New item added to your basket Not enough stock to add this item

THE WRASSLIN’ ASYLUM #003: ELIMINATION CHAMBER 2013 PREDICTIONS.

By Pete Barrington

Hello to all out there in the wrestle-sphere and welcome another addition of wRasslin Asylum hosted by yours truly Peter Barrington!

Hello to all out there in the wrestle-sphere and welcome another addition of wRasslin Asylum hosted by yours truly Peter Barrington and Sean Favager. Before we get into this, make sure you check out our 2nd entry into this new blog where Sean discusses the advantages of the new less bloody ‘Modern’ era as opposed to the ‘Attitude’ era, making his case citing the brutal ‘I Quit’ match between The Rock and Mankind at the 1999 Royal Rumble. Really is a good read so check it folks.

Now on to matters at hand.

We received some great feedback from our first addition into the wrestling blogging world with our Royal Rumble preview so let’s continue the trend with a preview of the very next PPV, the ‘sandwich’ PPV if you will that is Elimination Chamber.

Since its inception, there have been 15 Elimination Chamber matches and the record holder for number of entries is Chris Jericho with 7.

Brief history of the Chamber itself. It wasn’t seen on a WWE screen until 2002 Survivor Series when then General Manager Eric Bischoff (who is credited with its invention) announced that the main event was an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Rob Van Dam, Kane, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Booker T and Shawn Michaels. The premise is that 2 men start the match while the other four are in chambers or ‘pods’ at each corner of the enclosure and they enter randomly at 5 minute intervals. The structure itself is 16ft in height, 11m in diameter and weighs approx. 10 tons. Only a pinfall or submission will eliminate an opponent and this is done until one remains. Since its inception, there have been 15 Elimination Chamber matches and the record holder for number of entries is Chris Jericho with 7.

So now you know what it is, let’s get this preview rolling. Just a quick note, unfortunately Sean is a little too busy today (probably listening to his 5ive Greatest Hits album on repeat) so I will be spear heading this one, I’m sure Sean will be back with us for our Wrestlemania preview if not before.

Pre-Show – Brodus Clay and Tensai vs Rhodes Scholars

I am not a fan of either Brodus Clay or Tensai so I can’t really say that I have any inclination to watch this.

As this is the pre-show then let’s not expect fireworks shall we! I am not a fan of either Brodus Clay or Tensai so I can’t really say that I have any inclination to watch this. All I can think of is that with the resurgence of the tag teams that has come of late, WWE is putting this match in as a way to continue that trend. The only question I have with this is why put this new dancing big man team against a team that have only recently announced they will no longer be competing against a team. Pairing up singles wrestlers as teams is an easy way to give exposure to mid-card talent that have nothing to do but why re-unite a team that recently broke up when you are trying to push a new team, Clay and Tensai could have been fed to The Usos or The Primetime Players and continued to look strong but I’m hoping that it ends up being an excuse for Rhodes Scholars to either a) get the win and realise they are better as a team and go for the gold at Wrestlemania or b) Implode and we see a face turn for a potential feud, which at this point would be better for Cody instead of Sandow.

Prediction: Team Brosai eat Rhodes Scholars and take their powers!

Divas Championship – Kaitlyn© vs Tamina

Seriously? Who cares?? Anyone?

Seriously? Who cares?? Anyone? Why not put this on the Pre-Show!! I mean this match is on the card but your telling me there is no room for Ziggler?? More on that later.

Prediction: Trish Stratus returns and shows off them beautiful beautiful curves! O.K that’s just wishful thinking. Just for arguments sake then I say title change.

United States Championship – Antonio Cesaro © vs The Miz

Antonio Cesaro is without a doubt a rising star and future holder of one of the 2 main titles.

Is it just me or does it feel like we’ve seen this match too many times already? Antonio Cesaro is without a doubt a rising star and future holder of one of the 2 main titles. The Miz is someone who is in desperate need of a direction. His face turn still isn’t showing any signs of improving but there have been glimmer of hopes for him. Standing up to Brock on Raw was good despite the inevitable beat down and the fans are starting to get behind him but I don’t see a title change here. The way Cesaro talks about the belt and what it means is setting up a confrontation with Jack Swagger and his new racist manager and the whole ‘We the People’ gimmick. That feud would see Swagger get the belt back that he lost to Santino and would give Cesaro a chance to move up the card but here I think…..

Prediction: Cesaro to ‘Neutralize’ Miz inside 10 minutes.

World Heavyweight Championship – Alberto Del Rio © vs Big Show

Since Del Rio won the belt on Smackdown, he has grown as a performer and has become a genuine worthy champion.

This will be the 2nd PPV match in a row for these two. Since Del Rio won the belt on Smackdown, he has grown as a performer and has become a genuine worthy champion. Big Show is still doing now what he was doing since he signed that infamous iron clad contract. He continues to give good promos, he continues to knock people out for no reason and apart from a couple of matches with Sheamus, he continues to lose on big occasions and I see no reason to change that here. The biggest advantage that Show has got is that this match is not a Last Match Standing as the previous 2 have been so Del Rio will have to pin or make Big Show tap out which is going to take something special so I don’t see a clean finish here. WWE tends to go 3 PPV’s per feud so if you count the Smackdown edition when Del Rio won the belt then this could be the end of the feud because we know that the winner of the EC match gets a shot at this belt. I see no reason to change the champ so quite what Big Show does after this is a good question.

