Kaijia McNair – Contributing Writer

kam7879@psu.edu

On Saturday, Feb. 18, WWE had their final pay-per-view on the Road to Wrestlemania: Elimination Chamber. The Elimination Chamber was never a stand-alone pay-per-view; its first was in 2010. But, the very first Elimination Chamber match was in 2002 at Survivor Series and housed big names such as Chris Jericho, Triple H, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Shawn Michaels.

The chambers sort of serve as contenders matches for the leftover titles that the Royal Rumble winners did not pick. This year, there was a chamber for the Raw Women’s Championship wherein the winner would face Bianca Belair at Wrestlemania and a chamber for the United States Championship; whoever won this chamber would win the United States Championship.

There is a historical sense of magic to this pay-per-view. This is the first pay-per-view in Montreal in over 26 years. The last time there was a WWE/F pay-per-view in Montreal was Survivor Series in 1997 where the infamous Montreal Screwjob happened. In this, there was a match between Shawn Michaels and then-champion Bret Hart. Michaels had put Hart in his own finisher, The Sharpshooter. Seconds after he put him in it, the bell rang, signaling that Bret had tapped out to the move and Michaels was victorious. 

However, this was different. Hart never tapped out but the bell was still signaled to ring. This caused chaos amongst the crowd, for their “hometown champ” lost the title. Michaels had to be pulled out of the ring and away from the group by his assailants Chyna and Triple H. This topic is still hot amongst wrestling fans with more and more coming out about it.

The pay-per-view opened up with the women’s chamber and featured three women from each brand: Asuka, Nikki Cross, and Carmella from Raw and Natalya, Raquel Rodriguez, and Liv Morgan from Smackdown. Liv Morgan and Natalya started the match and showed off some explosive offense and defense. Since winning the Smackdown Women’s Championship last Summer, Liv Morgan has been on an incline as far as her career. Her character as of right now loves pain, so getting her to submit/tap would be a challenge but she will pass out regardless. 

As the women began to be released out of their pods, Nikki Cross was the first one to be eliminated. She jumped off of the pod in a crossbody onto the group of girls, something I knew she would do. There were two big parts of the match in my opinion. The first was the double submission by Natalya and Asuka onto Liv Morgan where they did the Sharpshooter and an armbar respectively to Morgan. Morgan has a history of being extreme as previously stated, so she did not tap. Instead, she passed out with a smile on her face, rendering her eliminated. The second was the double elimination by Carmella and Asuka, who momentarily teamed up to eliminate Rodriguez.

The final two were Carmella and Asuka, who sort of had history during the match. Carmella was doing one of the many things she’s good at, trash talking. She directed her slander toward Asuka whose character has sort of taken a turn from her usual one. If you’re familiar with her work in Japan, you’ll know she used to go by Kana. Her face makeup is different from the green mist oozing from her mouth and eyes but resembles a sort of clown. This Asuka is almost treacherous, almost unapologetic for her brute force and strong strikes. She put Carmella in the Asuka Lock and made her submit, making Asuka the woman to go against Bianca Belair at Wrestlemania in April. 

Next on the card was what they call a “rubber match” between Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley. The two have been going at it for almost a year now; Bobby Lashley beat Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble last year to win the WWE Heavyweight Title. Then, Brock Lesnar won the Elimination Chamber that same year to win the title. It has been a lot of back and forth between the two, hence the term rubber match. 

This year, Bobby Lashley eliminated Brock Lesnar in the Royal Rumble and Lesnar went on a RAMPAGE. On Raw, Brock claimed that every night before bed he only thought about Lashley. I feel like this match should have been No DQ due to the stature and shenanigans these two can get into. Have you ever played A WWE game, whether it be a part of the 2k series, Smackdown vs Raw, or even some of the older games, like Here Comes the Pain? There’s a mode where you can give yourself and your opponent unlimited finishers. This is what that match felt like. It was F5 after F5 from Lesnar and Lashley ate them ALL. Lashley put Lesnar into the patented Hurt Lock and the Beast Incarnate and Lesnar flailed, kicking Lashley in his family jewels. The referee called in a DQ, and Lesnar, yet again, went on a RAMPAGE. He gave Lashley another F5, but also gave the referee one…TWICE. The second one was on the floor through an already broken table. We will be seeing these two in action again very soon. 

Next, we had the Men’s Elimination Chamber for the United States Championship. Like the Women’s Chamber, the entrants had to go through qualifying matches on Raw. Our entrants are The United States Champion Austin Theory, Seth Rollins, Johnny Gargano, Bronson Reed, Montez Ford, and Damian Priest. 

Corey Graves, one of the commentators alongside Michael Cole, brought up a good point for once. Gargano is connected to a handful of the entrants in the match from NXT, the “developmental” brand for WWE. The mid-card title equivalent to the United States Championship there is the North American Championship, which Gargano has won. Gargano won the title from Priest and also lost it to Reed, but he is also single-handedly responsible for Austin Theory’s presence on the main roster.

Aside from the blame game, Montez Ford is also making a name for himself as a singles competitor. A great number of people want to see him win a mid-card title or even the big one someday. I agree! He showed out during this match and I hope that someday, he could be United States Champion. My plans are to put Ford and Theory in a United States Championship Match at WrestleMania this April, but it is looking like John Cena might come back and take Ford’s place. There is always Backlash!

Graves had seemed to be on fire tonight, again, for once, wherein he mentioned that this is the first time Rollins and Gargano had been in a singles match, or even in a ring together. This put things into perspective for me: has it really been that long? However, Gargano and Rollins need a solo match again, whether it ends up on pay-per-view or just on a normal episode of Raw.

