Elimination Chamber 2023 Review

Saturday, February 18th, 2023
Bell Centre
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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Elimination Chamber Match For A Raw Women's Championship At WrestleMania
Asuka vs. Carmella vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Nikki Cross vs. Natalya vs. Liv Morgan

Liv and Nattie start things off here. Nattie dominates by throwing her into the pod in which Nikki stands in. The timer counts down and we have Rodriguez in here. She comes in and hits double splash in the corner before tossing both ladies around. They do a pretty unique spot with Raquel being sunset flipped into the chamber while holding Natalya. It's already time for our next competitor and it's Nikki Cross. Morgan is catapulted into the chamber by Cross before she goes and drives the other two into the chains. Nikki then climbs the pod and hits a dive on all three ladies on the outside. Carmella comes in and tries to get a pinfall with the ladies down, but is unsuccessful. Carmella tries to hide in pods and then Rodriguez drives Nikki through the pod walls. Carmella then finds herself another pod to hide in. Raquel pins Nikki and because of the replay Michael Cole and Corey Graves don't even know what happened. Liv comes in and hits a super Codebreaker off the top rope before scaling the chamber. Rodriguez of course chooses the corner where Liv is standing to try for a superplex. Nattie battles out of it and then Rodriguez stands there like an idiot until Liv hits a really nice sunset flip powerbomb off the top of the pod. Carmella quickly covers her, but Rodriguez kicks out. It's time for Asuka to come in and she goes right after Carmella. Liv is able to hit a missile dropkick on Asuka and gets a 2 count. Liv goes for a monkey flip, but Carmella hits her with a superkick and then Nattie locks in the Sharpshooter. She is trying to battle out, but then comes Asuka and cranks on her arm and Liv has no choice but to submit. Hey, something that makes sense. Nattie is able to slap on the Sharpshooter on Asuka, but then Carmella superkicks Nattie and she is gone. Asuka and Carmella work together to hit a series of kicks on Rodriguez and double pin her and she's gone. Carmella hits a superkick on Asuka, but she's able to kick out. We get a series of pin attempts until Asuka is able to slap on the Asuka Lock on and that's all. That was pretty anticlimatic. The match itself was fast paced and had some good spots in it, it just kind of felt like a TV edition of the match. Asuka was the only call here in my opinion and that match with Bianca should be killer. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar

Lesnar quickly goes after Lashley and immediately suplexes him. As far as 5 match cards go, this one is pretty stacked. Lesnar clotheslines Lashley over the top and to the floor. Lashley hits a big Spear out of nowhere and gets a 2 count. He follows it up with another one and this time goes for the Hurt Lock. Lesnar battles out and then immediately hits a F5 for a 2 count. Lesnar then hits another F5 and again Lashley kicks out. Lashley escapes a third F5 and hits the Spear to boos from the crowd. Lashley this time puts in the Hurt Lock with the fingers locked. After struggling in it, Lesnar kicks Lashley in the crotch and we have a DQ. Well, we knew this one would have some sort of garbage finish, so lets not pretend to be disappointed. Lesnar after the match gives the ref a F5 and then hits one on Lashley. Lesnar clears off the announce table and hits a F5 on Lashley through the table. He pulls the ref out of the ring and hits a F5 on the broken table. I think there were 4 moves in this match. A proper match between these two should end up being a lot better. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Much like WrestleMania 21, we get some WWE movie spoofs with Seth Rollins dressed as the joker and dancing on some steps. Becky Lynch then comes in talking like Batman. 

Mixed Tag Team Match
Finn Balor & Rhea Ripley vs. Edge & Beth Phoenix

This crowd is definitely top tier level so far. The men start things off until Beth gets a tag in and Edge leaps off his wife's back to splash Balor in the corner. Rhea runs into a clothesline, but it doesn't knock her down to her feet. They hit a series of clotheslines to each other and then the always classic test of strength. The action spills outside and Beth throws Rhea into the steps. Beth goes up top and Dominik is early on his cue leaving him to have to try to knock her off twice before running away backstage. He emerges after a minute or so and Beth hits a DDT on Rhea. Meanwhile, Finn sneaks under the ring and pulls Edge off the apron to prevent Beth from making a tag and Rhea hits her with a clothesline in the corner. They battle up on the ropes and it ends poorly for Rhea after a superplex. Edge finally is back up and gets the hot tag. Edge slaps on the Edge-cator on and Beth follows suit. Dominik gets up on the apron to distract the ref and Rhea levels Beth with a headbutt. Dominik hands over brass knuckles to Finn and he hits Edge with them. Beth is able to prevent the 3 count, but they continue to dominate. Beth is able to throw Dominik into the ropes to crotch Finn while he's on the top rope. Edge tries for a side Russian leg sweep, but it leads to both women hitting powerbombs on their opponents. This has turned into an exciting match before the ladies double clothesline each other. Rhea goes for a one woman Con-chair-to, but Beth is able to escape and hits a Glam Slam to the mat. Edge hits Edge-cution in the ring and a dive onto Dominik. He goes for the Spear, but Finn hits the Sling Blade. Edge is able to sneak in a Spear and they hit a Shatter Machine to finally put them away. You kind of book yourself into a corner when you book part time stars against younger stars you are continuing to build, but there really wasn't much else to do here unless it was going to WrestleMania. They really put together a nice little match here. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

We go back to Paul Heyman hyping up Roman Reigns backstage while he drinks C4.

