Category: WWE News

Best Match – Owens vs Cena
Worst Match – Women’s match
Thumbs Up

If you had told me even a year ago that Kevin Owens would be on the WWE roster, and cleanly pinning John Cena, I would have openly laughed. My jaw literally hit the ground when the ref counted for three. A tremendous match and a great effort by both of them. Easily the best match of the night and shows again how versatile that Cena is, no matter who the opponent is. Overall a great PPV, although disappointed in the crowd reaction and how it died off after the Cena/Owens match, even when there was great action going on. Also great to see that the Dusty finish still lives in 2015! After a slow start, Rollins vs Ambrose turned out to be a great match, and looking forward to what the feud has in store on the next PPV (possible Reigns to turn on Ambrose?)

Roy Lucier

Thumbs way up
Best Match: Owens v Cena
Worst Match: Stardust v Ryder

Great event for something that came together so quickly! Owens Cena was just amazing, was looking forward to it the most and it overdelivered. Even if we had the expected non finish it would have been off the charts but Owens going over was that extra level that say Cena Lesnar extreme rules 2012 could have used to cement it. Some of those moves for Cena to trust owens with them says a lot about John and he busted his ass in the match. I want Owens Lesnar in Dallas.

Only a couple chamber matches have been duds and these ones tonight were the norm not the exception. The tag match was a sight only negative was some of that weird climbing by Kalisto and would have liked Cesaro Kidd to be in from the start. Bryan putting Ryback over afterwards was a nice touch and made the title a little more important. Main event was solid we knew there would be wackiness at the end. Thought it would be the dusty finish where it was reversed on Raw ( which might have been a cool story since it hasnt been used for a while?).

Odd announcing of the MITB participants out of the blue. Why not fill Raw with 6 ( or 7 or 8) qualifying matches? But thats nitpicking who can complain too much after a tremendous show!

Michael O’Brien
Brockton, MA

WWE Elimination Chamber: Thumbs Up
Best Match: Cena vs. Owens
Worst Match: Divas Triple Threat

Tag Title Chamber was good, although not to the level I expected.  Was surprised they tried to push the Ascension finally.  Was expecting them out first.  New Day retained which I did expect and it was the right move for now.  Divas triple threat was fine, but nothing special.  They really need to showcase the NXT women and let them show everyone how it is done.  Kind of surprised that Nikki retained.  John Cena vs. Kevin Owens was excellent.  They pulled out all the stops and Owens was tremendous doing some really great moves.  That superplex reversal was beautiful.  Great match and made the show.  Neville vs. Bo Dallas was fine, but maybe a little slow in spots.  Neville is just an excellent talent.  Hope to see him rise up the ladder (no pun intended for MITB).  I-C Title Chamber was also good, but still could have been better.  Maybe too many slow moving guys in it.  Mark Henry and Truth should not have been it since they are so low on the totem poll.  Nice to see Ryback finally pick up a title after all this time.  Hope he doesn’t go on a losing streak now.  Main Event title match was good and of course they took the wind out of everyone’s sails with the Dusty finish.  I had a feeling that would happen or at the very least a reversal the next night.  Overall a very good show.

Robb Block

OVERALL: Thumbs Down
Best Match: Kevin Owens vs. John Cena
Worst Match: Divas Three Way

Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber Match — I didn’t like this match. And for a minute I thought I was going to be the only one who didn’t but it seems like a lot of people thought this was a trainwreck. Lots of spots but no story and a lot of the spots looked silly. This looked like a bad ROH match. I’ll give credit, though, they worked hard. I thought it was too early to take the belts off the New Day so I was fine with the outcome. I think the match actually would have been stronger if the “extras” like El-Torito and Xavier Woods were kept out of the match. Nothing against them, but they weren’t used well here. Match itself wasn’t good to me at all. *3/4

Divas Three Way Title match — If they’re calling up Charlotte or Sasha and putting the belt on one of them, this was the right call. This match was more unfortunate than bad. They had 6 minutes and because theyv’e been berated by ignorant internet fans and unfairly compared to the NXT girls (who get way more time), they felt pressured to cram 12+ min. of wrestling into a small timeframe. Anytime that happens, you have this kind of match: a dangerous one. Hope Paige is OK. *1/4

