The 12th Annual, Elimination Chamber event being the first event of its kind to be held outside of the United States, as well as it being the 7th event of World Wrestling Entertainment’s 10 Year Contract agreement in support of Saudi Vision 2030 as a government strategy to diversify their economy.
Although, due to the alleged actions of their government in the past regarding Women’s Rights and everything surrounding Jamal Khashoggi, any event that WWE does in Saudi Arabia is automatically a moral argument in its own right.
Nevertheless, as the final pay per view event prior to WrestleMania 38 in Arlington, TX. WWE would utilize this pay-per-view to give a bit of a minor twist heading into the final six weeks of the “Road to WrestleMania.”
Here’s the three count of Elimination Chamber 2022.
Elimination Chamber 2022 Takeaways
1.) The Chamber Matches were short, Yet Effective!
From WrestleTalk’s review of the Elimination Chamber 2022 event, the titular chamber matches were the shortest in WWE history, respectively. At nearly 16 Minutes, the Women’s Chamber match, despite feeling rushed, still managed to have some fun moments in the match. From the showcasing the improvement of the likes of Liv Morgan and Alexa Bliss, to the test of strength between Rhea Ripley and eventual winner, Bianca Belair. This Chamber match was a solid match that should’ve had more time than it did.
The Women’s match was the match that had only two winners in mind that could very well face off against Becky Lynch at WrestleMania. The first was Morgan, due to her recent performances opposite Lynch and the consistent buildup of momentum that she’s had since Money in the Bank 2021. Liv coming up short in a very convincing performance at Day One back in January put Morgan in a position to be a future contender once again to the Raw Women’s Championship.
As for Belair, it made the most sense for her to win. A lot of critics, analysts, and fans alike didn’t like the way that Bianca lost the title so decisively and quickly to Lynch at this past year’s SummerSlam match after an excellent 2021 that saw her win the Royal Rumble, headline WrestleMania 37: Night One against Sasha Banks in an all-Black World Championship main event (Sasha being the 2nd Black Woman to enter as Women’s Champion at a WrestleMania), and capturing the title. It felt like Belair’s momentum was stunted and it’s been an uphill battle for the former All-American out of the University of Tennessee. At WrestleMania 38, Belair may get her consecutive crowning match. If Belair wins, she would be the 7th Person in WWE to hold both the Raw and Smackdown Women’s Championships (Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Becky Lynch, Asuka & Sasha Banks).
The Men’s Chamber was a solid, but quick match. However, with the news of former WWE Champion Bobby Lashley being injured with a shoulder injury that would take him out of the Chamber and WrestleMania, it puts the main event in an odd place heading into WrestleMania. With Brock Lesnar winning the WWE Championship, as of the writing of this article, it will be a Title vs. Title match between Universal Champion Roman Reigns and new WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar. Despite the sadness a lot of fans feel with Lashley’s inability to defend the title, unfortunately, it was the best possible outcome to make Lashley look the strongest without defending the title.
Also, major props to Austin Theory for the performance against Lesnar in the final moments of the match.
2.) What a Performance for Lita
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It was noted during Elimination Chamber, that Lita hasn’t competed in a singles match in over a decade. Her last was a loss of the Women’s Championship to former rival and current IMPACT Knockouts World Champion, Mickie James at Survivor Series in 2006. Since then, Lita competed in two Royal Rumble matches and a tag match alongside longtime rival and “bestie” Trish Stratus at the inaugural (and so far only) Evolution event.
To many in WWE and in Women’s wrestling today, Lita was a pioneer in her own right with her alt-rock, punk style, fearlessness, and for being a part of the Team Xtreme faction alongside former partner Matt Hardy and his brother Jeff. Lita wasn’t afraid to go against anyone even when the spotlight was the brightest for her. Whether it was main eventing a Raw against Stratus or going in a Cage Match against Victoria, getting busted open against Ivory, or facing off against one of wrestling’s greatest technicians in Dean Malenko, Lita was ahead of her time.
As a fan growing up in the 90s, it was great to see Lita get her chance to showcase why she is such an influential figure by delivering an excellent match against Raw Women’s Champion, Becky Lynch. Although it resulted in defeat, Lita didn’t lose anything at all but gained the roses she rightfully deserved after unceremoniously departing 16 years ago.
Kick Out: Could we PLEASE end the Naomi/Sonya Deville feud once and for all
From the jump, there weren’t a lot of people that were fans of this feud, because there was absolutely no reason for it. Nothing against either Naomi or Deville. It just felt like their talents were better than this. Unfortunately, their feud merged into the Rousey/Flair feud and it just became one big ball of questions.
Why are Naomi and Deville still feuding? Didn’t we try Flair and Rousey before? What is the point of it at this point?
With all these questions stated there are literally no answers heading into WrestleMania.
3.) For a Two Night Event, WrestleMania is a One Match Weekend
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This is sad in execution. WWE’s biggest event of the year has been subjected to Reigns and Lesnar for the third time in eight years. Although, there’s not a question of their abilities and their star power. This has become a testament of WWE’s unfortunate inability to create new stars under their own umbrella since Reigns. Sadly, it took Reigns becoming the company’s biggest heel to be universally (pun intended) acclaimed and acknowledged (you see what was done here) as the top guy. However, WWE’s execution of this event was completely off.
Prior to the Royal Rumble, after Day One, there was a bit of hope of the separate World titles being put in bigger matches. The possibility of Reigns vs. Big E due to the Bloodline’s constant meddling with the New Day would’ve made sense. It would’ve put E back in the main event picture where he belongs. Also, the possibility of a Lesnar and Bobby Lashley match at the “Showcase of Immortals” seemed like a great idea on paper. However, we got Lesnar/Lashley rushed and reduced to an angle for Reigns/Lesnar and Big E hasn’t been involved in a match for either World title since Day One which is a shame.
WWE has backed themselves into a corner in which there are only two people that the fans care about and that’s rather depressing in hindsight because WrestleMania is expected to be a supercard. But there aren’t enough mega matches to sustain that in the current WWE.
What did you think of Elimination Chamber 2022?
