WHAT I LIKED:
Christian vs Bryan: I LIKED that Christian took on the role of the heel during this match. I mean, let's face it. If the crowd was going to choose between either of these guys to root for, it'd be Daniel Bryan. Christian is still a babyface - albeit, I wouldn't be opposed to him becoming a heel again - but that's the role he was best suited for in this match. Plus, it adds credence to his promo from a few weeks back about this being his last chance and him being desperate to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Desperate men don't play fair. And I was wrong about the Denver fans being against Seattle-loving Daniel Bryan because they were hot for him in the opener and in this match. Great way to open RAW with a MOTN candidate. I LIKED the HBK-esque rollup to win the match.
Swagger vs Kingston & Big E vs 3MB: Is this Jack Swagger competing in a singles match that he's actually (seemingly) slated to win? That hasn't happened since around this time last year when he was gearing up to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania XXIX. Swagger being the #1 Contender for the Intercontinental Championship all but guarantees he'll win this match, it was still a good match because both of these superstars are money in the ring. I LIKE the twist of having Big E Langston come out as Swagger was celebrating his victory. I didn't LIKE having Big E face two members of 3MB. Not necessarily because it was a handicap match, but Zeb Colter outside on the microphone was a little annoying. At least he took the bait and made the first reference to the Broncos' Superbowl loss. It gained him a lot of cheap heat, which is what it's meant to do. And it was a pretty impressive win by Big E. I'm really looking forward to the Intercontinental Title match at Elimination Chamber. Should be a good one.
Cena vs Cesaro: A year ago, this match would have made me upset because it'd have been a given that Cena would win and probably in a squash. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that Antonio Cesaro is in the Elimination Chamber and seemingly on his way to making a case for being in the upper-mid-card. I wanted to write main-event there, but I have to temper my expectations. He's not there yet, but he has to skills to get there. Even though I read the spoilers for last week, I still watched with disbelief when Cesaro defeated Randy Orton clean on Smackdown. How awesome would it be if he could defeat Cena tonight as well? This was a really good match and I don't say that often for matches that involve John Cena. I don't even care that Cesaro lost, that match was great. There's still an hour of WWE programming tonight, including the main-event, but I doubt anything will be able to unseat this as Match Of The Night.
WHAT I HATED:
Opening Segment: John Cena was getting me down to start the show, but once he forgot to mention Cesaro in his list of superstars who defeated Randy Orton, I knew we'd be seeing him soon. I was hoping for just a confrontation between Cena & Cesaro instead of this a forum for all of the Elimination Chamber competitors to come out and basically lie about how they are going to win. This scenario is so cliched. Just like how there's always a brawl on the show before the Royal Rumble. There's always a confrontation between the competitors of the Money in the Bank Ladder match. Honestly, I'm surprised we haven't seen a six-man tag team match involving all of these superstars. If it weren't for the fact that Orton would be facing Sheamus tonight, I'm certain that's the match that Corporate Kane would have made.
Kane vs Bryan: Well, this match basically negates the prospect of there being a Kane vs Daniel Bryan match at Wrestlemania XXX. I remember back when Team Hell No was in their final stages, I was clamoring for a Kane vs Daniel Bryan rivalry. Now, not so much. I, nor anyone, could have expected the surge in popularity that Daniel Bryan would receive after they broke up or that Kane would trade in his mask for a suit. Honestly, I LIKE both of them better in their current situations better than I did during Team Hell No, but I'm don't want to see a rivalry between these two now. I guess if it does lead to Daniel Bryan vs Triple H, I'll accept it in the long run. But only if.
Reigns vs Henry: I do not LIKE Roman Reigns. I don't HATE him, but I'm not a fan. A lot of fans are giddy over Reigns after his performance at Royal Rumble, but all he did was follow the script for him to eliminate twelve superstars. It's not he's put on any kind of physical match that went above and beyond his abilities or anything. Honestly, Roman Reigns is nothing more than his Superman Punch, spear, roar and hair. In an actual match, Dean Ambrose would wrestle circles around him. Notice I said nothing about this match. Nothing needs to be said about it. The best part of the whole segment was Bray Wyatt's promo.
Matadores/Sin Cara vs Wyatt Family: Are we really supposed to take this match seriously? Los Matadores have been nothing but a comedy show since their debut and we're supposed to think they are competition for the Wyatts who are headed into a big PPV showdown with The Shield? I don't think so. At least Bray Wyatt is in action, if nothing else.