Prediction: Alberto Del Rio

Elimination Chamber Match – Winner faces World Heavyweight Champion at Wrestlemania – Daniel Bryan vs Kane vs Chris Jericho vs Mark Henry vs Randy Orton vs Jack Swagger

I think this match will last the longest on the show and rightly so as there are so many stories here to tell.

I think this match will last the longest on the show and rightly so as there are so many stories here to tell. We have a potential Team Hell No bust up that’s been brewing. Henry and Orton have been having their own matches recently and we have a resurgent Jack Swagger. I’m not going to go into who I think will eliminate who or what order they will go in but I think it will come down to Henry vs Orton and I would expect Swagger’s new ‘Patriot Act’ to take a few out as they are trying to put him over again. Probably Jericho as he loves putting guys over and has recently said that Swagger is one of the best talented on the roster. Kane and Bryan are in there to start their implosion which was hinted at the Royal Rumble which will eventually see them dropping the titles at Wrestlemania if not sooner. I know that Mark Henry has just returned and as much of a dominant force he is, I don’t see him challenging for the belt again soon if at all and to show how strong he is, I think it will take at least 2, maybe 3 R.K.O’s to finish him off.

Prediction: I hear voices all the way to Mania!

John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus vs The Shield

It feels like it’s a filler match in the build-up to Mania because we all know where Cena is headed.

This match is a bit of a mystery to me really. I understand why they are doing it as you can’t have a card without the 3 faces and Shield need to do something apart from just run-ins and shaky camera promos but if Team Cena get the revenge on The Shield then does that mean The Shield won’t continue to attack them from behind and power bomb them all on Raw the next night if they get the chance? No! They will continue to do what they have done since they first appeared and the occasional beating shouldn’t stop them from doing so. So I ask who benefits here. It feels like it’s a filler match in the build-up to Mania because we all know where Cena is headed and now that the whole ‘who was Shield working for?’ angle has been revealed (sort of), they have outed themselves as just muscles for hire instead of wanting people to ‘Believe’ in the Shield. They’re attack on 3MB showed us nothing to suggest they are a threat to win here which inevitably means they probably will but as far as any storyline development goes here then I will probably just go for a smoke when it starts and make it back in time for the obvious awesome ‘go home’ that these 6 guys are bound to produce.

Prediction: Shield victorious

WWE Championship – The Rock © vs CM Punk (If The Rock is DQ or counted out then CM Punk wins title)

This is the match that everyone wants to see despite everyone knowing who is going to win.

This is the match that everyone wants to see despite everyone knowing who is going to win. I don’t mind that the Rock wins here and I don’t mind seeing Rock-Cena 2 at Mania. I am a purist at heart and just want to see a damn good wrestling match between two very gifted athletes. This is going to be a good match with a likely screwy finish. The reason I say that is because any ‘standard’ match where a stipulation has been added close to the event itself always ends up in controversy. There is no doubt in my mind that Rock wins here, probably will take a couple of Rock Bottoms to do it but the no DQ/Count out thing bugs me because when was the last time that Rock has ever been counted out?? O.K I’m sure he’s been disqualified before when he was a heel but I’m struggling to remember a time when he was DQ’d as a face. This leads me to believe that we are gonna see a lot of Punk trying to get him DQ’d. Claiming he got hit with a chair or low-blowed. The screwy finish I see here is that Punk might actually get someone to attack him thus disqualifying the Rock and handing him the title, of course this will not go down as planned and the Rock will still walk out as champ, how though, I am looking forward to finding out.

Prediction: Rock Wins and points at the Wrestlemania sign until the entire crowd get bored and leave!

Final Thoughts

  • With no Dolph Ziggler on the show, it will lead people to believe that he will cash in. I personally think he will do so at Mania itself so if we are going to see him, I would expect him to either screw someone out of their spot in the Elimination Chamber match and enter himself or at least interfere in that and continue his feud with Jericho.
  • The 6 man tag match will benefit greatly if it were in fact in a chamber itself and as Ryback tweeted himself that ‘Justice will be served to the Shield in the Chamber’. This may be a spoiler or it may be bad grammar as this has now been changed to ‘Justice will be served to the Shield in New Orleans at Elimination Chamber’. A change of plan may happen on the night and will definitely make me look forward to this match because at the moment I don’t.
  • I do think this will be a good show and there are more than enough good matches on the card. Apart from the Divas and Cesaro/Miz, I expect each match 2 get at least 15 minutes with the main ones getting 20 minutes plus. Also don’t be surprised if we see some storyline continuation with the Barrett/Bo Dallas feud as there is no focus on the IC belt on the card.

That will do us folks, if you’ve made it this far then a winner is you! Sorry if it’s a bit long but I felt I had a lot to say. Hope you enjoyed the read and please check back in on Monday to see how I done with my predictions.

For any other wrestling news or info then follow us on twitter at @wRasslinAsylum or give me a shout personally at @Pete_the_Red and please feel free to leave a comment below.

To borrow a line from a famous poet:

‘I’ll say goodbye, but don’t you cry, because I will be back real soon’ – Frosty the Snowman

« back to the blog

Posted on February 17th, 2013
Category: NEWS & VIEWS, THE WRASSLIN’ ASYLUM
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,