WWE Elimination Chamber (2022) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Singles Match

Rey Mysterio (with Dominik Mysterio) defeated The Miz by pinfall

Didn't watch, didn't care. WWE better be happy that I even woke up on time to watch this show in the first place.

Singles Match for the WWE Universal Championship

Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) defeated Goldberg by technical submission

The best things to come out of this match were the facts that Goldberg didn't embarrass himself with his performance here and more importantly, he didn't win the WWE Universal Championship. We don't need him ending Reigns' monumental title reign unceremoniously just for shock value just to have Roman win it back in the weeks leading back up to WrestleMania just to pop a TV rating on SmackDown! one week. No, we're still staying the course with predictability and that was a great theme throughout this entire card actually.

On a side note though, was it just me or was it odd to see Bill wrestle without his usual MMA gloves on?

Elimination Chamber Match for a WWE Raw Women's Championship match at WrestleMania 38

Bianca Belair defeated Alexa Bliss, Doudrop, Liv Morgan, Nikki A.S.H., and Rhea Ripley

Out of the two chamber matches, I have to give it to the ladies for making this one more competitive than the one that closed off the night with men.

(Laughs) I went out of my way to watch all of those therapy segments with Alexa Bliss in preparation for this match, only for her to come out here for this match in the same gimmick and entrance like nothing happened since last year. And here I thought she was "cured" from whatever that creepy doll (Lily) and The Fiend/Bray Wyatt did to her. She really needs to give this mock-Harley Quinn gimmick a rest. Double... no, triple can be said for Nikki A.S.H.'s "superhero" gimmick when she's clearly a heel now. And while we're on the subject of gimmicks I don't like, I wish Rhea Ripley would quit with the dominatrix, goth succubus shit that she's been going with since coming up to the main roster. It's like her and Nikki have their wires crossed or something. Shouldn't Rhea be the one dressed like a heroine of sorts if she's the babyface in their feud while Nikki is the deranged supervillain? Then again, I don't know what these people are making off merchandise sales of their gimmicks, so that could be one reason why they haven't made any changes as of late.

As for this match in terms of ring work, it was fine for what it was. I thought Liv Morgan (who was sporting an "Oops I Did It Again" Britney Spears-inspired ring gear) had some good moments in this, which was highlighted by a powerbomb out of the corner to Doudrop to eliminate her. Speaking of Doudrop, I thought her full body suit (which all of the women were forced to wear to cover up in Saudi Arabia) was a much more flattering ring attire for her. She should consider something like that for her full-time attire. Rhea and Bianca had a few interesting moments in this match where they tried to one-up each other before finally butting heads. Liv Morgan settled the exchange between them by hitting her finish on them simultaneously, but couldn't capitalize on it since Alexa Bliss promptly eliminated her shortly thereafter. Bliss and Bianca indirectly worked together to eliminate Rhea which left it down as those two as the final two in this match. I don't get why people said that Bliss was "buried" in her first match back when she had a strong showing in this match from most of her offense here. Plus, I can easily see them using this loss to further her therapy storyline and use it to show that she hasn't been really "cured" at all.

Besides, Bianca Belair was the right person to win this match with Ronda Rousey set to challenge Charlotte Flair on the SmackDown end of things. Bianca and Becky's story needed to be resolved since Summerslam and I have no issues with them having the stage at WrestleMania. Besides, there's no other bigger match than that to go with on the RAW side of the women's division on the main roster.

Tag Team Match

Naomi and Ronda Rousey defeated Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville by submission

Ronda Rousey had to wrestle with one arm tied behind her back.

I had to laugh at Ronda coming out dressed like she was Ryu (or better yet Makoto) from Street Fighter in her karate gi for this match, complete without shoes on. I'll give her credit that this was a better look for her than whatever the hell that was she came out wearing for the Royal Rumble last month.

