“The show that proves card placement is more important than you might think…”

Hey folks, Harrison back at it once again with a brand new post for you, as this time, we take a look at the 2012 WWE Elimination Chamber from The Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On this show, Two Elimination Chambers to see if Daniel Bryan and CM Punk can defend their major Championships, as well as John Cena facing Kane in an Ambulance Match, and Jack Swagger defending his US Championship against Justin Gabriel. Let’s go, WWE Elimination Chamber 2012, here, on The Harrison Analysis!

On commentary, as usual, Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Booker T.

CM Punk vs Chris Jericho vs Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler vs R-Truth vs The Miz (RAW Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship)

Legit curious question for my readers…When was the last time the WWE Championship Match OPENED a Pay-Per-View? I’m thinking No Way Out 2009, with that Smackdown Chamber, but correct me if I’m wrong. Overall, great chamber match. Not an all-time classic by any stretch, but this was how a Chamber should be. The right blend of worksmanship, talent, bumping, spots and wrestling, spread out over 32 minutes to produce a great match. Special mentions to go Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler for taking some heavy bumps, and I really liked Chris Jericho’s role in the match as a complete dick heel. Also, he was booked to perfection in how he DIDN’T win, after throwing Kingston out of the Chamber making him tap to the Walls of Jericho (When was the last time THAT happened?!), Punk Superkicked him into unconsciousness. Refs ruled him out, and as he didn’t technically lose, he has an angle for a WWE Championship Match at Wrestlemania 28 with Punk. Overall, as I said, very enjoyable Chamber.

★★★★ (Match of the Night)

Beth Phoenix and Tamina Snuka (Divas Championship Match)

See, THIS is what happens when you give a quality female wrestler like Beth Phoenix, someone with some actual Wrestling pedigree. Good things WILL happen. (Unlike another top diva on the card, which I’ll get to later). Also, loved that this Divas match got a good amount of time at just under 7 and a half minutes. The little things like Beth getting to kick out of the Superfly Splash was a nice touch. It’s just a real shame the crowd was quiet here, but can you blame them? We’ve been conditioned to not care about the female wrestlers for the last 5 years now…Which is what made this match so refreshing. More please, WWE.

★★ ½

Going to keep the next segment brief in regards to Johnny Ace, and the returning Alberto Del Rio (Remember him?!) and Christian (Who seems to be sporting the Canadian Caveman look). It established very little, besides taking a few pop shots at Teddy Long, who was probably backstage booking a Tag Team Match. Holla!

Daniel Bryan vs The Big Show vs Cody Rhodes vs Wade Barrett vs Santino Marella vs The Great Khali (Smackdown Elimination Chamber Match for the World Heavyweight Championship)

I know what you’re thinking, and I agree…LAME place for this match. I’ll explain more on it at the end, but for the time being the match. Well, it started out pretty slow, opening with Barrett and Big Show, two of the not so exciting guys on the roster, probably wasn’t the best booking move on their part. Rhodes helped a little, but it was Santino Marella who stole the show here. He was super entertaining, as he almost always is, and really got the crowd into it and getting them to root for him. It’s kind of a shame he lasted as long, as the longer it got, the more people didn’t belive he was going to win it, but Kudos for being so darn entertaining in that ring. Also, bonus credit for keeping Khali’s role EXTREMELY limited. Why he was even in the match to begin with, boggles my mind when they could have easily thrown Hunico or Christian in there, probably without an issue. What made this match very good to great, was the storytelling and the great use of Santino Marella as the underdog who the crowd wanted to win. Props for the WWE taking a gamble, and I think it paid off, just a shame it took nearly 15 minutes for it to get going.

★★★ ¾

(PS: Sheamus came out post-match and Celtic Crossed Bryan to set up their WM28 match. Is this going to be heel vs heel? Interesting…)

Jack Swagger vs Justin Gabriel (United States Championship Match)

Standard WWE case of a “Why even bother?” match. 3 minutes title defence for Swagger so they can defend the belt on PPV, and burn 5 minutes off the overall show length. Nothing more to it than that really. No disrespect to Swagger or Gabriel, but this match was about as necessary as the Patriots taking Chad Ochocinco from free agency this past NFL season.

★

John Cena vs Kane (Ambulance Match)

The first Ambulance Match in nearly 9 years for the WWE. Was this a PPV Main Event calibre match? No, not even close. What this was, was a 20 or so minute spectacle. I liked that for once in this kind of format, it wasn’t Kane that was dominating Cena from start to finish and that Cena’s anger was giving him control, but I have to question Cena’s selling ability again here. For crying out loud John, sell a move, please! It was predictable, and rather tame all things considering, but I will admit, the AA from the top of the Ambluance was pretty sweet. Was this match in the right place? Absolutely not. Was it good? Sort of. In the realms of Cena hits and misses, this was more of a miss, we all knew what was eventually going to happen here with Wrestlemania 6 weeks away. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, but yeah, it’s a short term sacrifice (The whole Cena/Kane feud), for a long-term gain (Wrestlemania 28′s Main Event.)

★★ ½

Harrison’s Final Analysis on WWE Elimination Chamber 2012

Remember what I said about match order and how it can be important sometimes? Yeah, if this card is played in reverse order, this show would go down better, I KNOW it. It’s like last minute, WWE literally were reading their card upside down, and with Cena/Kane coming at the end, it probably tailed off many viewers excitement. Rating this show was a nightmare for me, as how much credit do you give the show for the two great Chamber matches that took up an hour and a quarter of the show, when the rest of the card was flat by comparison? Difficult, but I got there in the end. Enjoyed the show, it was solid, nowhere near as good as last year, more like 2010.

And if you’re one of those people complaining that this was a predictable show…CM Punk and Daniel Bryan are World Champions heading to what’s going to be one of the most loaded Wrestlemania cards ever…Did you REALLY want two new Champions going to Mania? Just a thought. Dre, signing out.

Harrison’s WWE Elimination Chamber 2012 Rating: 7.0 out of 10 – Good

(PS #2: It would have gotten a 7.75 if the card was flipped the other way around. And can someone PLEASE get rid of Nattie’s farting gimmick? I freaking love that woman, it’s killing me! – Dre)

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