I loved the Elimination Chamber. I would go so far as to say that this is the best B premium live event of the Triple H era. This show was nearly flawless from beginning to end.
I wasn’t on board with everyone souring on the WrestleMania build. WrestleMania is on April 19 & 20; That's a seven-week build (starting from today). As much as I’m a fan of long-term storytelling, there’s also a possibility that feuds can reach their peak too quickly.
But the events that happened at Elimination Chamber prove why having a pay-per-view before WrestleMania can be so valuable. I’m going to focus on two things from Saturday's show: Jade Cargill’s return and John Cena’s heel turn.
Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens was my match of the night and the Orton angle was pretty good. The tag team match was fine, but it did its job and was rather harmless overall.
Elimination Chamber started strong with the Jade/Naomi angle. And the way they played this up was perfect. We all knew that Liv wasn’t the culprit behind Jade’s attack. In fact, most expected Naomi to be the mysterious attacker, but WWE was clever here by putting the focus on Liv.
Jade looked amazing. Her attack on Naomi was violent and somehow still shocking. What made this segment even better was Belair’s reaction. Part of me thought she was overreacting, but then again, I've never been forced to watch a friend get beaten like a government mule. I understood what she was doing. Belair doesn’t see Naomi as a two-faced snake, so it’s hard for her to believe that Naomi would be the attacker. Credit to all women in this segment as even the background players like Roxanne Perez or Alexa Bliss gave subtle performances over the incident.
This is what I love about this story. Granted, the slow burn mystery aspect dragged for a while, but now all the pieces of the puzzles are set. And there are different angles that WWE can take this.
Maybe Jade has the wrong person and thinks it’s Naomi.
Maybe Jade is pissed at Naomi for simply taking her spot.
Maybe Bianca is secretly in cahoots with Naomi and Jade doesn’t know a thing.
Maybe Jade has gone corporate and is doing what’s best for business!
There are interesting directions that WWE can go in. Though I’m fine with the company keeping it simple and having Naomi be the attacker. There was an interesting idea tossed around about the Meta-Girls (Jakara Jackson and Lash Legend) helping Naomi take out Jade and honestly, I love that idea as well. The reason I’m so into this story is because it finally gives Jade and Naomi something compelling to do.
Naomi was a solid heel before and this two-faced story allows her to expand her range as a performer. And Jade has been doing nothing but smiling and showing muscles throughout 2024. This was the first time in a while that I saw the star that she was in AEW. Her character has purpose and that’s a sad thing to say when she was a tag team champion for a good part of 2024. I look forward to seeing the next chapter of this story.
My only criticism is that Jade may have gotten too much revenge. Maybe they should’ve pulled an Orton/Owens and had Naomi escape somehow. But then again, perhaps the company has something great in mind so I’ll let it play out. Finally, we have a woman’s feud that’s not about championships. This is personal and I hope that Naomi vs. Jade ends up on the WrestleMania card.
I like Bianca Belair winning. It was the most appealing match option there. I think there's interesting storytelling routes with Perez and Bliss, but Belair is the biggest match to make here. I'm curious to see if they make a Triple Threat with Iyo Sky. I doubt it as Belair vs. Ripley should come first, but I wouldn't complain if Sky was inserted into the match.
Now to John Cena.
Again, most of us knew that Cody wasn’t accepting that deal. It just didn’t make sense. The question was who was going to be Rock’s Champion. It had to be someone truly shocking. Watching Cena turn heel was beautiful. It wasn’t perfect and I do feel that Cena turning heel would’ve been better suited for WrestleMania like Stone Cold at WrestleMania 17.
Then again, I’ve been saying for the longest time that WWE doesn’t particularly do well with babyface vs. babyface builds, so pulling the trigger here was likely best for business. And when you look back, there were some subtle hints that Cena was breaking bad. Cena inserting himself into the Elimination Chamber match because it was “best for business” is the strongest clue.
However, John Cena has always been a company man. Even during his CM Punk feud, he labeled the former WWE Champion a “terrorist” because the company tried to label him anti-WWE. I love the idea of heel John Cena and I’ll be fine with him taking the title off of Cody.
Good for John Cena and WWE taking this risk. I thought for sure the company would take a feel-good approach with Cena’s final year, but they took a bold step in what could be a memorable year for Mr. Hustle, loyalty, and respect. I look forward to John's first promo and I hope his attire gets an overhaul going forward.
Elimination Chamber has me greatly excited for WrestleMania 41. I still maintain that the first chapter of the Cody/Rock corporate saga wasn’t good, but I never thought that the story was beyond saving.
Elimination Chamber was nearly perfect. Okay, the show was perfect. Nothing was bad. Most of the matches were great and the Canada crowd was savage and awesome at the same time. I know I didn't cover every single thing on the show, but there are plenty of more stories and angles at Elimination Chamber that advanced WrestleMania in the right direction.