Author Topic: WWE Elimination Chamber - February 21st 2010 (Read 466 times)

nightrain · « **on:** February 23, 2010, 06:22:39 pm »

THE UNDERTAKER lost his world title last night at the Elimination Chamber — but nearly never made it to the match after being burned during his introduction.

As the star — real name Mark Calaway — stood at the top of the entrance ramp amidst his usual eerie effects, a ball of flame shot out from underneath the ramp and virtually engulfed the man WWE fans call "The Phenom".

Aside from some visible red marks on his chest, Calaway was apparently unharmed by the incident, and competed in the scheduled Elimination Chamber match, where he lost his world title to Chris Jericho due to interference by Shawn Michaels.

The incident was not captured by the live cameras on the WWE's broadcast, but has been pieced together by eyewitness accounts and Youtube videos.

Eagle-eyed TV viewers will have noticed that Taker moved swiftly to the ring before the main event at last night's Pay Per View, rather than doing his usual slow, methodical walk down the aisle.

Commentators Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Matt Striker covered for this by saying that it was a signal that he was more focussed and meant business.

Undertaker was noticeably shaken and out of character while in his pod, where he doused himself with water to stave off any potential for pain and residual burns.

Ironically, had the fire incident caused him enough damage that he was forced to miss the Chamber match, they could have written in an aspect that it was Shawn Michaels behind the accident, playing into current storylines.

Fortunately, Taker was not harmed sufficiently to alter existing plans, and we should get Shawn Michaels v Undertaker at Wrestlemania as expected.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/2863924/Taker-burned-in-PPV-accident.html#ixzz0gNuSWX2A

WWE provided two world title matches at their Elimination Chamber Pay Per View — and THREE title changes.

Chris Jericho will head to WrestleMania as world heavyweight champion and kingpin of Smackdown after winning the Blue Brand's Chamber match — with a little bit of help.

For Raw, John Cena emerged victorious to claim the WWE title, but Vince McMahon intervened to set up an impromptu title defence, which Cena duly lost.

The WWE championship Chamber bout opened the show, with champ Sheamus defending against Cena, Kofi Kingston, Triple H, Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase.

The first twist in the match came when Cody Rhodes slipped in a lead pipe to assist Legacy leader Orton. It was intercepted by DiBiase who used it first on mentor Randy before hammering Cena. He chose to pin Orton, surely setting up a match at WrestleMania.

DiBiase, Kingston and then Sheamus fell in turn, to leave Triple H with Cena. The Game was quickly placed in the STF by Cena and had to tap out.

But Cena's joy was short-lived as his on-screen enemy and WWE boss Mr McMahon told the new champ that he had to defend his strap against Batista.

Big Dave soon dispatched Cena and was crowned the new WWE champion.

The Chamber match was fine but we have seen plenty of better versions in the past. The intrigue came afterwards, with a surprise double switch being enforced.

Some will dislike the hotshot booking of the title belt, but it was good storytelling and played out Batista's current character traits well.

The next 90 minutes or so was a strange affair. Intercontinental champion Drew McIntyre retained against Kane in a satisfactory contest, but one that felt like it belonged on Smackdown rather than a PPV.

The advertised Maryse v Gail Kim match for the vacant Diva's title was altered by Vickie Guerrero to be an inter-brand tag affair pitting the aforementioned Raw duo against Michelle McCool and Layla.

The latter won after Maryse refused to help her would-have-been opponent. This again felt like TV booking as opposed to a big Sunday special.

After William Regal got in the ring for no apparent reason but for a quick NXT plug, Edge speared the Englishman and then informed us that he will select his Mania opponent on tonight's Raw.

The filler continued with an unannounced MVP v Miz match for the United States title, which saw Miz retain with a little help from his partner Big Show.

Another fine, but ultimately unmemorable, encounter. It was interesting to hear the commentators spend some time talking about the contrast between Miz and Bryan Danielson on the new NXT show.

We got back to the scheduled matches with the main event for world title.

CM Punk and R-Truth kicked off the second chamber, with Punk pinning the rapper in about four minutes. This gave him some time to preach to all before Rey Mysterio entered.

The master of the 619 got the better of Punk and pinned him to send him packing. Jericho was next, followed by John Morrison, who eventually pinned Mysterio after a Starship Pain.

Next came Undertaker, and the Deadman was predictably dominant. He eventually got the best of the impressive Morrison to whittle the field down to two.

Jericho and Undertaker had an exciting change of holds before Taker looked set to finish off his arrogant foe after a Last Ride.

However, a figure emerged from underneath the metal surround of the ring.

After the intruder was revealed to be Shawn Michaels, Taker turned into a superkick, leaving Jericho to make the easy pin.

Although the final act of the night, setting up the highly-anticipated HBK/Taker rematch, was expected, it makes sense in the storyline and took nothing away from a fantastic outing.

All participants were on top form, and this Chamber bout clearly outshone its Raw equivalent.

Sadly the PPV as a whole was ultimately forgettable.

Three of the five matches were fine, but nothing special, while the Divas match was poor fare. The main event raised the standards some, as did the Batista twist and the Michaels intervention.

With five weeks until WrestleMania, the card is starting to come together, thanks to a process of Elimination.

We give the Elimination Chamber a rating of 7 out of 10.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/2863292/WWE-Elimination-Chamber-PPV-review-Batista-and-Chris-Jericho-are-new-world-champions.html#ixzz0gNueQfBo

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Author Topic: WWE Elimination Chamber - February 21st 2010 (Read 466 times)

nightrain

Re: WWE Elimination Chamber - February 21st 2010