Kevin Owens vs. John Cena — This was spectacular. I loved this match. Kevin and Owens and John Cena had way better chemistry than I had anticipated. I honestly think that this was Kevin Owens’s best match since coming to WWE. What a debut for him and I’ve become a huge fan of his. The match at first I thought was going to be one-sided but it was just a great back and forth match. I thought the decision to have Owens defeat Cena was a very good one. Cena is such an established star that he can lose 10 times and will still be John Cena. Kevin Owens has nowhere to go but up from here. I see this feud continuing.  ****

Neville vs. Bo Dallas — The match started off really, really slow for me. Once the match got further along it got a lot better. They weren’t booked to steal the show but they still had a really solid match in the end. I thought this was good. **3/4

IC Championship Elimination Chamber — I liked it for what it was. Certainly better than the last Chamber match. Glad to see Ryback won. I’m a little worried about how Sheamus is going to come out of this because he’s the one that got Shellshocked and powerbombed. I feel like they need to do a little better job protecting him. He had good momentum and has obvious talent in the ring but he’s kind of been waffling without a story for a while. I don’t believe it was right for R-Truth to pinn King Barrett. That only makes your King of the Ring look like a chump. I feel like Rusev could have gotten a lot of heat put back in this match but Henry wasn’t bad in this at all. ***

Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins — Awesome match but the booking of this was a complete fail for me. The “Dusty” finish never works. Ever. It is always counter-productive. They could have just as easily had Rollins cheat to win. You have Dean Ambrose now stealing yet another title. The fans were more pissed off by the booking than mad in storyline at Rollins. I love Seth Rollins to death (own one of his T-shirts) but J&J Security has GOT to go. They suck. My old lady is taller than both of them. They ruin every single match they are in. I see nothing in them at all. Ambrose hit an awesome Tornado DDT and still looked like a superstar here even when the booking constantly fails him. I can’t think of anyone in this company who has been so poorly booked for so long yet still the most over person in the company. Seth Rollins sold the hell out of Ambrose’s lariat which I thought looked sick. Great storytelling match here and really good action. Both of these guys are talented. But the booking was stone stupid. ***3/4

Craig Reeves

Hey Dave,I gave the show a thumbs upBest Match: Cena vs OwensWorst Match: Dallas vs Neville or Divas match – take your pickCena vs Owens really delivered and the right way to get Owens over on his first major show.Loved his springboard from the 2nd rope reversing his position to a moonsault as well as him reversing Cena’s superplex into his own sidewalk type slam. He also had that nice tease of the package piledriver setup into another slam. After the “upset” win they had the crowd shots to show the stunned reactions almost like it was the Undertaker Wrestlemania loss shots. Let’s home the Cena vs Owens II match doesn’t turn into even steven booking and Owens beats Cena again.Neville vs Dallas fell into that spot of death on the card trying to follow the Owens vs Cena match and it just seemed flat. Wasn’t horrible but had a bit of a disconnect for me.I don’t think the announcers got over the whole Sheamus spot in the IC title Chamber. It wasn’t like he couldn’t get out of his pod, it was him not wanting to come in by having his cross jam the door shut so the official couldn’t open the door. Having 2 panels come out so easily when Ziggler was thrown into them sort of ruins the impenetrable aspect of them as someone could really just kick their way out pretty easily, they looked pretty flimsy when they came out. This match was OK but the crowd still didn’t seem that into it. Mark Henry looks like he dropped a ton of weight and looked in the best shape of his career.Tag Chamber match was decent but they are really stretching it trying to come up with 6 teams. Didn’t make sense that New Day could have all 3 in the pod rather than them deciding with Freebird rules of which 2 were going into the match. Same with why Torito was in there. Kalisto, aside from climbing to the top of the Chamber and dropping really did nothing all match besides being held down by New Day in their pod. Maybe he was hurt.I was expecting a Reigns turn in the main event when him & Ambrose seemed so buddy buddy in the pre-interviews. Main event was solid and a good match. I think Ambrose needs to lose the slingshot clothesline Nigel McGuiness spots. It just looks so hokey. The Dusty finish…we will see where this goes now. I assume a title can change hands of a DQ match perhaps.Check out my current ebay auctions featuring some great wrestling memorabilia including some fantastic Stampede wrestling programs which feature Owen Hart, Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman, Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid, Bad News Allen, Keichi Yamada, Shinya Hashimoto, Hiro Hase and so many more. Seller name is grantsindexEmail me for some recent wrestling observer specials including UFC, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, Wrestlemania and more.grantsindex@nexicom.netGrant ZwarychWrestling Observer Index
Hey Dave,

