WWE Pay-Per View Review: Elimination Chamber 2012

WWE Pay-Per View Review: Elimination Chamber 2012


Elimination Chamber is one of the last events in the WWE calendar before the company’s biggest show of the year WrestleMania. It is also usually the show where some of Mania’s final pieces fall into place, feuds can end, ones can ignite and in some cases even new champions can be crowned.

2012’s Chamber PPV kicked off with the Raw cage match for the WWE Title, here as per the stipulation form last week’s TV show Chris Jericho would be the final man to enter the fray (thus being the freshest participant) .His opponents were Champion Cm Punk, Kofi Kingston, The Miz, R Ttruth and Dolph Ziggler. Kingston and Punk starting things off, the match began to heat up nicely as the in-ring numbers swelled. All the guys on hand worked hard here, picking up 2 counts and ramping up the tension where they could. Jericho made an impact in this one, eliminating Ziggler and Kingston before he took a nasty knock to the floor from Punk. Thus leaving Y2J unable to continue the bout.

The finish came as final two Miz and Punk traded near-falls, the champ nailing a good looking GTS to retain his belt.

Next up Beth Phoenix defended her Divas Title against Tamina Snuka. The daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka tried her best here, but she was no match for the over-powering strength of the reigning champ. Phoenix won with a decent looking Glam Slam out of the corner.

Before the Smackdown Elimination Chamber match former World Champion Christian made his return in a reasonable stoyline spot alongside Teddy Long, John Laurinaitis and Alberto Del Rio.

The Chamber scrap for the World Heavyweight Title then saw a mixed bag of competitors enter the steel structure. They were World Champion Daniel Bryan, Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes, The Great Khali, Wade Barrett, The Big Show and shock entrant Santino Marella.

The match worked reasonably well considering Khali was involved, Marella fast became the fan favourite and although true talent like Rhodes and Bryan shone through it soon became apparent that comedy character Santino was the man many wanted to win this encounter.

This result seemed a possibility as the pins began to occur, with Bryan and Marella left as the last two men standing. It wasn’t to be however as Bryan locked in the La bell lock for the tap out win to keep his gold.

Post-match Sheamus attacked Bryan to set-up their future feud.

The United States Title encounter between Champion Jack Swagger and Justin Gabriel was an ok affair, both men gelling well and taking opportunities to showcase their talent when available. Swagger overcame this challenge relatively easily though, using the ankle lock on a weakened Gabriel to hang on to his strap.

The main event saw John Cena take Kane on in a match perfectly suited to the ‘Big Red Machine’ an Ambulance Match. This was a reasonable if not overly exciting way to round things off though. His one featured everything from outside the ring fighting and weapons shots to the now customary trip through the Spanish announcers table. Both men attempted their finishers and Cena eventually succeeded, this move was marred slightly as Kane’s landing was hidden from our view.

Cena was then able to pull his prone opponent into the back of the waiting ambulance to take the win.

Elimination Chamber was an OK event, we didn’t see any title changes and some of the roster seemed to be thrown into the matches to make up numbers. The chamber matches may be losing their fan appeal, or perhaps it was simply their place on the card that lacked that vital spark a cage match usually brings with it. The often mentioned lack of blood or overtly violent behaviour also diminishes a cage matches drawing power.

Roll on WrestleMania.

By Phil Allely

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Colt Cabana Interview Highlights

Colt Cabana spoke with The Void radio show this week and here are some highlights:




His dark match with WWE last year:



"Yeah, it was a dark match, or I guess you could call it a try-out match. It just helps fuel my story of being an underdog, do-it-yourself, nobody wants him, outcast of wrestling. I’m proud of being the next generation’s Abdullah the Butcher or Bruiser Brody, but not a hardcore psychopath, just the complete opposite. I did the match, everybody loved me, but for some reason, I don’t know what it is, the management doesn’t want me on their team – which is okay, because I love what I’m doing. But, there’s always this little part of me that was upset how Scotty Goldman turned out and really wants to right this wrong. Maybe I feel like this next one would go better than the first one came out, but it probably wouldn’t. I mean, I’m a kid who grew up watching the WWF, knowing that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. As much success as I’m having with all these other projects, I’m still fighting to get there, I guess."



His new relationship with actor Jamie Kennedy:



"Jamie Kennedy and I have come together. We’ve put together a deal to work with each other to distribute wrestling related movies and projects. It’s all based on the success of the Wrestling Road Diaries, the movie I made, and to see if there’s a market outside of WWE. Jamie is a very smart businessman. He’s an out-of-the-box thinker, which is why he’s so successful with his projects; you know, like, the Jamie Kennedy [Experiment], and his movies [...] It’s basically two out-of-the-box thinkers coming together, and he has the reach to a lot of people that I don’t have the reach to. It’s the same thing, as I would have done in WWE, but WWE doesn’t want me. [...] I told Jamie Kennedy that some of the guys on Raw every week have 30 or 40,000 Twitter followers and they’re on TV every week, but I have almost double them despite never being on TV. I am simply a guy who lost four sh##ty matches on WWE television. It says something, I don’t know what it is, but it says something."

