WWE Elimination Chamber 2023 Review: Sami Zayn tries to dethrone Roman Reigns in Montreal

This is a big night paying off a long epic story.

Asuka vs. Liv Morgan vs. Natalya vs. Carmella vs. Nikki Cross vs. Raquel Rodriguez

Pretty good Chamber match each wrestler excelling in their role. Nikki brought the unpredictability, Raquel was the powerhouse, Carmella was the cowardly heel, Natalya was the veteran, Asuka was the danger and Liv was the heart and soul. They did a really good job of using the Chamber as a weapon in this and each thump on the pods made me wince (in a good way). Raquel slammed Cross through a pod to get the first elimination before Liv hit a big spot with a sunset flip powerbomb off the pod. Liv was then eliminated by an Asuka submission and we went into quick eliminations for the finish which brought it down. Asuka was the last woman standing though as she pinned Carmella to win and face Bianca at WrestleMania. The only choice. ***1/2

Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar

Why can’t WWE just give us a full Brock/Bobby match like we all want? This goes 5 minutes and ends when Lesnar knows Lashley has him beat with the Hurt Lock so he kicked him in the dick for the DQ. I’d say it’s a way to set up a big blow-off at WrestleMania but I’m aware it’s not. This is the blow-off. FUCK THIS. **

Afterwards, Lesnar hit F5s galore on Lashley and the referee because well.. who the fuck knows?

WrestleMania movie parody videos are BACK! This one saw Seth Rollins as Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker and Becky Lynch as Batman. It was fine but I hope they have better up their sleeve.

UFC legend George St. Pierre and Ariel Helwani are in the crowd and Michael Cole says Helwani is unbiased and asks the tough questions whether you want to answer them or not. BECAUSE TONY KHAN IS A COWARD DID YOU KNOW.

Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley vs. Edge and Beth Phoenix

Nice stat by Cole to start saying this is Edge’s first match in Montreal for 17 years. Decent mixed tag. This is like one of those backdoor pilots on a TV show. We know Edge v Judgment Day is the feud but this basically allowed us to get a Rhea Ripley v Beth Phoenix match and you know what? It was a pretty good powerhouse match. They spent most of this wrestling which is nice and saves Edge v Balor for Mania. Good call back to Extreme Rules where JD make Edge watch Rhea beat up Beth but this time, Beth stops it and fights back. Edge took out Dominic (who the crowd LOATHED) with a killer suicide dive and the GRIT COUPLE (stupid name) win with a Shatter Machine (hey FTR, how you doing?). ***1/4

Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns are getting ready backstage. Paul told Roman that Montreal will be the centerpiece of Roman’s Island of Relevancy.

Austin Theory (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Damien Priest vs. Montez Ford vs. Bronson Reed for the WWE United States Championship

This is my favourite type of match in wrestling where hard-working wrestlers BUST THEIR ASS to have a star-making night and prove they deserve a bigger role. It worked for Triple H/Rock at SummerSlam 98’ and it worked here. Hopefully, WWE capitalise on it. We start with Rollins/Gargano which is fucking glorious and their respect for each other leads them to team throughout the match. Theory was next in and we got a really good few minutes of him being teamed up before Priest came out. I like how Theory is THAT disliked as a heel champion even Priest beat him up. Bronson had some good heel monster spots and Montez proved he can be a singles star with a superb performance. Great spots included Rollins hitting a clothesline on Gargano who turned it into a Reverse Rana on Bronson’s shoulders, Ford climbing to the top of the Chamber and diving from an OBSCENE height and Gargano countering a powerbomb off the top of the pod with a hurricanrana that sent Rollins and Gargano crashing on the other guys in the match. Reed was eliminated as three men teamed up on him, Gargano was destroyed by Priest and eliminated but Ford and Rollins teamed up to take out the JD member too. Ford took a FANTASTIC Stomp on the metal floor outside the ring to be eliminated and as he was getting medical treatment, fucking LOGAN PAUL snook into the ring to hit a Stomp on Rollins. A Town Down allowed Theory to retain his title. A really well-booked Chamber match from start to finish. Everyone looked better after and nobody suffered. Outstanding watch. ****1/2

Roman Reigns (c) vs. Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

The previous Chamber match laid down the gauntlet and this fucking ran with it too. It’s all about belief here. Reigns believes he’s untouchable but knows how good Sami is. Unfortunately, Sami doesn’t believe in himself anymore. Before the Bloodline, he was lost and he needed Reigns to keep him relevant. That’s legit what happened and this match plays on that. Reigns has the big-match experience and looks more comfortable while Zayn looks uncomfortable on his own and doubts himself. Guess who doesn’t doubt Zayn? Guess who believes in Zayn? This hometown Montreal crowd. They are ON FIRE and boost a good match into a GREAT match. Reigns has some great heel moments like making Zayn’s kids cry as he beats up their father in front of him and just looking dominant at times. Sami busting out the diving DDT through the ropes on the outside FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER but Reigns scouting it and countering because he’s that good was fantastic. But Zayn is the star of this and they don’t hide from it. Great near falls with the Blue Thunder Bomb and a Helluva Kick was great and then we got some ref bumps. Jimmy Uso turned up and beat up Zayn leading to a Roman spear BUT ZAYN KICKED OUT. Reigns teased using a chair but HERE’S JEY USO. Reigns wants Jey to take Sami out with the chair and we have this great call-back to the Royal Rumble with Jey teasing hitting Reigns. Sami goes for a spear on Reigns but he moves and SAMI SPEAR JEY! Reigns destroyed Sami with chair shots and hit the spear for a slow count from the injured referee 1…2…3! Incredible drama again and a fantastic climax to the Reigns/Sami story. His stuff with The Usos will go on but this is it for Sami/Reigns really. Should this have been a WrestleMania main event? Would it have been as good in LA and not in Montreal? Fantastic watch. ****1/2

Jimmy and Reigns beat up Zayn some more but the MUSIC OF KEVIN OWENS HITS. He hits stunners on both and makes the save for Sami. They have a long look at each other and KO leaves because their reunion won’t be that easy.

By the way, side note on this. I love that Solo Sikoa listened to Reigns saying he wanted no help in Montreal and ACTUALLY DIDN’T COME. Brilliant story note with Solo being all business and not playing Reigns’ games.