By Tony Donofrio, Torch specialist

-- 2/21 WWE Elimination Chamber PPV Hits & Misses

WWE PPV HITS

Raw Elimination Chamber (WWE Title): I was surprised to see no eliminations until all six wrestlers were out of their pods. With that said, it was a nice surprise. Randy Orton put off his face turn for yet another night, but you have to think that it's about ready to pop now. I know Orton was in his hometown, but fans have been waiting to cheer him for weeks now and it has to happen now. The concept of him and Ted DiBiase dominating by numbers was done well until the black sheep known as Cody Rhodes once again reared his head. As for the rest of the match, no real complaints. There was nothing that really stood out. But again, nothing to gripe about. I was surprised to see Sheamus lose the title though. Where exactly does he now go from here? At match end, I wasn't all that upset about seeing John Cena as champion (surprisingly) because I figured that a money feud would now develop with him and Batista. I didn't, however, expect Batista to leave as champ less than three minutes later (more on that later). Good work by all six wrestlers involved, though, as the match told a good story from start to finish.

Drew McIntyre vs. Kane (Intercontinental Championship): Other than the lack of crowd heat for McIntyre, nothing to complain about with this one as well. It doesn't seem as though this feud is over and that's probably a good thing. McIntryre should gain some credibility with the fans if he comes out the better of it in a feud with Kane. A well-worked match by both guys and I am really starting to enjoy the classic heel antics of McIntyre that have carried over from feud to feud.

The Miz vs. MVP (U.S. Title): Another very solid match between these two in what started out as a hot feud but simmered down in recent weeks. I don't necessarily like how the match came about, but more on that later. MVP's character still begs to be a heel, but as far as the clash between him and The Miz goes, it works about right. I'd love to see this feud heat back up and it might still in the form of tag action between MizShow and MVP/Mark Henry. The big spot in the match was also a big hit, even if it didn't come from the two guys in the ring. Big Show putting Henry through the barrier wall protecting the timekeeper (by the way, why does WWE have a time keeper anymore if time limits no longer exist in matches, hmmm?) came off great on TV and shouldn't go without mention.

The Smackdown Elimination Chamber (World Heavyweight Title): First of all, this match was completely different from Raw's Chamber match, but it was also a hit in its own right. Even though C.M. Punk was eliminated much earlier than I thought he should have been, he was great again. I love how in this match and in the Royal Rumble, he was able to sandwich in his promos adding even more heat to his character. I was also pleasantly surprised to see John Morrison have a strong performance in what should be his first of many PPV main events in his WWE career. Chris Jericho once again shined and the idea behind him barricading himself in his pod like he did was priceless! The finish was predictable but in a good way because it will lead to the likely Jericho-Edge main event at WrestleMania that most fans want to see. I'm hoping that this also will lead to a heel Shawn Michaels, which we've only seen glimpses of since his return back in the early 2000's.

Book-ending the co-main events: This was done last year for the February PPV. I liked it then and I like it again this year. Rather than try to stick one match in-between the two mega-matches, they book-ended the show with them, which was a smart idea. The same concept was done a few months back at the Hell in a Cell PPV and I thought it was a good idea for that too. Here's hoping WWE will stick to this concept with their "match-based/named" PPVs. When it's done this way, the fans have some time to recoup and have another big match to look forward to.

WWE PPV MISSES

Batista wins the WWE Title just minutes following Cena's title win: This is a minor miss if only because I am not a fan of hotshotting title changes. It was done at the beginning of the show, which made it more forgivable. It was a surprise as well, which also made it exciting. However, I don't see how this feud couldn't have still gone forward with Vince McMahon naming Batista the number one contender on Raw, thus giving us the same co-main event for WrestleMania, only with Cena as champion. As I said, this isn't a huge miss and the feud should still be a good one from here.

Michelle McCool/Layla vs. Maryse/Gail Kim: If the last miss was just a minor one, this one was a miss on multiple levels! First of all, I was waiting for Gail to state that she knew what Maryse was saying all along. In case you don't know, Gail is Canadian. Now, before I get some Canadian backlash, I know that not all Canadians speak French and the province of Ontario (where Gail is from) is predominantly an English-speaking area. However, she still is Canadian and I'm sure she has some friends that speak French. How long should it take for her to find out what Maryse was really saying the past so many weeks? Secondly, switching the Divas Title match to a non-title divas tag match was disappointing. I know that not much hype was put into the actual title match, but the reason behind the change was also flimsy at best. Here's hoping that they're going to use the extra time now to build up this match. Knowing what I just said, we'll probably see the match take place within five hours of this writing. As for the match itself, it wasn't awful, but there was so much negativity surrounding this match-up that it can't receive a hit.

