The fireflies are buzzing for the new reign of Wyatt.
Bray Wyatt is our new World Heavyweight Champion! Elimination Chamber was a pretty solid PPV and the redesigned structure was actually pretty cool. We dive into our thoughts from Elimination Chamber and the end of the best friends of WWE in this week’s grab-bag.
1) Smackdown held Elimination Chamber this past Sunday. What were the biggest surprises for you?
Corey: The biggest surprise to me was Naomi finally capturing the Women’s Championship. I’ve always liked Naomi, but you could always tell WWE wasn’t going to push her anytime soon but this win was deserved. The second surprise was just how good Randy Orton vs Luke Harper was. Those two had amazing chemistry.
Josh: Naomi becoming Smackdown Women’s Champion was a definite shocker. I wondered a few months back if there were plans in place to head into WrestleMania as champion as she had a few stops and starts once the brand split happened. She’s a supremely talented worker so her getting the title is well deserved. Plus, it helps that WrestleMania will be in her hometown.
2) Also at Elimination Chamber we finally saw Bray Wyatt capture his first World Heavyweight Championship. What are your thoughts?
Corey: For one, it’s about time. Bray has been main event ready for a while. Two, I’m not really all that surprised either because once Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble it was pretty obvious what was going to happen next. Not that I have any complaints. It just confuses me that WWE threw away a major opportunity with Cena winning his 16th championship just for the reign to end two weeks later. I also liked the fact that Bray got to eliminate BOTH AJ Styles and John Cena with his finisher. I feel like that was him finally getting his pat on the back for all of his hard work.
Josh: Awesome match! There was a really great tease there at the end with AJ Styles where you could almost talk yourself into them swerving and putting the title back on AJ. They didn’t, Bray won and there’s a pretty awesome storyline they’re developing right now with Orton refusing to face Wyatt at WrestleMania. It won’t hold, but I’m glad they are at least sowing seeds of doubt about the main event.
3) What was the lowest point of the night for you?
Corey: The Dolph Ziggler vs Apollo Crews and Kalisto handicap match. As Josh mentioned last week WWE booked themselves into a lose-lose situation here. They wanted Dolph to be a heel, but then they put him as the underdog and then had him beat up both men when the match was over? Very strange booking decision. They even had a “hot tag” between Kalisto and Crews which only makes them look even weaker since they were only against one person.
Josh: I was really expecting more from Mickie James and Becky Lynch. I actually preferred the match they had on the following Smackdown compared to their match at Elimination Chamber. I’ve also blocked from my memory the Ziggler vs Crews/Kalisto match.
4) This past Monday night on Raw we saw the end of the Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens best friends saga. What were your thoughts on this segment?
Corey: I absolutely loved it. Jericho holding the Festival of Friendship was one of the most entertaining things I’d seen in a while and the promo he cut leading up to giving KO a hug seemed genuine. You could tell Jericho really did enjoy his run with Kevin and was actually sad it was coming to an end. But having Kevin turn on Jericho before Fast Lane was pretty smart. They can easily have Jericho cost Owens the title in his match against Goldberg which will instantly set up the one on one match for Kevin Owens vs Chris Jericho at WrestleMania.
Josh: Is there anyone that didn’t love that segment?! It was absolutely incredible, from the terrible art to the surprise appearance of Gillberg leading to the finale of Jericho ending up on the List of KO. Everyone knew it was coming, but they had done such a good job teasing the breakup in the months prior that you kind of hoped it wouldn’t happen. Jericho delivered a top notch promo and Owens looked like a savage monster heading into his main event match with Goldberg at FastLane.
5) Word has gotten out that John Cena is actually one of the people that wanted to be involved in making Bray Wyatt look as strong as possible for and after his win at Elimination Chamber and actually insisted that Bray get the pinfall win on him in their triple threat match, which also included AJ Styles for Bray’s WWE Championship. What do you make of this?
Corey: This is great news for Bray. Since 2005 the number of people that can say they have a clean pinfall victory over John Cena is less than 15, with Bray Wyatt making it on that list it is a big accomplishment since all of the people that have were people WWE believed in. Too bad Wade Barrett didn’t get that during the Nexus storyline but that’s a topic for a different day.
Josh: Then job well done. Wyatt is more over than he’s ever been and has become the believable monster we, the fans, always wanted him to be. Genuinely can’t wait to see what’s next.
Additional Notes
Corey:
– I have no clue what WWE has planned for The New Day but they need something consistent quick.
– Samoa Joe used the phrase “now you gotta catch these hands”. Give him every single title right now and don’t argue.
Josh:
– Looks like the Usos are finally getting the heel push Corey is calling for. The video segment they had on Smackdown was done really well and I’m ready to see them start fighting American Alpha throughout the arena.
– Special kudos to the Miz for selling the ferocity of the Elimination Chamber. His facial expressions while locked in the pod helped accent the danger of the chamber and simultaneously built up his cowardly heel gimmick.
Corey Stewart
Latest posts by Corey Stewart (see all)
- Coast 2 Coast: Cross Brand Warfare - November 19, 2017
- Coast 2 Coast: News Edition - November 5, 2017
- Coast 2 Coast: Shaking Up the Card - October 22, 2017
Leave A Comment