WWE Elimination Chamber live results: Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn
Montreal hosts its first WWE pay-per-view since 2009 as Elimination Chamber takes place at the Bell Centre.
Hometown hero Sami Zayn will wrestle the biggest match of his career when he challenges Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in tonight’s main event. Zayn split from The Bloodline when he struck Reigns with a steel chair at the Royal Rumble last month.
Reigns has ordered The Usos not to show up in Montreal this weekend.
Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair will find out her WrestleMania challenger tonight. Asuka, Raquel Rodriguez, Liv Morgan, Nikki Cross, Natalya, and Carmella are competing in an Elimination Chamber match for the right to challenge Belair at WrestleMania.
The United States Championship will be on the line in tonight’s other Elimination Chamber match. Austin Theory defends against Seth Rollins, Johnny Gargano, Bronson Reed, Montez Ford, and Damian Priest.
Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley will look to settle their rivalry as they face off one-on-one for the third time ever. Plus, Edge & Beth Phoenix will be out for revenge as they take on Finn Balor & Rhea Ripley.
Elimination Chamber streams live on Peacock/WWE Network starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The pre-show begins at 7 p.m.
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Show Report —
Kayla Braxton, Wade Barrett, Kevin Patrick, and Peter Rosenberg were the pre-show panelists. It was the usual assortment of video packages and talking-head segments. Ariel Helwani joined for the final few minutes to talk about Montreal.
RAW Women’s Championship #1 Contender Elimination Chamber match: Asuka defeated Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Natalya, Carmella, & Nikki Cross [19:25]
This was not good. The final four eliminations all happened within two minutes and there were, like, two high spots. Felt more like a slow-paced six-pack challenge than a brutal Elimination Chamber. Maybe Nikki was supposed to be in the final two but got injured? At least Asuka was the correct winner.
The winner faces Bianca Belair for the RAW Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 39.
Natalya and Liv Morgan were the first two competitors. Liv got the advantage early on, sending Natalya into the chamber wall, but Natalya avoided a running attack as Liv ran face-first into a pod. Raquel was next in, taking down Natalya with a clothesline. She stacked both opponents up in the corner and splashed them.
There was a spot where Raquel had both opponents caught, but Natalya maneuvered out with a sunset bomb into the fence. An inadvertent double-team facebuster on Raquel allowed Natalya to cover for two.
Next in was Nikki, and she got her customary run-wild sequence. She eventually climbed a pod and dove onto all three opponents with a crossbody. Carmella followed but immediately locked herself back in her pod. Raquel took care of that problem by busting Nikki through the plexiglass wall, then covering to eliminate Nikki.
Liv hit a sunset bomb off the top of a pod (out of nowhere) and Carmella covered for a good near fall. Asuka was the final entrant and she went right after Carmella before facing off with Raquel. She locked Raquel in an octopus hold, but Liv flew in with a missile dropkick for two.
Carmella stopped Liv from hitting Oblivion on Natalya, allowing the latter to lock on the Sharpshooter. She wouldn’t tap, so Asuka barred Liv’s arm and she passed out for the elimination. Natalya went for the Sharpshooter on Raquel, but Carmella cut her off with a superkick for the three count. A series of kicks allowed both Asuka and Carmella to eliminate Raquel — three eliminations in about a minute.
Asuka and Carmella were the final two and they traded cradles before Asuka applied an arm submission for the win.
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Bobby Lashley defeated Brock Lesnar via disqualification [4:38]
This was awesome until the laughably bad finish.
Lesnar immediately drove Lashley into the corner and tossed him with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Lashley fired back with two Spears and went for the Hurt Lock, which Brock blocked and turned into an F5 for a close near fall. A second F5 got two more. Lashley escaped a third F5 attempt and Speared Lesnar a third time.
Lashley applied the Hurt Lock. The crowd was completely behind Lesnar as he fought to escape. Lesnar then just kicked his foot back for the low blow disqualification.
