-- 2/21 WWE Elimination Chamber PPV Reax

Chris Cox of Fort Bliss, Tex. (7.5): Best Match: Raw Elimination Chamber. Worst Match: Tie Divas tag match and Smackdown's Chamber match. Personally, I thought this pay-per-view wasn't all that it could have been. First though, kudos to some creative direction in the Raw Chamber match. We saw the Legacy split more evident after the steel pole attack on Orton. However, I felt that the action was good for a Chamber match, but why in the world would they put the strap on Cena (then Batista) to set up Cena vs. Batista at Mania? Nobody wants to see this "Bret Hart feud" turn into a World Title brawl. I'm pretty sure everyone knew the swerve that was coming when Vinnie Mac came out to set up the immediate title defense. I was actually looking forward to the Divas Title match because they have been setting this up for a little over a month now and to see it get put on the backburner just shows how much the WWE puts priority on the Divas. MVP vs. Miz was a decent match but nothing special. Big Show getting involved just shows this storyline has been so diluted. Smackdown's Chamber match was a 5.0 at best. Oh, and before I forget, Taker needs to leave the straps on. He's showing his age. Rey Mysterio had some good spots and when I saw the cage bottom move, I knew Michaels was coming. This PPV gets a 7.5 from me mainly from the Raw Chamber match. News flash to WWE: you changed up your PPV line-up to show more gimmick matches. You couldn't get this one right, so I sure hope this move to gimmick matches was worth it.

Henry Jenkins of Seattle, Wash. (5.0): Best Match: Smackdown Elimination Chamber. Worst Match: IC Title Match. WWE is in a very exciting time right now, but, overall, tonight's show didn't blow me away. There were highlights: Kofi Kingston getting strangled by the Chamber was right out of an old-school NWA cage match. It just looked sick. DiBiase, Jr. mirrored Orton's insane grin really effectively in turning on him. John Morrison's style contrasted perfectly with The Undertaker's, and if they never wrestle again, I'm glad they did tonight. Most of the event put me to sleep, though. They gave Drew McIntyre this nice repackaging, but there was just one problem. He's still Drew McIntyre. Right now, McIntyre should be polishing his ring work on NXT. The whole middle of the card dragged. It just really felt like WWE booked half the show and improvised the other half on the spot. My one take-away thought: I'll totally understand if all Bret can do is hobble through a Street Fight with Vince, but please don't let Batista's title win mean Bret's just going to end up as Cena's water boy. I'm hooked on that story and I'm dying to see the big payoff match.

Neal Obermeyer of Omaha, Neb. (8.0): For the most part, I stopped watching wrestling after the Benoit murder/suicide, but I think it was really just the excuse I was looking for to stop watching a product that I hadn't been enjoying for years. Since then, I've occasionally tuned in or watched a pay-per-view at a bar, and my reaction has consistently been some slight variation of "I can't believe I used to like this." But, last month, I went with some friends to watch the Rumble, and I found myself kind of enjoying it again. So I went to check out tonight's PPV at a bar and ended up having a great time. I still have enough jaded cynicism that I groaned when the Raw Chamber match came down to Cena and Triple H, and I felt like I could see the end to the Smackdown Chamber match coming from a mile away, but there are still those moments where you start to second guess yourself and get sucked in to what's happening, and it's at those moments that you remember how you became a fan. My favorite was the Smackdown match, and I loved that Jericho was booked to actually get in some offense on Undertaker. They very easily could've booked it to where Undertaker just destroyed Jericho until the interference happened, but fortunately they didn't. I was actually wondering for a while if they were going to let Jericho actually go over on Taker clean. Jericho's character is just so well-defined that you really appreciate the little things he does, e.g. the stomp on Morrison's hand, or the smacks on a seemingly incapacitated Undertaker, for example. This was just a lot of fun to watch. Punk was also a blast, and I love Orton's intensity. I'm glad that they have some heels who are booked strong, and not everyone has some cookie-cutter "I'm a heel so I cheat and retreat" persona. The one negative that really stuck out to me was Matt Striker's commentary. Good grief, that was cringe-inducing. It was as if someone were attempting to script a parody of a seventh grader's flowery creative writing assignment. His mixed metaphors and botched imagery were just painful. I'm not familiar enough with him to know if that's typical, but I was wondering if someone was feeding him those terrible lines as a prank to make him look like a buffoon. He made Michael Cole seem eloquent.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for a "WWE PPV Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. Just to add a twist to this feature, include not just your hometown, but also your occupation (mechanic, lawyer, stay-at-home-dad, college student, etc.) so readers get a flavor for what everyone does as "day jobs." To contribute your thoughts on the PPV, click here.

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

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