Let me tell you, last night's PPV was no doubt the best No Way Out I've seen in some time, and let me tell you, the Elimination Chamber matches that night may be match of the year candidates in my opinion. For more, let's hear what Rob has to say:
"The Road to Wrestlemania made a pitstop through the Eliminaton Chamber last night at No Way Out. With both the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Championship on the line in a match that is just as unforgiving as being in the Hell in a Cell, a showstopper who was laying it all on the line, a son fighting for his father's honor, and an american regaining his 'Swagger'. Here is how it all went down.
"First, it was the very first Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship.
"First to enter was the Undertaker, followed by the Big Show, Vladimir Kozlov, Triple H, Jeff Hardy, and the Rated R Superstar, Edge.
"Edge and Hardy were the first men to start the match, and much to the surprise of the WWE Universe, Edge was the first man to be eliminated, in less than 5 minutes by Hardy, and with Edge gone, there was going to be a new WWE Champion.
"The Moscow Mauler was next to enter, followed by the Big Show, Triple H, and the Undertaker.
"It was an all out war of Smackdown's big men, and much to the surprise of myself, Kozlov ended up being eliminated by the Deadman, because if you remember what I said in my last Smackdown blog, it was going to come down between Triple H and Kozlov with the Game's experience, and Kozlov's brutality.
"Triple H took out the Big Show when Jeff Hardy nailed him with a Swanton Bomb off the top of that box where they were standing in while waiting to enter the chamber match.
"Hardy, however was the next to be eliminated by the Undertaker, thanks to the hard-hitting Tombstone Piledriver.
"Then, it was down to the Undertaker and Triple H in a hard-fought battle between both men for the gold, and in the end, the Game nails the Undertaker with the Pedigree to become the WWE Champion for the 13th time.
"Even though the final 2 wasn't what I really predicted, experience did prevail and remember last Friday night on Smackdown when the Game said he was looking forward to the Elimination Chamber? Well, watch his post match interview on WWE.com, and listen to what he has to say about it now."
My thoughts: I did, and no doubt about it, it was an awesome way to start off the night. I was surprised though, that that Elimination Chamber match was the opening match, not the main event, but still, I'm just glad that Edge was not WWE Champion walking out of the Chamber, but then again, last night was full of surprises, and we had a lot more on the way.
"Vince McMahon's son, Shane McMahon was looking for revenge for what happened to his Dad in a No-Holds Barred match against Randy Orton.
"At one point in the match, Shane took a monitor from one of the announce tables and nailed Orton with it, which busted him wide open, then laid him across the table and was ready to finish him off, until Orton's Legacy cohorts Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes attacked Shane. Shane fought back as Orton was laying upon the announce table. After McMahon disposed of Dibiase, he placed a garbage can up against Cody Rhodes, and nails him with the Coast to Coast.
"After that, he finally went to finish off Orton by sending him through the announce table, and misses.
"Shane McMahon gave his best effort against Orton, and just when McMahon was going to give Orton a dose of his own medicine when he was measuring Orton up for a Punt to the Temple, after he was repeatedly nailing him with a steel chair, Orton out of nowhere nails McMahon with the RKO to get the win.
"Orton may have won the battle, but in my opinion, he lost the war, and not only that, after Orton was busted open by Shane McMahon, I honestly thought that Shane had the match in the bag."
My thoughts: You know, this match was no doubt brutal, and it brought out the classic Shane McMahon we were used to. Shame that Orton sneaked up from behind to win, but I guess the Legend Killer had to be humbled by the son of the Billion-Dollar Chairman.
"For the ECW Championship, the champion, Jack Swagger, was to defend against Finlay, who handed Swagger his very first loss a couple of weeks ago on ECW.
"This match did without a shadow of doubt prove to be a hard-fought battle between both men. Finlay was fighting back, showing incredible intestinal fortitude with fierce guts against the wrestling prodigy.
"But in the end, Swagger sent Finlay into the ropes, knocking his son Hornswoggle off the ring apron onto the floor, then gets nailed with the Gutwrench Powerbomb to get the win and retaining the ECW Championship.
"That means Christian is going to be challenging Swagger for that title at a future date, and here's a message for both Tommie and Jake. I was just as happy as the both of you about Christian coming back to the WWE as part of ECW. But why is the WWE allowing him to go for a major Championship like the ECW Championship already? I'm afraid that this is being done way too soon. But like they say, anything can happen in the WWE.We shall wait and see how this one evolves."
My thoughts: Well, now that you said it, I too am surprised that Captain Charisma is getting a title shot early on in his comeback. I would at least have him wait for another month, but like you said, Rob, anything can happen in the WWE, and it would be good to see Christian as ECW Champion, but we'll see what happens with this storyline.
"Shawn Micheals was putting everything on the line, and I do mean everything on the line against the man who hired him to get him to Wrestlemania as World Champion in John Bradshaw Layfield. If HBK was to win, he was done with JBL.
"But if JBL was to win, HBK would continue working for JBL for the rest of his life.
Micheals' wife Rebecca was at ringside. These two were fighting tooth and nail with HBK giving everything that he had in the hopes of beating the Self-Made Millionaire.
"At one point, JBL had Micheals outside the ring in front of his wife. As JBL went after him and had something to say to her, Rebecca gave him a shot in the face. HBK tosses him back in the ring, and nails him with some Sweet Chin Music to get the win, and freedom off JBL."
My thoughts: Thank goodness that HBK is no longer working for JBL. After seeing the hell Michaels had to put up with working for JBL, this was no doubt one of his most brutal matches to date, and it just showed that HBK has perhaps one of the biggest hearts in WWE history.
"Then, it was the World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber match, as John Cena was up against Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Mike Knox, Kane, and Kofi Kingston, who was jumped from behind by Edge, who lost his WWE Championship earlier in the night.
"Jericho and Mysterio started the match, then after that, Mysterio eliminated Kane, then Jericho eliminated another chamber participant in Mike Knox, then Edge entered, but was attacked by Mysterio for what he did to Kingston. Cena was the last man to enter, but was locked up by Edge to get the pin.
"So that meant a new World Heavyweight Champion was going to be crowned.
"A valiant effort was being given by Mysterio as it became abruptly eclipsed, as Mysterio and the Rated R Superstar engaged in a hard-fought battle for the gold. In the end, the Master of the 619 was Speared by Edge to get the pin, and become the new World Heavyweight Champion.
"On WWE.com there is a question asking if Edge has the right to claim the Gold that he just won.
"I say no, because he is on Smackdown. I wonder if this means he's going to Raw."
My thoughts: I sure as hell hope not, because it's bad enough we get to see him on Smackdown every Friday night, that and seeing Vickie Guerrero as well. If we see Vickie on Monday nights now, I wonder if Smackdown is gonna get a new G.M because of this? Only time will tell, friends.
Hope you enjoyed this neat little recap of No Way Out, and me and Rob will be back tomorrow with the RAW after No Way Out Dirt Sheet!:D