WWE DVD Review: Vengeance 2011

WWE DVD Review: Vengeance 2011

By Phil Allely

The Vengeance Pay-Per-View had some mighty fine looking matches on its card, most of which ended up matching the hype they had received.

The main event war between John Cena and Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Championship was fought under Last man Standing rules and as such it warranted viewing. The fact that prior to this match the ring was destroyed made it all the more enthralling.

As the DVD cover shows the Big Show/Mark Henry World Heavyweight Championship match came to an earth shattering (well ring shattering) end. The bout itself had a few limitations and pacing issues, but it finished well indeed.

Sworn enemies Triple H and CM Punk took on the duo of Miz and R Truth in an inventive battle.

Randy Orton’s encounter with his former protégé Cody Rhodes highlighted yet again Orton’s in-ring prowess and Rhodes rise through the ranks.

Dolph Ziggler saw double duty at Vengeance, firstly tagging with Jack Swagger (against Tag Team Champs Air Boom), then he directly tackled the hugely popular Zack Ryder in a decent match.

The Diva division also saw action, this time it was Eve Torres taking her chances with ‘The Glamazon’ Beth Phoenix.

Vengeance 2011 certainly makes for entertaining viewing. Some of the results are surprising and even the poorer matches have their good points. The finish of the Henry/Show bout is well done and even though it reminds your reviewer of a previous finish (during Show’s previous WWE run) it does still make you take notice. The main event takes on a very different form when you see the participants having to work around a destroyed ring.

On the extras front we have a home video exclusive interview with Alberto Del Rio.

Vengeance 2011 is available now from www.silvervision.co.uk and all good retailers.

RRP £17.99 (DVD), £19.99 (Blu-ray), running time 2hrs 55mins (DVD), 4hrs 17mins (Blu-ray).

WWE DVD Review Hell in a Cell 2011

WWE DVD Review: Hell in a Cell 2011

By Phil Allely

To many Hell in a Cell is a trip back to the good old days of the WWE when the blood flowed freely and the violence levels were ramped up to 11. The iconic image when you mention HIAC matches is that of Mick Foley being thrown off and through the cage by The Undertaker. Today though the new PG rated WWE still present this style of match, now though it is generally blood free and the violence seems toned down.

The 2011 even was an exciting one on many levels, it offered up the first Triple Threat encounter in the bout between WWE Champion John Cena and challengers CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio. This was a fun outing for all concerned and one where the champ didn’t even have to be pinned to lose his gold.

The second HIAC encounter was one of epic proportions, not necessarily for all of the right reasons, but it did highlight just how skilful Randy Orton is. Here the Viper pulled a wonderful match from the sometimes lumbering World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry.

Elsewhere on this reasonably paced card was a well laid out scrap between Christian and Ireland’s own Sheamus. Both men gelled well in this one.

Sin Cara Blue and Sin Cara Black fought in what proved to be a poor match-up, but did highlight the reason why the WWE hired the Mexican stars in the first place.

The WWE Tag Team Title match between Champs Air Boom and Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger had its moments.

Cody Rhodes once again showed how fast he’s improving in his Intercontinental title meeting with John Morrison.

And Kelly Kelly battled Beth Phoenix over the Divas Championship.

Hell in a Cell 2011 is available now on DVD and Blu-ray, from www.silvervision.co.uk and all good retailers.

RRP £17.99 (DVD), £19.99 (Blu-ray), Running time 2hrs 46mins (DVD), 4hrs 5mins (Blu-ray)

DVD Review: River of Darkness

DVD Review: River of Darkness

By Phil Allely

Having met TNA’s Kurt Angle and interviewed him about not only his wrestling career, but his budding acting one, I had high hopes for this release by his own company G2 Pictures. However even though it starred Angle in the lead role of Sheriff Logan this horror thriller film failed to ignite my interest too much.

That’s not to say that this is a movie to steer away from, if you take it as a throwaway made for TV style effort with a reasonable story, then you will get something from your viewing. It is fun to see how Kurt handles having more serious dialogue than when in the wrestling ring, he also does have a certain stage presence that if explored could be interesting in future efforts.

River of Darkness is about a small river town’s inhabitants and a series of horrible murders that befall them. The murders are quite graphic, so perhaps keep youngsters away from this movie due to that. The murders all lead back to a shady piece of town history and the return from purgatory of long-deceased river squatters the Jacobs Boys (former wrestling world champions Kevin Nash and Psycho Sid Vicious).

You can pick up a copy of this movie form all good stockists and online stores, visit www.g2pictures.co.uk for information on other releases too