WWE 2019 elimination chamber results, recap, notes: title changes and a fun finish highlight an uneven show

If the Royal Rumble is the official kick off of the Road to WrestleMania 35, then Elimination Chamber is a major stop. WWE has the ability to adjust its title footage and intrigues to enter its biggest show of the year. For better or for worse, that's exactly what the company did on Sunday night in Houston. In addition to crowning the first female team champions of the modern era, WWE changed hands in two titles and may have caused two conflicts between WrestleMania.

The card was thinner than the recent WWE A la carte offerings, but the two matches of the same name, Elimination Chamber, started and closed the show in a relatively strong way with the latter – for the WWE Championship – the best match of the card. We also had a surprise appearance of Becky Lynch who continues the company's main narrative in what should be the main event of "Mania."

This does not mean that everything we saw on Sunday night was good. There have been some really curious booking decisions, which are discussed below so as not to spoil the results at this early stage. At times, it seemed like the WWE had returned to its reservation in the fall of 2018, which had caused the ratings to fall and prompted the McMahons to promise changes. Grade: C +

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2019 Results of the WWE Elimination Chamber, grades

Cruiserweight Championship – Buddy Murphy (c) def. Akira Tozawa via pinfall to keep the title (Kickoff Show): Coming from a low back injury after a suplex at the start of the match, Tozawa had a brief advantage thanks to a brilliant wizard and a fantastic huricanrana in the air from the top of the rope. Frustrated at not being able to put Tozawa at bay, Murphy pushed him away, which angered Tozawa into a new series of offenses. An inverted huricanrana and tope suicida, followed by a sentinel on Murphy – raised in the ring on the middle rope – gave a score of 2.8 for Tozawa. The challenger tried to lock the champion in an octopus bid, but Murphy escaped and hit Murphy's law for 1-2-3. A solid match between two talented cruisers, but he did not have time to really shine. A fun way to start the show, though. Category B

Women's Team Championship (Elimination Chamber) – Boss & # 39; N Hug Connection vs Riott Squad vs Nia Jax & Tamina vs The IIconics vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville vs. Naomi & Carmella: Before the first door was opened, Bayley's cleavage on Rose with her legs raised in the bedroom wall was one of the highlights of the first hour. The six women (order below) then completed a pyramidal superplex, with Bayley having been the most affected by the retribution at the opening of the second group. Once the IIconics came in, they tried to put all the women in the ring, but paid close attention to the aggression of Sasha Banks & Bayley. Fabulous Glow cleans the house when the door of their basket is open before the women get out of each other with powerful movements. Eventually, Billie Kaye surprised Naomi with a bridge and Peyton Royce jumped over to help her sneak for the first elimination. The IIconics then hid in a boat that was torn apart by Jax and Tamina, who hit a double Samoan drop to get the combined pin. The remaining teams attempted to defeat Jax & Tamina and the Riott squad climbed to the top of a basket to splash the two women. Once Jax woke up, she hit Liv Morgan with a Samoan Drop from the second rope and Tamina nailed the two members of the Riott team with the Superly Splash for the third elimination of the night.

Jax tried to charge Bayley, but one step aside in the ring saw Jax crush on a pod, destroying her while she remained motionless; The other four women ganged up on Tamina. Banks hit a meteor and Bayley nailed a fall to the elbow while the four women covered her from a fall. Banks sold his injured shoulder late, and the Boss's finisher N Hug – a stab in a Bayley to Belly – on Deville was broken by Rose at 2.9. Rose climbed to the top of a gondola, so Boss' N Hug followed with Banks to help Bayley at the top. Deville met them soon to fall first; Bayley followed him and Deville dug his spine into the support beam of the basket. With Bayley stunned by the cold, Banks checked her partner but was herself thrown into a pod door by Rose, who then hit the Fairytale Ending for 2.8. A communication problem caused Deville to accidentally throw Rose, but Banks 'injured shoulder prevented him from sticking to Banks' statement. Instead, she used her leg and forced Deville to free herself because Boss' N Hug became the first women's team champion.

