WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER

Corpus Christi, Texas

THE NEW DAY vs. THE LUCHA DRAGONS vs. TYSON KIDD & CESARO vs. THE ASCENSION vs. LOS MATADORES vs. THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS "ELIMINATION CHAMBER": Sadly, the WWE probably won't be doing these "lesser" chamber matches since both of them didn't turn out all that great. This was the better of the two...but, really, Cesaro and Kalisto of the Dragons are the only two entertaining wrestlers. Kalisto even climbed up to the top of the thing and dropped down. Did it make sense that The New Day had three wrestlers? Or that the Matadores had their midget? Seems unfair. The midget also dropped from the ceiling. I guess it sounds a lot cooler than it was. Good, just not as exciting as it could've would've should've been. **1/2

NIKKI BELLA vs. PAIGE vs. NAOMI: Paige is gorgeous. Maybe she should focus on acting or marrying a billionaire because the Diva division has sucked for years. *1/2

KEVIN OWENS vs. JOHN CENA: Excellent match. Perhaps Cena's best ever? It had a NJPW feel. Big moves one after the other, constant near-falls, high drama. Went on a bit too long, but Owens was incredible  here (perhaps he read my Kevin 'Boring' Owens tweet after that dull Zayn/Owens match months ago). ***1/2

NEVILLE vs. BO DALLAS: Ugh. Neville is already kind of boring. Bo is Bray Wyatt's brother. Huh. 1/2*

RYBACK vs. R-TRUTH vs. SHEAMUS vs. KING BARRETT vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. MARK HENRY "ELIMINATION CHAMBER": Not that good. But look at the cast! The previous chamber matches were helped by featuring the stars of the WWE. This was for the IC title that Daniel Bryan gave up. Henry, R-Truth, and Barrett all suck. Ryback is mostly a bore. Sheamus is only good in Daniel Bryan matches. Ziggler is the only semi-entertaining one. Eh. It was okay. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. DEAN AMBROSE: Good match. The first half was a little dull, but Ambrose is wild and kinetic enough to put on a good show. He cut his teeth for three years in CZW, so without tables, glass, or chairs he's not as entertaining. Still, they put on a good show. Rollins pushed the ref into Ambrose and the ref got KO'd. A new ref came down and Ambrose won the title but it was reversed...Ambrose won but by DQ so no title change. Yeah, super lame. These guys can wrestle each
other forever as far as I'm concerned. **1/2

WWE PAYBACK

Baltimore

SHEAMUS vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (12:20): Crimson mask! Dolph bled legit at the end. About the only cool thing in this match. *1/2

THE NEW DAY vs. TYSON KIDD & CESARO "2 OUT OF 3 FALLS" (12:40): Figured it'd be better...and longer. Xavier Woods got the pin even though he wasn't in the match (Kofi and Big E. were). Cesaro tried to pick up Big E. at one point and couldn't lift him. Awkward. Entertaining but they've had better matches. **1/2

BRAY WYATT vs. RYBACK (15:36): Better than I (or anyone) expected. Still not that good. Ryback did a Tanahashi-esque top-rope splash which was new. **

JOHN CENA vs. RUSEV "I QUIT MATCH" (27:58): I liked this. They basically walked around the arena finding things to hit the other with. Rusev was tossed onto the fireworks display by the entrance and some pyrotechnics went off. Rusev put Cena through a table and onto a metal guardrail. The finale had Rusev taking down the top rope in the ring but Cena used it to help him cinch on a lame STF submission hold. Rusev yelled something in Russian and Lana ran in saying, "He quits!" **1/2

NAOMI & TAMINA vs. THE BELLA TWINS (6:13): Don't get me started on the women's division.

WADE BARRETT vs. NEVILLE (7:22): Barrett got counted out because he just decided to leave. Okay. Neville then pulled him back in for the Red Arrow. Not good. 1/2*

SETH ROLLINS vs. ROMAN REIGNS vs. DEAN AMBROSE vs. RANDY ORTON (23:52): Great main event. The first half was so-so but it heated up when The Shield reunited to put Orton through the announce table. Then they turned on Rollins and and laid him on the Spanish announce table then slammed Kane down onto Rollins and the table. It didn't break so they did it again and it broke. J & J Security and Kane were practically in the match so it was quite the clusterfuck. Rollins won with a pedigree.
***