[2018-02-25-WWE-Elimination Chamber] Alexa Bliss vs Mickie James vs Bayley vs Sasha Banks vs Sonya Deville vs Mandy Rose (Elimination Chamber)

[KawadaSmile]

Match of the night right here.

 

Sonya and Mandy looked like a threat early on, basically torturing Bayley until Sasha came along to even things up. Mickie had an amazing, albeit sadly very short run in the match, but curiously it was after she was gone that the match turned from good, but mundane, to great.

 

Sasha and Bayley chasing down Alexa made for a good visual, and she managing to outsmart two friends turned foes was incredibly well done. Some batshit spots like the Twisted Bliss from the top of the cell or that spike DDT sure helped things.

 

Alexa then delivers and AMAZING promo playing everyone in the arena. The title looks even more like a big deal and (at least the RAW side) women's wrestling is looking legit.

 

Great stuff.

[SmartMark15]

Really fun match. Simple and efficiently booked. Everyone looked great and the final three really looked wonderful. Sasha finally going full-on Boss on us, Alexa being that sneaky little chickenshit (my god, her facial expressions), and Bayley being the plucky underdog Iron Woman for sticking through the match. All very good stuff.

 

***3/4

[gordi]

And the women outdo the men, yet again. MOTN in the Rumble and the Elimination Chamber PPVs.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Awesome match. Really liked Absolution's double team stuff against Bayley; especially Sonya Deville looked very good w/ her offense. She threw some very nice looking knees & kicks. Sasha came in w/ a house of fire - she looked very good as usual & I thought they told a good story of her keeping Mandy & Sonya as far as from each other as she could, so she could get one of them out of the match completely. Once Bayley has got some power back, she does exactly that; they did a very good job w/ Mandy's elimination, pushing it to be because of her lack of experience. Mickie looked really good for the short time she was in the match - everything she did looked very good & came in with a nice energetic vibe to them. Sasha turning on Bayley in the final 3 stages of the match was superb & their interactions against each other were FANTASTIC. Quite the chemistry between the 2, eh. The final 2 battle between Sasha & Alexa was great too, nice, but not overdone drama in it - it was kept just in the perfect length. Much like at the Rumble, the women delivered in their first-ever gimmick showing. Really good stuff all around! ***3/4

[El-P]

The Women's EC was a slow builder. Bailey was certainly positioned as the Arn of the thing. Not stellar in-ring work at first, but it was so well booked with basically a Wargame dynamic that it didn't matter. Plus it built and built and built. Sasha was the clear MVP. Mickie James had a terrific showing in there. Mandy is gonna go places. And damn, Alexa's chickenshit heel stuff running of Sasha & Bailey was terrific. As was Sasha's kick of doom. Such a terrific heel move. The work only got better as it went, terrific match in the end. And also, a terrific promo which had Bliss make the audience swallow their own stupid "You deserve it!" chant (toward a heel, fucking millenials wuss).

 

Top tier EC match easily.

[TonyPulis'Cap]

Really enjoyed this - easily MOTN and much better than the men's chamber match. I thought the dynamics between all the competitors were spot on, and everyone got to bring out their personality and characters through the match. While - apart from the moves off the top of the pods - there wasn't any crazy violence, I liked that the match was all about exploring the interpersonal relations between the competitors and their motivations rather than big spots.

 

I liked Absolution working as a unit, and not doing the cliched turn on one another, and thought that Sonya looked the best I've seen her. I liked El-P's likening of Bayley to Arn, as she really held the match together. I still think we would all argue that she has not been used to her potential on the main roster but in so many women's matches she ends up being the glue.

 

As others have argued above, I liked the slow burn of the match and that it built rather than going crazy at the beginning and then struggling to maintain that momentum. I thought Mickie looked fantastic in her run. While short, she had so much fire and intensity and again it was probably the best she's looked since her return.

 

As ever Alexa's facials were so good, and her face in the pod when she knew she was 2 on 1 against Sasha and Bayley was perfect. I liked the spot of her trying to run away as well - proper old school with the sneaky heel finally being caught in a caged structure with some vengeful babyfaces.

 

Loved Sasha's kicking Bayley down off the pod, continuing the great slow build dynamic between the two, and again it showed the character and motivations of the participants coming through rather than just doing a cool move to pop the crowd.

 

Thought this was top stuff - ****

[Downend2005]

This is the first time I’ve actually watched this.

I actually really liked the opening section... Bayley and Sonya being almost tentative really added to the fact that this was unfamiliar territory for the women. I really liked the sense of struggle over the first cage spot in particular.

Bayley going on the offensive when Mandy Rose entered was fun, before Sonya absolutely crushed Bayley with a spear which looked awesome. I think Sonya and Mandy could have made more of their 2 on 1 advantage though, I’d have liked to have seen them both covering Bayley at the same time for example, something like that could have really put over their numerical advantage.

Bayley preventing Sonya from saving Mandy from the submission was a nice spot to eliminate Absolutions numbers advantage.

Mickie James looked as good as I’ve seen her since her return.

Sasha turning on Bayley for the second time in two months to give Alexa an opening was actually very well done, and Alexa rolling up Bayley to eliminate her was perfectly in keeping with her character.

Sasha completely no selling the twisted bliss off the top of the pod near the finish didn’t work for me though.

Overall this was a good chamber match, glad I watched it.