The match ended with shenanigans, of course. Rollins delivered a stomp to Ford, driving his head into the grated floor of the chamber. This caused Ford to become woozy and get taken out of the chamber. Due to this being a distraction, we are shown Logan Paul climbing into the cage trying to get in. For lore purposes, Logan Paul eliminated Rollins from the Royal Rumble this year. Paul had delivered the Buckshot Lariat, a move that’s proven to be devastating to those who perform it, allowing Theory to put Rollins into his finisher, A Town Down. Theory walks out of the Chamber as champion.

Second to last on the card was a Mixed Tag Match between the Grit Couple, which comprises Hall of Famers Edge and Beth Phoenix, and Judgement Day; in this match, they were being represented by Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley. Ripley is the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble Winner and has yet to have any build toward her and her champion of choice, Charlotte Flair,’s match at Wrestlemania. I am not the biggest Rhea Ripley fan, I am not a fan at all. Her lack of build does not bother me when we have another match, Bianca Belair vs Asuka, which could be the Main Event over their match. This would not be the first time wherein Charlotte’s match which was projected to be the main event was changed for another match. 

The Grit Couple has been interlocked in some sort of a full nelson when it comes to Judgement Day. JD was Edge’s baby, to begin with. He formed this faction when he was building up to his Wrestlemania match with AJ Styles last year. At the end of that match, he recruited Damian Priest. Then, he recruited the help of Rhea Ripley. After Judgement Day’s match against Bullet Club 2.0 Liv Morgan, AJ Styles, and Finn Balor, joined the group the subsequent Monday. 

However, Finn and the rest of the group seemingly turned on Edge and appointed Balor as their new leader. Edge had been fighting them with the Mysterios after SummerSlam, which was his first return after the attack. Rey’s son, Dominik, had turned on the group at Clash at the Castle last September to join Judgement Day. Edge and Balor had an I Quit match at Extreme Rules last October, and Edge’s wife, Beth Phoenix, had gotten involved when Ripley seemingly used her immunity idol in almost all of these matches way too many times. It is a golden rule that you are not supposed to put your hands on a woman in the wrestling ring, but I know someone who would not care, see: Randy Orton. Beth had seemed to be the answer to her, but ultimately her involvement caused her husband to say “I Quit”.

I did not pay attention to this match, I am over the Edge vs Judgement Day arc, and seeing as though this might be his last-ever feud, I was turned off. The match ended as it was supposed to, with Beth and Edge standing tall. I need this feud to end.

Finally, the most important match of the night was up next: Undisputed Championship Match. The Undisputed Champion, Roman Reigns, has been champion for over 900 days. His historical reign has been held to the held standard of Bruce Sammartino’s over eight-year reign, which is something that totally could not happen right now. Since 2020, Roman has been building his familial faction, The Bloodline, which features him, and his cousins The Usos, Jimmy and Jaey Uso, and Solo Sikoa. Paul Heyman is there as well, serving as Reigns’ special council; he just holds his belts. I

In late 2022, Sami Zayn started gravitating toward the group and eventually became dubbed “Honorary Uce”. He started to grow popular, even taking over for Jimmy in an Undisputed Tag Team Match on Raw. Dissent started to arise quickly and Sami was taken to “court”. His final test was during the Royal Rumble, wherein Reigns would be facing off against Zayn’s on-again-off-again best friend, Kevin Owens. At the end of their match, Romans had instructed Zayn to hit Owens with the chair, but Zayn hit Reigns instead. 

Zayn had challenged Reigns at Elimination Chamber, noting that they would be in his house; Zayn is a Montreal native. Emotions were everywhere even before the match, but everyone knew that Zayn did not have a chance. The match had a few big parts in there where it looked like Zayn had the upper hand, but of course, there were gonna be shenanigans. There was a record number of two referee bumps in the match, one hindering Zayn’s chance of winning. Eventually, Jimmy Uso came down to help Roman but Zayn sort of took care of him. 

Later on in the match, Jey Uso returned after his disappearance after the Royal Rumble. Zayn and Jey were never on the same page when Zayn started associating himself with the Samoans, Jey telling Zayn he does not belong even when he was dubbed Honorary Uce. As time went on, Jey and Zayn started to become closer, and Jey even stuck up for the Canadian when he went to “court”. Jey stood in between Reigns and Zayn, note: the referee is still down, and had a face-to-face with Reigns. There has always been tension between these two since Clash of Champions 2020, where Roman’s sadistic ways started to really show. Zayn was going to spear Reigns while he was preoccupied with Jey, but the latter had moved out of the way and made Zayn spear Jey. This created an opening for Reigns and led him to retain.

This match was emotionally heavy and deserved to be the main event. Zayn’s wife and family members were in the crowd, so you knew emotions were going to be high. At the end of the match, Kevin Owens returned after the Bloodline beat him up post his loss to Reigns at the Royal Rumble. In an attempt to save his Tribal Chief, Paul Heyman tried to fight Owens but was on the end of a stunner. Owens set Reigns up in the corner so Zayn could Helluva Kick him and the two had a little stare-down. The pay-per-view ended with Zayn standing tall.

Overall, the pay-per-view was pretty good. All of the matches on the card felt necessary, something I am looking forward to in the Triple H Era of WWE. In his era, I would say that this event was close to SummerSlam’s caliber, but nothing can top SummerSlam in my opinion. I enjoy that Fastlane is not a March pay-per-view anymore and we can really get down to the Road to Wrestlemania. Soon, we will see the build to the individual championship matches and finally get to what we wanted to see the most.