Well then, this week was a bit of a mess. The men’s Chamber match is now full to bursting point, the IC Championship is becoming nothing more than an accessory, and Lord knows what went on in the mind of the man who came up with this week’s plan for the WWE Title. Let’s get to it and sort out what we can from a trainwreck of a week in WWE.
The Universal Title
This week’s Raw revealed which unlucky competitor will enter the Elimination Chamber at No.1, and which TWO (that’s right, two) superstars were added to the match as well, despite only one spot being available.
Starting the night off right was an enjoyable back-and-forth between John Cena and The Miz. Cena successfully fended off Miz, and per the match stipulation, the Intercontinental Champion now has to enter the Chamber first.
The bigger story of the night was the fatal five way match for the final spot in the Elimination Chamber. What’s that, you say? It was meant to be a fatal four way? Yes, that’s correct, but having stupidly leaked the outcome of the match days in advance, WWE shoehorned Seth Rollins into the bout to “surprise” us. It ended with a double pin on the continual loser Bray Wyatt, so Rollins and Finn Bálor are set to join Cena, Miz, Braun Strowman, Elias, and Roman Reigns in the first ever seven-man Elimination Chamber match for the right to challenge for the Universal Title.
Some are speculating that Rollins and Bálor will have one more fight against each other to determine the rightful sixth entrant, but it probably won’t be the case. Kurt Angle already said both men will enter on WWE.com. The addition of a seventh man makes just enough of a difference to the other Chamber matches without turning it into a complete cluster-fudge (keeping it PG). But it doesn’t matter how many men are involved anyway; Reigns is still punching his ticket to WrestleMania with a lengthy stop in Suplex City.
The Intercontinental Title
The good thing about having the Intercontinental Champion in the hunt for the world title is that The Miz is getting a lot of exposure. The bad thing is there’s not much he can do with his belt.
Interrupting John Cena’s promo about how he may not have a Road to WrestleMania, “The A-Lister” managed to express how important the IC Title is. The Miz said he would go on to main event WrestleMania because that’s where his title belongs, and he bragged about beating Reigns to hold the white strap in the first place. But that’s all Miz has been able to do; talk. His last two matches have had repercussions for the Universal Title instead of the Intercontinental Title.
Overall, the IC strap is definitely around the waist of the right superstar. The problem is that particular superstar has other things on his mind. There’s still one more week left before Elimination Chamber so hopefully the next episode of Raw will give us a bigger hint at who will challenge The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship at Mania.
The Raw Women’s Title
It actually happened! After weeks of not competing, Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss has finally had a match! Partnering up with an untrusting Mickie James, Bliss set out to take on Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose of Absolution in tag team action.
The match was short and not very fun to watch. WWE clearly has a lot of faith in Deville & Rose, but the match felt a little clunky. There were two important notes to take away from the bout though: Absolution proved they can win when they’re working as a team, and Bliss showed that she truly does have Mickie James’ back.
With one more week to go, “Little Miss Bliss” will aim to make it three times lucky saving Mickie from a beat down at the hands of Absolution. There’s some good development going on in regards to the women’s Chamber match, but Deville & Rose need to step their game up or else they’ll be completely overshadowed by the skills on show by the other ladies.
The Raw Tag Team Titles
Cesaro stayed on the sidelines this week as his partner Sheamus went one-on-one with Elimination Chamber competitor, Roman Reigns.
The two former WWE Champions have very good chemistry together; they’re both hard-hitting big guys who don’t slow down a few minutes into the match. Their bout on Raw this week was thoroughly entertaining, and with the “Swiss Superman” at ringside, there was a slight chance that Sheamus would pick up the win over “The Big Dog”. Reigns managed to overcome the odds though, securing a huge win so close to his match at the Elimination Chamber.
Sheamus taking the loss was the right decision here. He’s currently billed as a tag team specialist so a singles loss does him no real harm, plus Reigns actually did need a win to make him look like a credible threat going into the Chamber.
With one week to go before the Raw PPV, it looks as though The Bar won’t be putting their titles on the line come the 25th. On a side note, The Revival have been doing very well recently, but so far have kept away from the champions. Once the Elimination Chamber is under wraps, Dash & Dawson may set their sights towards challenging The Bar at WrestleMania.
The Cruiserweight Title
The tournament to crown a new champion in the cruiserweight division carried on this week with two more excellent matches on 205 Live. Two more superstars have made their way to the second round, and more competitors have been announced for the rest of the tournament.