– After the match, Lesnar hit the official with an F5 and smashed Lashley with another one. He put a stamp on things by F5ing Lashley through the announcer’s table. He then put the referee through the carnage with a final F5.
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Ariel Helwani and Georges St-Pierre were shown in the crowd. Michael Cole referred to Helwani as “unbiased.”
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Edge & Beth Phoenix defeated Judgment Day (Finn Bálor & Rhea Ripley) (w/ Dominik Mysterio) [13:47]
I enjoyed this a lot. Both acts are hot, and Edge is a pro at sports entertainment drama-style matches. Beth was really good considering it’s been over a decade since she’s been a regular active wrestler.
This was typical mixed-tag rules — men vs. men, women vs. women. Beth had some sweet Bull Nakano makeup on. Edge out-maneuvered Bálor at the start. Beth and Rhea tagged in and had a nice power battle. Out on the floor, Beth whipped Rhea into the steel steps. Interference from Dominik allowed Rhea to trip Beth up on the top turnbuckle. Edge chased Dominik up the ramp but he quickly returned.
Beth started a comeback with a DDT, but just as she was about to make a tag, Bálor pulled Edge off the apron and hit a Final Cut on the floor. Beth came back with a superplex and finally reached Edge for the tag. Edge ran wild on Bálor, locking on an Edgecator as Beth did the same on Rhea. Dominik tossed Rhea brass knuckles and she subsequently struck Edge. Bálor covered, and Beth was supposed to break up the pin, but she came in a little late for an awkward near fall.
Bálor climbed the ropes, but Beth tossed Dominik into the ropes, knocking Bálor down. Both women got involved, powerbombing their male opponents. After a double clothesline, everyone was down. Rhea set Beth up for another con-chair-to, referencing their match last year, but Beth escaped and hit the Glam Slam. Back in the ring, Edge hit Edgecution and took out Dominik with a suicide dive. Bálor countered a Spear attempt into a sling blade.
Edge fired up with a Spear, then a Shatter Machine gave Edge and Beth the win.
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Roman Reigns was backstage with Paul Heyman drinking some C4 energy. Heyman put him over before the main event, encouraging him not to worry about the Montreal crowd.
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WWE United States Championship Elimination Chamber match: Austin Theory (c) defeated Seth “FREAKIN” Rollins, Johnny Gargano, Damian Priest, Bronson Reed, & Montez Ford [31:59]
Great chamber. Tons of hard-hitting action and violent spots — and everyone got to shine. The added bonus of Logan Paul, who’s just a natural at pro wrestling, made this really memorable too.
Rollins and Gargano kicked things off with a technical exchange. Rollins teased an early Pedigree, but Gargano escaped and landed a spear through the ropes. Theory was the next man in, and he used the chamber to beat down both opponents. Rollins and Gargano recovered and ping-ponged Theory back and forth with strikes. Theory tried to rekindle an alliance with his former compatriot in The Way, but Gargano wasn’t having it. Theory tried to lock himself in his pod, but Rollins and Gargano trapped him inside and beat him up.
Priest came in next, running wild on everyone. A raised flatliner on Gargano got two, then a Killswitch on Rollins got two more. Priest hit his step-up “dive” on Theory, which looked like it really hurt, then kicks on all opponents concluded a nice run of offense. Rollins cut Priest off with a superplex into a falcon arrow for two.
Reed entered the match and of course took out everyone. He hit a double Samoan Drop on both Rollins and Gargano, then bounced Priest off the pod — it looked like it was supposed to break. Reed then landed a diving shoulder tackle on Theory. The last man in was Ford, who stopped Reed’s run of offense and planted Theory with a spinebuster. He went for a People’s Elbow, but Reed leveled him with a lariat.
There was a crazy spot where Gargano was on Reed’s shoulders. Rollins landed a diving clothesline, which turned Gargano into a reverse hurricanrana on Reed, to which Ford covered for two. Ford climbed the wall to escape Priest, then continued to climb until he was hanging upside down until falling onto the rest of the competitors — quite similar to what Lince Dorado did a few years ago.
