and attacked Bryan with ground-and-pound. Reigns applied the guillotine and the match was called off.
WINNER: Roman Reigns in 1:32 to retain the Universal Championship
It wasn’t a match and more of an angle that at least sets up a possible rematch for television or a transitional title defense at Fast Lane. The counter to the Yes Lock would have received a thunderous response in a normal atmosphere.
As Reigns posed with the title, Edge appeared and speared Reigns while pointing to the WrestleMania sign. Playing off Friday’s segment, Edge whispered something into Reigns’ ear that we couldn’t hear. Edge pointed to the WrestleMania sign and that appears to be our confirmation for April.
Bad Bunny was backstage with Sonya Deville holding the 24/7 title. The Miz approached Bad Bunny and said he and Morrison would have been better musical guests on SNL. Miz asked why he was here, Bad Bunny mocked him for not being on the show tonight and slapped him when Damian Priest appeared and Miz walked off.
Bobby Lashley vs. Riddle vs. John Morrison for the United States Championship
Riddle was dressed as Evil Knievel. MVP came with a crutch for the knee injury.
Lashley drove Morrison into the barricade and then, into the post. He suplexed Riddle on the floor and is dominating the others. Riddle and Morrison decide to work together but Lashley stops them.
Morrison hit a tornillo on Lashley followed by Riddle with a Floating Bro. Morrison shoved Riddle into the post and tried to pin him unsuccessfully. Riddle made a comeback with a Broton, a PK, and a bridging German suplex for a two-count when Lashley returned.
Riddle hit the Final Flash and Floating Bro to Lashley. Morrison broke up a cover and hit Starship Pain to Lashley for a two-count. MVP makes fun of Morrison for thinking that would beat Lashley. They argued on the floor and he took the crutch, swung it at Lashley, and was caught in the Hurt Lock but Riddle attacks Lashley with it.
Riddle hit Bro Derek and pinned Morrison.
WINNER: Riddle at 8 minutes and 39 seconds
It was presented as a fluke in the sense that Riddle outsmarted Lashley and snuck his way to victory without pinning the real champion. The match was fine maintaining Lashley as the dominant force of the three but getting the title off him without needing to drop the fall.
Kayla Braxton spoke with Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair when Reginald walked into the shot and complimented both while Belair hinted she may make her decision tonight.
Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler vs. Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair for the WWE Women’s Tag Titles
After double-teaming Jax, Baszler was tagged in and Belair fought out of an armbar attempt. The champions got the advantage on Banks in their corner with Baszler manipulating the arm and stomping her elbow.
Banks fought back and made the tag, Belair avoided the Kirifuda Clutch and used a double underhook slam to set-up a frog splash from Banks for a two-count. Belair hit the KOD but Jax yanked Belair to the floor and tagged Baszler.
Belair was hit with a spine buster and Banks made the save. Jax hit the Samoan drop but Banks had made the blind tag and hit Meteora for a two-count.
Reginald came down with a champagne bottle while Banks applied the Bank Statement to Jax, and she reached the rope. Reginald gave the bottle to Banks and the referee caught her leading to Jax hitting the Samoan drop and pinning Banks.
WINNER: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler in 9 minutes and 37 seconds
The match was well put together but I really wasn’t a fan of the finish, which put more heat on Reginald than wanting to see Banks and Belair have a match. It made you question why this match was even booked and felt like something reserved for television.
There was a promo for Fast Lane on 3/21 and they advertised it would be available on both WWE Network and Peacock.
Drew McIntyre vs. AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus vs. Jeff Hardy in an Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship
Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton are starting the match. They fought back-and-forth and the next entrant was Drew McIntyre at approximately the 4:30 mark. McIntyre attacked Orton immediately before going after Hardy and lawn darted him into a pod.
Kofi Kingston was the fourth entrant in the match and went after Orton and caught him with a cradle for the surprising elimination after nine minutes. Orton hit Kingston and Hardy with RKOs.
Omos broke the plexiglass to let AJ Styles get out on the floor and ran into the ring to try and pin Kingston and Hardy, unsuccessfully. Adam Pearce came down and ejected Omos. So, after all that, Styles entered the match earlier than he needed to and eliminated no one. However, the ring has an opening due to the plexiglass being removed.
Sheamus was shown in a trance inside his pod awaiting the countdown clock. He entered last at the sixteen-minute mark and traded shots with McIntyre.
Kingston climbed on top of a pod, Sheamus went after him but was crotched on the turnbuckle as Kingston rested on the pod. There was a tower of doom spot and Kingston dove off the pod with a trust fall onto the four.
Kingston tried another trust fall, was caught by Sheamus, and hit with the Brogue kick for the second elimination of the match.
Hardy hit McIntyre with the Twist of Fate for a two-count, then hit one on Styles and climbed onto the pod but Styles moved and hit a corkscrew to Sheamus and McIntyre. Hardy knocked Styles down and hit the Swanton but was immediately struck by a Claymore and McIntyre eliminated Hardy.
During the match, MVP put out a photo speaking with The Miz next to the MITB briefcase and wrote, “Business”.
Styles hit a springboard 450 on McIntyre for a two-count. Sheamus attacked Styles with a flying clothesline, set-up for the Brogue kick but McIntyre stopped him with a Future Shock DDT and went for the Claymore but was hit with the Brogue kick. Styles stopped Sheamus with the Phenomenal Forearm and eliminated Sheamus.
Styles went for the Phenomenal Forearm and was hit with a Claymore in mid-air to win the match.
WINNER: Drew McIntyre in 31 minutes and 20 seconds
It took a while for this one to get going and I never felt it reached the level of the SmackDown match. When it got down to the final three, the match raised its level and they had some well-done eliminations climaxing with McIntyre and Styles, who have excellent chemistry.
Bobby Lashley showed up and hit McIntyre with a spear and tossed him to the floor and ran McIntyre into the post. He drove McIntyre’s head into the announcer’s desk several times and applied The Hurt Lock.
With McIntyre out, The Miz came out to cash-in the Money in the Bank contract.
Drew McIntyre vs. The Miz for the WWE Championship
Miz hit a DDT and McIntyre kicked out. Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale and won the match.
WINNER: The Miz in 27 seconds to win the WWE Championship