Overall: Thumbs in the middle. It was a tale of two shows. The good (Owens/Cena, Rollins/Ambrose) was really good. In fact, I would say Cena and Owens was great. The bad (The Elimination Chamber matches/ Divas match) was quite bad. In fact, these were probably two of the worst Elimination Chamber matches I have seen. I have slanted this way for many years now, but tonight I will strongly declare: I want to see straight up wrestling matches with all of the rules enforced. No more gimmick matches. They have been used at excess and no longer serve a purpose.

Best Match: Owens Vs. Cena was everything every fan hoped for.Worst Match: The women’s match was atrocious. The timing and ring positioning was awful.

Pre-Show:
Miz TV segment was harmless fun. Crowd was tepid at best. Daniel Bryan said he will be back, but he did not specify if he would be back in the ring wrestling.
1.       Tag Team Title Elimination Chamber Match: New Day vs. Cesaro/Kidd vs. The Ascension vs. Los Matadors vs. Prime Time Playas vs. Lucha Dragons. The match had a lot of potential and it was set up to thrill, but in the end it failed to execute. When you have too many guys, doing too many spots, you have too much room for error. In this match, there were a lot of errors. Lots of ambitious ideas, but only about ½ were pulled off. Callisto looked perpetually confused throughout the match. Most of the guys wrestled in spot mode, looking over their shoulder and through the corner of their eye waiting for their turn to hit a spot. I suppose this match was set up to build up the Prime Time Playas and the Ascension. It did not succeed in either regard. To top it off, the finish was flat. **
2.       Divas Title Match: Naomi vs. Paige vs. Nikki Bella. The fans were willing to give the Divas a chance. The divas failed to deliver. Paige’s timing and ring placement was off the whole match. Naomi has started to botch spots on a regular basis. Some of the maneuvers in this match were reckless. *
3.       Kevin Owens vs. John Cena. Fantastic match. Well-paced, well laid out, and solid build to a clean and decisive finish. This was everything every fan could have asked for. It was a highlight reel for Kevin Owens and a testament to the confidence and ability of John Cena. Cena’s goal was to make a star, and Owens did not need much help. It is also refreshing to know that when the announce team wants to, they can help put somebody over. It makes you wonder why they do not do it more often. **** ½ star match and the promo was icing on the cake.
4.       Adrian Neville vs. Bo Dallas. Okay match. It was a little slow, and hence a little disappointing. More changes of pace could have helped the match significantly. For what it was, a solid win for Neville. **
5.       Intercontinental Title Elimination Chamber Match: R Truth vs. Wade Barrett vs. Sheamus vs. Mark Henry vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Ryback. With the exception of the final battle between Ryback and Sheamus which was pretty good, this match was a disaster. Obviously, Henry was not supposed to enter the match when he did and his presence totally flubbed the flow of the match. You could tell the wrestlers were attempting to overcome and adapt, but they were never able to find a pace. The announcers completely missed Sheamus locking himself into the pod to give himself a decided advantage. Maybe they should pay closer attention. I do like the fact that Ryback won and the concluding handoff between Bryan to Ryback was a feel good moment. **
6.       WWE Title Match: Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose. A very good match that bordered on great, but never sustained that level to be considered a classic. These guys have chemistry, and that chemistry was on display. The crowd was tired, but the solid work stirred them into frenzy towards the final stages. The dusty finish accomplished what it was supposed to accomplish; it produced a roller coaster reaction from the live crowd. The fact that many people will complain and critique the finish serves its designed purpose. ***3/4.
 Thanks, Derrick Hubbard

Thumbs in the middle

Best Match: John Cena vs. Kevin Owens

Worst Match: IC Chamber match

This would have been a thumbs down show without the Cena/Owens match and the Dusty Finish in the main event didn’t help either.