Elimination Chamber Match For The United States Championship
Austin Theory vs. Montez Ford vs. Bronson Reed vs. Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Seth Rollins

Gargano and Rollins kick things off and that's absolutely the right call. They have a good sequence as expected and in comes Austin Theory. I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about Theory. He definitely has a quality that makes people hate him, I'm just not positive if it's in a Baron Corbin type of way. Rollins and Gargano team up against Theory until Priest makes his entrance. Priest ends up hitting a lot of his heavy hitting moves including a somersault dive that looks like it completely squashed Theory on the outside of the ring. Lots of good action in here so far. Rollins hits a superplex on Priest and rolls through into a Falcon Arrow for a 2 count. Bronson Reed is in here now and he gets his time to shine. He stacks up both Gargano and Rollins on his shoulders and hits a Samoan drop. Reed splashes Priest into the pod and I'm not sure if it was supposed to break, but it definitely didn't. Montez Ford finally gets his chance and Reed is waiting for him. Ford doesn't care and fights his way out and looks like a man on a mission here tonight. He goes for a People's Elbow, but Reed has other plans. Gargano ends up on the shoulders of Reed and it ends up with Rollins clotheslining Gargano into a reverse rana that looked a little dangerous. Ford climbs to the roof of the chamber and does a sweet looking leap, but I do hate the part where they all kind of stand there and just look at him. It's time to team up on Reed and he gets hit with a series of finishing moves before Ford eliminates him. I'm a little surprised he was gone first, but it made sense. Gargano and Rollins end up on top of one of the pods and just sort of chill until Seth hits him with a chop. They start fighting and it leads Rollins slamming Gargano's head into the plexiglass and putting him up for a powerbomb, until Gargano counters and hits a hurricanrana onto the other competitors in one of the crazier spots I can remember. Gargano uses the chamber to hit a tornado DDT and then he hits a slingshot spike DDT on Theory. Priest brings his momentum to a hault and hits the Razor's Edge and he is abruptly eliminated. Ford starts to climb up top, but Priest is there to greet him. He grabs him by the throat, but Rollins gets him up for the powerbomb and Ford hits a blockbuster and Priest is gone. Ford and Rollins start trading blows and I have to say that Ford has one of the better right hands in wrestling. Ford then decides to hit two somersault dives onto his two remaining opponents and then hits one on both of them. The dude is a star. Ford hits the Rock Bottom and goes for the Frog Splash, but Theory gets his knees up. Rollins then hits a vicious Stomp and Theory pins him. This brings out the medical staff to check in on Ford, which of course will lead to shenanigans. Rollins goes for the Stomp, but Theory avoids it, but it leads to a Pedigree. Out comes Logan Paul and he clubs Rollins with a clothesline. Paul then comes in and hits Rollins with the Stomp before shutting the chamber door. Theory is up and hits the A Town Down for the victory. Paul/Rollins will probably be a pretty good match, even if Paul is not someone I really care to be on the roster. Theory squeaking out he victory makes sense. This was one of the best chamber matches that I can recall. The 2008 Raw and SmackDown 2011 are always two that come to mind as top ones as well. 

Match Rating: ****1/4

Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Match
Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn

It's about 4 minutes before they even lock up, just taking in the awesome atmosphere. Sometimes things just all work out and this is most definitely one of those occurrences. Sami's wife and kids are ringside, which is a nice touch. Sami knocks Roman out of the ring and Sami hits a dive to a massive pop. Roman gains control and dumps Sami out right in front of his family. Roman talks some trash to his wife before hitting him with a headbutt. Sami fires back with a clothesline and then one over the top rope. We're getting a lot of the few moves in the ring and then knocking them outside a lot in this one. He gives his wife a kiss before climbing to the top rope and it leads to him hitting a sunset flip powerbomb for a 2 count. Roman goes for a Superman punch, but Zayn catches him and hits an exploder suplex into the corner. Sami wants the Helluva Kick, but Roman this time fires up a Superman punch that connects. Zayn is able to hit another exploder suplex and then mocks Roman with the fist to the mat and hits a Superman punch of his own. Sami hits the Helluva Kick and 1, 2....no. That was awesome. Zayn goes for the DDT where he leaps through the ropes, but Roman catches him with a right hand. Roman runs around the ring, but Sami sidesteps him and they use their favorite barricade spot. Back in the ring, Sami hits a Blue Thunder Bomb and that's still not enough. Roman drives Sami backwards and it knocks the referee into the corner and he's out. Sami hits the Helluva Kick again, but there's no one there to count. The referee rolls out of the ring and out comes Jimmy Uso and he hits three superkicks. He goes up top and hits the Uso Splash and then rolls Roman on top of him. There's a new ref who apparently is okay with what just happened. Anyway, he gets in the ring and counts, but Sami kicks out at 2. Sami gets distracted by Jimmy and then gets hit with a Spear, but Sami kicks out! Roman grabs a chair and out comes Jey Uso. Roman makes Jey take the chair and Sami accidentally hits a Spear on Jey. Roman hits the Spear and that's all. The crowd is deflated here. Well, at least until Kevin Owens' music hits. He takes everybody out, but why didn't he make the save during the match? This one was all about atmosphere. The match was good, but not quite a 4 star for me. However, it's a match that will stand out as a big deal.

Match Rating: ***3/4

Well, this was certainly one of the better shows in some time. Every match felt important and the two main events delivered. Definitely a thumbs up for this show. 

Overall Rating: 85%