Elimination Chamber 2023 set new viewership and ticket sale records for the event.
In a press release that was issued on Tuesday, WWE touted that Elimination Chamber 2023 was the most-viewed and highest-grossing Elimination Chamber event in company history. The show was held at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada this past Saturday.
The press release states that Elimination Chamber had a 54 percent viewership increase over last year, which was previously the record for an Elimination Chamber event. Elimination Chamber 2022 was a Saudi Arabia show that aired live on Peacock in the afternoon.
Elimination Chamber 2023 had the largest gate in Elimination Chamber history and was also the largest gate for any WWE show ever held in Montreal. This was the fourth time a WWE pay-per-view has ever taken place in Montreal. It was the first WWE PPV to be held in the city since 2009.
“In addition, 2023 Elimination Chamber broke the all-time event merchandise record and generated the highest-grossing Priority Pass fan experience packages for any non-‘Big Five’ premium live event through WWE’s partnership with On Location. Elimination Chamber sponsorship revenue was up nearly 300 percent versus 2022,” WWE wrote.
“On social, content featuring WWE Superstars Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn generated nearly 20 million views across WWE’s social platforms.”
Hometown hero Zayn challenged Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the main event of Elimination Chamber but came up short after Reigns beat him down with a steel chair.
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Sunday Update
Both of our weekend shows are up on the site now. Garrett and I did a show talking about the news of the week, the WWE sale price, how Saudi fits in that is unique and talked to Rocky Romero in a fun interview taking New Japan, CMLL and his duties as the New Japan American rep. Bryan and I did a show on Elimination Chamber, Sami Zayn, Battle in the Valley and also talked the Saudi interest in WWE and what that’s all about.
I loved the crowd last night at the Chamber show. Crowds like that make a show fun and the performance by the talent was off the charts. The less matches but better matches and keeping the show at just over three hours from that standpoint works well. You can debate the finish of the main event, and I would as well, but Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn as performers put on a memorable match. I loved the pacing as they went very long and it never felt long. A lot of that was also how hot the crowd was. When you have a crowd like that you can wait 5:00 to touch and work slower early on. . Stories this hot are rare. It’s been years and that also gave them the latitude of all the ref bumps and run-ins that often detract from a match and are so overdone, but in this match it worked. Also, they didn’t give away the Jey Uso decision or the Kevin Owens hug that people expected, so they have plenty for the Mania build.
The XFL debuted yesterday. Dwayne Johnson was promoting it and gave a big speech at the start of the first televised game yesterday on ABC, but it didn’t feel as big to me as the first two launches of the league. Ratings will tell the story. The XFL was the No. 4 searched topic yesterday on Google at 500,000, with Elimination Chamber No. 5 at 200,000. The top three were Jimmy Carter, the Daytona 500 and Arsenal vs. Aston Villa. UFC did not crack the list and No. 16 was only 20,000. So there was no real interest in that event.
The XFL championship game will take place on 5/13 on ABC at 6 p.m. Eastern , from San Antonio at the Alamodome. Dwayne Johnson made the announcement at the San Antonio Brahmas home opener toady.
Mercedes Mone’s next New Japan match will be on the 4/8 show at Sumo Hall. That will be her first IWGP women’s title defense after winning last night. It was a very emotional deal in the building and it was amazing how hot the crowd was for Kairi. It was a unique crowd in the sense they wanted Eddie Kingston to beat Jay White in the loser leaves town match, but when it was announced before the match that all Bullet Club members were barred from ringside, which you would think the crowd would cheer, they booed that announcement heavily. Nobody in WWE has confirmed Jay White coming in, but they are certainly the favorite. One would think if White was going to AEW, he’d be able to work big shows with New Japan and would continue to do so, but they wouldn’t do the loser leaves for good stipulation.
Richard Belzer, best known for Law & Order: SUV, but having a wrestling connection since Hulk Hogan legit put him out with a guillotine on his old nationally syndicated TV show the week before the first WrestleMania, then let him go and he landed on his head and split his head open. He ended up suing WWF and Hogan and did a comedy routine about the incident noting that he bought a house with the money he got in the suit.
Yuji Nagata beat Kento Miyahara to win the Triple Crown earlier today at Korakuen Hal. Nagata had never won that title previously. We’ve heard lots of great reviews of that match.