Jey Uso vs Billy Gunn: I'm happy that The Usos are finally getting a chance at the WWE Tag Team Titles. Yes, they've had matches before for the tag team titles but always in multi-team matches. They've never had an opportunity for the titles in a traditional tag match. At least not that I can think of. That's about the only good thing about this match. Billy Gunn isn't very good in the ring anymore and I'm not really interested in seeing one of the Usos in a singles match or hearing them bicker on commentary.
Orton vs Sheamus: I don't know why they made this be the last match of the gaunlet. Considering how bad the live crowd berated this match during the epic RAW after Wrestlemania last year, WWE should know better than to have this match on RAW. Especially since there's a certain name that they'd rather the fans not chant. Thankfully, the match got a lot more physical after the commercial break and gave the fans something to cheer for. I didn't think that backdrop was hard enough to break the announce table, but it was a decent spot. I was on my way to giving this match a LIKE, but then they had to go and end it with a DQ. I understand why Orton would want The Shield's help, so he doesn't get beaten by Sheamus too during this gauntlet, but it still goes down as a loss. That means only the superstar he defeated was Christian, who has no shot of winning the Elimination Chamber. Poor Christian. They should have just made it to where he lost to all of the participants. Defeating only one of them doesn't make him look any stronger than losing to all of 'em.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:
"I really hope they make diapers your size. Because after this Sunday, your mouth won't be the only thing full of crap." - Big E
Did Big E just promise to make Zeb Colter shit his pants on Sunday? Did he take notes from Betty White last week? Nice line, but you still need to work on your mic skills if you want that main-event push.
MATCH OF THE NIGHT:
John Cena vs Cesaro was amazing. The only criticism I have of the match is that the wrong man won. Cesaro dominated that entire match and wowed the crowd with his strength and ability. Cena won because he's the established superstar, but Micheal Cole was right that Zeb Colter should be proud of Cesaro for his effort.
BEST IN SHOW:
Did you see that superplex from the apron over the turnbuckle? That took some freakish strength, which is exactly what Cesaro has. This guy is amazing. How could WWE possibly keep him down for as long as they did? How could Vince McMahon have the audacity to call him 'boring' at one point? In two consecutive shows, Cesaro has faced the top two superstars in WWE and gave them some the best matches of their careers. And for the second straight week, he's earned Best in Show.
REACTION:
That match between Kane & Daniel Bryan was done for one of two reasons. Either to make Daniel Bryan even more of an underdog to win the Elimination Chamber, making it that much more exhilarating when he wins it. Or to give an explanation as to why Daniel Bryan loses the Elimination Chamber match, leading him to face-off with The Authority when the Road to Wrestlemania kicks off after the PPV. I truly believe it's the latter, but I'm good either way. I know most fans, including myself, would LOVE to see Daniel Bryan in the main-event WWE World Title match, but if he faces Triple H, it'll still be a main-event match and he will get his Wrestlemania moment that this Yes! Movement is in need of.
I'm pretty certain that there will be something between Bray Wyatt and John Cena come Wrestlemania, given The Wyatt Family costs him the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Royal Rumble. But in the meantime, I feel that WWE is wasting Bray Wyatt. After defeating Daniel Bryan and stealing the show at Royal Rumble, he's done almost nothing but cut promos on The Shield. Yes, they have a six-man tag match coming up at Elimination Chamber where I'm sure he'll steal the show again, but he's already lost some of the momentum he gained after Royal Rumble and if they don't start featuring him fast, I fear he may lose it all.
How dare Micheal Cole make the statement that Cesaro is in the same ranks as John Cena in terms of in-ring ability. Cesaro is far better than Cena in every aspect of in-ring ability. He's more agile, athletic, technical, quicker and even stronger than John Cena. Cena has all of the out of the ring qualities like mic skills, popularity, charisma and style. But all of those are something Cesaro can learn. At this point, I don't think Cena can get better in the ring. Not even if he made an effort to do so.
That announce table is funny sometimes. I've seen instances where the announce table is supposed to break but doesn't and times when it's not supposed to break, yet it does. I couldn't tell in if was supposed to break during the main-event tonight or not. It certainly didn't look like it. But I'm sure they're glad it did because it got the crowd to chant 'Holy Shit' when it wasn't really a 'holy shit' moment. The match needed some extra pop, so I'm sure it was appreciated.
Despite the disparity between the LIKED and HATED in this blog, I actually enjoyed this episode a lot. There were moments that I didn't LIKE, matches that I didn't LIKE but the show overall was pretty good. I'm glad they finally broke the standoff between The Wyatt Family & The Shield because everybody wanted to see that. Ending the show in a brawl between the participants of the Elimination Chamber match is cliche, but at least they mixed it up by adding The Shield & The Wyatts to the fray as well. I am looking forward to the Elimination Chamber PPV, which has a surprisingly pretty stacked lineup.
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