Montreal
ASUKA vs. CARMELLA vs. LIV MORGAN vs. NATALYA vs. NIKKI CROSS vs. RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ "ELIMINATION CHAMBER" (19:30): If you won this match you got a title shot at Wrestlemania against Bianca Belair. Weird that some of the bigger names weren't in this match or on this show then, namely Bayley, Ronda Rousey, and Becky Lynch. Considering who was in this match, it was fairly obvious that Asuka was going to win. As for entertainment? It was a good match, though nothing special and not particularly memorable. Asuka and Carmella were the last two left, which made it even more obvious who was going to win. I do like the Elimination Chamber as a gimmick, as it's kind of difficult to have a boring match. **1/2
BOBBY LASHLEY vs. BROCK LESNAR (4:45): I'm not entirely sure what the point of this match was considering it ended in a DQ. They did a bunch of big moves and then Lashley put Lesnar in the Hurt Locker and Lesnar couldn't get out so he kicked Lashley in the balls. After the DQ, Lesnar put Lashley through the announce table. It seemed like they didn't want to beat Lashley or Lesnar in this match. Does that mean they'll have a rematch at Wrestlemania? I'm not sure I want to see this again. The hot Montreal crowd loved this while it lasted, though. **
EDGE & BETH PHOENIX vs. FINN BALOR & RHEA RIPLEY (13:50): Edge got a gigantic pop. That makes sense since he's Canadian and hasn't wrestled in Montreal in forever. I'm really sick of The Judgment Day, although Dominic Mysterio is pretty hilarious. Beth and Rhea worked well together beating the shit out of each other. I still don't like Finn Balor as a heel, though, even though he was kind of, sort of a heel way back when in NJPW. The whole Judgment Day group just makes zero sense because Edge started it and then got kicked out of it right away only because the writers realized turning him heel was idiotic. **
AUSTIN THEORY vs. BRONSON REED vs. DAMIAN PRIEST vs. JOHNNY GARGANO vs. MONTEZ FORD vs. SETH ROLLINS "ELIMINATION CHAMBER" (31:30): This was entertaining and probably the best match on the show. Considering Ricochet is the big high flier, why wasn't he in this match? It truly was a random assortment of wrestlers in this. Austin Theory was defending his U.S. title. Who has the IC title then? Even I don't know. Montez Ford and Gargano did a few big moves that got the crowd all riled up. Montez Ford climbed up the cage and dropped down onto everyone. Gargano gave Seth Rollins a Hurricanrana off the top of one of the pods. After Rollins gave Montez Ford a Stomp on the metal part of the chamber, he was woozy and they opened the door to help him out. This let Logan Paul enter the cage, give Seth Rollins an Adam Page clothesline and then a Stomp, leading to Theory winning. This means Logan Paul is facing Seth Rollins at 'Mania. While Logan Paul has been entertaining thus far in the WWE, I could really care less about that match. ***
ROMAN REIGNS vs. SAMI ZAYN (32:30): I'm having PTSD just talking about this match. Don't make me. No. It hurts too much. So the WWE lucked into the Sami Zayn/Bloodline storyline. It was supposed to be something dumb that goofy Zayn could do for a few weeks but the crowds liked it so it snowballed into the WWE's best storylines since The Summer of Punk way back in 2011. If the WWE had stuck the landing on this storyline it might have gone down as the greatest WWE storyline in history. But this is the WWE we're talking about, so of course they fucked it up. It's sad, really, because ending this storyline with a moment that no one will every forget was like giving candy to a baby. Can you imagine how awesome this storyline would have been if the ending was Zayn beating Reigns for the title and ending his streak? It would have been legendary, remembered forever, talking about for ages. Sadly, the WWE doesn't give a fuck about guys like Sami Zayn. They only want big, muscled, dumb, hand picked, chosen ones. Considering they've treated Sami Zayn like a clown for his entire WWE run, it's not surprising that they didn't want him to main event Wrestlemania and/or win the title. Sami Zayn winning the title in his hometown and then raising the belt in the crowd would have been one of the WWE's greatest moments ever. Well it wasn't to be. Reigns beat Sami Zayn thanks to interference from Paul Heyman and Jimmy Uso. Jey Uso did not turn on Sami. Kevin Owens did come out post-match but did not hug Sami Zayn or rekindle their friendship. The crowd was a silent tomb when Zayn lost. I've never had much faith in the WWE doing what's obviously right but this was such a slam dunk it's kind of baffling they didn't want to do it. Why? Is Cody Rhodes winning the title that much better? That much more special? Better than paying off a year long storyline that gets huge ratings and the crowd is totally invested in? What the fuck is wrong with the WWE creative? How fucking stupid are those people to not see what's right in front of them? It was bad enough having Drew McIntyre lose and ruin a soccer stadium crowd's night back in September. Now they just ruined what could have been the greatest ending to one of the greatest storylines wrestling has ever had. Now the storyline isn't that great. It'll be forgotten. It'll be one of those "what if's" that people always hark about. As for the actual match...it wasn't that great. The crowd was awesome. Sami's wife at ringside cheering him on was awesome. The energy was electric. This main event was the biggest the WWE's had in forever. I couldn't even tell you the last time a main event in the WWE was this big. Was it really CM Punk vs. John Cena from 2011? That fucking long ago? The ending was so lame, so flat, so disappointing, so pathetic. I really hate this company. And the craziest thing about this is that, c'mon, we all knew the WWE was going to fuck this up. When was the last time they ever did anything right? As for the match? ** But the crowd and the energy and the build up? **** The really sad thing about all of this is that, sure, they can have Sami Zayn beat Roman some other time, have Sami win the title some other time...but this was the moment, this was the peak, this was the crescendo...and it'll never happen like this again.
