All Right, Elimination Chamber. Check. Next, WrestleMania...

How’s It Going, Enthusiasts?

Monday treating you all right?  Well, Elimination Chamber came and went and I think we can come to some fair conclusions.  Shayna Baszler is now the resident female badass so we’ll see how the ladies’ roster will adapt to the new threat.  The hope is that it prompts the best out of everyone.  This is a turning tide that could definitely give the Men a run for their money.  The Women have been solid recently, especially on SmackDown and with Baszler coming in fighting for real, the ladies are going to have to up their games and learn how to box.  Now, when I say that, I don’t need them to lace up the gloves and put on the head gear and really learn how to throw hands but learning the philosophy shouldn’t hurt.  That’s what Baszler is going in on.  She knows how to kick an ass.  These ladies know how to “wrestle”.  We’re about to see what makes the most sense out in the street.   All for it.

Also, the Men’s Elimination Chamber was the second best match after the Ladies’ though I’m sure the technical aficionados preferred the opener with Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak.  Now, the Men’s version was for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships so they went more for show than grit but that was fine.  Otis did a great job of taking himself out and I generally think everyone was good at letting everyone else get their time to shine.  I appreciated the production of it in that respect.  You could see the camaraderie even though everyone was supposed to be in battle.  Always good to see people not taking this too seriously.   Honorable mention to Aleister Black and AJ Styles as well.  Though I’m not feeling a possible tag team match or 6 Man Tag with the Undertaker, I did appreciate the show these gentlemen put on and we should certainly protest if these gentlemen aren’t used well going forward.

So, the final takeaway is that most of the players earned their keep and I would say the biggest question mark hovers over the Intercontinental Title.  I don’t mind Sami Zayn taking it though I expected Strowman to hold it for most of eternity because of obvious reasons but he was allowed to be worn down and taken out by “cunning”.  I get the feeling Sheamus may get tossed into this mix to give these overlooked fellows something to do.   I get it.  They deserve more but until Creative fleshes it out, that’s what these dudes have to work with.   We’ll see if it’s palatable.

In any case, tonight we start to make our way to WrestleMania and to start us off, Edge returns for Vengeance we hope!  With his lady handed a RKO by the likes of the infamous Randy Orton, we’ll be waiting to see how Edge takes it to him.  Now, don’t be surprised if the pity card is played on Edge more.  We do have to build to WrestleMania and this feud could get nice and juicy.  I just don’t want too much pity, though.  In terms of Karma, Edge has the upper hand and if he doesn’t get Orton, someone/thing should.  What I’m really saying is don’t expect an epic beatdown for Orton from Edge, at least not yet.  We got the Fallout from the Elimination Chamber and continued set-up for WrestleMania.  Orton may be booked more to be some ruthless bully as we go “Poor Edge…”  I’m just saying this because it tends to be the WWE M.O.  They like to draw these sort of things out but it doesn’t always gain the response they’re looking for.  Well, that’s usually because the point/story isn’t well developed.  We’ll see if an endgame has been established.  If we like what we see, there may be hope but if we don’t, expect this to be an awkward stumble to the finish line.  Just keeping it real.  We gotta start seeing the signs as opposed to hoping against hope.  So, with that said, funny tweets get retweeted and as for Likes/Favorites, be discerning but let’s not get too persnickety until like, 2 weeks out.  If stuff isn’t working by then, we can pretty much expect a crappy WrestleMania and they haven’t been great these past few years so, let’s spare ourselves early if at all possible.  Don’t expect highs and lows, expect “mehs” and if we’re pleasantly surprised, then there may just be hope.

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)