Tag Title Chamber match was okay better than I expected but the Ascension being put in first is laughable. ** stars

Divas Title match: A terrible match compared to the Becky Lynch/Sasha Banks match from Takeover a few days earlier. Botched spots all over the place, mostly by Naomi. Sad that Paige has to work with these girls until the NXT crew moves up. DUD

John Cena vs. Kevin Owens: This match I would put up with some of the great G1 matches from last year. Awesome awesome match. Owens became a made guy tonight. It’s too bad the crowd was awful cause in any other big town the crowd would have gone nuts for the finish. This match is the front runner for the WWE’s Match of the Year. **** 3/4 stars

Bo Dallas vs. Neville: Never had a chance after Cena/Owens. It was a 3rd hour Raw match. * 1/2 stars

IC Title Chamber: Awful. Wade Barrett is the jobber king, R-Truth was nothing, Dolph Ziggler continues to get worse, Mark Henry looked lost, Ryback looked dangerous and Sheamus was there.  -* star

Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose: Very good match which was to be expected but the Dusty Finish ruined everything, as they usually do. ** 1/2 stars w/ the DF

Josh Hayes

WWE Elimination Chamber

Thumbs in the Middle. Another just good enough but not great WWE show. Crowd was hot at spots but it was clear that it was mostly a small-town house show crowd.


Best Match: Owens vs Cena
Worst Match: Neville vs Dallas

1. Stardust vs Zack Ryder. This aired just minutes before the “official” Pre-Show. They try nobody cared. *1/2

2. New Day vs  PTP vs Cesaro & Kidd vs Ascension vs Lucha Dragons vs Matadores. All action match with some unique creative spots but the Chamber gimmick just don’t work with teams. ***1/2

3. Nikki Bella vs Paige vs Naomi. *1/2

4. Owens vs Cena. Absolutely great match. It will be interesting how Cena explains him losing since it was as clean as any other match he has lost in the past. Even when Punk beat him in Chicago there was some outside involvement. ****1/2

5. Neville vs Bo Dallas. Totally out of place. This match needed to be between the first Chamber match and the Divas. Dallas is a geek and WWE is booking Neville just like one. *1/4

6. Ryback vs Sheamus vs Ziggler vs Henry vs R-Truth vs Barrett. You know that this was a small town crowd when Sheamus totally over reacted being mad about getting stock in the pod and fans there bought it and some of them even chant his name. Marks. Way too long. Crowd was pretty much dead for most of it. This was the perfect scenario to debut a NXT guy. A Finn Balor win would have set a perfect scenario for a match between him and Bryan, hell that’s a Mania caliber match. Anyway none of that matters. Ryback won, who cares ***1/4

7. Rollins vs Ambrose. It was great until the finish. What a lame angle. Guess WWE is celebrating the 30 Year Anniversary of Back to the Future, because that type of shit is directly from the 80’s. Other than that is was a clothesline festival. ***3/4

Leonardo II Mendez Toledo

Thumbs…up?  (-It was down when I saw the decision reversal.)

Best match: Cena v. Owens
Easily.  I think this will become the match that defines our current era of wrestling.  Great back and forth. Cena “PPV” events usually have lots of production and hype going in.  This one focused on the meeting of these two champions and it delivered a championship quality match.

Worst Match: 
Elim 2: IC Belt
Painful stuff here.  I don’t know if anyone was interested in any of these guys winning.  And as that match dragged on, they gave us more reason not to care.  Sheamus stuck in the pod and using the cross was just awful.  Lots of visible standing around moments.  People weren’t acting like they wanted to be in the ring.  Bad match.

Worth mentioning:
There was WAY too much audible ring talking tonight!  I expect some from Cena, but every match people “TALK TOO MUCH.”  
Awful commentary is expected, but they weren’t calling the main event tonight.  There was more commentary from competitors in the ring tonight than from this team during the main event.
I think the J&J interference has been stale for awhile.
That Ambrose decision reversal was touch and go for the whole event.  Things were going to get real ugly.  Keeping the belt with Ambrose, albeit illegitimately, was a smart move.