The match was slow and worked until the first elimination, but business resumed. The recall of last year's Banks-Bayley incident at the Elimination Chamber was solid, and the fact that Banks took over for his team while Bayley had done it in recent weeks was also a good story. The match left a little to be desired – and there was too much obvious and unnecessary coordination at first – but it was hard not to like the finish and the public reaction "you deserve it" while Banks and Bayley were crying in the middle of the ring without a voice. Category B-

SmackDown Tag Team Championship – Usos def. The Miz & Shane McMahon (c) via pinfall to win the titles: Before the match began, Maryse took the stage and announced that she and Miz had another baby. McMahon's first advertising tag resulted in a strong action, but it also irritated the Usos, who regrouped outside the ring and made a dominant effort from there. McMahon's next midfielder saw the Usos playing with McMahon hitting Jimmy Uso side-by-side before Jey Uso grabbed him with a superkick on a second try on the other side of the ring (Miz broke the hit ). A miscalculation on the part of the Usos made it possible to see one splash the other outside the ring; McMahon took the opportunity to climb the top rope and hit Jey's elbow by the announcements table. After exchanging maneuvers inside the ring, Miz finally hit Jimmy Uso with a dazzling finale. However, Jimmy converted the Miz combination into a backslide at 2.5, allowing the 1-2-3 to regain the titles. After the match, Miz was discouraged in the ring, while McMahon was disappointed on the outside. McMahon tapped Miz's head several times and put his arm around his partner as they headed back. With Miz & McMahon, you will not get a barn burner, but the action was solid and the result too. In addition, Miz hit a handful of double springboard ax during the match, which is quite remarkable. Good job of everyone involved. Category B

Intercontinental Championship – Finn Balor def. Bobby Lashley (c) and Lio Rush via a tomb to win the title: Behind the scenes before the game, Dasha Fuentes upset Rush by asking him if he was the weakest link in the team. Lashley was disturbed by the suggestion and pushed them into the ring at the beginning of the music. Balor had a lot of action at first, but as expected, Rush was annoying and persistent to torment him. This led Lashley to have the opportunity to dominate Balor, although this was interrupted by a blind etiquette of Rush, who attempted and missed his frog splash badly. Balor took the opportunity to strike a tope con hilo on the two men; He brought Rush back to the ring and made a dive plunge followed by a fat shot to pin the non-champion and win the title. After the match, Lashley was furious with Rush, putting him to the mat before going off alone. A horrible reservation here as Balor wins his first intercontinental title on a mid-level VPP beating a heavyweight compared to the dominant champion. Grade: C-

Raw Women's Championship – Ronda Rousey (c) def. Ruby Riott via submission to retain the title: Before the match, Charlotte Flair had made a promo saying that Becky Lynch was thanking the fans for their approval, while Flair was looking in the mirror and getting all the approval she needed. She then sat by the ring to see who would face him at WrestleMania 35. Dressed like a Sonya Blade, Rousey was quick to send Riott, who spent most of the match at the Outside the ring with a frightened look. A quick armband led to the exit of Riott and Flair's tap entering the ring to watch Rousey. Grade: D +

Becky Lynch loses her head: Lynch, dressed as Beatrix Kiddo, stumbled on crutches in the crowd and in the ring. Lynch threw one of his crutches to Flair and wiped him with the other while Rousey watched him and shrugged. Once Flair was sent, Rousey recovered the extra crutch and considered using it on Flair. While Rousey was looking for Flair in the corner, Lynch attacked Rousey from behind and destroyed her in the same way, accidentally crushing her once on the side of the head among her dozens of strikes. Lynch was out of the arena with her arms behind her back through the crowd as Rousey stood up outside the ring and Flair crawled back to his in the inside. Michael Cole has suspended Lynch's suspension and anti-authority actions. The scenario still needs a lot of repairs after the WWE has been pissed off for the last seven days, but it was a big moment for Lynch, a time that probably should have closed on Raw on Monday. Category B