The other indie match we’ve heard about from different people was El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Black Taurus vs. Aero Boy vs. Aramis from Warrior Wrestling last night.
Names at the New Japan show in San Jose included C.M. Punk with Rancid’s Lars Fredericksen, Bayley (who was cheering in the crowd and chanting during the Mercedes Mone match and I saw a photo of her with Stanford professor and sports business expert George Foster), Scott D’Amore, Tamina, Naomi, Lou D’Angeli and Gisele Shaw.
Pat Laprade noted that Friday night’s ovation for Sami Zayn on Smackdown was the longest known in history at the Bell Center, lasting 5:12, longer than Hulk Hogan in 2002, Saku Kolvu i 2002 and Jacques Villeneuve in 1997. The Montreal record was set at the old Forum by Maurice “Rocket” Richard, the hockey legend.
Dickie Davies, a name well-known in the U.K., passed away today at 94. He was the legendary host of the ITV World of Sport block from 1965 to 1985. He was affiliated with soccer, the Olympics and the five hour sports show on Saturday afternoons on ITV that included wrestling. He also hosted the wrestling DVDs from the ITV days produced a few years ago. (thanks to Bradley Craig and Stephen Lyon)
Brian Bukantis, who published Stranglehold and Body Press magazines in Detroit and was a photographer and writer for national wrestling magazines and newsletters passed away on Friday at the age of 73.
Want to thank everyone for the nice comments on the current Observer with the Jerry Jarrett lead story. Want to make one clarification. When about Roy Welch and Jarrett-Welch promotions, this was the situation. When Jarrett split from Nick Gulas in 1977, Roy Welch sided with Jarrett. His health had declined by that point and he passed away later in 1977. The Jarrett-Welch name for the promotion on television after that point was for Edward Welch, better known as Buddy Fuller, the father of Ron & Robert Fuller (whose real last name is also Welch).
A celebration of life for Jerry Jarrett takes place Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Long Hollow Church in Hendersonville, TN. Visitation will be at 10 am. The family has asked in lieu of flowers for memorial donations in Jerry’s name to the St. Jude Christan’s Hospital.
Jerry had 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
The 2022 Observer awards issue comes out Friday.
We’re looking for your thoughts on both Elimination Chamber and Battle in the Valley, so you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, plus and best and worst match from each show to [email protected]
In the U.K. the AEW PPV shows starting with Revolution are available on DAZN. If you are a DAZN subscriber, you can get the PPVs through DAZN, but not as part of the package. It’s a separate price. You can also get the PPVs in the U.K. through FITE, which I believe is the better option because it doesn’t come with a $19.99 per month subscription fee.
I don’t know if this is related to Tony Khan’s new announcement on Wednesday, but AEW did file a trademark this week for “AEW Collision” which would be for a television/streaming show.
A study at Wrestling-World.com listed the 15 biggest social media reach personalities associated with pro wrestling as Dwayne Johnson, Logan Paul, John Cena, Ronda Rousey, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Roman Reigns, HHH, Randy Orton, Saraya, Alexa Bliss, Eva Marie, Steve Austin, Mercedes Mone and Becky Lynch.
The death of Raquel Welch this past week brings up the Roller Games movie “Kansas City Bomber” which she starred in. The movie story was always said to be based very loosely on Joanie Weston replacing the older Annis “Big Red” Jensen as the top woman star of the Bay Bombers of the rival Roller Derby promotion. However Irv Muchnick noted and likely so, that the single mom from a divorced family with the young child is likely influenced by Ann Calvello, who was another skating star who was one of the greats at different times in both Roller Derby and Roller Games.
Other Notes
Invicta runs 3/15 from Reelworks in Denver at 9 p.m. Eastern on AXS TV. The main event has Valesca Machado vs. Danni McCormack for the strawweight title.
Sean Waltman appears for AIW with a meet and greet as part of its 3/24 show in Cleveland, OH at the Temple Live Asylum Room.
Glory has announced a return of the eight-man one-night heavyweight kickboxing tournament, which was a giant event annually in Japan in the K-1 era. Like with K-1, there will be qualifying matches throughout the year and the tournament will be an annual event in December, just like it was for K-1. The winner will get $500,000. There will be a four-man tournament on 4/29 and the winner will face interim heavyweight champion Antonio Plazibat.
