Instant Reaction - WWE Elimination Chamber PPV 2/19
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 3.5

Wow. This show didn't look good on paper and for the most part, I did NOT think it delivered. First, I'll talk about the good part of the show, which was definitely he Raw Chamber match. I wouldn't hesitate in calling it one of the three best Chambers of all-time. Jericho's "elimination" was definitely lame, but it at least gives him an out for having a title match at Mania. All of the men played their parts perfectly, and the nearfalls were great, especially the two count with the Skullcrushing Finale. The bumps were innovative and brutal, too. I feel legitimately bad for Ziggler - his legs must be killing him! Props to all guys involved with the match.

Okay, now for the bad... which was practically everything else. Jack Swagger vs. Justin Gabriel and the Divas Title match were just there and did nothing but kill the crowd. Cena vs. Kane reminded me of Kane's matches with Edge in 2010, which were slow, plodding, and fairly unexciting. There were a couple of cool spots that they did (the announce table spot and the spot off the ambulance), but, overall, I thought the match had too much walking around the arena and not enough excitement in general. Lots of kicking, punching, and weak shots to the gut do not make a good match.

Then, there's the Smackdown Chamber match, a/k/a what I thought was the worst Chamber match of all-time. I don't think there's any way ANYONE can say that it was a good match. Sure, the spot with Show attacking Bryan in the pod was cool looking. Other than that, the match had few high points, lots of stalling, and meaningless kicking and punching, and sacrificed some of the credibility of two of their future stars, Rhodes and Barrett, for the purpose of enhancing the comedy act that served no benefit to the match. Why center so much of the match on SANTINO?! This is the World Title! It's good to have fun every now and then, but the fact that Santino actually almost won the Elimination Chamber is truly sad. I thought the match was a bore essentially from start to finish - the hardcore chamber from December to Dismember has nothing on this. I haven't even mentioned the segment with Laurinaitis that should've been on a Raw, as well as the countless commercials that were on PAY-PER-VIEW.

Would I recommend this show? No. Would I recommend the first 45 minutes? Definitely. I thought the opening Chamber match saved the show from being an absolute dud, and the replay is really still not worth viewing.

Questions? Comments? Reactions yourself? E-mail me at btuckertorch@aol.com, or follow me on Twitter at BTuckerTorch, where I talk about wrestling and... stuff!

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