WingedEagle

This is basically what we have here. Difficult to call such a match with sound, skillful work disappointing, but its possible it was relative to expectations and the talent involved. A match that unfortunately never really raised its game by featuring greater urgency or intensity. It could've been much more. ***1/4

Does all this talk about Ambrose's contract mean he's sticking around?

On the other hand, that (AJ/Orton) is a simple Mania angle I can get behind. Looking forward to that.

Well that match was a disappointment. Lazy booking as well. Regardless, the Mania triple threat should be a blast.

Maybe, maybe not. Last month ended well before 11, no? Given the timing and intros/videos still to come it feels like we're going to get close to 11 without any shenanigans. Bryan/KO/Ali may not have exactly won the crowd over but Ali again did his best to bump like a maniac and Bryan's work was top not as always which made sure this was a damn good affair. KO even stayed enough out of the way.

While this didn't approach their 2017 G1 match in Korakuen Hall, it was another worthy outing from these two. Unlike that affair the first 10-15 minutes here were solid but unspectacular and highlighted by Elgin's stiff chops and arm work. Unfortunately the latter didn't play a factor down the stretch but they built to some major bombs and near falls that made for a pretty great finishing stretch. ***3/4

Thanks so much for this! Really hope I can make time to catch it this weekend.

I really hope with the timing of his passing and magnitude of his career that Meltzer goes all in with this obituary.

Agree 100%, I'd say that match is a lock at Mania with a decent chance Kofi wins. Of course not. As a proper heel she's busy flying jets, riding limousines and taking dudes to space mountain.

This is the credited response. Lots of people become tough guys behind a consequences-free keyboard and get their kicks trolling. Easier said than done but everyone needs to just ignore these types.

From what I saw I was the high man on the women's chamber but the Kofi run at the end came close to pushing the men ahead of it. Not going to drop any spoilers here but the tentative title match at Smackdown is quite yawn worthy. Hopefully somehow Kofi picks up enough momentum into and coming out of Fastlane to warrant a change in plans at the big show, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

That looked awful. He seemed to recover and hit some planned spots at the finish but I won't be surprised if we hear he's out for a while.

I'm still awaiting a proper rant from you on EC.

I will never tire of these thread titles, Kawada. Keep it up. If DIY/Revival goes 3 minutes I'm turning the show off. Full stop.

Legitimately laughed out loud at this. Bravo. Aesthetics are a vital and undeniable part of this or any performance business. Performers should look the part, but that doesn't mean they should all look the same. Attractive, fit, athletic, huge, small, whatever the case may be -- diversity of appearances go a long way. Its why monsters who can be marketed as 7 feet stand out when used sparingly and why Daniel Bryan wouldn't work if he had Randy Orton's size and look. There's no shame in acknowledging or judging how a given look is an asset or detriment to a particular role or character.

This show has turned south like a roller coaster after the women's chamber. Hour 3 of raw territory since then.

So I expected the women's chamber to be okay at best, but more likely mediocre. Those expectations are undoubtedly a huge reason why I thought this match was incredible. MOTY? Slow down. But a legitimately all time great Elimination Chamber and if its not MOTN this will be an incredible show. Most importantly this was just about perfectly laid out. Every pairing and sequences had a purpose with a given individual or pairing designed to shine or get destroyed. It never felt lost, lacking purpose or killing time as matches of this length with this many participants usually do. The symmetry of opening with Sasha/Bayley vs. Mandy/Sonya and closing with the same pairing. That Bayley neckbreaker to Mandy as Sasha kicked Sonya's head off. Liv & Sonya deciding to shoot and slapping the life out of each other. Liv with a couple trademark Liv Morgan sick bumps, particularly that snatch out of the corner. The Iconics -- THE ICONICS -- who have been nothing since coming up outside of perhaps a promo or two that prompted a grin -- being put in position to futilely try and capitalize on a ring full of corpses before getting a brief shine with double teams that while hardly flawless looked strong and most importantly well placed and perfectly opportunistic given everything that led to that brief run. Nia & Tamina actually being presented and working as monster heels -- SAMOAN SLAUGHTERHOUSE -- what a name -- and just wrecking everyone upon entering in the way that monster heels should before they're eventually overcome was incredibly well done. They killed everyone in sight until Nia took a sick bump into the pod to set up Tamina's gang elimination. I can't highlight it enough but the flow of this match as each team entered and was eventually eliminated -- which despite the ring filling up never felt rushed -- was pitch perfect. The timing was on point and I wouldn't change a thing. When Nia & Tamina were eliminated before the finish I thought they were getting too cute for their own good, but that not only gave us the same final pairing we started with, but also a callback to last year's women's chamber where Sasha turned on Bayley and a finish playing off of Sasha's early arm injury. Stiffness, slaps, bumps, psychoogy, callbacks, choice use of near falls and a fun, emotional post-match interview. I don't know what else they could've done here but I loved it the entire way. ****1/4

Extended thoughts upon its conclusion, but safe to say I love this match.

Thanks for posting this. House show reports have these four consistently killing it on a nightly basis and this match proved that even with a fancam from home. A well paced affair that built to a stretch run without overdoing things. An easy ***3/4 affair where and MOTN at most house shows unless you're seeing something truly special.

These are the matches I'd consider candidates for MOTD. All of these would make my list of top all time matches and come in at 4.75 or 5 stars. Cena vs. Punk -- MITB 2011 Cena vs. Lesnar -- Extreme Rules 2012 Bryan vs. Cena -- Summerslam Bryan vs. HHH -- Mania 30 Bryan vs. Reigns -- Fastlane 2015 Reigns vs. Lesnar -- Mania 31 Sasha vs. Bayley -- Iron Man Reigns vs. AJ -- Extreme Rules 2016 Revival vs. DIY -- Takeover Brooklyn Revival vs. DIY -- Takeover Toronto Gargano vs. Almas -- Takeover Philadelphia

Seconding that one. A legitimate classic, though I wonder how well it'd come across without watching some of the road to it.