The Ring Review #2

Welcome back to the Ring Review. I intended to cover both Smackdown and the Elimination Chamber immediately following both shows, but was sidetracked with other responsibilities last week. I'll do my best to keep up with the shows as they happen. I may opt to do a weekend review.  We are going to skip Smackdown from last Friday in this edition.

The Elimination Chamber

Let's kick this off with the kickoff match. I don't feel like Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae make sense as a tag team. I know there is history there but they just feel thrown together on the main roster. It was nice to see Indi get a match in her home country in front of that large crowd. I can't say for certain she made the most of it though. She has a commanding size amongst the other women, yet appears to lack the confidence of a main roster superstar. The Kabuki Warriors win this contest as expected. I love the insane elbow. Kairi puts a great twist on a classic move.

Becky Lynch wins the Elimination Chamber match as I predicted. I'm not picking on Raquel here, but she should have been eliminated first given who the other competitors were in this one. I thought the end to this match was anti-climatic. Liv Morgan getting the underdog roll up on Bianca was ok, but it should have happened sooner in the match. I would have kept Tiffany Stratton in there until the end as a proper face off between hero and heel. I understand why they went with Liv Morgan at the end as something is brewing there between her and Becky. Tiffany continues to impress with her in-ring prowess. 

The Judgment Day defeat a very game Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate. I called this one incorrectly. Perhaps it was because Truth never made it! While R-Truth was missing in Austria, the tag champions took care of business uninterrupted. This match had plenty of back and forth moments. I didn't think Dunne should take the pin here. Then again, I'm not high on Tyler Bate's character/gimmick. This is one of the few things currently on WWE TV that I just don't like. Bate is fine as a performer. Calling him "The Big Strong Boy" is just weird and goofy. Is that the point? If so, why pair him with the serious Bruiserweight? It looks like WWE is gearing up for an R-Truth tag team championship run.

The Grayson Waller Effect didn't need to be on this show. Sure, let's send Grayson out there in his home country and give him a nice crowd pop, but why put Cody and Seth out there. I try my best not to criticize the product presented, but sometimes I have to just call it like I see it. Cody issues a challenge to the Rock. This is ill timed in my opinion. I thought we are supposed to be preparing for Cody and Roman here. This is quickly devolving into what looks like will be a triple threat match, adding the Rock to Mania's main event. If this is the direction, I don't like it. I don't care how angry you get at the Rock here, you don't instigate adding him to your championship match cutting down your odds of winning. Then we pivot to Austin Theory getting jumped by Cody and Seth Rollins as Waller looks on. I thought Waller was supposed to be tight with Theory? They look to be setting up a Theory vs. Waller situation. I'm interested in that but this is a strange way to get there. Can somebody...anybody...please ask Seth Rollins to dress like a man. This eclectic wardrobe he is parading out there every week is not helping him look like a strong champion. I actually disliked this segment.

Drew McIntyre gets the big win in the men's chamber match as I predicted. Who else was going to win this one? Like the women's chamber match, I didn't care for the elimination order here. Bobby Lashley should not be going out first. Randy Orton should win an Oscar for selling that back injury in the way that he did during that entire match. AJ Styles flew twenty hours there just to cost LA Knight the victory, and then flew twenty hours back. I like the dedication to how much of a hater he's becoming. LA Knight is going to be looking for revenge. I don't think he's going to find it against this version of AJ. I like how Logan Paul uses the brass knucks on Orton setting up Drew's win. This will start what shall be a great feud between Logan and Orton. Randy is going to bring Logan Paul up another level. I am high on Logan Paul. He is such a great addition to the roster. I think he will be a true main event talent in the future. I've been watching WWE and pro-wrestling in general for over 35 years. Nobody has risen as fast as Logan Paul given the amount of experience. He is a prodigy.

Rhea Ripley wins the main event here in her home country. In my last Ring Review, I mentioned that these two women could main event this show. Sure enough they did and did not disappoint. Rhea kicking out of the Annihilator was such an iconic moment in this match. We knew going in that Nia Jax wasn't going to win this match, but she damn sure made the most of her time in there. Few can be as dominant. She levels Ripley up by providing such a worthy challenge to overcome. For me, this match was the highlight of the PLE. 

RAW 2/26/2024

Rhea faces off opposite Becky Lynch in a brief war of words. I think Becky was the right call for the championship bout at Wrestlemania 40...but she's not going to win it. Rhea Ripley holds this title until at least Summerslam in my opinion. Nia Jax coming out to interrupt and attach Becky seemed unnecessary. I like Nia Jax but I hope they aren't adding her to this match.