Divas match:
This looked like it was over scripted.  It meant that botched spots ended out disrupting the whole flow of the match.  
VERY anticlimactic ending, too.  Not a fan of seeing a smiling and fresh Nikki Bella at the end of a championship match.

—

Nick Garcia

Announced for WWE Money in the Bank PPV in Columbus, OH, in just two weeks:

– Money in the Bank:  Dolph Ziggler, Neville, Kofi Kingston, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Sheamus. More names will be added to the match.

– U.S. Champion John Cena vs. Kevin Owens II

Shock of all shocks, barely an hour before the start of the show, the WWE has in fact reported that Rusev will not be wrestling tonight.

So what happens to the final spot in the IC title Elimination Chamber match?  It’s a surprise.

Rusev suffered a leg injury on Tuesday night and it’s been pretty clear for days he’s not wrestling tonight.  However, until minutes ago, WWE was continuing to advertise him, and hilariously, in something written on Friday, Joey Styles even predicted him as the winner of the match.

– Neville b King Barrett – Very good opener, Neville recognized by most and his move was over

– Damien Sandow b Tyler Breeze via DQ when Heath Slater interfered.  Only a small percentage of fans knew who Breeze was.

– Axelmania NC Breeze & Slater – When Axel Mania came out, most fans thought it was Hulk Hogan.

– Axel Mania & Macho Mandow b Breeze & Slater

– Xavier Woods & Big E won elimination match over Luke Harper & Erick Rowan and Tyson Kidd & Cesaro. Kidd talked about the history of wrestling in Greensboro, mentioning Starrcade (the vast majority didn’t react or seem to know what he was talking about), Arn Anderson, Wahoo McDaniel, Ric Flair, the Four Horseman and such.

– Paige b Naomi

– Zack Ryder b Bo Dallas

– U.S. Champion John Cena b Kane in a cage match to retain the title.

Submitted by Matt “Swarles” J.

– Mojo Rawley def. Chad Gable – Mojo did a lot of dancing and comedy. Mojo won with the pounce.

– The Vaudevillians def. Dawkins and Fulton

-They did an in ring interview with former Tampa Bay Buccaneer turned WWE developmental wrestler Sabby Piscitelli. He was interrupted by Preston Cunningham. It wasn’t much of a segment.

– Marcus Louis def Tucker Knight (I think) – Louis is still bald and was wearing slacks so he basically looked like Kane. Match killed the crowd and was pretty terrible. Louis won by submission after working the leg all match.

– Charlotte, Carmela and Devin def Women’s Champion Sasha Banks, KC Cassidy and Jesse McKay – Crowd woke back up for this one, they were really into Charlotte. Fun match, Charlotte picked up the win with the natural selection.

-Intermission

– Bull Dempsey def Mike Raliss – Bull was over as a babyface and he won with a top rope seated senton type move (Think Doink’s old whoopee cushion).

– Solomon Crowe def Tye Dillinger – Dillinger cut a pretty good promo before the match. Crowe won with the stretch muffler.

– Greg interviewed Uhaa Nation. They announced him as Uhaa Nation, so that’s his name for now. He talked about his up bringing and how hard he worked to make it to NXT.

-Becky Lynch def Lina Fanene: First time seeing Lina, did not realize how big she is. Lina mostly stood in the middle of the ring while Becky bumped for her. Becky won with an armbar

– Finn Balor, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady def Baron Corbin, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder – Fun match with lots of comedy and high flying to send the crowd home happy. Balor got the win with the coup de grâce.

HollywoodLife.com reported that Stephen Amell of “Arrow” fame will be facing Stardust (Cody Rhodes) at SummerSlam this year at the Barclays Center on 8/23.

The story said Arnell and WWE are deciding if Arnell should use the name Stephen Amell, or play the character of “Arrow” in the match. Amell was on Raw last Monday and was going to make return appearances, but the story of him wrestling may not be accurate.

