WWE Elimination Chamber Match Review #13: 2011 – WWE Championship Contender (Raw)

The second Elimination Chamber match at the 2011 EC event featured talent from the Raw brand with the winner earning a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 27.

The WWE Championship was held by The Miz at the time. Six days before this show, The Rock made his return to WWE after seven years away and they announced that he would be the host of WrestleMania 27. Due to The Rock’s presence and the way he talked trash about John Cena, it was obvious who was going to win this match.

WWE Elimination Chamber
February 20, 2011
Oracle Arena in Oakland, California

Randy Orton entered first to a nice ovation since he was in a face role as he made his slow walk into the chamber. Orton was the former WWE Champion that lost the title to The Miz a few months earlier when Miz cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase on him. It was Orton’s fourth time in a Chamber match. R-Truth made his entrance. He was also a face although he didn’t get much of a reaction. A few months later, Truth turned heel after smoking a cigarette at ringside. I’m not kidding. That’s what happened. CM Punk was up next wearing a Nexus shirt since he was a leader of the new Nexus heel group. Cole said he was Punk’s pick to win (Cole was a heel announcer at this point), Cole noted Punk had a simmering rivalry with Orton and Punk had a long staredown with Orton, who was in his Lexan pod. Punk faced Orton at WrestleMania at the PPV after this.

John Cena got the loudest reaction out of anybody in the match by far. It was a mix of cheers and boos, which was usual for him for most of his career. It was Cena’s fourth Chamber and he won two out of the previous three Chamber appearances.

Sheamus was up next as one of the first two men to start the match. Sheamus was “King Sheamus” during this period, which was a moniker that didn’t stick. As I noted another time he was in a Chamber match, I still miss the “shameful thing, lobster head” (not real lyrics) in his theme song. John Morrison was the last man to enter, so he would start with Sheamus. This was his last Chamber match because he left later in the year. There wasn’t much of a reaction for Morrison.

Elimination Chamber Match to earn WWE Championship Match at WrestleMania: Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. Sheamus vs. R-Truth vs. CM Punk vs. John Morrison

Pre-match notes: The faces were John Cena, Randy Orton, R-Truth and John Morrison. The heels were CM Punk and Sheamus.

The announcers are Michael Cole, Booker T and Josh Mathews.

Sheamus took down Morrison with a running shoulder tackle early on. They battled on the steel grating with Morrison going for a leaping attack, Sheamus moved and Morrison landed on the cage leading to a leaping kick to the head. Sheamus nailed Morrison with two clotheslines. Morrison knocked down Sheamus with a kick to the head. Morrison went up top, but that was a bad move because Sheamus shoved Morrison into one of the pods. Sheamus whipped Morrison into the cage. The clock counted down to zero. It felt like less than five minutes, but I wasn’t timing it.

Randy Orton is #3 with the crowd cheering him. Orton hit Sheamus with two clotheslines, clothesline for Morrison and Orton hit powerslams on both guys. Orton clothesline sent Sheamus out of the ring. Orton with a back body drop on Morrison that sent Morrison onto Sheamus on the steel. Orton whipped Morrison into the pod that Orton once occupied. Orton clotheslined Sheamus back in the ring. Orton nailed Sheamus with a DDT on the steel grating. Orton stared at Punk after it. Orton was in control of both guys in the ring. Orton set up Morrison on the top rope in front of Punk and Orton hit a superplex on Morrison for a two count. Orton set up Sheamus on the top rope and Orton hit a superplex on Sheamus. The Miz was shown watching on a TV backstage with his buddy Alex Riley standing beside him. Orton was still in control in the ring as the clock went down to zero.

CM Punk is #4 with Orton waiting outside the pod. When Punk tried to get out, referee Mike Chioda had trouble unlocking it. Orton ended up punching Punk while he was barely out of the pod and eventually Punk got out of it. That was a nice spot that looked real even though obviously was just part of the story. Orton whipped Punk into the ring. When Orton went in the ring, he hit Punk with a RKO and pinned him to eliminate him.

