The final SmackDown before the Elimination Chamber featured a Gauntlet match taking up the final 70 minutes the show, Mustafa Ali’s replacement is announced, the women’s teams determine who will start the Chamber match on Sunday, and McMiz TV debuts with The Usos. Grab your tickets for POST Wrestling Live in New York on Sunday, April 7th with a special Q&A show with John Pollock and Wai Ting at the Broadway Comedy Club. The Q&A will go from Noon – 1:30 pm with a special meet-and-greet after the show and lots of time to get to MetLife Stadium for WrestleMania.
NEWS OF THE DAY:Pedro Morales passes away, an update on Sasha Banks,Cody undergoes knee surgery, New Japan announces cards, Raw’s viewership, updated Elimination Chamber card & more. Plus Café feedback, comments & questions from thePOST Wrestling Forum.
John Pollock reviews WWE Raw from June 17, 2002, for the Raw leading into the King of the Ring, which we will review on Friday’s Rewind-A-Wai. This show dealt with the fallout of Steve Austin walking out on the company the previous week and the return of The Rock.
Wai Ting reviews the return of Total Bellas from this past Sunday detailing Brie Bella’s struggles with her in-ring return and Daniel Bryan’s reluctance to embrace his “brand”
A review of Being the Elite Episode 138 “Alpha and Omega” covering AEW’s press conference in Las Vegas, the announcement of the rematch between Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho, and the crew attends the Super Bowl.
First off massive props to Kofi. I really truly hope this isn’t just a one shot deal for Chamber and then forgotten. Let this man stay in the title run picture for a while. Give him a shot at it sometime after Mania with a real feud and see how things go. If the crowd really gets behind him and views him as credible then run with it. If not then at least we’ll know.
With that said though…I find it a little concerning that WWE seems to have to go to this Gauntlet well in order to build up existing talent. I mean the tag scene on Raw has had good matches for a while now and no one can even begin to care. Corbin was getting 20 minute match after match and being booked strong and nothing. We’ve seen a notable increase in matches in general going 2 to 3 segments on Raw and Smackdown and yet no one seems to be changing their place on the card. Its a little discouraging.
Note: Mustafa is an exception here but he was also brought in with a mega push and that’s not really what I’m talking about here.
I guess what I’m saying is that I’m losing faith in WWE being able to build up talent just through good matches and natural feuds anymore. If feels like we must retain the status quo unless some massive spotlight is shown on you in a way that’s not even remotely subtle such as these Gauntlet matches.
Unless they do a title switch on Sunday and blow the whole thing up, I could see Kofi as Daniel Bryan’s opponent for Fastlane due to him getting the relatively clean pin in their match last night. Kind of a lame duck spot to be a challenger (see also “Riott, Ruby”) but a good chance to shine for a guy who deserves it as much as anyone.
Its definitely not fair to say that Ali pinning Bryan lead to nothing. It’s what legitimized him enough to get him a shot at the title in the Chamber. So, they did it again with Kofi in his place, and then some. I wonder if Ali would’ve gotten this same run in the gauntlet or if this was just for Kofi.
Great performance from Kofi but I would’ve much rather seen Almas or Mysterio get the spot in the Elimination Chamber. Would be hilarious if Almas does an Edge and steal Kofi’s spot.