Aja Kong vs Vert Vixen was announced for West Coast Pro on 4/7 in San Francisco at The State Room.
Insane Wrestling Revolution on Wednesday night in Monroe, MI: Benjamin Boone b Tanner Nix, Hannah Henderson b Kelly Moore, Kyle Barrett & Big Flex b Rhino & DBA=-DQ, Buckeye Sam b Ace Evans, Trey Miguel & Myron Reed b Aaron Orion & Tommy Vendetta to win the tag titles, Kamille b Shawna Reed, Jason Hotch b Rich Swann, Bry Sullivan & Damian Chambers b Kenny Urban & Rod Lee, Madman Fulton b Sam Beale Thomas Latimer b Dread King Logan to win the heavyweight title. Next show is 3/23 at F.O.P. Hall in Monroe, MI. Rhino promotes this group (thanks to Leonard Brand)
Dungeon Wrestling in Calgary from Friday night at the Pavilion before 900 fans: Chris Cutthroat Knight b Shaun Moore, Tiger Raj Singh b Michael Allen Richard Clark, Zoey Zager b Nicole Matthews, Harry Smith & Billington Bulldogs b Bruno the Cuban Giant Blanco & Michael Blais & Karou, Mighty Mo Jabari b C.K. Krimson-DQ in a tournament match for the world mid heavyweight title, Nick Aldis b Chris Masters to keep the Stu Hart Heritage title (thanks to Ross Hart)
Tanner Boser vs. Ian Cutelaba is expected for a 4/15 UFC show in Kansas City at the T-Mobile Center. This was reported by MMA Fighting.
It wasn’t the finish most wanted, but it is the finish we got.
Sami Zayn failed to defeat Roman Reigns in his hometown of Montreal on Saturday, with Reigns scoring the win after Zayn inadvertently laid out Jey Uso with a steel chair, giving Reigns a window to strike with a spear. Jimmy Uso and Reigns continued their assault after the match until Kevin Owens finally came out to make the save. He and Zayn hardly acted as if they were friends, so that will be the story heading to WrestleMania, where it’s a good chance they will face The Usos.
The main event of Elimination Chamber was fantastic, easily among the best WWE matches of the year. Given that it’s February, the list of contenders isn’t that big. But the match had everything I could want in a top-tier WWE style match: an electric crowd, great wrestling, drama, and storytelling. Sami Zayn’s wife at ringside was awesome, with one of the key standout moments of the match was her yelling at Reigns “he loved you!” as Reigns assaulted Zayn in front of her. It’s those kinds of moments that WWE can be really good at.
So the million-dollar question now is, was it the right finish? To a lot of people, probably not. Zayn had been building some amazing momentum in the weeks leading to Montreal. But the situation WWE was put in was tough. This wasn’t a Bryan Danielson situation like in 2014, where Batista felt completely out of place challenging Randy Orton when it was clear Danielson had the momentum. Cody Rhodes’ comeback story is great, and it makes all the sense in the world for him to headline in April. It’s an envious position to have two hot babyfaces emerge in such a short period of time, but it happened, and WWE had to make a choice. And I can’t argue they made the wrong one.
It will be very easy to look back a few months from now and say you know what, sure, the time to pull the trigger was now. At the same time, Sami Zayn has shown he could be an incredible babyface when the time is right. His NXT run established that, and he can do it again. But I wonder if it will ever be the same as it could have been if they went for the win on Saturday.
Asuka is going to Los Angeles following her win in the Women’s Elimination Chamber match. I felt like this was the only way to go, as anyone else would be a disappointment. Asuka returned with a new look and new music, it makes all the sense in the world to go with her. The match itself was perfectly fine, and actually picked up significantly once Asuka came in. She’s just at a different level than everyone else here. Belair/Asuka was the best possible outcome, so I consider the match a success.
The men’s Elimination Chamber match had some big spots, most notably a big splash from off the top of the cage by Monetz Ford. Bronson Reed also stood out; I think out of most of the recent returns in the company I think he’s doing the best job of making himself feel like a big deal on the main roster. Logan Paul interfered in the finish, attacking Rollins and allowing Theory to get the win to retain his title. So that solidifies another match for WrestleMania, and leaves Theory open to..who knows. I think if Cena was going to do a match, we’d know about it by now, right?