As for this match as a whole, it was just a match. Ronda needs a tad more work to work off the ring rust before WrestleMania. I suggest throwing her out there in some matches on SmackDown in the weeks before WrestleMania to get more comfortable working in front of live crowds again. She's been out of this for nearly three years and she's not going to magically get back into fighting form in a single match or two. Much like her match on SmackDown! two weeks ago with Charlotte Flair, Naomi was the one who shined the most in this match. I really hope that she has a significant match with Sonya Deville at WrestleMania to finally blow off their feud. Naomi has been turning a lot of heads lately as a lot of people have neglected how great of a worker that she is in-ring, proving that she still has a lot to offer WWE's current women's division.

At the end of the day, Ronda and Naomi got the win over Sonya without Charlotte having to eat the pin and that's all what mattered as we continue down the road to WrestleMania.

Singles Match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship

Becky Lynch (c) defeated Lita by pinfall

Much like with Trish Stratus in her match against Charlotte Flair a few years ago, Lita came back and was able to hang with the current generation of women in WWE. I thought this match dragged on like a slog fest when it started out, but they were able to win me over with the near-falls by the end. I wish Becky would come up with a better secondary finisher than the Manhandle Slam because almost 90-95% of the time, it looks like shit when she does it. She's definitely not even in the league of Booker T, The Rock, and so many others who have used similar variations of that move. It's like that Diving Moonsault that Charlotte Flair insists on doing in EVERY match that looks like complete shit when every other person who does those in that company do much better moonsaults. Like why continue doing shitty looking moves like that when just about everything else you do is crisp and/or well-done.

I've said this in some of her previous matches too, but I'll say it again. I'm completely over Becky Lynch as champion at this point. Her matches feel beyond redundant at this point and she's starting to show the same amount of cracks in her armor as Charlotte Flair as they both don't have the flexibility to adapt to different styles other than their own. Becky has the same match in roughly all of her outings and when her style doesn't gel with her opponent(s), she turns into a bumping machine and merely ates their offense until she can go back to her original gameplan. It works, but I'm not going to say that it's overly entertaining to see done over and over and over again.

Tag Team Match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship

The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (c) vs. The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar) ended in a no-contest

I hope the Viking Raiders were paid well to be flown overseas just to not even have a match. This segment seemed like a massive waste of time, even though this company has done everything to beat all of my enthusiasm to see the Viking Raiders in any match period. It's sad too because I used to mark the hell out for them as War Machine in Ring of Honor and the indies.

I wouldn't be surprised if they just reschedule this match for one of the upcoming weeks of Friday Night SmackDown!. I thought they cut this match since they were running out of air time or something.

Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship

Brock Lesnar defeated Bobby Lashley (c), AJ Styles, Austin Theory, Riddle, and Seth "Freakin" Rollins

I went into this match thinking that we were going to get a pretty competitive match out of the people who were involved here, especially with Rollins and Theory starting things off in terms of work rate. Then we had the Buckle Bomb spot that saw Theory crash into Lashley's pod and seemingly knock him for a loop too. Then when the trainers, Adam Pierce, Jason Jordan, and the other officials came piling into the ring to check on Lashley's condition I was like "Uh oh, they just gave Lashley an out to protect him from getting beat in this match..." From the moment they walked Lashley to the back and then Michael Cole's announcement that Lashley was undergoing concussion protocols (WTF, when that should've been done after Moss' scary bump earlier in this very show...) and he was unable to compete in this match, there was absolutely NO doubt in my mind that Brock Lesnar wasn't winning this match.

For me, the rest of this match was comical. Everyone had their game faces on until Brock Lesnar kicked down the door of his own pod and beat everyone like the geeks they are with one F-5 a piece. Seth Rollins (who had a great Universal title match against Roman last month) and AJ Styles - two former World Champions in their own right, were made to look like two more on the list of jobber fodder that Brock was smashing through tonight. I knew Riddle was fucked since it was a bad omen when he botched kicking off his shoes when he first stepped into the chamber. The most fucked up thing in this entire match before it even started was Brock fogging up Lashley's pod with his breath and writing a "X" on it with his finger.

Here we have Austin Theory dying for our sins as Brock Lesnar commits murder on live television.

I'll admit that I had my doubts of some fuckery afoot at one point going into this show, but after Lashley was sidelined, there wasn't any doubt in my mind that Brock was winning.

The stage is set.