Ford, Rollins, and Gargano all hit their finishers on Reed to pin him for the first elimination. Rollins countered a slingshot by climbing the chamber, and he and Gargano ended up on top of a pod together. Rollins beat Gargano down, then put him in powerbomb position, leading to a wild moment where Gargano countered into a hurricanrana, sending Rollins flying off the pod into the pile.
Gargano landed superkicks on everyone, then hit a One Final Beat on Theory on the outside. Priest cut him off and hit the Razor’s Edge for the elimination. Rollins and Ford cut Priest off with a doomsday blockbuster (just like the Street Profits would hit) for another elimination.
Rollins and Ford traded strikes in the center of the ring. Ford wiped out both opponents with dives. He went for the frog splash, but Theory got his knees up, Rollins hit the stomp, and Theory covered to eliminate Ford.
They called officials in to check on Ford after the stomp. He was helped out of the chamber, but it was a work — Rollins hit Theory with the Pedigree, but the opening allowed Logan Paul to run in and hit Rollins with a Buckshot lariat and a stomp. Theory hit A-Town Down for the win.
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WWE Undisputed World Championship: Roman Reigns (w/ Paul Heyman) defeated Sami Zayn [32:10]
Positives: Incredible environment and atmosphere. Everyone played their parts perfectly for what they were going for. Post-match was great too. Negatives: The match just wasn’t that good. It was every Roman match you’ve seen over the past three years, with the exact same ending we’ve come to expect. Until they do something different and interesting, nothing will change. We’ll see at WrestleMania.
Crowd was absolutely electric for the entrances and ring introductions. After about four minutes, they finally locked up. Roman got the better of a couple early exchanges before Sami baited Roman to the floor and landed a tope con giro. Sami rained down strikes in the corner and landed a diving elbow, but he only got one. Roman cut Sami off with a right hand.
Roman dominated for a long heat segment. He jawed with Sami’s family at ringside. Eventually, 14 minutes in, Sami avoided a clothesline and hit one of his own. He took the fight to Roman on the outside. Back in, Sami climbed the ropes, but Roman popped up and cut him off. Sami fought back and hit a sunset bomb for two.
Sami went for the Blue Thunder Bomb, but Roman blocked it and hit a Rock Bottom for two. Sami countered a Superman Punch into an exploder into the corner. He went for the Helluva Kick, but Roman popped up into a Superman Punch for a good near fall.
Roman went for the Spear, but Sami cradled for two and hit another corner exploder. Sami cocked the fist and hit a Superman Punch followed by the Helluva Kick for an awesome near fall. Roman ducked out of the ring to avoid another Helluva Kick. On the outside, Roman stopped a Sami dive with a punch.
Sami avoided a Spear, sending Roman through the barricade. He then hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for another close near fall. Roman drove Sami into the official, so when Sami came back and nailed another Helluva Kick, the referee couldn’t count.
Jimmy Uso ran out and hit Sami with repeated superkicks plus an Uso splash. A second official ran out and counted a pin, but Sami kicked out at the last second. Sami took out Jimmy, but Roman landed a Spear for yet another great near fall.
Roman talked down to Sami, baiting him into a hard slap. Sami avoided a Superman Punch which hit an official for a second ref bump. Heyman handed Roman a chair, but Jey Uso appeared and stood in between Roman and Sami. Roman demanded that Jey use the chair on Sami, but he wouldn’t do it. Sami popped up and went for a Spear, but Roman moved out of the way and Sami inadvertently Speared Jey. Roman repeatedly whacked Sami with the chair and Speared him for the win.
– After the match, Kevin Owens ran out and attacked the Bloodline. He Pop-up Powerbombed Jimmy through the announce table and grabbed a chair. Owens moved toward Roman, but Heyman annoyed him with punches, so Owens sent him packing with a Stunner. Sami hit a Helluva Kick on Roman.