Elimination Chamber: Perth kicked off with the Women's Elimination Chamber match between Bianca Belair, Raquel Rodriguez, relative newcomer Tiffany Stratton, Liv Morgan (who got one of the bigger pops of all the participants), and the two women who started the match: Naomi and Becky Lynch. We got some decent, but weirdly slow, grappling to start things off. I didn't mind the trading of nearfalls and exhibition-style opening, but I've also grown accustom to PG-rated cage matches over the years. Tiffany Stratton came in next and immediately impressed the crowd with some serious gymnastic-inspired offense. A great series of sequences followed with everyone getting some shine. Liv Morgan came in next and went right after Stratton. Morgan slamming Stratton into the cell walls was a tremendous visual and credit to Stratton for taking those bumps with gusto. Morgan was over with the crowd and was wrestling with a ton of spirit, clearly motivated to maximize this opportunity and maybe remind the folks in the back that, at one point, she seemed like a potential major player in the division. Lynch nailed Stratton with a nasty pumphandle slam on the Chamber floor and then applied a Disarmher through the cage in a great visual. Stratton recovered quickly enough to eliminate Naomi minutes later and Raquel came in next. Like Morgan, Rodriguez was out for awhile due to injury but had some momentum last year. Belair was the last entrant and, like everyone else, went right at it with Stratton. Belair might have the reputation for needing her matches and sequences to be "scripted," but the results speak for themselves and she came in and really pushed the match to the next gear, hitting Raquel with an excellent tornado DDT on the Chamber floor after some exchanges with Lynch and Stratton. We saw Liv hit a senton off the top of a pod and then Stratton and Lynch do some brawling atop it, leading to Lynch getting pushed off rather awkwardly and then Stratton hitting a front-flip splash onto Belair, Raquel, and Lynch to a massive pop. Stratton looked to hit her finisher on Liv back in the ring, but Morgan cut her off and eliminated her - which actually drew some boos from the crowd, though I doubt that was the plan. We got another great spot as Raquel powerbombed Belair from the Chamber floor into the ring. Lynch applied the Disarmher to her but Raquel wouldn't submit. After hitting a ridiculous double power-bomb on Lynch and Liv, Raquel was eliminated by Belair to a somewhat muted response. Again, part of the issue might've been that Raquel had just come off a really impressive streak of maneuvers before she was eliminated. The next few minutes were a bit unremarkable until Morgan hit a sunset flip powerbomb that looked absolutely BRUTAL on Belair. Had it not been for Belair's ridiculous neck muscles, I'm guessing she'd be out for months. Minutes later, Belair somehow hit a 450 on Lynch, but Becky got her knees up at the last second. Belair attempted KOD but Morgan countered with a jawbreaker and then hit a Codebreaker on Lynch, showing that she could hang with both former champs. Belair went for a KOD on Lynch but Becky escaped, allowing Morgan to roll up the EST for a 3 - only for Lynch to hit her with the Manhandle Slam and eliminate Morgan! Great closing sequence there. Really strong match that started a bit slow but built up well to some very cool spots and felt like it pushed Stratton and Morgan as real stars to watch in 2024. (3.5/5)
After a whole bunch of commercials, it was time for the WWE Tag Team Championship bout between Judgement Day (Balor and Priest) and the New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate). Before the match began, Dom Mysterio got on the mic and got almost completely drowned out by boos. Bate and Dunne are incredible workers, undersized but very good at adding just enough flair and panache to their moves to give them personality. The heels slowed things down after the babyface shine and Bate played the face-in-peril. Dunne got the hot tag and took it to Balor before landing a moonsault to the outside onto both champions. Bate came back in but so did Priest and the Money In The Bank holder regained control. Balor came back in and stomped on Bate for awhile, but Bate fought back and got Priest up for the airplane spin, dizzying him for close to a full minute. Dunne came in and landed the Bitter End on Balor but Dom pulled Finn's under the bottom rope to prevent the three. The referee ejected Mysterio from ringside and the crowd sang him the traditional exit theme for such an occasion - "Hey Hey Hey Goodbye." As Dom made his exit, Balor hit Dunne with a serious of his signature dropkicks and then attempted a Cous De Gras but couldn't connect. The NCR hit the Double Tyler Driver but only got 2 due to Priest breaking it up. The action continued and was good until Priest had a horrendous botch off of a Tyler Bate head-scissors. Ugly stuff there. The crowd was still into things, for sure, especially as Bate and Dunne regained control and hit a double inverted AA on Priest. Priest fought back, though, and hit a double South of Heaven chokeslam off the middle rope before Finn Balor finished Dunne off with a Cous De Gras. This was fine, slightly above-average even, but the finish was never really in question. (3/5)
Next up - a talk show segment: The Grayson Waller Effect with Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes. This was a lengthy, lengthy, lengthy segment with close to 10 minutes spent on entrances alone. Cody challenged The Rock to a 1-on-1 match that I don't expect to happen, especially not prior to WrestleMania and Seth Rollins said he had his back. Austin Theory did some of The Rock's shtick, which was awful, not funny, and did nothing for Theory except make him look like even more of a loser. This was a sub-SmackDown segment.