Adding matches at the last minute: The last match could also be clumped into this category, but it received a whole miss to itself just because of everything behind it. Two months in a row now, we've seen a U.S. Title match added with no promotion at all! I like seeing two mid-card titles defended on one PPV, but how about a little hype for them? Also, how does MVP and Mark Henry scoring a pin in a non-title tag match against MizShow on Raw justify MVP earning a U.S. Title shot? Shouldn't they have been awarded a Tag Title match? If you ask me, it's all a little confusing and doesn't make much sense.

Too much filler: You could tell that WWE didn't put much thought behind the mid-card booking and other promos that were on this show. I've already covered the matches, but the multiple hype videos for WrestleMania and the William Regal-Edge promo exchange wasn't needed on a PPV. I'm just guessing but if someone took the time and money to watch this PPV, they will probably also be ordering/watching WrestleMania and they don't need more than one hype video. Secondly, as much as I like Regal and Edge, this promo was done solely to kill time, in my opinion. The one thing that I did like coming out of this was knowing that Edge will be making his WrestleMania decision on Raw.

ANALYSIS/OVERALL GRADE

Although the Hits and Misses for the show were almost equal in total, the show was still good enough to get a "B-minus." The Chamber matches were both booked well-enough to carry the show to a solid grade. There are some big questions to be answered, though, and I'm hoping WWE doesn't drag their feet with them. First of all, where does Orton go from here? Do we see the anticipated Orton-DiBiase match-up at WM or does Rhodes also get thrown into the mix making this a triple threat match? Somehow, I see this being a triple threat leading to the ultimate destruction of Legacy.

What about Triple H and Sheamus? I really thought that this would be the WWE Title match-up at Mania. My thought was that this match needed a title whereas a Cena-Batista match-up simply didn't. Do they still go through with those match-ups or stray from those now? Where does Bret Hart now figure into the Batista-Vince-Cena triangle? If he has a "broken leg with ligament damage," how could he possibly be ready for WM if he's to get physically involved? If Bret wasn't involved, I could see a potential four-way with Batista-Cena-Hunter-Sheamus. But, I don't see that happening now because Bret is the Wild Card.

Speaking of Fatal Four Way and Wild Card, what happens to many of the mid to mid-upper card wrestlers that usually try to shine in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match? Those three concepts now have PPVs of their own and it appears as though the MITB match will be put on hold till the summer now. I'm assuming that we will see Intercontinental and U.S. Title matches at WM (or maybe a tag title match since The Miz holds the U.S. and half of the tag titles). MITB has been such a big deal over the past five years, and I know many fans will miss it at Mania, but I don't think it will affect the buyrate at all.

On the Smackdown side, it looks like the two big match-ups there are all but set in stone. HBK and The Undertaker will be good, but not great this year. If the end of the Smackdown Chamber match is any indication, a good wrestler like HBK or Jericho can still carry an ailing and broken-down Undertaker to a good match. As for Edge and Jericho, the "writers" should take a break from this feud and just let these two do what they do best...and the company will profit from it. There is still the x-factor of Christian, who has a strong history with both of these guys. That could be held off until after WM, but I'd hate to see Christian do nothing for the better part of a month, as he deserves much better.

Finally, and I know I'm re-stating, it should be interesting to see what happens to much of the mid-card now without the MITB "crutch." The last few years, Mania has been a four-hour show. 5-10 years ago, when it was still a three-hour show, we got anywhere from 8-10 matches. I'd love to see a return to that this year. WrestleMania XX actually saw WWE put on 12 matches. I don't know if we necessarily need 12, but there is plenty of room on a four-hour show for some great co-main events and a very strong undercard. The past few months, WWE has really started to establish a youth movement. What better way to continue that than give these guys a chance to shine on WWE's biggest stage, WrestleMania?

Tony Donofrio is a Specialist for the Torch covering WWE PPVs monthly and contributes to the Torch Roundtable Reviews on a weekly basis. You can contact Tony at PWTorchTD@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TonyDonofrio..

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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