WWE Elimination Chamber Match Review #10: 2010 – WWE Championship (Raw)
The Elimination Chamber match began in 2002, but it did not become its own pay-per-view event until 2010. Perhaps WWE was sick of the “No Way Out” name and they knew the Elimination Chamber matches were a big attraction, so it made sense to name the PPV after this match.
I know some fans don’t like it when PPVs are named after a specific match, but I think it’s fine. Why not? It tells the people what it is immediately and it’s a lot more interesting than something generic.
There were two Elimination Chamber matches at the 2010 event that took place one month before WrestleMania 26. The Raw wrestlers were in the first Chamber match of the night and here it is.
WWE Elimination Chamber
February 21, 2010
Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri
John Cena made his entrance to start the PPV and the match. Cena got in the ring and pointed at the WrestleMania sign that so many people are told to do in WWE. It was noted by Michael Cole that Cena is in a Chamber match for the third time. He’s 1-1 since he won it in 2006 (only for Edge to cash in Money in the Bank after the match) and lost in 2009. Ted Dibiase (Junior, but they didn’t call him that since Vince McMahon is a junior that hates calling people junior) made his entrance to the generic Legacy theme song. He was part of the Legacy group led by Randy Orton and included Cody Rhodes. There was not much of a reaction for Dibiase. Speaking of Orton, he was next up and got a huge crowd reaction for his entrance. It was a bit of a mixed reaction for Orton since he was on the verge of a face turn, but he was still a heel in some ways. The official face turn for Orton was coming soon.
Triple H got a big ovation for his entrance. Triple H was 4-1 in Elimination Chamber matches going into this one. His only loss was the first Chamber match eight years earlier. This was his sixth and final Chamber match appearance unless he goes in another one in the future, which I doubt since he’s just a part-timer these days.
Kofi Kingston made his entrance. He looked behind as he entered because he was attacked by Edge before he entered the year before. Cole mentioned Kingston being attacked, but didn’t say Edge’s name for some reason. The last man in the match was Sheamus, who was the WWE Champion that won the title two months earlier from Cena at TLC 2009. This was Sheamus’ “rookie” year in WWE.
Analysis: I miss the Sheamus “it’s a shameful thing, lobster head” theme song. Too many limes! Too many limes…ohhhhhh!
Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship: Sheamus vs. John Cena vs. Ted Dibiase vs. Randy Orton vs. Triple H vs. Kofi Kingston
Pre-match notes: The heels were Sheamus, Ted Dibiase and Randy Orton, who could be called more of a tweener going into this match because the turn was in process. The faces were John Cena, Triple H and Kofi Kingston.
The announcers are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Matt Striker.
Kingston was aggressive early on with kicks against Sheamus followed by a dropkick for two. Cole noted there were 48 titles among these six men and 27 World Titles between them. Kingston worked over Sheamus with forearms. Running back elbow by Sheamus followed by a running shoulder tackle. Kingston came back with a jumping kick to the head followed by a springboard cross body block for two. Sheamus slowed down Kingston with punches. Sheamus shoved Kingston back first into the pod. Sheamus hit the backbreaker for a two count. The clock ticked down from there.
Triple H was up next at #3 with a long staredown for Sheamus. They were opponents at WrestleMania 26, so that’s what they were building up. Triple H with a running knee. Triple H tossed Sheamus over the top rope onto the steel. Hunter with a clothesline that sent Sheamus back into the ring. Hunter countered a Celtic Cross attempt and hit a DDT for a two count. Kingston was on the top rope and he took down Sheamus with a cross body block. Chops by Kingston for both guys followed by dropkicks for both. Kingston worked over Sheamus with punches followed by a running clothesline. Kingston with a Boom Drop over the top dropping the double leg drop on Triple H on the steel. Sheamus decked Kingston with a clothesline. The clock ticked down again.