When it appeared like Punk was going to leave the ring, the Anonymous Raw GM sent an email leading to Michael Cole reading the email. Massive heat for that, of course. Cole read that due to a malfunctioning pod, Punk was not given a fair chance to compete. It said that Punk can re-enter his pod and he is reinstated in this match. Punk crawled back into the pod with a big smile on his face. Booker complained about it while Cole said he just read what the GM had to say.

Analysis: I hated the Anonymous GM angle so much. The payoff wasn’t even good because they did a joke story out of it with Hornswoggle as the GM.

Sheamus hit Orton with a backbreaker for a two count. Sheamus tossed Morrison over the top and onto the steel. Sheamus went for a Brogue Kick, but Orton moved out of the way and Morrison hit a springboard kick to Orton’s head. Sheamus sent Morrison back first into the cage.

It’s John Cena at #4 (since Punk was back in a pod) and as soon as the buzzer hit, Sheamus kicked Cena. Sheamus whipped Cena back first into the cage. Cena recovered quickly going for a AA on Morrison, but Morrison landed on his feet and Sheamus hit Cena with a neckbreaker. Morrison hit a cross body block off the top to take out Orton and Sheamus. The crowd was doing their dueling chants against Cena as Sheamus hit a double shoulder tackle to knock down Cena and Morrison. Orton clotheslined Sheamus back into the ring. Orton worked over Sheamus with punches followed by a knee drop for two. Sheamus hit a knee to the ribs of Orton with Cole yelling way too loud about what excitement there was for this match. Fans did the dueling chants for Cena again as the clock ticked down again.

R-Truth is the next man up at #5 as he avoided an attack by Sheamus in the pod. Truth sent Sheamus’ head into the pod. Truth with a hip toss on Sheamus onto the steel grating. Truth with a face first front suplex on Orton and a neckbreaker on Morrison. Truth hit a running forearm on Punk. When Truth got to his feet, Sheamus hit a Brogue Kick and pinned him. Truth was only in the match for about two minutes.

R-Truth eliminated by Sheamus

Morrison worked over Sheamus with punches. More dueling chants for Cena even though he was just standing against the rope doing nothing while Morrison kicked Sheamus in the back. Orton took advantage of that by whipping Morrison into one of the pods. Cena and Orton exchanged punches with Orton saying enough of this and hitting a dropkick for two. Orton stomped on Cena as the clock counted down.

Orton went over to Punk’s pod to attack him, but Cena went after Orton and Orton hit an RKO on Cena on the steel. Sheamus with a Brogue Kick on Orton. Punk entered as #6 with a kick on Sheamus to knock him down. Punk covered Orton for a two count. Punk hit the mat similar to how Orton normally did it when readying for the RKO, Punk picked up Orton and he hit the Go To Sleep. Punk pinned Orton to eliminate him.

Randy Orton eliminated by CM Punk

There were fans chanting for Punk after he eliminated Orton. Punk with a running knee that took out Cena followed by a knee to the face of Sheamus, but Sheamus sent Punk into the pod and hit a forearm to knock Punk down. Morrison got going again with a running kick on Sheamus. Back body drop by Sheamus, Morrison landed on his feet and kicked Sheamus. Morrison climbed on top of a pod, but was tripped up when Sheamus went after him. Sheamus teased doing the High Cross (Razor’s Edge) off the top, but Morrison fought him off. Morrison kicked Sheamus to knock him off the top rope onto his back in the center of the ring. Morrison climbed the top of the chamber and reached nearly the center of it. Sheamus stood back up and Morrison jumped on top of Sheamus to pin him with a very innovative move.

Sheamus eliminated by John Morrison

Analysis: I remember when Morrison did that and some people complained about how the move didn’t look that impressive. He fell down from really high up to land on a guy. It’s not like he can do a fancy move off there. It made sense considering how high it was. I thought it was impressive.

