4. The Boss N Hug Connection Vs Fabulous Glow Vs The Iiconics Vs Fire & Desire Vs Samoan Slaughterhouse Vs The Riott Squad – ELIMINATION CHAMBER 2019
Even as a fan of the WWE Women’s Division and even acknowledging the unparallelled array of talent the WWE had on it’s roster at this time it was easy to look at this match and wonder if the right people had been chosen. After all, Elimination Chamber matches are not the easiest things to wrestle in, and adding tag teams to the equation meant that there were going to be an awful lot of bodies in there.
Fear not grapple fans, because for once the booking squad had put together a killer match and all the women involved lived up to their side of the bargain too.
Boss N Hug and Fire & Desire kicked things off (good start to have the best two workers in Sasha and Bayley holding things together plus they had prior experience of Chamber matches) and it was just a great, great match from start to finish.
Nia Jax and Tamina got to look like monsters, The Iiconics showed just what great characters they were and The Riott Squad of Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan got their chances to shine too. Even the thrown together team of Carmella and Naomi got their moment in the spotlight before being first eliminated. But even that made sense. The ending came down to the same two teams that had kicked things off and there were some pretty cool throwbacks to the last time Sasha and Bayley had been in the chamber (then as opponents).
In the end, the Boss N Hug Connection won after thirty minutes of great action. These matches are always at their best when they are about storytelling and psychology as much as they are about mad/insane high spots. This was just wonderful all-round.
3. John Cena Vs Kurt Angle Vs Carlito Vs Chris Masters Vs Kane Vs Shawn Michaels – NEW YEAR’S REVOLUTION 2006
I know, I know. How could I pick this match from 2006 in my list rather than the “ECW” December to Dismember one from the other end of that year. And there is a tendency to overlook this match because of what happened after it (spoiler alert) as Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on John Cena to become the World Champion. And indeed as that was the first time that had ever happened (Edge being the first holder of the case) it was HUGE. But the match itself that preceded it was a very good one.
There are, I guess, two ways to go about a good Elimination Chamber match in terms of participants. You can load it with big names and make it a big deal in that way. Or you can have a mix of big names and up and comers in an attempt to help the gimmick match aid some mid-carders. Now whilst we can hardly say this match was a career changer for either Carlito or Chris Masters but as a match layout it did it’s best to make them look like stars. In a company who actively wants new stars to upset the equilibrium something could have come from that.
But that it didn’t doesn’t spoil the Elimination match itself. Cena and Michaels started the match with things really picking up when Kurt Angle came in and started tossing out suplexes like free candy. Masters and Carlito had the sense to work together and made for quite a dominating pair in the middle of the match.
Indeed they worked together to try and overcome John Cena until Carlito hit a low blow on his erstwhile friend to eliminate him. That’s wrestling logic for you. (Why would the heel turn on their heel mate BEFORE they can exact elimination on their target – see the Bellas as the original women’s Rumble for more evidence). It backfired on Carlito and Cena won. And then the dastardly Edge made sure that Cena lost. But still, a great match.