The show started with the Authority coming out to a chorus of boos. Stephanie asked if they were glad she was back. They began talking about the future of the WWE (Seth Rollins) and say that Reigns, Orton, and Ambrose are now at the back of the line for title shots. They then talk about celebration they are throwing for Rollins called the “Architect of the Future” being held later on in the show. They talk about how Daniel Bryan body could not keep up with him forcing him to vacant 2 titles in the past 2 years. They talk about the Intercontinental Title being defended in the Elimination Chamber.
Sheamus who is coming off a win at Payback over Dolph Ziggler interrupted them. He told the authority they did not have to have a match for the vacant title and they should give the title to him because he caused Bryan to be sidelined. This brought out Ryback who told Sheamus that he did not like bullies and told Sheamus that he is one. That made Triple H to make the first match of the night between Sheamus vs. Ryback. It was also announced that Sheamus and Ryback are in the chamber matchup.
Pretty good segment opening up the show it was a good hype recapping the events of payback main event. Talking about the vacant title Sheamus and Ryback played a good part of this segment setting up a match between those two.
Sheamus vs. Ryback
It was a good match between these 2 powerhouse superstars. Ryback looked hurt early in the matchup holding his ribs going outside the ring Sheamus began to work on the hurt area of Ryback. Ryback looked like he was still hurt from his match at Payback vs. Bray Wyatt. Ryback looked like he was going to come back in the match hitting Sheamus with a Power bomb and a Spine buster. Even with a great comeback by Ryback Sheamus won the match via pin fall.
This was a good match showcasing the power of both superstars. This match could have been better but it was still entertaining to watch.
As we go backstage The Authority was talking about last night in their office. That is when Seth Rollins come in with a bottle of champagne. Seth pours a glass for everyone. He turns to Kane and he says to Kane nobody deserves it more than him now he has a reason to celebrate since Rollins won. Ambrose then comes in and says he will give Rollins a one on one rematch at Elimination Chamber as long as he puts the title on the line. Since the last time those two faced off in a singles matchup Ambrose got the best of Rollins. Kane tells Ambrose that he is at the back of the line and says Rollins should decide who his next challenger is since he is the future of the company. Ambrose then insults Kane he had enough of it and he puts Ambrose in a match vs. Bray Wyatt.
Good Backstage segment setting up a good match between Ambrose vs. Wyatt.
Renee Young interviewed Neville fresh off his victory at Payback over King Barrett. He was talking about wrestling all over the world. He said that nothing is like wrestling in the WWE he talked about how he loved proving doubters wrong. Bo Dallas interrupted the segment talking about his career and about Neville being an underdog. Neville talked about beating Bo Dallas to win his first ever NXT Title reign. Dallas did not like that one bit he attacked him. King Barrett comes out and they get ready for their match.
Looks like WWE is looking towards starting a Neville vs. Bo Dallas rivalry after seeing this segment.
Neville vs. King Barrett
Barrett began the match taking advantage of the injured knee of Neville. It looks like Barrett is really taking apart Neville biggest strength his legs taking out his knee. Neville begins coming back with a series of kicks it was not enough for a comeback for Neville after King Barrett hit the bull hammer on Neville and pinned Neville to pick up the pin fall victory. After the match Bo Dallas comes in and sneak attacks Neville working on Neville already injured knee.
This was a good back and forth match. Neville did his best to fight back even though he was fighting with an injured Knee. It showed that Neville does not quit. Even when he is hurt really badly.
Rusev comes out to explain what happened between himself Lana and John Cena during Payback. Rusev said that Lana was not going to come out saying she needed to learn her place. The crowd chanted we want Lana, but Rusev said Lana is not coming. He then said that he did not say I quit. Lana comes out she comes out to explain to everyone who Rusev is really. Lana said that she only did it because she cares about Rusev. She said Rusev was saying I quit in Rusev native language Rusev dumps Lana as a manager.
Pretty good Segment for Rusev and Lana. It was expected since WWE is most likely is turning Lana into a fan favorite.
Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt
The start of the match was pretty good. It was better than the match that Wyatt had at Payback. It was a good back and forth match. Wyatt and Ambrose exchanged blow after blow and shot after shot. J and J Security came out to distract Ambrose and it worked Ambrose walked into Sister Abigail and Wyatt picks up the victory via pin fall.
Really good match. Maybe even the match of the night. WWE should of put this on pay per view if they were not already feuding with other people at the moment. They already hate each other and they have history with each other so they know how to counter the others every move.
The New Day Big E and Kofi Kingston vs. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro with Natalya with Xavier Woods banned from ringside. For the WWE Tag Team Championships
New Day started out coming out complaining about how Woods was not out at ringside with them. Then they talked about how unfair it was that they had to compete and defend their tag team titles vs. five tag teams in the elimination chamber match at the Elimination Chamber pay per view in two weeks.
Pretty good short segment featuring the New Day. They are doing a good job as of late being heels.