Edge and Beth Phoenix defeated Rhea Ripley and Finn Balor in a fun match. It’s interesting as Ripley has the confirmed match for Mania, and while she didn’t take the pinfall, she still lost. I don’t know if that is the right finish. I still get the feeling we could get an Edge/Finn Balor match at WrestleMania, but considering Balor took the pinfall…this still was a weird finish.
Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley had a four minute sprint with a horrible finish, having Lesnar low blow Lashley for the DQ. Lesnar then utterly destroyed Lashley, sending him through a table. What point does this serve? Bray Wyatt issued a challenge to the winner of this match on Friday’s SmackDown. Do I really want to see Bray Wyatt vs. Bobby Lashley after this? I don’t know. This is already weird.
So that leaves us with WrestleMania, which again will be two nights on April 1 and 2.
As mentioned earlier, the main event of the weekend will be Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns. I think Reigns’…reign ends that weekend, but you never know for sure. I’ll see you then for what will likely be one of the biggest WrestleMania weekends in years.
Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez shared their thoughts on Sami Zayn’s loss on Wrestling Observer Radio.
The start of Sunday morning’s show had Bryan and Dave detailing their thoughts on the main event of Saturday’s Elimination Chamber event. Meltzer compared it to the situation between Drew McIntyre and Reigns last fall.
“These situations are very rare. It’s sort of like what happened with Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre, but this was way bigger,” Meltzer said. “You never get another chance to do this again. You can have him win later or somewhere else. But this was the night.”
Alvarez felt that if Zayn was going to win, Saturday night had to be the night. Any other night in the future won’t match what could have happened in Montreal.
“I’m sure when he gets the big win over Roman Reigns people are going to go crazy and love it and is going to get a big reaction, but you can’t have today again,” Alvarez said.
Later, Alvarez said that there was “literally no good reason” that Zayn shouldn’t have won, with Meltzer agreeing.
“Given that Sami is the one who’s drawing the ratings, Roman wasn’t on [SmackDown] last night and it drew another big rating. That show is doing well with or without Roman. The draw is Sami. Given that evidence, if you are analyzing the data, by doing so you’re looking it and going like ‘we will probably do better with Sami’. I mean that’s the conclusion I’ve come to. Yeah, we’ve spent a year on Roman, but guess what? Somebody passed him up!”
Meltzer ended their discussion saying that six months from now, we’ll know if this was the right call by WWE and it’s something that will have to be re-evaluated.
Zayn lost in the main event of Elimination Chamber on Saturday after he inadvertently laid out Jey Uso, who had come to the ring during a ref bump and was conflicted on helping Reigns. Reigns used the opportunity to hit the spear and win the match. Jimmy Uso and Reigns continued to attack Zayn until Kevin Owens made the save.
Sami Zayn talked about his feelings following his match against Roman Reigns at Saturday’s WWE Elimination Chamber press conference.
When asked about his thoughts following the match, Zayn repeatedly said he felt ‘strange’. He said what happened tonight felt like a dream come true, but the storybook ending didn’t happen.
“I feel strange. And that might be the recurring theme for these answers,” he said. “It was kind of an unhappy ending tonight, and I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t affect me. This is a dream come true…you ever have a dream where it’s going in a certain direction, and then you wake up right before. It was like a dream, a dream come true, it was surreal…it’s everything you could ever want. And the storybook ending obviously has a certain ending to it. And that’s not what happened tonight. And I can’t act like there isn’t a small part of me like ah, I wish I could have given that ending. To the people, to that story, to myself, to my family, to Montreal. I know what this is, we all know what this is, but some of it’s real, man.”
When asked when he thought The Bloodline storyline started to come together, Zayn specifically mentioned August of last year, when he was introduced to Roman Reigns for the first time on camera, putting over their immediate onscreen chemistry. He also talked about the content era, mentioning how being good just isn’t good enough anymore. He feels that The Bloodline storyline has created moments that people will remember five or even ten years from now.
