WWE Elimination Chamber 2019 LD - The Paradise and the Pain

[FunKay]

"It has to be now... I've waited too long, I've worked too hard. This has to be it."

The narrative of this show got changed real quick...

Kofi Kingston has won everything in WWE. He's held the IC and US titles on multiple occasions and is a tag team champion more times than I care to count, setting the record for most days cumulative with the various tag team championships of WWE's recent history. However, his opportunities at the top prize, a world championship, have been few and far between. With the injury bug striking down Mustafa Ali, his spot for the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match was open.

Cometh the man, cometh the hour.

Kofi entered Tuesday night's gauntlet (to determine the final entrant for the match) as the least fancied member of the field. By the end, he was maybe the favourite. He shockingly pinned WWE Champion Daniel Bryan in a long, enthralling encounter, got the best of Jeff Hardy and stunned Samoa Joe. He even stepped to AJ Styles after an hour of combat, telling the "Phenomenal One" that he'd waited 11 years, and that he was done waiting. While he ultimately tapped to Styles' Calf Crusher, Kingston had put everyone on notice. For the record, Orton stole the win and the final entrance spot with the RKO (outta nowhere(TM)).

So with all the chips on the table, can Kofi, after over a decade toiling away in the midcard and tag scenes, finally capture the big one, seize his place in history and become the heavyweight champion of this world? Only time will tell...

___________________________

Elsewhere, we've got another Chamber match to crown the brand new Women's Tag Team Champions! In fact, there's quite a bit going on, so let's run down that card!

Match Card
WWE Championship Elimination Chamber Match: Daniel Bryan (C) vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston
Elimination Chamber Match to Determine the New Women's Tag Team Champions: Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan) vs. Tamina & Nia Jax vs. The IIconics (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay) vs. Fire & Desire (Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose) vs. Carmella & Naomi
RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Ruby Riott
Intercontinental Champion Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush vs. Finn Balor
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Shane McMahon & The Miz vs. The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso)
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY? LITERALLY NO ONE CARES!No Disqualification Match: Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin
Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy vs. Akira Tozawa [Pre-Show]

Should be... well the two Chamber matches should be fun at least! Enjoy!

[smarkmouth]

I love how New Day just pointed out how redundant the questions get when interviews last more than 2 minutes.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

WWE doesn't know how to end a feud.

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't expect too many surprises on the show, just some entertaining matches and that's usually enough for me.

Kofi had a great showing during the gauntlet match, though they ultimately used the story they were going to use for Mustafa Ali, but I still don't see Kofi or anyone else beating Bryan tonight. I wouldn't mind at all if WWE went with Bryan vs. Kingston at WrestleMania because, let's face it, WrestleMania this year is going to be all about the Universal & Raw Women's Championship matches. Kofi might not "seem" like someone to get excited over but Kofi has been one of the most reliable talents on the roster for over a decade. He's won everything except a World Championship, and the CW Championship but Kofi had already long since won everything else in WWE many times over before the CW Division started back up so I'm not counting it, and I wouldn't mind seeing him get a real shot at it. Truth is, I probably wouldn't mind if he won it come WrestleMania, if that's something that's possibly being considered, but I don't see Bryan dropping the title tonight.

As for the women's EC match, it's all but written in the stars that it'll be either Sasha & Bayley, Nia & Tamina or Live & Sarah. Sasha & Bayley are set to enter the match first and I expect they'll be one of the final two teams left with them playing the roles of the scrappy, courageous babyfaces only to come up short in the end. Nia & Tamina are a whole other level of uninteresting in any way, shape or form but they could definitely win it while the Riott Squad may come up with the surprise win. This could be a match where WWE goes for a surprise win as everyone is ultimately expecting this match to be mostly about Bayley, Sasha, Tamina & Nia. It'll take time to set up a real tag division for the women, so having the first champions be someone that seems like an afterthought while simultaneously being a pretty solid team is something that can be done without losing anything. The IIconics are awful, Fire & Desire isn't ready and Naomi & Carmella just come off slapped together for one night.

Ronda Rousey will retain against Ruby Riott, no question about that, but this is a chance for Ruby to give a stand out performance and really demonstrate what she can bring to the ring, something she hasn't really been able to do on the main roster. Or, they could just feed her to Rousey in a match that's lucky to last 5 minutes. Either scenario is possible.

The SD Tag Team Championship will probably end up with Miz & Shane retaining. I didn't hate their match against the Bar, as I figured I would, because I expected it to be loaded with silly shenanigans and comedy that'd make Cesaro & Sheamus look like a couple of idiotic scrubs but that didn't happen. I expect that'll be the case this time as well, though I still wish they'd have come up with some other means of leading to Shane vs. Miz for WrestleMania rather than dismantling the SmackDown Tag Team Championship picture to do it using a team that's hardly had any interaction and one half of wich is a 48+ year old executive who has two or three major spots, both of which look like they damn near kill him.

The IC title match, I'm not really sure what to expect here. It could be surprisingly good or it could be a disaster. Lio Rush is a talented guy and I just wish Vince wasn't so hung up on the little guy always getting his ass handed to him royally by the bigger guy mentality. However, I knew once I"d heard he was signed that his size was going to be a factor working against him as far as Vince McMahon was concerned. He'll probably be central in Lashley retaining the title before it ultimately leads to some clash between Lashley & Balor at WrestleMania where Lashley drops the title.

Strowman vs. Corbin strikes me as a piss break, or it would be if WWE wasn't so intent on trying to showcase what little overall ability Barcon Corbin has. The guy's simply just not that talented and if Vince is someone that goes a lot by looks, Corbin doesn't really have that good of a look. Sure he's tall, but he's a tall, skinny, gangly sort of guy with little to no real muscle tone to speak of, which is probably why he wrestles with as much of his physique covered up as possible. Just have Strowman kill him in a handful of minutes and move on.

The Cruiserweight Championship match, AKA the Kickoff Show Tradition, should be a fun, physical bout that'll probably have more energy and interest to it than Strowman vs. Corbon, unless WWE just has Strowman & Corbin go nuts and go all out but I don't see that happening. At any point, I see Murphy retaining though I've no idea really where they go from here. I think the Cruiserweight Division needs some fresh talent and, frankly, I'd love to see Rey Mysterio used there as a means of jacking up interest and ultimately giving a young heel a bit later on down the line a big rub. Mysterio is already on the SmackDown brand, so it's not like it'd be any sort of imposition for him.

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE doesn't know how to end a feud.

Some of them do, I think it has a lot to do with Vince's "more is always better" mentality.

[Spidey]

The past 24 hours has made this a curious watch, no?

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Hard to believe there is another PPV already. They barely had time to build toward this one. Such a sad card, the Smackdown Elimination Chamber will be the only reason ill be watching tonight.

[smarkmouth]

The past 24 hours has made this a curious watch, no?

Do you think they replace Carmella? Can't help but think they'd be worried a shitty audience chants the match out of enjoyability.

[Spidey]

Oof man I don't think so. Seems too close to make any drastic changes to the match but crazier things have happened.

[FunKay]

More likely they'd give Graves the night off if they do anything I'd think