It’s down to Cena, Punk and Morrison. Cena battled Punk with Cena hitting a spinning sitout slam on Punk followed by the Five Knuckle Shuffle fist drop. Punk left the ring, Cena went after him and Morrison jumped off the top rope to take out Punk and Cena with a double axehandle. Punk covered Cena on the steel for a two count. Cena was up against the Lexan pod, Morrison charged in, Cena moved and Morrison’s right knee went crashing into the pod. That sounded nasty with Morrison grabbing the knee to sell the pain. Punk with a submission on Cena’s throat, but Cena powered back to his feet, he had Punk in the air and Morrison jumped off the top with a clothesline on Punk for two and a clothesline on Cena for two as well. Cena got back to his feet and he hit the Attitude Adjustment on Morrison. When Cena turned around, Punk nailed a roundhouse kick to Cena’s head. Punk went the top rope with a clothesline on Cena while on the steel. Punk catapulted Cena into the pod. Morrison scaled the cage, walked across it a bit and Morrison nailed a kick to Punk’s head. Morrison was selling the right knee heavily. Morrison went for Starship Pain, Punk moved out of the way and Punk hit the GTS to pin Morrison.

John Morrison eliminated by CM Punk

Cena grabbed Punk, put him on his shoulders, he wanted the AA, Punk grabbed the ropes, so Cena gave him the AA onto the steel grating. Cena covered Punk to get the pinfall win at 33:12.

CM Punk eliminated by John Cena

Winner: John Cena

Analysis: **** A very good match with a lot of people looking good even though the Cena win was obvious. Orton pinned Punk and then got eliminated by him after the cheap re-entry from Punk, so it set up their WrestleMania match effectively. John Morrison starred in this match with his athleticism. He also sold the knee well. There weren’t a lot of guys selling specific body parts, so Morrison stood out a bit due to that. R-Truth felt out of place because he was barely in the ring. It was one of those situations where they had five guys they really liked, but they needed a sixth and it ended up being him just to take a pinfall in about two minutes. Sheamus was effective as the power guy.

Post match, The Miz and Alex Riley were shown watching. Miz held up the WWE Title in the air.

Cena celebrated the win. Cole said Miz vs. Cena was the match the world was waiting for. Cena saluted the camera and that ended the show.

Analysis: With all due respect to Cena and Miz, it was not a match the world was waiting for. It was one of the worst WrestleMania main events ever.

THREE RANDOM THOUGHTS

– The outcome of this match was so obvious that it was hard to really get into it at times. Cena winning here was the most predictable Chamber result ever. It would have been better if Cena had a bit of a battle with Punk. It ended so suddenly that it was a bit disappointing. I guess it was done that way because of how the first Chamber match on the card had a nearly 10-minute final two with Edge and Mysterio.

– I liked the way this match built up to Orton vs. Punk at WrestleMania even though Punk was in the match for less than two minutes. Each guy focused on the other a lot, so it made people more interested in their WrestleMania match. That match ended up being average, but the build to it was good thanks in part to how they used this match to add heat to the rivalry.

– This was probably the best stretch of John Morrison’s career. I remember he headlined a PPV a few months after this as well with Cena and Miz in a triple threat match. It’s too bad Morrison was never able to become “the man” with a major World Title in WWE. In the last 15 years, he’s certainly one of the better guys that never made it all the way to the top.

FACTS & OPINIONS

Wrestler that lasted the longest: John Morrison at 32:50.

Most Eliminations: CM Punk with two.

Best Performers (3): John Morrison – He did a great job of doing cool-looking moves, selling the knee injury and making people think he might win even though it was obvious it wouldn’t be him.

John Cena – He spent a lot of the match selling to try to make the others look good. There wasn’t that much Cena offense in this match.

CM Punk – I miss this guy. He was so great.

Most Memorable Moment: Morrison climbing to the top of the cage and falling onto Sheamus was what I’ll remember most.

Match Rating: **** 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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