Prior to Sami Zayn speaking, Triple H also talked to the press. He said that Saturday’s show now holds the largest WWE gate in Montreal history. He also said the show was something that people enjoyed, and he sensed that he could feel Pat Patterson up there enjoying the show.
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics brought up the question of a WWE sale. Triple H said that he’s staying out of it, instead focusing on the creative content.
“I stay out of it. That’s not a cop-out answer,” Triple H said. “I have the greatest gig in the world. I helped in some small way create the magic we did here tonight. And to me, that is the best gig on the planet. As long as we get to do our jobs and put our passion on display and do what we do, I’m good. It is what it is.”
Austin Theory during his questions issued a United States title open challenge for WWE Raw on Monday. Later, after Edge and Beth Phoenix answered questions, Edge accepted Theory’s open challenge, setting up the title match.
Bray Wyatt has issued a challenge to the winner of Saturday’s Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley bout.
Appearing on Friday’s SmackDown, Wyatt and Uncle Howdy cleared the ring of Hit Row. Wyatt then took the microphone and said that now that he is in control of himself and of Howdy, that the winner of Lesnar vs. Lashley “should run.”
Wyatt last wrestled on WWE television at the Royal Rumble on January 28, defeating LA Knight in a Mountain Dew Pitch Black match. That bout remains Wyatt’s only televised match since returning to WWE on October 8, 2022 after being released on July 31, 2021.
Since the Rumble, Wyatt has also defeated Knight twice in dark matches at SmackDown tapings, and also in two Pitch Black matches at house shows.
Lesnar and Lashley’s contest on Saturday is their rubber match, as each has one victory in their two prior singles meetings.
Brock Lesnar has challenged Bobby Lashley for later this month in Montreal.
Lesnar challenged Lashley during Monday’s Raw in Orlando. Lesnar came to the ring and said that he had a contract for Lashley to sign. Lashley came out and said he would have his lawyers look at the contract for Elimination Chamber on February 18. Lesnar responded by giving Lesnar two F5’s.
Later in the show, it was announced that the two would meet in a contract signing on next week’s Raw.
Lesnar made his latest return to WWE at Raw is XXX last month, interfering in Bobby Lashley’s United States Championship match. At the Royal Rumble last weekend, it was Lashley who eliminated Lesnar from the match, causing Lesnar to throw a fit outside of the ring. On Monday, Lesnar said that he didn’t appear on Raw last week because he had to calm down. He also said that he couldn’t get ‘Bobby Who’ out of his mind, and thus wanted another match with Lashley at Elimination Chamber.
Montez Ford, Damian Priest, and Carmella are all set to enter the Elimination Chamber later this month.
The final three spots in the men’s and women’s matches were filled during Monday’s Raw. Priest pinned Angelo Dawkins to advance, while Montez Ford pinned Elias. Both now advance to the February 18 event, where they will meet Seth Rollins, Bronson Reed, Johnny Gargno, and Austin Theory in a match for the WWE United States Championship.
Carmella pinned Candice LeRae in a match that also featured Michin and Piper Niven. With the win, Carmella will now face Asuka, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Nikki Cross, and Natalya. The winner of the women’s Elimination Chamber match will meet Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 39 in April.
Here is the updated lineup for Elimination Chamber:
WWE Elimination Chamber, Saturday, February 18, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Sami Zayn
Edge & Beth Phoenix vs. Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley
Elimination Chamber match for the United States Championship: Austin Theory (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Bronson Reed vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Damian Priest vs. Montez Ford
Elimination Chamber match, winner challenges Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania: Asuka vs. Liv Morgan vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Nikki Cross vs. Natalya vs. Carmella
A mixed tag match has been added to Elimination Chamber.
Edge and Beth Phoenix will face Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley in Montreal on February 18. This follows an in-ring promo that took place on Monday’s Raw between Edge, Beth Phoenix, and members of the Judgement Day.
Raw opened on Monday with Edge and Beth Phoenix coming out to talk about their return at the Royal Rumble. This brought out Judgment Day, minus Rhea Ripley who was not at Monday’s show. After some back and forth, Phoenix issued the challenge for Elimination Chamber, with Judgement Day accepting. Judgement Day went for the attack on Edge and Phoenix, but were ultimately stopped by The Street Profits.