It was Randy Orton at #4 with the crowd cheering as he went after Sheamus with punches and a clothesline for Triple H. Orton stomped away on all three guys to keep them down. Orton sent Sheamus out of the ring onto the steel. Orton sent Sheamus into the cage three times in a row, which used to lead to blade job, but not in PG WWE. Orton sent Triple H into the cage three times in a row as well. Kingston tagged in with a cross body block off the top rope onto the three guys. Back in the ring, Kingston with a springboard attack and Orton countered with a dropkick for two. Triple H back in with a facebuster on Orton, but Orton came back with a powerslam and Cole said that Orton had “sick eyes.” Triple H avoided an RKO, Orton came back with a back body drop that sent Triple H on the steel and Orton tossed Kingston onto the steel. Sheamus whipped Orton into the steel post as the clock counted down again.
It’s Ted Dibiase at #5 with a stun gun on Kingston against the ropes. Dibiase with a clothesline on Triple H. There was no reaction when Dibiase got in there. Everybody else in the ring was down as Dibiase had a staredown with Orton. Dibiase pulled Orton back to his feet. Orton and Dibiase stomped away on Triple H while a fan in the crowd has a sign that said “We Want Blood” on it. Sorry pal, not in the PG era. Orton whipped Sheamus into the steel ring post. Orton and Dibiase put Kingston’s head through some of the chain links, which had never been done before and Sheamus held Kingston in a Boston Crab like submission. Orton and Dibiase went back to double-teaming Triple H with punches. They sent Triple H back first into the cage two times in a row. Orton hit his draping DDT off the ropes onto Triple H on the steel. That looked nasty and drew a good reaction. The clock counted down with Orton and Dibiase waiting by Cena’s door.
Analysis: Orton and Dibiase took control during that five-minute period. It was boring with a lot of punches and kicks. The crowd was dead for a lot of it.
John Cena is #6 in the match. It’s the first time a Chamber match had all six guys in the match at the same time because every time in the past at least one guy was eliminated before the last man got in there. Cena fought his way out with punches and two shoulder tackles to Orton followed by a spinning slam and a Five Knuckle Shuffle. Cena with a throwback neckbreaker on Dibiase followed by a leg drop to the back of the neck of Dibiase. Cena gave Dibiase an Attitude Adjustment from inside the ring onto the steel, but Orton was back to send Cena out of the ring. Cena whipped Orton into the cage. Back in the ring, Cena put Dibiase in the STF in the middle of the ring, but Orton saved Dibiase. Backbreaker by Orton on Cena. Cody Rhodes ran down to the ring with a steel pipe. Orton didn’t want it, so Rhodes gave it to his buddy Dibiase. Cena had Orton up for the RKO, he turned Orton and Dibiase hit Orton with the pipe by accident (or was it?), Cena hit the AA on Orton and Dibiase hit Cena in the stomach with the pipe. Dibiase stood over both guys thinking about what to do. Dibiase covered Orton and eliminated him.
Randy Orton eliminated by Ted Dibiase
Analysis: That accelerated the face turn from Orton some more. It eventually led to Orton facing Dibiase and Rhodes in a triple threat at WrestleMania. I believe the original plan was for Dibiase to become the face, but the crowd got behind Orton a lot and Orton was the face.
As Orton left the cage, he had a long staredown with Dibiase. Kingston got back into it with a headscissors on Sheamus and Kingston hit Trouble in Paradise on Dibiase to eliminate him.
Ted Dibiase eliminated by Kofi Kingston
When Kingston turned around, Sheamus nailed Kingston with a Brogue Kick that was just called a “thunderous kick” by Cole because it wasn’t Sheamus’ finisher yet. Sheamus hit Kingston with a Razor’s Edge that they called the High Cross early in his career.
Kofi Kingston eliminated by Sheamus
Analysis: No eliminations for nearly 24 minutes and then three of them within two minutes.
