WWE: Network launch coincides with entertaining but predictable Elimination Chamber PPV

WWE Elimination Chamber
Minneapolis, MN – 23/02/14

With the historic launch of the WWE Network right around the corner, the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view was designed to convince us to buy it – those of us living in the States that is. Having had time to reflect on the show, I would say it was very good. My only issue with it was how predictable a lot of the results were. Nonetheless, from start to finish, it was a positive broadcast.

The Rhodes Brothers took on the hilariously named Rybaxel on the Kick-off show. It was a nice surprise to see Larry “The Axe” Henning at ringside accompanying Curtis Axel. However, it did seem a bit pointless bringing the guy back just to watch him job out in a meaningless match. The crowd were already annoyed, and that was a sign of things to come. The brothers got the win after a high spot to a chorus of “Curtis Axel” chants.

Big E defended his Intercontinental Championship against Jack Swagger. This was a good showing from both guys, but the Champ came out looking stronger after a clean win, as expected. Bad News Barrett made the first of many hilarious appearances. He greeted the crowd with some gloating over their Olympic defeat to “Mother Russia” – what a guy! It was then officially confirmed that Hulk Hogan will be at Wrestlemania 30 and that he would be appearing on Raw the next night. That got the fans going. Daniel Bryan cut a promo and got them in a frenzy!

Both The New Age Outlaws and The Usos got major love from the crowd during their awesome entrances to the ring. The match they contested for the Tag Team Titles wasn’t half bad either. I was slightly upset to see the old boys retain the title again though. I’m a big fan of nostalgia but it’s just plain dumb to keep holding the young bucks back. Barrett appeared again to get some cheap heat from the crowd by burying Daniel Bryan. The announcers made a few more gratuitous network plugs. I get it, but it’s just annoying after a while.

Darren Young versus Titus O’Neill was a filler match if I ever saw one. The latter’s “push” continued with victory over his former partner after a forgettable and predictable match. I see their break-up hurting them both in the long run. When “Our Wade” came back out to deliver some more bad news, I thought it might have been overkill. Then he slated Hulk Hogan and declared himself a better man – I wholeheartedly agreed with his viewpoint. I hope the guy gets back in the ring soon because – despite how hilarious these segments are – he is being wasted at the moment.

When The Shield and The Wyatt Family squared off, you had a feeling that the show was about to really begin. “This is awesome” chants echoed around the arena before they even started. A huge brawl took place before the bell could be rung, but The Shield cleared the ring and order was restored – but not for too long. The action was fast paced to say the least. The Shield put together a rare Hardy Boyz-esque tag team move, which was impressive. Luke Harper (of all people) hit a suicide dive. Seth Rollins flew over the top with a diving senton. “Lets go Wyatts/Lets go Shield” was the favoured chant by this point.

This six man war was an excellent back-and-forth encounter with amazing crowd heat. That is until Seth Rollins took a double-chokeslam through the Spanish announce table. Now it was “Holy shit!” chants taking over the arena. An isolated Roman Reigns looked doomed to fail in a 3-on-1 fight but managed to power out of the Sister Abigail manoeuvre and reverse it into a Samoan drop. Unfortunately for him though, his valiant fightback wasn’t enough to beat the numbers game and he fell victim to Abigail. This match was the definition of a slobber-knocker and easily one of the best of the year so far – Check it out!

The fans were tired out from all that action. They needed some food, drink and maybe a toilet break – cue Divas! AJ Lee came to the ring to cut a promo, before facing off against Cameron. I let the mark inside myself believe that her “mystery opponent” could be Kharma. My punishment was having to watch this match. Tamina interfered enabling the babyface to pick up the DQ win.

Batista got a loud reaction as he came through the curtain, but it was mostly boos. I genuinely fell asleep during his “match” against Alberto Del Rio and had to track back to see what happened. ADR dominated most of the match – after a phony injury lured in the big guy – allowing Batista to make a strong comeback. It didn’t win over the crowd. For the night, Del Rio seemed to be a babyface.

The Elimination Chamber was lowered and the highlight of the night was set to begin. “We the people” chants filled the air as Sheamus and Cesaro started things off. I loved listening to the fired up Gagne-country crowd! They went even more nuts when Daniel Bryan was the first person to be released from his pod. I rarely get shocked when this man does something impressive, but when he had some kind of leg lock on Sheamus and simultaneously pulled off a northern lights suplex with bridge on Cesaro, I was gobsmacked!

A few loud noises later and all six guys were in there together, with no eliminations at that point. Crazy spots were going on all over the place from everyone – too many to mention. With everyone down, Randy Orton put the boot in one by one. When guys started to stir and eventually cornered him, he ran back into his pod and held the door shut. I thought that was amazing. Sadly it couldn’t be a safe haven for too long as Sheamus kicked through the glass and got him.

I was very surprised to see the Celtic Warrior be the first to be eliminated actually. I guess he did suffer a super-plex from Orton and a frog splash from the top of the pod by Christian. There we all were thinking that Christian would job first, and he goes and eliminates Hunter’s training buddy. He wasn’t around too much longer though, as Daniel Bryan eliminated him. We were left with the WWE old guard and the Ring of Honor legends. Cesaro was next to fall. He tapped to the STF after taking an AA on the steel. The Wyatt’s then “appeared” in the ring and decimated John Cena. Randy Orton completed the elimination and the crowd showed their appreciation to Bray and his boys for taking out the Cenation leader.

With the match down to two, Kane entered the chamber to remove the family and check on Cena. Bryan anticipated another attack from the Corporate Monster and decided to strike first. Kane then pulled the referee out of the ring to prevent Daniel from winning the title, and his subsequent distractions would lead to a defeat for the Yes! Man via with the RKO.

Despite a valiant effort and excellent performance, Daniel Bryan was screwed again. It’s not only his character being screwed right now, but the man himself. The biggest group of people being screwed in all of this are us fans. We go to live events, we buy merch, we pick up the network. Nonetheless, what we want is continuously ignored.

Despite the entertaining nature of Elimination Chamber, the predictable run of results and the Wrestlemania matches born out of them, could pose a problem for the WWE going forward. The hardcore element of their fanbase will dwindle if the company continues to show them – and the stars they cheer for – nothing but disrespect and contempt

Unfortunately, with the incredible value for money and endless on-demand library offered by the WWE Network, I don’t see business being too bad for them in the coming months. That will make positive change very hard to come by, as the company continues to focus it’s efforts on the casual audience.