Edge and Phoenix were taken out of action back at last year’s Extreme Rules event, after members of The Judgment Day gave both conchairtos. They returned last weekend, with Edge throwing out Finn Balor and Damian Priest from the men’s Rumble match. Ripley went to attack Edge, but was met by Phoenix, who gave Ripley a spear.
Here is the updated lineup for the Elimination Chamber:
WWE Elimination Chamber, Saturday, February 18, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Sami Zayn
Edge & Beth Phoenix vs. Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley
Elimination Chamber match for the United States Championship: Austin Theory (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Bronson Reed vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Damian Priest vs. TBD
Elimination Chamber match, winner challenges Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania: Asuka vs. Liv Morgan vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Nikki Cross vs. Natalya vs. TBD
Roman Reigns will be defending the WWE Universal Championship at Elimination Chamber later this month.
The end of Friday’s SmackDown saw Reigns telling Zayn he’d see him in Montreal on February 18 after Zayn had challenged him earlier in the segment. The show ended with Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa attacking Zayn.
Reigns throughout Friday’s show attempted to get in contact with Jey Uso, who walked away at the Royal Rumble after the rest of the Bloodline attacked Zayn for attacking Reighs. On Friday, Reigns came out and talked about what led to Saturday, saying it dated back to War Games. Zayn came in through the crowd under a hood and attacked Roman, hitting him with a spear. Reigns bailed the ring and started to head toward the back as Zayn issued the challenge. Sikoa and Uso then came in through the crowd and jumped Zayn. Reigns returned to the ring and accepted Zayn’s challenge, blaming him for the dissension in the Bloodline.
Zayn turned on Reigns at the Royal Rumble last weekend after Reigns attempted to get Zayn to attack Kevin Owens with a steel chair. Zayn instead used the chair on Reigns, leading the rest of the Bloodline (minus Jey) to attack Zayn.
Natalya has qualified for the WWE Elimination Chamber match set to determine Bianca Belair’s WrestleMania 39 challenger.
Natalya defeated Zelina Vega, Shotzi, and Shayna Baszler in a four-way match on Friday’s SmackDown to earn a spot in the women’s Elimination Chamber match set for Saturday, February 18 in Montreal. Natalya used a Sharpshooter to submit Vega to claim victory.
Asuka, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, and Nikki Cross have already qualified for the Chamber match by virtue of being the final four eliminations in last Saturday’s Royal Rumble match. A qualifying match to determine the final participant is set for Monday’s Raw, with Candice LeRae, “Michin” Mia Yim, Piper Niven, and Carmella squaring off in a four-way.
Here is the updated Elimination Chamber card:
WWE Elimination Chamber, Saturday, February 18, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Sami Zayn
Elimination Chamber match for the United States Championship: Austin Theory (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Bronson Reed vs. Johnny Gargano vs. TBD vs. TBD
Elimination Chamber match, winner challenges Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania: Asuka vs. Liv Morgan vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Nikki Cross vs. Natalya vs. TBD
Three men have already qualified for the United States title Elimination Chamber match that will take place at next month’s premium live event.
It was announced on Monday’s Raw that Austin Theory will defend the United States title inside the Elimination Chamber on February 18 in Montreal, Canada. Bronson Reed, Seth Rollins, and Johnny Gargano all qualified on Monday to advance. Two other qualifying matches, Angelo Dawkins vs. Damian Priest and Montez Ford vs. Elias, will determine the final two spots on next week’s Raw.
Reed defeated Dolph Ziggler, Gargano defeated Baron Corbin, and Rollins defeated Chad Gable to qualify.
A women’s Elimination Chamber match was also announced. That will determine Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair’s WrestleMania 39 challenger.
The current card for Elimination Chamber is as follows:
Men’s Elimination Chamber match for United States title: Austin Theory (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Bronson Reed vs. Johnny Gargano vs. ??? vs. ???
Women’s Elimination Chamber match (winner gets Raw title match at WrestleMania): Raquel Rodriguez vs. Asuka vs. Liv Morgan vs. Nikki Cross vs. ??? vs. ???
A women’s Elimination Chamber match will determine Bianca Belair’s WrestleMania challenger.