After another lengthy break, it was time for the Men's Elimination Chamber Match featuring United States Champion Logan Paul, Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley (selling an injury at the hands of Karrion Kross), Kevin Owens, and the two men that kicked things off - Drew McIntyre and LA Knight. Knight was over with the Aussies, but I'm still not sold on the guy as I just don't see what makes him special as an in-ring performer. Knight took the fight to Drew, bashing his head into Owens' pod repeatedly. Speaking of KO, he came in at #3 and attacked both guys, chokeslamming Knight and hitting him with a standing senton for 2. McIntyre went for a superplex but couldn't pull it off, eventually eating a frog splash for his efforts. Lashley came in at #4, another guy, like Owens, who is consistently great but had zero chance of winning just based on where he's been falling on the card over the past year. I loved Lashley and Drew getting some time in the ring together as the two have great chemistry after working together a whole bunch over the past 8 years. With still no eliminations, Randy Orton came in at number five. Orton has clearly been having fun on this latest run and his work with Kevin Owens had me wondering why I can't recall these two having a real, significant program together considering how long they've been in the same company. Orton hit a draping DDT on Owens on the Chamber floor and sold the damage expertly while Lashley and McIntyre worked on each other in the middle of the ring. Knight hit a DDT onto McIntyre on the floor as well but then got dropped with a back suplex by Orton, who, once again, sold the damage to his own back after hitting the move. Paul came in last but Owens was waiting for him, locking himself into the pod (which Paul had scribbled on like a bored high schooler in a great bit of heeling) so that he could beat down on the US Champion. Paul being in a match like this takes him from his "special" status, but he's also proven to be good enough that he wasn't at all out of place. Lashley drove Owens through a pod wall with a terrific Irish Whip and then speared Paul through the opposite one to a huge pop. Wow. That might've been the spot of the night and I love Lashley selling the damage to his injured forearm as well. McIntyre caught him with a Claymore and rolled him into the ring. McIntyre hit him with a second Claymore back in the ring to eliminate Lashley and then got back into it with LA Knight. Knight looked like he might've been able to eliminate Drew moments later, but Styles somehow got into the Chamber and attacked him with a chair. As Corey Graves noted on commentary, we saw something similar with Logan Paul last year. Styles hit Knight with a Styles Clash on the chair, which was admittedly nifty. McIntyre draped his arm over Knight to eliminate him officially and we were down to 4. On the Chamber floor, Owens and Paul went back at it, with Owens destroying Paul and then cannonballing McIntyre and Orton on the inside. He nearly eliminated the Viper with a senton off the top but only got 2. He went for one on Drew but McIntyre got his knees up and we were back to a four-man lay-around. Drew attempted a Claymore but Owens caught him with a powerbomb and then hit a Stunner on Paul! Orton went for an RKO but got superkicked - only for Orton to hit the RKO when Owens went for a pop-up powerbomb! Orton made the cover and Owens was out of the match. As Orton and Drew did some brawling in the middle of the ring, Paul climbed atop one of the pods and launched himself onto Drew with a huge crossbody. Paul busted out the brass knuckles and gloated - only to eat an RKO out of nowhere in a terrific bit of pro-wrestling production! Terrific elimination there. McIntyre and Orton did some good work in the closing minutes - like McIntyre and Lashley, they have undeniable chemistry from years of working together - but I'm not sure a single person in Perth or anywhere else in the world believed Orton was going to win this match. McIntyre called for the Claymore after hitting Orton with a big spinebuster, but Orton crumbled to the mat before he could get up. Orton was playing possum, though, and hit McIntyre with an RKO! Before Orton could make the cover, though, Logan Paul decked him with the brass knucks and McIntyre got the pin. To me, this was not a great ending for Drew, who really could've and should've won without Paul's interference. Overall, though, this was a solid Chamber match with some very good moments out of Lashley, Logan Paul, Kevin Owens, and Orton. (3/5)
Main event time - Rhea Ripley vs. Nia Jax for Ripley's RAW Women's Championship. The crowd was obviously fully behind Ripley here, it being her home country, and she gave a fantastic babyface performance - though more than just some of the credit should go to Nia Jax, who may have had a career performance here. Unlike Zelina Vega's match in Puerto Rico earlier this year (or really any of the matches at that show), though, this production and sheer magnitude of the massive arena detracted from it a bit - at least for me. Whether it was the mic'ing of the crowd, the way the sound traveled out of the arena, or the card just being a little burnt out after two Elimination Chamber matches, this one didn't quite get to that "next level" that would push it into "must see" category for me. The finish was never in question and nor was the character work; as mentioned earlier, Ripley was clearly working as the babyface here, but because she didn't show even a touch of the badass heel character that has made her arguably the most interesting woman on the roster, the match seemed a bit ho-hum. Maybe an appearance by Dom would've helped? A crowd-pleasing match for those in attendance and the Ripley superfans, but not a modern classic or anything. (3/5)
Elimination Chamber: Perth earned a very respectable 3.12-out-of-5 Kwang Score...but sometimes the numbers can be deceiving. Every match was good, but no match was truly great (the Women's Match, thanks particularly to Tiffany Stratton's performance and a great finishing sequence, came closest). The Cody/Seth/Grayson Waller segment was unremarkble aside from Cody challenging The Rock in the vaguest way possible, a thread that I'm very skeptical about actually leading to a 1-on-1 match. The main event gave Ripley her big hometown victory, but they missed an opportunity to spice things up by having Becky Lynch - in what would've garnered huge heel heat, no doubt - make some sort of post-match appearance to build towards WrestleMania (even a shot of her watching from backstage would've been sufficient really). No Bayley? Boo. The Rock and Roman not appearing was expected, but unless they worked the pre-show, not having either of the Usos also gave the impression that this show was lacking in starpower and relevancy. Pick the parts you are most interested in, skip the rest.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
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