WWE is giving us a second pay-per-view this month as Elimination Chamber airs this Sunday night.
The formerly defunct PPV (or special event as they call them now) was resurrected after only a one-year absence. Elimination Chamber was formerly held just before Wrestlemania every year but was scrapped this year amid speculation it was just too hard to transport the huge chamber around the country. Plus, there are very few arenas where it will fit.
I was disappointed by dropping Elimination Chamber because the world title was usually at stake, meaning any of five or six competitors had a chance of carrying it into Wrestlemania. It made the build up to Wrestlemania even more interesting. Plus, it was neat seeing the matches inside the huge chamber, its size making it much better for viewing than an ordinary cage match.
This year, there are two title matches that are going to be held inside the Chamber and both sound pretty fun. First off, we have the six-team, tag-team Elimination match. That means if one member of the team is pinned or submits, both have to leave the Chamber and are eliminated. The final surviving team is the tag-team champion. This bodes badly for the defending champions, The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Wood) since they don’t have to be pinned to lose their belts. They will be competing against the Ascension, Los Matadors, the Prime Time Players, The Lucha Dragons and the team of Cesaro and Tyson Kidd.
Frankly, I suggest only the champions and Cesaro-Kidd have legitimate chances at winning and, given the venom New Day gets from the crowd, I think WWE will let them retain the tag titles.
The other match inside the Chamber will be for the Intercontinental title that was vacated recently by Daniel Bryan who is again out injured. This match will include R-Truth, Dolph Ziggler, Rusev, Bad News Barrett, Sheamus and Ryback. Looking at the lineup, R-Truth is the only one who I can’t see emerging as champion. This match is one of the hardest to call in a long time. If pushed, I’d think Rusev would get the win simply because he needs his push to be renewed after his loss of the feud to John Cena.
Speaking of Cena, he will be challenged by NXT Champion Kevin Owens who attacked him in consecutive weeks on RAW. I see this match as a way to bring Owens, and hopefully Samoa Joe (who is feuding with Owens on NXT), onto regular WWE programming. WWE has a history of promoting its new stars from NXT. I look for Cena to win this one while trying to make Owens look good as a credible threat.
We also have the Diva’s title, pitting Nikki Bella against challengers Paige and Naomi. I see the belt changing hands here, likely going to Naomi. That will set up a feud between Paige and Naomi for the women’s title this summer.
We also have Neville versus Bo Dallas. While Dallas has no chance of winning as his WWE star has been basically put out, this may be a good match given their backgrounds in NXT. Neville is being heavily pushed by WWE.
The main event will be WWW World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins defending his belt against his former SHIELD partner, The Lunatic Fringe Dean Ambrose. This match will be great. Yes, I said great. It will be worth watching the entire show for, and, I know I don’t say this much about WWE, but this should be a very good PPV for the most part.
And, the best thing about it will be that it’s free. The WWE Network is free this month so all you have to do is tune in. They are putting the extra show on to try to boost Network subscriptions since an amazingly high number of folks are still paying $60 a show for PPVs instead of paying the $9.99 for a month WWE subscription. Go figure.
Locally, Tennessee All-Pro Wrestling will do its regular show at 8 p.m. this Saturday night at the arena located at the old cheese plant at the intersection of Red Road and the bypass. This week will feature a six-man grudge tag match will TAP Champion Caleb Courageous tagging up with Uptown Funk to take on Izzy Sik and Bad Company Incorporated.