On Monday’s Raw, Adam Pearce announced that since Rhea Ripley chose to challenge SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, a women’s Elimination Chamber match will take place at the premium live event of the same name on February 18 in Montreal, Canada. He noted that the final four in the Royal Rumble (Raquel Rodriguez, Asuka, Liv Morgan, and Nikki Cross) have already qualified as a result of their placing during the Royal Rumble match.
Candice LeRae, Michin, the returning Carmella, and Piper Niven will have a fatal four-way match on next week’s Raw to determine one of the two final spots in the Elimination Chamber.
A men’s Elimination Chamber match will also take place on February 18, with Austin Theory’s United States Championship on the line. Bronson Reed, Johnny Gargano, and Seth Rollins all qualified for the men’s Chamber match on Monday’s Raw.
The current card for Elimination Chamber is as follows:
Men’s Elimination Chamber match for United States title: Austin Theory (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Bronson Reed vs. Johnny Gargano vs. ??? vs. ???
Women’s Elimination Chamber match (winner gets Raw title match at WrestleMania): Raquel Rodriguez vs. Asuka vs. Liv Morgan vs. Nikki Cross vs. ??? vs. ???
What records has the Royal Rumble 2023 already set and what records have a good chance to be set
Amazing advance for the show
The debate about the men’s winner and prior year comparisons
The Steve Austin question
The business of Peacock
Original Austin approach
Cody Rhodes return
Full rundown of Raw 30 and the giant ratings and how each segment did
Complaints by the Bellas about the show
Why certain segments of the show changed
The story behind WBD clearing Mark Briscoe and the reason that hasn’t come out why there were previous issues
Different ways AEW paid tribute to Briscoe
Update on family and fundraisers
A look at the Okada-Kiyomiya angle and the keys to it
The Muto retirement at the Tokyo Dome show
What the New Japan vs. NOAH show and other New Japan shows have shown about recovery of the business
UFC 283 coverage with the retirements of Shogun Rua and Glover Teixeira
What is next for Jamahal Hill and Brandon Moreno
Business notes on the show
A look at the life and career of Jose Aldo and his biggest fights including how one of his fights changed the entire direction of MMA for lighter weight fighters and was so successful the company closed up, as weird as that is to say
A look at more Japanese awards voting
The life of Benny Galant, a 60s star who passed away this week who was a major rival of the biggest names in the history of Mexican wrestling, including El Santo and Mil Mascaras, and twice set EMLL’s company gate records. This is a major history piece covering one of the biggest eras of wrestling in any country.
The most detailed look at the ratings from the past week
Streaming numbers, international numbers
Ticket advances for all AEW & WWE shows through WrestleMania
What could be CMLL’s best match of this year
The story behind Negro Casas jumping to AAA, how long has this been in the works, how long has Konnan wanted this and his duties outside the ring
A look at upcoming AAA major shows
Update on a number of upcoming major New Japan shows
What former WWE star is mad at Dwayne Johnson over his portrayal in Young Rock
80s star arrested for a number of things
WBD head talks AEW and Slap Fighting
Behind the AEW new deal with DAZN
Lawsuit filed against AEW
Update on Kenny Omega
San Francisco records for wrestling
Conor McGregor investigation reported
Lots of big UFC fights announced
More on Luke Rockhold coming out of retirement
Famous MMA trainer will no longer corner fighters
Former pro wrestler talks about Slap Fighting and what he was offered
Update on Vince McMahon in the office
Another lawsuit filed against WWE regarding McMahon’s return and how two other suits were basically nullified
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Monday Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer radio covering tonight’s Raw, more of the fallout of the Rumble, lots of notes regarding WrestleMania and more. You can send questions to the show to [email protected]
There were a number of business records set Saturday night, some of which have been announced and others which will be run down in the next issue. The key is that the show was a giant business success, and the product is very over right now. The people who cling to the lower television viewers and saying it shows wrestling isn’t popular are missing the great live gates and merchandise numbers both major companies are doing and ignoring the decline of television across the board. Besides, among non-sports on cable, Raw beats almost everything but monster shows like Yellowstone and last week, taking out sports, Raw and Dynamite were the top highest rated shows for the entire week on cable television, and both often beat the major networks.