Drafted in to take on Akira Tozawa was Mark Andrews from WWE’s UK division. They put on a superb match with plenty of high-flying spots, but the man from Wales eventually picked up the W.
The main event saw good friends Drew Gulak and Tony Nese square off in one of the best technical matches ever broadcasted on 205 Live. Not only did both men show off their amateur abilities, Nese showcased his high-flying skills, and Gulak’s performance was absolutely brutal. Nese was rendered useless long before Gulak locked in the Dragon Sleeper that forced the ref to end the match, sending the Pennsylvanian native through to the second round.
The tournament for the title feels like a big deal, and fans are finally getting to see what the cruiserweights are capable of now Vince McMahon has left Triple H in charge. The future is looking bright for 205 Live. Let’s hope the good times continue.
The WWE Title
I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Following a massive blow-out, the main event for Fastlane has completely changed, and the Champ himself was nowhere to be seen.
Shane McMahon tweeted last week that Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler would go one-on-one to determine who would join Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn to challenge AJ Styles for the title. That match didn’t happen though as “Kami” beat down Corbin and Ziggler prompting Shane O’Mac to book Owens against Corbin, and Zayn against Ziggler for the chance to turn Fastlane into a fatal five way. Everything about these booking decisions is bafflingly stupid and more convoluted than necessary. “The Lone Wolf” and “The Show-off” won their bouts and are now squaring off against Styles, Owens, and Zayn at Fastlane for the title.
But “The Phenomenal One” wasn’t on SmackDown at all this week. The entire dynamic of his title defence has changed, yet we don’t know how Styles is reacting to this news.
A month prior, the main event of Fastlane was being advertised locally as a fatal five way for the Championship, but with Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura in the places of Corbin and Ziggler. Chances are the fans who paid for their tickets a while ago must be fuming about the card changes. Nothing about this Fastlane main event is working; WWE needs to hope the payoff is going to be better than the build-up.
The US Title
Bobby Roode was all fired up for a match on Tuesday with his Championship up for grabs. Randy Orton was willing to step up to the plate, but things didn’t quite go to plan.
The crowd was pumped to see “The Glorious One” and “The Viper” go head-to-head, but Jinder Mahal wasn’t about to let that match happen on his watch. Trying to get inside Orton’s head, Mahal said Roode was already usurping Randy’s place in the WWE. Sick of hearing nothing but talk, Orton hit an RKO (out of now) on Sunil Singh, triggering a brawl where Mahal came out on top.
It was slightly disappointing to not receive the match we had been promised, but in regards to long term booking, Roode and Orton shouldn’t face off yet. “The Apex Predator” claimed during a WWE.com exclusive that he would still challenge Roode for his title; we just have to stay tuned.
The SmackDown Women’s Title
Following her victory over Liv Morgan last week, SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair set out to best Morgan’s Riott Squad team mate, Sarah Logan.
Logan is starting to look a lot more comfortable in the ring, and Charlotte Flair’s experience definitely helps lift some of the burden off the WWE rookie. Much like last week, “The Queen” defeated the Squad member, but with a Natural Selection that nearly had Logan literally standing on her head. How Logan got that much hang time balancing on her forehead, I’ll never know.
Charlotte now has two victories over the Riott Squad in as many weeks. On WWE.com, the Squad called out Flair, Naomi, and Becky Lynch to a three-on-three tag match next week. Ruby could do with picking up the win to add to her credibility before she goes on to challenge for the title. Once again, SmackDown have done a good job with their Women’s Championship.
The SmackDown Tag Team Titles
Another week has passed without our Champions competing in a match, but this week, The Bludgeon Brothers made their intentions perfectly clear.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much to say this week. The Usos put on a backstage promo to tell us they are the best, but a transition shot showed Harper swing his hammer at a backstage TV to cut The Usos off. And that was it really.
The build towards the eventual match between Jimmy & Jey and The Bludgeon Bros has been a slow burner. Whilst that’s what is needed for a decent feud, the two teams need to clash soon, either in a one-on-one match or in a backstage beatdown. Currently, they have everyone’s attention, but they only have it for a few short minutes at a time.
All in all, this was not a good week for WWE. There were several bad decisions and unfortunate backstage leaks making for two forgettable shows in Raw and SmackDown. But hey, let’s go out on a positive or two! Both women’s divisions are being handled well in the run up to Elimination Chamber and Fastlane, and 205 Live blew it out of the park. Maybe once the next two PPVs are cleared, we’ll get some excellent shows all round.
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