Elimination Chamber 2021 kicked off with, well, one of the night's two Elimination Chamber matches - SmackDown superstars Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, Baron Corbin, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Jey Uso doing battle in the structure. I would consider this one of the best editions of the Chamber since the WWE went full "PG," thanks in large part to the work of the two men that started things off - Bryan and Cesaro. Is Daniel Bryan the best Elimination Chamber worker of all time? I kinda feel like he has a claim to it, especially considering that he's won 2 of them (if not 3?). Cesaro had a tremendous showing as well in this match, tapping Corbin with the Sharpshooter after giving him his trademark swing. I also really liked Jey Uso's work in this match - slamming the Chamber entrance door on Kevin Owens and then superkicking the heck out of him until he was basically rendered unconscious. Paired up with the way Uso spoiled what looked to be a potential Cesaro elimination of Daniel Bryan and Uso came out of this match looking like a tremendous thorn in the side of anyone who dares take on Roman Reigns. The comparison may not be apt quite yet, but continued booking like this and Jey Uso is going to live up to being the Double A to Roman's Nature Boy and that relationship made for many years of great TV. I would be remiss not to mention that Sami Zayn was an excellent heel here too - funny but not so funny that you forget he can dish out punishment. Really, the only weak link was Baron Corbin - but credit to whoever booked this because he was the first guy out and, aside from Jey, this felt a bit like a reunion of Ring of Honor/Pro Wrestling Guerrilla guys going out there and just having an absolute ball beating the hell out of each other. I've got no problem calling this one of the first must-see matches of the year just because you really can't go wrong when you've got Bryan, Cesaro, Owens, and Zayn all putting on performances where their motivations were clear, their characters are well-defined, and their history and interlocking stories are elaborated on by adequate commentary. (4/5)
Immediately after this match, Roman Reigns showed up and defended his Universal Championship against Daniel Bryan. This was the exact type of squash one would expect and because this title defense was more of an angle than anything, I'm not going to rate it. After defeating Bryan in under 2 minutes - which made complete logical sense - Edge showed up and speared Reigns, effectively kickstarting their WrestleMania feud. I wonder how a live crowd would have reacted to this. I'm guessing it would've been a positive reaction but you never know...it's possible they could've turned on it a bit as Daniel Bryan remains as beloved a wrestler as anyone and there does seem to be something in the air with Cesaro.
Bobby Lashley was supposed to defend his United States Championship against Keith Lee in the next match, but because of injury or Covid or some other unknown reason, a number one contender's match was held during the pre-show and somehow John Morrison and Matt Riddle both won. Regardless, Lashley was made to look like an absolute monster - which is a good thing - and it took the combined effort of Morrison and Riddle to inflict any sort of damage on him. I liked the fact that this match told that story, told it well, and had enough fireworks to keep me engaged from bell-to-bell. Morrison has always been more flash than substance to me so a match like this is how I like to see him used. I'm not a fan of Matt Riddle as a person, but as a worker, he undoubtedly puts intensity into what he does. MVP was his usual brilliant self on the outside, jawing with JoMo and getting his crutch taken away (which led to the finish). I'm not sure where they go from here; Lashley seems ready for a push back into the title hunt so getting the US Title off of him makes sense, but it also would seem silly for him not to want some measure of revenge on Morrison and Riddle after not really losing the title here. Any which way, they have me at least a little intrigued - which is kind of the point - and I liked this match more than I expected going into it. (3.5/5)
The Women's Tag Team Championships were on the line next with Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax defending their gold against Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair. This was a fine-not-great match and I definitely like Nia Jax in tags considerably better than I do in singles (though I'm not as "down" on her as others). I didn't expect Banks and Belair to win the titles so I wasn't as surprised by the finish as much as I was surprised that it revolved around Carmella's sommelier Reginald, a character that I find to be about as interesting as white bread. Why does the WWE seem to shoo away any would-be great manager after a couple months, letting talented mouthpieces and seconds go without hesitation, and then work so hard to try to get rather unremarkable characters like Reginald over? Seems like if Carmella needed a puppy dog lackey or Sasha needed an obsessed fan, you could use someone with a touch more charisma. Perfectly reasonable match. (2.5/5)
The RAW brand Elimination Chamber match was next - Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton starting things off in a match that also featuring Kofi Kingston (who inexplicably taunted Orton's quads viciously as he entered the Chamber), Sheamus, AJ Styles, and the WWE Champion himself, Drew McIntyre. I don't usually like when a champion has to defend their title in an Elimination Chamber as it doesn't quite make sense, but credit to the WWE for making things feel truly "random" and having McIntyre come in third and just start kicking ass, a nice way to solidify his status as a strong, world-beating, fighting champion. I also like the structure of this match and how it compared to the one earlier in the show. That match, aside from Corbin's early dismissal, featured 5-out-of-6 performers all working different parts of the ring for a lengthy stretch, while this was one was built mostly around 3-man competition. First, it was Hardy/Orton/Drew, then, when Kofi came in and got a somewhat-shocking elimination on Randy, it became built around Kofi/Hardy/Drew (and AJ Styles, who entered the match early). At a certain point, AJ seemed to "disappear" from the match, and by the time he got back involved in a major way, Sheamus had also joined and eliminated Kofi with a Brogue Kick. Hardy got some momentum soon after, but ended up eating a Claymore to get eliminated and we were back down to 3 within just a few minutes. This three-man stretch - McIntyre, Sheamus, and AJ - was the best of the part of the match as these guys worked terrificly together and had me longing for a potential full-blown triangle match between them on a big stage (not just a throwaway Raw where it will probably happen if it hasn't already). The finishing sequence was fantastic too, with Sheamus delivering a Brogue Kick to Drew that looked like it might end the match only to get hit with a Phenomenal Forearm from AJ to get eliminated himself. AJ then went back to the top for another one, but got Claymore'd in mid-air from McIntyre to give him a hard-earned, credible victory that also didn't bury AJ or Sheamus. While not as good as the first Chamber match on the show, this one was well-paced and featured solid work out of the champion, Styles, and Sheamus especially. (3/5)
Before the show ended, though, Bobby Lashley showed up and destroyed McIntyre, allowing The Miz to then come in and capture the WWE Championship, his first major title win in 10 years. I'm a big Miz fan - especially when he's a heel, especially when he plays the "spoiler" - but this title win was a bit too "outta nowhere" to me and seems like an unnecessary hiccup in what could've been a more straightforward build towards Lashley/McIntyre. Had The Miz not spent the past couple months in comparatively "sillier" storylines, had him and Morrison actually been positioned as an important, relevant tag team, if Drew McIntyre hadn't of already dropping his title in the midst of what should've been a dominant run, I'd have been much happier with The Miz getting his hands on the belt, but this felt like a suprise-for-suprise's sake moment. Well executed, but still not nearly as exciting as I believe Vince thought it would be.
All in all, I enjoyed Elimination Chamber 2021 quite a bit. The show moved briskly between matches and there weren't any out-and-out awful matches, with even the least interesting bout - the Women's Tag Team Championship - being at least an average match. With a Kwang Score of 3.25-out-of-5, this will probably stand as one of the best WWE shows of the year, digestible and enjoyable from beginning to end.
FINAL RATING - Watch It
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