Baron Corbin def. Braun Strowman by scrambling (without exclusion): Strowman hit Corbin with his shoulder loaded and was ready to hit another when Corbin threw him the commentator's chair; in a fun place, Strowman grabbed the chair but was quickly sent when Corbin escaped another charge and he found himself in the steel steps. Strowman set up a table in the corner of the ring and finally led Corbin with a running powerslam. As expected, this brought Drew McIntyre into the ring with a steel chair; Lashley did not appear with Strowman's back. Strowman briefly pushed back the attack, but Lashley's spear brought him out. The trio introduced two steel lower steps into the ring and two tables, stacking them on top of each other. McIntyre hit a Claymore, and the trio raised Strowman on the steps before propelling him across the tables with Corbin covering him for the 1-2-3. They then stood on the steps and celebrated as they were at an Olympic medal ceremony. The reservation is awful because the alignment of the three men continues to occur without explanation or reason; However, the final place was spectacular and saved her from a failing mark. Grade: D +

The Miz turns around: While McMahon was controlled by coaches for a potentially broken hand, Miz lost his temper by losing the titles, thus releasing the entire table of coach supplies, saying he was embarrbaded by this. which had happened during the show. McMahon demanded that he go home, and he said that they were going to settle everything on Tuesday.

Lacey Evans fashion shows: For no apparent reason, Evans' music hit. She went down and went up the ramp. That's all.

WWE Championship (Disposal Chamber) – Daniel Bryan (c) against AJ Styles against Randy Orton against Samoa Joe against Jeff Hardy against Kofi Kingston: Bryan came in with a fantastic new TitanTron and cut his general promo article on the people who needed it while Rowan was ejected from the ring. Bryan tried to stay away from Joe and wasted time early, but did not escape until the entrance to Kingston when Bryan climbed to the top of the empty gondola. Kingston followed soon by jumping from the ring to the basket; Bryan crawled on a chain link before falling and seeing Kingston crush him and Joe. Styles came in and cleaned the house, taking everyone away, including Bryan, who again climbed the chain link to be knocked down when Styles hit the back of the head with a phenomenal forearm. Kingston escaped from Joe with a Coquina Clutch and Styles hit his phenomenal forearm to get his first elimination. Hardy took it by Styles as he entered, forcing him with an unfathomable bomb Senton from the top of the basket with Styles perched at the top of the strings. Bryan took advantage of it with a knee on the floor and a 1-2-3.

Styles was looking to eliminate Kingston with a phenomenal forearm, but Orton came out of nowhere to grab Styles' neck on the top rope and hit him with an RKO. Orton then surprised Kingston with a high DDT, but Bryan having interrupted his subsequent RKO attempt, Orton took him with a powerslam on the move. Kingston surprised a dazed Orton with Trouble in Paradise for his quick elimination, putting the crowd down with songs of "Kofi! Kofi!" Kingston ate Bryan's chops and claimed more, but Bryan avoided a Trouble in Paradise, pulled Kingston's knee and hit him with more kicks. Kingston dodged the last attempt and hit S.O.S. for an account of 2.8. Bryan then ducked to Kingston running, who pressed his head into the curtain, allowing him to hit him with consecutive diving dropkicks. Kingston countered the last one with a double-baded Bryan for a score of 2.6. Bryan countered a Kingston bulldog attempt by sinking him against the side of a basket and took advantage with his knee to race for Kingston to be eliminated at 2.9. Bryan grabbed Kingston and stomped on his face before being shocked by Trouble in Paradise. Bryan came out of the combination of pins at 2.8 and Kingston was eliminated after a pinning attempt. However, Bryan quickly shut Kingston in a submission to the shoulder and jaw … until he caught the rope.

The vocals returned to Kingston, who again chased Bryan to the top of a basket and hit the champion's head several times. Bryan and Kingston thwarted their superplex attempts from the top of the basket, with Kingston having kicked Bryan's foot. Kingston went home with a splash on top of the gondola, but Bryan dodged it, squatted in the corner and bumped his knee to win the match and retain his title . After the match, Rowan helped Bryan leave the ring and New Day rushed alongside Kingston. The crowd chanted, "Thank you, Kofi!" as the event ended with Kingston's arms around his brothers as the crowd chanted again "Kofi! Kofi!" The fans were shot at the finish as they were ready to explode for a win in Kingston, but it was stellar and executed to perfection. If this sets up a Bryan-Kingston match at WrestleMania 35, no one will complain. It was a "B" room match, but the fight between the finalists has improved a complete letter. Grade: A

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