I thought there was a chance that one of the World Titles would change hands in the Elimination Chamber match, but I don't think anyone predicted that two new champions would emerge. Furthermore, anyone who claims they predicted that Edge would capture the World Hvt. Championship on Sunday is either lying or is a descendent of Nostradamus.
Triple H wins the WWE Title in the Smackdown version of the Elimination Chamber match: This match actually opened the show. As if that wasn't odd enough, Jeff Hardy pinned Edge less than five minutes, which guaranteed that a new WWE Champion would be crowned. Vladimir Kozlov and Big Show were eventually eliminated, leaving WWE's top three babyfaces Hardy, Taker, and Triple H to battle it out for the briefly vacant WWE Title.
Hardy didn't last long with the big dogs, as Taker eliminated him from the match. It came down to the two most powerful performers in WWE - both in the ring and behind the scenes. There was a great spot late in the match with Taker setting up Hunter for the Tombstone Piledriver, only to have Hunter flip Taker over into position for the Tombstone, followed by Taker flipping it over one more time and hitting the Tombstone on Hunter. Taker went for the cover, but Triple H got his foot on the bottom rope at the last possible moment to break it up.
A short time later, Taker hoisted Hunter into position for the Last Ride, but Hunter slipped out and landed on his feet. Taker turned around and was greeted with a big boot to the gut and a Pedigree. Hunter made the cover and got the clean 1-2-3. There were some boos when Hunter covered Taker earlier in the match, but the fans were still with Hunter after the match as he celebrated his 13th World Title victory. This was the best Elimination Chamber match to date despite the mediocre performance of Vladimir Kozlov, who just isn't clicking despite WWE's best attempt to shove him down the throats of viewers.
Edge captured the World Hvt. Championship in the Raw version of the Elimination Chamber match: Before the match, Edge ran out and attacked Kofi Kingston from behind by ramming him into the ring steps. Edge followed up by slamming a chair onto the back of Kofi's head, and then raced inside the ring and locked himself inside one of the EC pods.
The clueless referees threw up their hands and let Edge take Kofi's spot in the match. This was one of those "only in pro wrestling" moments, as something tells me that Randy Couture wouldn't be allowed to replace Frank Mir if he were to knock him out with a chairshot prior to Mir's upcoming fight against Brock Lesnar. Nevertheless, the fans were once again shocked when Edge speared and pinned John Cena to eliminate him from the match.
The last two entrants were Edge and Rey Mysterio. Although it seemed fairly obvious that Edge was going to win the title the moment he attacked Kingston and took his place in the match, Mysterio made a believer out of this viewer by scoring some excellent near falls down the stretch that had the fans counting along with the referee's count. However, Edge ultimately speared Mysterio and scored the pin to become the World Hvt. Champion as the announcers questioned what this meant to Raw given that both champions are technically assigned to the Smackdown brand.
Randy Orton defeated Shane McMahon. This match was the biggest turnoff of the night, as the promoter's son beat the hell out of Orton, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase before finally taking an RKO out of nowhere. Yes, 39 year-old father of two Shane-O-Mac beat the hell out of three professional athletes all by himself. The match was entertaining and the two participants worked hard, but the idea of the boss's doughy son dominating three actual wrestlers was stomach turning.
Shawn Michaels defeated JBL. I expected more from this match. After weeks of great buildup, Shawn finally had a chance to get his hands on JBL. However, the match started like any other match and lacked emotion until the closing minutes when Rebecca Michaels clocked JBL from her seat at ringside. This inspired Shawn and woke up the live crowd. Back inside the ring, Shawn hit Sweet Chin Music and pinned JBL to gain his financial freedom. I guess we won't be seeing HBK on the front of the Mamajuana bottles anytime soon.
Jack Swagger defeated Finlay to retain the ECW Title. Boring! The live crowd couldn't have cared less about this match. Even kid's hero Hornswoggle didn't get much of a reaction. However, he was blamed for his storyline father losing the match. The announcers told the story that Finlay was distracted by Horny at one point, and then Finlay ran into his pint-sized son, who was standing on the ring apron for no apparent reason. Swagger hit the gut-wrench powerbomb to end the misery. This was a poor technical match, but the live crowd never got behind it and it felt out of place positioned in the middle of the show.
Final Thoughts: Forget everything you thought you knew about the WrestleMania 25 lineup. WWE shook up everything on Sunday night and left the fans wondering what will happen at the big show in April. My guess is Hunter vs. Orton, Edge vs. Cena, HBK vs. Undertaker, and Chris Jericho vs. Mickey Rourke or Ric Flair, but I'm honestly not sure where they're heading after No Way Out.
Keep up on all the WrestleMania 25 news, rumors, and speculation at ProWrestling.net