The match starts up with Cesaro and Big E Cesaro takes advantage of the matchup early in the match. During the matchup they announced that Rusev, King Barrett, and R Truth would be joining Sheamus and Ryback in the elimination chamber match for the Intercontinental Title. The match ended in a DQ and New Day retained their title. They had a post-match brawl during the brawl Lucha Dragons came in and attacked the New Day and Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. The Ascension join in the fray Prime Time Players and Los Matadores joined in as well. After the brawl WWE announced that the other teams that are joining New Day in the chamber match. Are going to be Tyson Kidd and Cesaro the Ascension Prime Time Players Lucha Dragons and Los Matadores.
The match was not that good but the best part was the post match brawl. Between all of the tag teams involved in the tag team title match at the chamber pay per view. It was a great idea for the WWE to involve them to hype up the match within the next week or two.
John Cena comes out talking about Payback and his match with Rusev he talks about how special it is for Cena to be the US Champion. He says it is because of the solders he issued the US Open Challenge for his United States Championship. That then brought out NXT Champion Kevin Owens everyone thought that Owens was going to accept Cena US Open challenge. He actually came out there to make a statement. They had a war of words then Owens hit Cena with a pop up power bomb stepping on Cena US title. Raising his NXT title over Cena body later on in the night WWE announced that Kevin Owens will be having his first match at the main roster at WWE Elimination Chamber. He will be going one on one vs. John Cena unless Owens has a warm up match next week on raw this will be Owens first match ever on the main roster.
This was an awesome segment nobody expected Kevin Owens to come out. Even I did not expect him to come out it was only a matter of time before he made an appearance on Raw. Boy was it a good one it was great seeing him look strong and stepping on the title. It was a great heel move on Owens part it is great that the WWE is putting NXT most dominate superstar in Owens vs. one of the WWE biggest superstars they ever had in Cena. There are a lot of possibilities that could happen during the match. We will have to wait and see what happens if this goes the right way this will be a great way to push Owens in the WWE.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Stardust
This match started with Stardust taking advantage of Ziggler injured eye. But that did not do anything Ziggler got some momentum he hit the zigzag on Stardust for the pin fall victory. Michael Cole comes in and interviews Ziggler he then tells Ziggler that he is the final entry in the chamber match for the vacant Intercontinental Title. That brings out Lana she then did a little lip lock action with Ziggler, which obviously made Rusev mad. He stormed out Rusev then started yelling at Lana which then Lana smacked him then Ziggler gave Rusev the Zigzag.
This was an amazing segment by Ziggler and Lana and Rusev. The match was nothing but a squash match but the segment made up for it. This was a great way for Lana to go part ways with Rusev and most likely a partnership with Ziggler.
Nikki Bella vs. Naomi with Tamina for WWE Divas Championship
Nikki looked good with a good air assault. Naomi took advantage after that putting Nikki in a headlock. Nikki fought back and took advantage she was attempting to hit the rack attack on Naomi. Only to meet a super kick by Tamina giving Nikki the win via DQ retaining her title. After the match Naomi and Tamina attacked Nikki. That was until Paige returned after being out with an injury last month rushed into the ring and saved Nikki from being attacked. After saving Nikki she hit the rampage on Nikki Bella mostly making a statement saying that she is coming for her title.
This was a good match but with a good segment it is great to see Paige back and ready to challenge for the title. Expect her to get a title shot at Elimination Chamber in a singles match vs. Nikki or a triple threat vs. Nikki and Naomi.
Luke Harper and Erik Rowan vs. Fandango and Zack Ryder
This match started off good it was better than I expected. I was expecting a quick squash match victory for Harper and Rowan. But Fandango and Ryder put up actually a fight but it was nothing that could beat them. Harper and Rowan pick up the pin fall victory.
This was nothing but a fill-in match for Harper and Rowan. It was great to see them back in Action but this was nothing but a fill-up match. There is hope WWE has bigger and better plans to push Harper and Rowan. Maybe the WWE Tag Team Championship opportunity down the road we will see but all we know is they are a tough team.
We See the Authority in the ring getting ready for Seth Rollins architect of a dream a celebration for Seth Rollins for what he did at WWE Payback; beating Randy Orton Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. Triple H begins to talk and he tells Rollins that Rollins reminds himself a lot of himself back when he was a wrestler. They all begin saying all the things they love about Rollins first off starting with Kane. He tells Rollins he would not be at a job if it were not for Rollins. He then shows a video showing how much he likes Rollins. The video highlighted everything what Rollins did ever since he came to the company starting from the Shield until now being WWE Champion. Just as J & J were about to speak Dean Ambrose interrupted the celebration. He tells the authority that he wants a WWE Championship match. He then is threating to end Rollins career by smashing his head with a steel chair with his head between cinderblocks. Just like how Rollins injured Ambrose a few months back. Stephanie gave Ambrose his wish then they begin having a brawl. At the end of the show Seth Rollins was standing over Ambrose body with his title on his shoulder.
This was a good segment to end the show almost everyone wanted Ambrose to crush Rollins head. But in the end Rollins just got away just in time to get the upper hand. Can’t wait to see where this takes us on next week show.
Overall this was a great show a lot of surprises. The thing that surprised me most was the appearance of Kevin Owens nobody expected that. There were also some good matches on the show like Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt. If this writer were to rate this show I would give it a 5. It was better than Payback let’s all hope they can continue the momentum after this great show.