No Way Out

Luckily for us wrestling fans in the UK No Way Out is one of the last remaining free PPV events we get with our Sky Sports Subscription. No Way Out is the last PPV before Wrestlemania and is usually where any major storyline changes or developments happen which will affect the ‘Grand Daddy of them All.’

The event is set to make history as for the first time ever we have two elimination chamber matches on one PPV. Like how they use to do it with the elimination matches at Survivor Series they will have one Raw and one Smackdown Chamber match.

Because Vince always pushes his Raw brand ahead of Smackdown I am not looking forward to this idea. I think it is just a gimmick to get people to buy the PPV in America and I don’t think we are going to see two great Elimination Chamber matches. I think either the Smackdown Chamber will be booked in such a way as to not upstage the Raw Chamber match or in another scenario they will both be equally ok as to not have one upstage the other.

The problem by having these two Elimination Chamber matches is that there won’t be many other matches as the matches take up so much talent and because none of these are title matches they will take away from the title matches that are also booked on the card.

The reason I think they are doing two chamber matches is because John Cena isn’t ready and fit to carry the weight of headlining a PPV which isn’t one of the big four. With only five to ten minutes of actual wrestling on live TV since the Royal Rumble I don’t see the match going long or being a five star match although many fans would argue when has John Cena ever had a five star match. When Raw went off TV this week we were left with Jeff Hardy beating Shawn Michaels trying to get the fans to believe that he could win this Sunday so the creative team are pushing the chamber above the title match which is a rarity.

Now like I say the whole point of No Way Out is to build for Wrestlemania. For the last two years John Cena has been defending the championship at Wrestlemania where it is widely known that PPVs that draw best with the fans is those that are headlined by a face going against a heel champion. Usually I wouldn’t be surprised to see Randy Orton go over to build a rematch for Wrestlemania but as the winner of the Elimination Chamber is suppose to be getting the title match at Wrestlemania I think John Cena will get the win as there will have been no point in bringing him back to lose, this is of course unless they are going to do an angle on Raw where John Cena goes against the winner of one of the Elimination Chamber matches with the winner of the match getting the shot at the title at Wrestlemania. If this doesn’t happen then the WWE could always turn the title match in to a three way which they have in the past.

On the Smackdown side of the card Edge is defending his title against Rey Mysterio. They have built an interesting if maybe distasteful storyline with Vickie Guerrero and Edge but it has made for good TV. With the amount of time invested in Edge since his comeback and the fact that Rey is not long back from surgery and has already headlined a Wrestlemania I think Edge will be going in to the big one as champion.

The other match of note on the card is Ken Kennedy against Ric Flair in the ongoing if Ric loses a match he is retired storyline. It is obvious that Ric is going to survive until Wrestlemania where he will eventually be retired. Kennedy was rumoured to be the man that was going to get the torch passed to him and the rub of being the one to retire Ric but I don’t seem them doing this match again at Mania. The other rumoured guy to be the one to retire is Shawn Michaels but I think it makes sense for Randy Orton to be the one to do it to solidify his character as the Legend Killer. Ok it would take him out of the main event storyline but in the short term but I think in the long term it would do wonders for his character.

So now on to who I think will win the Elimination Chamber matches.

Raw – WWE are pushing Jeff Hardy hard with his face featuring on the event poster, the title match at Royal Rumble and winning the main event on the last Raw before the PPV but personally I don’t think he is Wrestlemania headliner material. I know he has a lot of supporters and fans backstage though so I wouldn’t rule him completely out. Umaga and Shawn Michaels were in two of the top matches last year and both have seemed on a downwards slide since so I don’t see either of them winning it nor John Bradshaw Layfield who has only just returned to active competition. I would love to see Chris Jericho win it as he hasn’t done much since his return but I think after not featuring in the main event last year at Mania and having not won a Mania main event since Wrestlemania 18 I think it his turn to return to the top.

Smackdown – Smackdown is a bit more obvious to call with three guys those being Finlay, MVP and big Daddy V not having any main event experience on WWE PPV’s I don’t see them being trusted with the ball in a Wrestlemania main event. The Great Kahli’s run with the belt was appalling so now that leaves just undertaker and Batista. These two had more main event matches than hot dinners last year although Undertaker’s title run was cut short through injury last year so they could put him back in the Mania main event but personally I think Batista will get the nod in this one although I would like to see Edge and Undertaker.

The Raw before No Way Out wasn’t the best with Jeff Hardy main eventing where it should have been Cena or an ending which involved all the participants of the Elimination Chamber. On top of this you had Umaga turning on JBL which would have been better done in the Elimination Chamber match itself and not on the Raw before. Hopefully No way Out will make up for it by getting us excited for Wrestlemania.