Sami Zayn gets a definitive win over Shinsuke Nakamura. This match was okay. I'm not sure why Nakamura is losing every single match he's in over the last couple of months. His character is amazing...he needs a win more than Sami does. As I speculated last week, I think Sami is headed for an intercontinental title match. 

Raquel squashes Chelsea Green. I...don't...get...it. Nothing against Raquel, but all she has to offer is size. Chelsea should be winning this match via some form of interference or foul play. They need to do something different with Raquel's character development. She's not interesting in a universe where everybody else is interesting. I'm not saying this is her fault but this isn't working for me.

Next we have a strange interaction between Judgment Day and Imperium. I really hope the plan isn't to have Priest cash in on the Intercontinental championship. That briefcase should have one purpose. It looks like they may go with Dom Mysterio. I don't like the heel vs heel match up on such a grand stage as Wrestlemania. Dom doesn't appear to be a strong enough contender for Gunther. Its looking like the Intercontinental Championship will end up in a fatal four way between Chad Gable, Dom Mysterio, Sami Zayn, and the Champion Gunther. Perhaps this is the only way to pry that title away from Gunther. He's such a strong champion that maybe it takes somebody else getting pinned for him to lose it. I don't like fatal fourways unless they are elimination style. Last man standing should always be the way to go about these multi-man matches.

Imperium defeats the New Day in a street fight after the Judgement Day leave. Kaiser and Vinci are good technical wrestlers, however, I am not that entertained by them. They feel like an after thought most weeks. This was a big win for them which I didn't expect. The match itself was entertaining with several big spots. Woods is underrated as an in-ring performer. The New Day needs to break up. I'd turn Xavier into a heel and give Kofi something new and refreshing to deal with. You may be able to bring Big E in for that story and get him some non wrestling screen time. He could be a special referee. Wishful thinking I guess.

Baszler & Stark squash LeRae and Indi Hartwell. Indi and Candace are booked in another pointless tag match where they aren't on the same page. I believe we are headed for a breakup here. Indi will be the one to turn heel in my opinion.

Next we have Seth "Snuggie" Rollins exchanging words with Drew McIntyre. The meat and potatoes of this promo were good. Seth and Drew both make excellent points. Drew is looking more and more like the favorite to come out on top at Wrestlemania. Can anybody tell me why Seth Rollins chose to wear clothing made out of his favorite blankey to the ring? I am a Seth Rollins guy. My son Brock's middle name is Rollins. These outfits are hurting his character. Later on we see Drew mixing it up with Jey Uso in the back. I am digging how WWE writers are telling multiple stories at the same time. There is a lot of depth going into all things revolving around Drew McIntyre.

Becky interferes in Liv Morgan's match against Nia Jax. Who are we kidding? As much as I love Liv Morgan, she's not getting a clean win over Nia Jax. This is perhaps setting up a fatal four way at Mania between Becky Lynch, Nia Jax, Liv Morgan, and the Champion Rhea Ripley. All four of these women have issues with one another. The match should not be a fatal four way because it doesn't need to be. I fear that is where this is headed though. If we do get a four way match, I would then expect Rhea's chances for leaving Mania with the title are greatly reduced. In the event of a fatal four way, I see Liv Morgan getting the win. Its not how I would book it. Somebody in WWE creative appears to like fatal four ways...I see it as a short cut in the booking process in most cases...which is why I don't like it.

We head into our main event and see Cody Rhodes handily defeat Grayson Waller. This was a terrible decision to book. Grayson gains nothing from this match. Cody gains nothing from this match. Paul Heyman comes out after the bout with "off duty" NYPD officers. This was a strange choice. Cody then beats up the three NYPD off duty officers with a chair. Let me get this straight...the #1 hero that you have kids looking up to is fighting off duty cops? By himself? No sir...not what I would be booking. The only redeeming quality about how this night ends is when Paul Heyman pulls out two phones so that he can call the Rock and Roman Reigns simultaneously. I found some genius in that. The rest of it was hogwash.

Let's end this Ring Review on a high note. R-Truth, DIY, and the Miz appear to be forming a group. It looks like they may actually go with DX. They may be called ReGeneration X (as Truth mentions) which would be hilarious. Speaking of hilarious, look for the video of Miz trapped in a room at the arena. They apparently had to cut a hole in the door (which he crawled through) to get him out of the room.

Smackdown is going to have the Rock on it. There is a good chance I'll review that. I hoped you all enjoyed the Ring Review #2.

• #WWE