Welcome to another edition of Triple Threat from Smark Out Moment, where three of us get together to discuss three questions based on one big topic going down in the week of professional wrestling.
This week, Dallas Allsopp, Aryan Malhotra and Robert DeFelice preview Elimination Chamber 2021.
Elimination Chamber is upon us, serving as the next stop on the Road to WrestleMania 37. Will Bobby Lashley move into the main event scene? Is it fair that Roman Reigns has the advantage on SmackDown? And just who will win the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber?
Question 1: Bobby Lashley will defend his WWE United States Championship against Riddle and Keith Lee. Who should be victorious? Would it make sense for Lashley to drop the belt in order to move into the main event picture?
ALLSOPP: I’m enjoying the Bobby Lashley that we have today, purely due to the fact that The Hurt Business rock! I’ve never really been a fan of Lashley, however he has shown there is a lot more to his character. Not only that, he is currently at the top of his game in the ring. So as much as I’d love to see him retain, he needs to make the transition to the main event scene. Riddle could do well with the title, which is why I think he should win, but make no mistake, it should be Lashley moving onto a WWE Championship challenge soon enough.
MALHOTRA: It’s interesting that Bobby Lashley’s current WWE United States Championship reign is the longest one with that title since Sheamus in 2014, and that to me means he will either lose it at Elimination Chamber or at WrestleMania. He is a capable main eventer, but ideally, he should enter the scene after WrestleMania, so losing the title makes sense. Lashley winning here but losing at WrestleMania to Riddle would be great, whilst Keith Lee should also move into the main event scene. But I don’t mind Riddle winning here either, just that it would feel greater at WrestleMania.
DeFELICE: Yes. It would make a lot of sense for Bobby Lashley to be the man to challenge Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania if they have nobody else. I can't foresee the issue with Sheamus and Drew McIntyre lasting an entire three months, and still feeling fresh by WrestleMania. Should Lashley lose this belt, I think he should lose it to Keith Lee. Unfortunately, Riddle has personal issues that won't make him a big babyface by WrestleMania when fans return to the stands.
Question 2: Are you a fan of the decision to have a fresh Roman Reigns immediately defend his WWE Championship against the winner of the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match? Who is the likeliest candidate to face Reigns?
MALHOTRA: Honestly, I’m not fond of this idea of Roman Reigns immediately facing the winner. I feel there’s no way Reigns is losing, and this seems like an angle to further Reigns vs Edge somehow, rather than being a significant title defence. But maybe it leads to a good match, which even in defeat puts the Elimination Chamber winner over, since he will have had a long time wrestling that day. The likeliest candidate to win seems to be Cesaro, purely due to the recent big push he has been receiving, and he seems the right candidate to win too. Hopefully he is back in the main event scene after WrestleMania.
DeFELICE: In this scenario, there is a major difference between what I want, and what I believe will happen. What I want to happen is Cesaro winning this match and coming up short against Roman Reigns, so he can have a proper one-on-one contest with him at WWE Fastlane on March 21. What I believe will happen is Kevin Owens wins again, and in that case, I feel like Owens should also win the WWE Universal Championship and drop it next month to Reigns. The alternative is watching Owens lose here and then lose again in a month, and that doesn't interest me.
ALLSOPP: It suits the character of heel Roman Reigns, so I’m not totally against this. It’s a great dick move, and should a face win the Elimination Chamber, losing to a fresh Reigns only serves to increase the groundswell of support for them. I cannot see past Kevin Owens winning the Elimination Chamber, as that makes the most sense from a storyline perspective, but there is no way he wins the title.
Question 3: Who will win the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match? Are the participants a sign of WWE’s refusal to push younger talent?
DeFELICE: I don't believe that the structure of this match is a sign of a refusal to push younger talent. I don't even believe that younger is the operative word here, as even the fresh names aren't all that young. I believe this match was thrown together because it's very easy to say, “all of these men have held the WWE Championship and therefore, the match is a big deal.” It's easy marketing for an event that really needed to come together as quickly as possible. As for the winner, I feel like it has to be Drew McIntyre. I don't know if any of the other names are in the position to say they can headline WrestleMania at this very moment, and as much as I would like to see AJ Styles vs Edge as the WrestleMania WWE Championship match, it seems unfair to McIntyre to give him anything but the top spot at this year's event after he helped carry the WWE through the most unpredictable time in company history.
Going forward, I see Sheamus vs McIntyre next month at WWE Fastlane, and then maybe we get somebody new for McIntyre at WrestleMania. I, for one, am still holding out hope that Edge chooses McIntyre.
ALLSOPP: I am expecting a swerve of sorts, only because this match is stale on paper. There’s no real x-factor, and no real chance of seeing the match used as a breakout for a star of tomorrow. I truly believe this is a result of poor booking and lazy writing, but then again, this is the same writing team that thinks a pregnant Lacey Evans is a compelling storyline. The Fiend surely returns here, and I can see his interference causing Sheamus to steal the title. Are WWE unwilling to push younger talent? Yes, they are. But in all honesty, who is there to pick up the proverbial brass ring and run with it?
MALHOTRA: It has to be Drew McIntyre. Anybody else would be super anticlimactic. Yes, the Royal Rumble and then this match has shown the lack of young WWE talent in prominent main roster positions. I mean, all of them are in their late 30’s to 40’s, but the other side is the fact that they are all former World Champions, which brings credibility. This means it is not a one time problem where if WWE filled this match with all younger guys, it would automatically be fixed. It has to be a long term process to build credibility so that they belong in this match. Aleister Black, Ricochet, Andrade, Mustafa Ali, and Dominik Dijakovic, can excel if booked properly. But immediately thrusting them wouldn’t do them any favours, so there needs to be a long term approach for building the spectacular talent that exists.
Those are our thoughts on the issue, but where do you stand?
Let us know your answers to these questions in the comments below!
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