[2003-08-24-WWE-Summerslam] HHH vs Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho vs Kevin Nash vs vs Randy Orton vs Goldberg (Elimination Chamber)

[El-P]

The second Elimination Chambers match. Again for the WWE title. Again with Trip as the champ going in. Should tell you everything you need to know.

 

On paper, doesn't look as good as the first match. In execution, was much better as a whole until the finish.

 

Shawn vs Jericho as the Wargames workhorse opener. These guy know how to begin. Damn, Shawn was quite back in shape and style there. When Randy Orton gets in, he gets crickets. He's still a young guy with potential pushed to the main event scene because of the name and look. And he's already kinda bland.

 

Kevin Nash gets the Kane spot. Except Nash in 2003 was still better at it than Kane the previous year. There's something badass about Nash demeanor + charisma, even with age and a shot body, he looks imposing. So it works well. Some blood and Jericho or Michaels, whoever gets there first.

 

HHH's cell opens and... Shawn superkicks him. Cool spot. HHH remains hidden until the end. Why not, he's the Game.

Nash gets out of the way before Goldy gets in. Good idea. Goldy would have killed him for ending the streak or something. So Nash jobs to the superkick of his best friend instead, although Jericho is getting the pin.

 

The Goldy segment is the best stuff here and puts him over like crazy. Insane spear putting Jericho through the UNBREAKABLE glass (although Goldy has to give an added omphhh to his effort, which actually made it look even more painfull). Goldy clears the space. It's pretty great, really.

 

Then HHH doesn't want to get out. Flair holding the door from the outside was neat. Goldy breaking the UNBREAKABLE GLASS with his feet and hands was kinda goofy really but also quite badass. Better this than a car window. And so he kicks HHH's ass, who's sporting Yoshiaki Yastu's pants.

 

And then... oh man. It's 2003. The sledghammer. Damn. From nowhere. HHH wins, effectively killing the crowd. Totally anticlimatic shit finish to an otherwise excellently booked match. Evolution beating like there are some kind of lame Horsemen. Mmkay. You know, heels never won Wargames, Trip.

 

Shawn & Jericho were clearly the workhorses (again). Goldy's segment was the best. Orton was there, like he always has been and always will, apparently.

 

Yet, better than the first one despite a whole lot of no-heat for a long time because it's 2003. But while the finish of 2002 was terrific, this one sucked the life out of the crowd.

[iamthedoctor]

The second Elimination Chambers match. Again for the WWE title. Again with Trip as the champ going in. Should tell you everything you need to know.

 

On paper, doesn't look as good as the first match. In execution, was much better as a whole until the finish.

 

Shawn vs Jericho as the Wargames workhorse opener. These guy know how to begin. Damn, Shawn was quite back in shape and style there. When Randy Orton gets in, he gets crickets. He's still a young guy with potential pushed to the main event scene because of the name and look. And he's already kinda bland.

 

Kevin Nash gets the Kane spot. Except Nash in 2003 was still better at it than Kane the previous year. There's something badass about Nash demeanor + charisma, even with age and a shot body, he looks imposing. So it works well. Some blood and Jericho or Michaels, whoever gets there first.

 

HHH's cell opens and... Shawn superkicks him. Cool spot. HHH remains hidden until the end. Why not, he's the Game.

 

Nash gets out of the way before Goldy gets in. Good idea. Goldy would have killed him for ending the streak or something. So Nash jobs to the superkick of his best friend instead, although Jericho is getting the pin.

 

The Goldy segment is the best stuff here and puts him over like crazy. Insane spear putting Jericho through the UNBREAKABLE glass (although Goldy has to give an added omphhh to his effort, which actually made it look even more painfull). Goldy clears the space. It's pretty great, really.

 

Then HHH doesn't want to get out. Flair holding the door from the outside was neat. Goldy breaking the UNBREAKABLE GLASS with his feet and hands was kinda goofy really but also quite badass. Better this than a car window. And so he kicks HHH's ass, who's sporting Yoshiaki Yastu's pants.

 

And then... oh man. It's 2003. The sledghammer. Damn. From nowhere. HHH wins, effectively killing the crowd. Totally anticlimatic shit finish to an otherwise excellently booked match. Evolution beating like there are some kind of lame Horsemen. Mmkay. You know, heels never won Wargames, Trip.

 

Shawn & Jericho were clearly the workhorses (again). Goldy's segment was the best. Orton was there, like he always has been and always will, apparently.

 

Yet, better than the first one despite a whole lot of no-heat for a long time because it's 2003. But while the finish of 2002 was terrific, this one sucked the life out of the crowd.

Ive always enjoyed this match but hated the ending. Goldberg pretty much kills everybody so naturally should have won.

 

Heard rumours of Goldberg Hunter heat something to do with a tour? Was that why he lost.

[El-P]

No idea. I really was off the loop at that point. But this ending screamed sabotage. Goldy was the most over guy here by far.

[TonyPulis'Cap]

If ever a match screamed an audible for a change of result mid match then this it. I've got no doubt that Trips and Goldberg didn't get on backstage, and that HHH would've been of the school of thought that Goldberg needed to 'learn how to work', but it's odd given that he does then lose the belt to him the next month at Unforgiven. I think I've heard that HHH was the kind of guy who believed that a title change should be in a 1 on 1 match, but compared to this when the crowd would've gone crazy if Goldberg had won, they are pretty mild for it the next month. It plays into something that I think has been a real issue with the wrestling business, both historically and to this day - no-one knows when to pull the trigger. The end of this match would have been justified with "look how much extra heat it will build and how much of an extra pop Goldberg will get when he finally wins" the issue being - both in this case and many, many, many others - that after so many cheap endings and screwjobs, fans just lose interest.

[Stiva]

This lacks the more violent feel of the original due to it lacking RVD being hell bent on leaping into and off of all of the steel (not to mention HHH not having his throat crushed) but it really is a much tighter and focused match that shits the bed on the finish. Even Nash is great as the few things he’s tasked to do, he does with real force and oomph. The Goldberg run is absolutely fantastic and not even Michaels can stretch out his finishing run with him past the point of boredom as he just destroys everyone and the chamber in a wild 4 minute stretch. Put the title on him here and it’s one of the best Chamber matches, instead, Hunter bullshits his way to another win and then drops the title a month later when the damage is done and the bloom is off the rose.

[ohtani's jacket]

This is nowhere near as good as the first Elimination Chamber. It's not bad given the talent involved, but the original match had much better performances from Jericho and Michaels and was far more suspenseful. It was notably shorter thanks to the early elimination of Nash and Goldberg going on his eliminating spree, but while that may have hidden some of their deficiencies as workers, it didn't help the drama much. Especially with Triple H hiding for most of the bout. Ordinarily, I'd be the first guy to defend The Game, but I thought the way Triple H and Evolution were booked here was extremely lame. I don't care about Goldberg going over. It would have made a nice finish to the bout, but I don't give two craps about him winning the title. What I do think is lame is the champion hiding for the majority of the bout and then delivering a post match beatdown to end the show. That's some lame ass NWO shit right there. I'm surprised Hunter didn't spray paint the bout and tell Goldberg the power lies with Hollywood. I can't understand finishing a RAW or Smackdown like this, but why would you want to end the PPV on such a sour note? Not a match with a lot of staying power post SummerSlam 2003.