Sheamus with a running knee lift attack on Cena. Sheamus came back with the backbreaker followed by a powerslam for two. Sheamus worked over Cena with knees to the chest. Triple H was still out on the steel from a few minutes ago when Orton hit that DDT on him. Sheamus went for the High Cross on Cena, but Triple H came back with a low blow punch to the groin. Triple H hit a Pedigree on Sheamus and covered him.
Sheamus eliminated by Triple H
Analysis: The WrestleMania 26 match was Sheamus vs. Triple H, so it made sense for Triple H to eliminate him there.
Cena jumped on Triple H’s back with the STF submission. Triple H tried to fight it as much as he could with the crowd cheering, but Triple H sold it like he was about to pass out and Triple H tapped out to lose the match. The match went 30:10.
Triple H eliminated by John Cena
Winner and New WWE Champion: John Cena
Analysis: ***1/2 It was a fun match that was booked well with several angles taking place that would set the stage for WrestleMania. I liked the Dibiase stuff with Orton. Looking back on it, Dibiase did not become the huge name that WWE wanted him to be, but the storytelling was still good. Kofi Kingston showed a lot of fight the entire match. Sheamus was dominant at times. The final sequence between Triple H and Cena, but that’s okay because Triple H was selling the nasty DDT on the steel for several minutes and it made sense that he didn’t have much left in the tank. I remember going into the match thinking Cena was going to win because he was rumored to face Batista at WrestleMania, so it made sense that it would be a championship match.
Cena was selling the fatigue after the match as he was handed the WWE Title. It was Cena’s 8th combined World WWE Title (6 WWE Titles and 2 World Titles) at that point in his career.
Vince McMahon’s music hit with Cena in the ring with the referee with Vince standing on the stage. Vince congratulated Cena on the win and said he’s going to WrestleMania…just as long as he can defend his championship right now against this man…it was Batista.
Analysis: This was when Batista was in a heel role. Batista assisted McMahon during his issues with Bret Hart (after Cena stood up for Hart), so McMahon was rewarding Batista.
Cena stumbled to his feet and the ref Scott Armstrong called for the bell.
WWE Championship: John Cena vs. Batista
Cena punched Batista and Batista had a serious look on his face. Batista came back with a Spear. Batista hit a Batista Bomb for the pinfall win. It went 32 seconds.
Winner by pinfall and New WWE Champion: Batista
Analysis: It was like New Year’s Revolution 2006 when Edge cashed in Money in the Bank on Cena after Cena won the Elimination Chamber match.
Batista held up the WWE Championship in the air and pointed at the WrestleMania sign while standing over a fallen Cena.
Analysis: That set up their WrestleMania 26 match with Cena winning back the WWE Championship one month after this.
THREE RANDOM THOUGHTS
– It was booked differently than every other Chamber match before it because the first elimination (Orton) happened at 23:56, which is by far the latest time in a match where the first elimination took place. It also led to five eliminations taking place in the last 6:14 of the match. It felt a bit rushed because of that, so the match was hurt a bit for that reason.
– Another unique thing about this match was that nobody got more than one elimination, which was also rare for a Chamber match. They spread the wealth in terms of who got to do the eliminations. The only guy with no eliminations was Orton.
– There were three guys in their first Chamber match: Sheamus, Kingston and Dibiase. They all had good showings with each man scoring pinfalls.
FACTS & OPINIONS
Wrestler that lasted the longest: Sheamus at 28:38.
Most Eliminations: Five men got one elimination. Everybody got one except Orton, who got zero.
Best Performers (3): Sheamus – They booked him to last the longest and he did a great job.
John Cena – The key to the match as usual when he was involved.
Kofi Kingston – Just like Sheamus, he proved he belonged in this match.
Most Memorable Moment: Dibiase hitting Orton with the steel pipe “by accident” and then pinning him right after it.
Match Rating: ***1/2 out of five.
That’s all for me. Check out the full list of my WWE PPV Review archive right here. Thanks for reading.
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John Canton
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