By Craig Green
Lots of kids in the audience. This is my first house show in years so I’m impressed with the steel cage hanging over the ring. 

King Barrett is out first to good heel heat and demands the crowd to “hail King Barrett” and gets ill when they don’t. He delivers the “bad news” line when asking if Raleigh wants to see him get beat up. He issues an open challenge which Neville accepted.

Neville pinned King Barrett in about 12 minutes after Red Arrow.  Good back and forth match that the crowd enjoyed. Nicely done.

After the match Kane attacked Neville on the entrance stage. He announced Rusev’s injury to the audience and said he would take his place in the main event cage match.

Tyler Breeze was out next with Summer Rae(?). They cut heel promos and berated the crowd for not being good looking. Damien Sandow was out next as himself to new music.

Damien Sandow beat Tyler Breeze in 2 minutes by DQ when Heath Slater interfered.

Axelmania comes out for the save, challenges Breeze and Slater to a 2-on-1 handicap match. Yes, they accepted.
About 7 minutes into the match and with Breeze and Axel down, Macho Mandow makes the save, clears Breeze from the ring and Axelmania hits the big leg on Slater.

The Meta Powers beat Tyler Breeze and Heath Slater in 9 total minutes.

A Warrior Award/Connor the Crusher video aired to a good pop. Classy stuff by WWE.

New Day was out to a decent pop. Nobody here knows they’re heels as a majority of the crowd was clapping with them at first, then Xavier Woods heeled them out by leading them in an instructional clapping session.  Tyson Kidd and Cesaro were out next. Cesaro pimps Elimination Chamber and the tag title match but forgets he’s actually in one tonight. Harper and Rowan make their entrance. The ring announcer says this is an elimination match for the straps.

Tyson Kidd pinned Erick Rowan in about 17 minutes with a rollup. Rowan and Harper eliminated, but takes cheap shots at Kidd and Big E afterwards before heading to the back.

New Day wins the elimination tag match in about 23 minutes after Kofi rolls up Cesaro. Xavier Woods cheap-shotted Cesaro with the referee’s back turned. Kidd and Cesaro deliver two giant swing/dropkick combos on New Day after the match sends us to intermission.

Naomi is out first after intermission to no heat, followed by her opponent Paige to a good response.

Paige pins Naomi in about 9 minutes with Rampaige. OK match, nothing to write home about.

Bo Dallas out next. Zack Ryder makes his entrance.
Bo acknowledged the Entourage stuff with Ryder from Raw, as well as his loss to Cena. According to Bo, all Ryder needs to do is Bo-lieve.

Zack Ryder pins Bo Dallas in 8 minutes. Bo missed the Bo-Dog and takes a Rough Ryder. Nicely worked match.

Brief intermission to set up the cage.

US Champion John Cena beat Kane by escaping the cage in 13 minutes.

Double ref bump 10 minutes in. Kane accidentally kicked the cage door into one ref’s face while the ref inside the cage took a weak bump from Kane’s foot while Cena was attempting an AA. Cena eventually climbed over the top of the cage to send the crowd home happy while Kane was trying to escape through the door.

MATCH OF THE NIGHT: King Barrett vs. Neville

WORST WORKED MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Meta Powers vs. Slater/Breeze

BIGGEST POPS
1. Cena by a mile
2. Axelmania saving Sandow from Slater and Breeze
3. Kidd/Cesaro
4. Neville hitting Red Arrow
5. Paige/New Day’s entrance (tie)

MOST HEAT
1. King Barrett
2. Kane attacking Neville after his match
3. Xavier Woods and New Day heeling out the crowd after they initially cheered them
4. Bo Dallas
5. Kane

We have learned that Kevin Owens has signed a WWE main roster contract, and will be making the transition from the NXT brand to the main brand quickly.

He is booked for all Raw television going forward and will be starting on a full house show schedule very soon. He will continue as a character on NXT television for a couple of months to where it’s a smooth transition out since he’s the group’s current champion.

The WWE’s Japan office has just released that Brock Lesnar will work his first non-PPV match since 2004 for the company on the 7/4 show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo. Of all people, Lesnar is advertised as facing Kofi Kingston.