WWE Elimination Chamber Match Review #14: 2012 – WWE Championship (Raw)
There were two Elimination Chamber matches at the 2012 event. CM Punk defended the WWE Championship in the first Chamber match against five top superstars from Raw.
WWE Elimination Chamber
Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
February 19, 2012
CM Punk went into the match as the babyface WWE Champion. It was pretty well known at this point that Punk vs. Jericho was going to be one of the major matches at WrestleMania that year, so we know the match was going to be about those two guys.
Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship: CM Punk (c) vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. R-Truth vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Chris Jericho
The first two competitors were CM Punk and Kofi Kingston, so the story was that the champ had to go the distance to win the match. Nice athleticism by Kingston early as he jumped over the top rope to avoid a whip. They had a really fast-paced pinfall sequence that showed off how quick they could go in the ring. Kingston gave Punk a back suplex and Punk crashed on his right leg and hip. I assume he was supposed to land on his feet there, but couldn’t get them around. Punk gave Kingston a slingshot into Jericho’s pod followed by a suplex onto the steel outside the ring. He got a two count. Punk was favoring his right leg, which had a nice red scar thanks to the bump on the steel.
The #3 man in the match is Dolph Ziggler, who is rocking some pink tights. Ziggler hit a leg drop on the back of Punk’s head for a count of two. Ziggler hit a splash on Kofi in the corner while Jericho made angry faces from his pod. Ziggler missed a splash so Punk and Kingston took turns hitting him with moves. They each went for springboard attacks, Ziggler moved and Kingston & Punk collided. That was a nice spot. All three guys were down.
The #4 man was R-Truth, who went after Ziggler right away with a hiptoss over the top rope onto the steel grating outside the ring. Then he hit a springboard splash over the top onto Ziggler. Truth hit the scissors kick on Ziggler for two. Nice nearfall there. Punk got a nearfall on Truth after a knee to the face and a superplex. Punk threw Kingston over the top where Kingston crashed into the steel. Punk hit the top rope elbow on Truth. That was enough to eliminate R-Truth at 12:02.
R-Truth eliminated by CM Punk
Punk rolled up Ziggler and as he did that, Kingston came out of nowhere to hit Punk in the head with the Trouble in Paradise. Ziggler went after Kingston, essentially saving Punk. Kingston threw Ziggler out of the ring. Kingston covered Punk for a two count. The delay in the pinfall was caused by Ziggler, so it was a good out to not kill Kofi’s finisher. Kofi jumped onto the side of the cage and then leaped onto Ziggler, who received DDT on the steel by Kingston. Damn that was a great spot worthy of “Holy Shit” chant the crowd gave it.
The #5 man is The Miz. He threw Punk and Kingston into some of the empty “glass” pods. Miz slammed Kingston onto the steel outside the ring. Ziggler charged at him and Miz threw him out of the ring so he crashed onto the steel again. Lots of painful bumps by Ziggler so far. Miz shoved Kingston off the top rope and he crashed onto the steel too, which got a two count for Miz. Miz got a good nearfall on Punk with his DDT variation. Ziggler and Kingston were selling injuries outside the ring. Nice powerslam by Punk on Miz. Punk had Miz in the Anaconda Vice.
The #6 entrant was Chris Jericho, who faced off with Punk as the crowd went wild for it. Jericho got a dropkick for two on Punk while everybody else was down. Jericho actually hit a Lionsault, which got a two count on Punk. Ziggler rolled up Jericho with the tights for two. Jericho fired back with the Codebreaker to eliminate Ziggler at 22:31. Ziggler’s bumps were awesome.
Dolph Ziggler eliminated by Chris Jericho
Punk went at it with Jericho. Punk won the fight, giving him a slingshot over the top rope that sent Jericho flying onto the railing. Punk rammed the back of Jericho’s head into one of the pods and then whipped him face first into one of them. Jericho locked himself in one of the pods to prevent an attack from Punk, but that didn’t work very well. Jericho then outsmarted Punk and rammed the pod door into the shoulder of Punk. Jericho and Kingston went at it. Kofi gave him the SOS on the steel. Finally Miz got back into the match as he dominated Kingston, but Kofi came back with a kick to the face. Punk got back to his feet and he gave Miz a powerbomb for two. Kingston went on top of one of the pods. He hit a crossbody onto Punk & Miz. They did a good job of catching him. Jericho put Kingston in the Walls of Jericho the badass way with his right leg on the back of the head on Kingston. Old school LION TAMER~! right there! Kofi tapped out at 26:32.
Kofi Kingston eliminated by Chris Jericho
After the elimination, Jericho whipped Kingston into the side of the cage. The door was open while this was going on. Jericho threw Kingston out of the door. Punk snuck up behind Jericho and kicked him into the back of the head. Jericho went crashing into the door. He fell onto the floor. Refs Scott Armstrong and Mike Chioda deemed that Jericho wasn’t able to continue due to being knocked out. A doctor checked on him. Jericho was eliminated 28:10 with the official ruling being that he was too hurt to continue while the announcers went into SERIOUS VOICES~! while they talked about the cameraman that got knocked down too. He was okay.
Chris Jericho eliminated by knockout
Back in the ring, Miz & Punk were the final two. Punk got Miz with a kick to the side of the head for two. Punk hit the running knee into the corner followed by the bulldog. Meanwhile, they checked on Jericho at ringside. He was still out. Punk went for the springboard clothesline, Miz avoided it and hit the Skull Crushing Finale for the two count. Great nearfall there. Miz continued to assault Punk in the corner while also trash talking him at every opportunity. Miz missed a charge into the corner, crashing into a pod. Punk hit the Go To Sleep for the pinfall win at 32:29.
The Miz eliminated by CM Punk
Winner: CM Punk
Analysis: ***1/2 I think most of us were expecting a Punk/Jericho finale, so when we didn’t get it the ending was a bit anticlimactic. Miz had been booked pretty weak going into it, so there wasn’t that much heat on the final two. They probably should have had Ziggler in the final two. I thought they did a great job of giving big moments to guys like Ziggler and Kingston, who despite not winning the match had some memorable spots. I was definitely worried about Ziggler when I saw some of the bumps he took, but he ended up being okay after all was said and done. Truth didn’t have much of an impact. Miz did okay too. In my preview, I thought that Jericho would win the match because it would give him a big win to set up the match with Punk at WrestleMania. There’s nothing wrong with Punk winning because he’s a good champion.
(I thought it was an entertaining match when I re-watched it, but I didn’t touch my original rating. Regarding the outcome, Jericho won a battle royal the next night to earn the WrestleMania 28 title match against Punk, which Punk won as the face WWE Champion.)
FACTS & OPINIONS
Wrestler that lasted the longest: CM Punk at 32:39
Most Eliminations: CM Punk and Chris Jericho with two.
Best Performers (3): CM Punk – He went the distance to win the match.
Dolph Ziggler – Like I noted in the review, he did some great bumps throughout the match.
Chris Jericho – As the veteran in the match, he played his role well.
Most Memorable Moment: Jericho’s elimination was memorable in terms of it being a unique elimination.
Match Rating: ***1/2 out of five.
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John Canton
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