[2013-02-17-WWE-Elimination Chamber] Randy Orton vs Chris Jericho vs Mark Henry vs Jack Swagger vs Kane vs Daniel Bryan (Elimination Chamber)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Probably the most nondescript of the Chamber matches I’ve seen, with little heat and no one really giving a great individual performance within the match. Things pick up a little bit when Henry comes in and goes on a tear, but a lot of this was really bland before then. The action is fun when they are down to the final three of Jericho, Orton and Swagger, but nothing great really. Seeing Swagger here and seeing him in 2014 shows how much confidence he’s lost in the last year. I enjoy the announcers scrambling to make excuses for guys breaking up pin/submission attempts since it makes no sense to do so in a match like this.

[MikeCampbell]

Hindsight being 20/20 and all, it'd have been just as well to have Henry over here. Swagger was a complete flop, until the team with Cesaro, and the reaction to Henry's run and his eventual elimination showed that there was fan interest in seeing him go for the gold again.

[Kevin Ridge]

This could have been the right instance to have one guy eliminate the other five guys with Henry going over and getting a big push into WrestleMania. Chamber is ending up like Cage and Cell matches in being hurt with the lack of the blood. They really didn’t use the Chamber setting until Henry got in there. The double suplex on Henry on to the steel looked nasty as there was no give and he just bounced off it.

[supersonic]

A good Chamber match here, but lacked the exciting pace to make it truly memorable. It was truly laughable to see Swagger get such a strong push, especially considering the lineup for this match. ***1/4

[El-P]

Jack Swagger was a world champ already. Damn, that didn't work well, did it ? Zeb Colter should be a babyface considering the McMahons political agenda.

 

So, Daniel Bryan is in that "No ! No ! No !" phase, teaming with Kane... so much... good memories ? Ok, no. Starts off against Jericho, still doing Arn after more than ten years. He has slown down, but this is still the best part of the match. After that point, we reach dullsville pretty quick, with Swagger jumping into the fray to no reaction whatsoever. He's an okay worker with no charisma whom no one seems to give a fuck about. I guess he's a warm body here.

 

Ok, now Kane. This match is so dying. Best part of this whole sequence was Daniel Bryan's bullshit after trying to pin his partner. Kane points at signs. Jeeeez. So, Kane does his worst flying clothesline ever spot and whatever, even Bryan can't be bothered to bring this match back up.

Orton does as he's getting the HHH pop. Push someone on top forever, the audience will end up getting so use to him they'll act like he's a star. Then again, he's Randy Orton. Okay, he shows the usual good fire, but there's still nothing going on really. No super brutal spot, no dynamic whatsoever. Well they do this deal with a dual superplex which looked quite awkward tming-wise so everyone ends up all fucked up so Henry just has to get in to eat them up... which he kinda does but really, despite the überhype about him for years, I'm still waiting to see something more than "decent power guy" stuff from him. This was about it. "Decent". His power-squash only get a 4 on the John Tenta Richter scale, really. Nothing special about anything he does. He does a weak looking Vader bomb. Ok. Well, he dies take the worst bump of the night, doing the Big Show double superplex spot on the steel. Looks brutal and stupid.

 

That's one issue that really is apparent more than ever in this match, the gimmick spots have become clichés and they don't mean anything anymore because they don't lead to anything, ever. Orton thrown on the plastic door ? He'll just sell forever when other guy are keeping themselves occupied as opposed to trying to pin him. Henry killed on the steel ? Again, they don't even try to pin him after this and he'll just be ready for the next spot. So yeah, this gimmick match which has been really efficient for a long time has seemingly turned into a bunch of empty clichés. Like Henry coming back to slowly kill people after he got eliminated, as a way to kill more time...

 

The ending stretch with Orton/Jericho/whoever was also a bit bizarre, in that Orton & Jericho prevented themselves from eliminating the third guy on several occasions. I dunno if that was leading somewhere, but it made them look stupid. Well I guess it was on purpose since Swagger ends up winning the whole thing with a surprise pin. So, the less over guy wins.

 

Really bland match. Nothing really bad apart from some of the Kane stuff, but nothing really good either and plenty of nothing in the middle. Jericho I guess was the MVP, working well with everyone and making Orton & Swagger look good. Bryan was so wasted at the time. Orton was his solid own self, but some of his spots are cringe-worthy (the double drapping DDT where both guys have to climb the second rope to position themselves is really terrible). Henry was "ok". Yeah. Yawn.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Far from the most memorable Chamber match, as there aren't many super memorable spots or sequences, but all in all, the thing flows so nicely w/ really good heat + action throughout, that it can't be anything less than very good in my eyes. The beginning with Jericho & Bryan going at it was extremely fun, Henry coming in & running through everyone ruled, and the battle between Orton & Jericho that lead to Jericho's elimination was great. ***3/4