As noted in yesterday’s update, Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn is the main event of the 2/18 Elimination Chamber show in Montreal. This has been the planned main event for the show since probably October and certainly early November. The program getting so hot didn’t result in a change. WWE just announced that the men’s elimination chamber match would be Austin Theory defending the U.S. title against five others. Brock Lesnar is not at this point scheduled in the Chamber match but is supposed to be on the show. The presumption is a women’s Chamber match for the opponent of either Charlotte Flair or Bianca Belair that Rhea Ripley doesn’t choose. Ripley will be making the choice on tonight’s show. This was not officially said to me, and just makes sense. We were told that while the chamber match for the U.S. title isn’t as strong as it being for a Wrestlemania title shot or the WWE title, the feeling is that Reigns vs. Zayn is so hot it doesn’t matter what is on the rest of the show.
Raw is from Tulsa, OK tonight. Raw will open with a Cody Rhodes interview and also feature Rhea Ripley making her decision. The expectation is another huge rating. Damon Kemp is there for a Main Event presumably. Seth Rollins vs. Chad Gable and Baron Corbin vs. Johnny Gargano were announced as matches to determine two of the spots in the Chamber. There were 6,900 tickets out for the show as of this morning. The last time Raw was in Tulsa, one year ago, the paid was barely 3,000.
We’re looking for your thoughts on the Rumble, with a thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]
We’re also looking for live reports from Tulsa tonight with Main Event matches, dark matches and anything else not on the live TV show to [email protected]
Reigns vs Cody Rhodes is the WrestleMania main event unless they have Zayn win the title, which absolutely was not in the plans as of last week. A lot of the card will be released here on Friday if not sooner.
Laura Sanko will get her long talked about goal to become the first female announcer in more than 30 years broadcasting from the color commentary on Saturday’s show on ESPN+. Kathy Long announced the first show. Sanko had been on a lot of UFC broadcasts dating back to 2016 when UFC was on FOX. She also did play-by-play on Dana White’s Contenders Series. “I can’t think of anyone better to be the first female commentator for the modern UFC than Laura,” said Dana White. “She has worked incredibly hard to prove herself and to get this position and I couldn’t be prouder to have her call the action.”
Kevin Egan the real name of Raw announcer Kevin Patrick was hired as a play-by-play announcer for Major League Soccer Season Pass for the new season that starts on 2/25 on Apple TV. Egans’s background is soccer announcing having done local announcing for both the Chicago Fire and Atlanta United, and has also done studio hosting of soccer for Bein Sports, Turner Sports, ESPN and CNN International.
Travis Kelce, after the Kansas City Chiefs AFC championship win over the Cincinnati Bengals, channeled Dwayne Johnson (thanks to Barry Werner)
Logan Paul has teased a major announcement tomorrow which he’s teasing has to do with UFC.
The Miz and Xavier Woods are appearing all week on the syndicated game show “Pictionary.” Each will captain a team. The show appears in syndication, mostly in the afternoon.
Cody Rhodes will be wrestling on the Saturday house show in Columbus, GA and the Sunday show in Pensacola, FL. He sent out a schedule of his dates for the month which include all the Raw shows this month and no Smackdown shows.
Other Notes
Julio Ace is out of his 3/4 fight with Cody Garbrandt due to an undisclosed injury that requires surgery and will put him out of action for longer than six months.
Darren Paltrowiz did an interview where Creator of “Boy Meets World” Michael Jacobs talks about working with Vader and with Taya Valkyrie
The Dave Bautista movie “Knock at the Cabin” will be released on 2/3. To promote the movie, Bautista will be on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday.
Canadian Wrestling Elite ran three weekend shows. The biggest was Friday in Winnipeg: Robby Royce & Tyson Moore b Sammy Peppers & Bryce Bentley, Brenden Collins b Bobby Collins-DQ, Bobby Schink b Scott Ripley, Mike Mission b Adam Burton, Shaun Martens b Kevy Chevy, Chad Daniels kept the jr. title over Josh Holliday, Jack Rockne, Ronnie Attitude and Sweet Daddy Soul in a ladder match,Danny Duggan b Mentallo to win the CWE title. Next Winnipeg show is 3/31 and they will tour Manitoba at that time.
CFFC, the promotion that C.M. Punk announces for, runs 3/31 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia and 4/1. The first night has interim lightweight champion Zuklarnalyn Kamchybekov (6-2) facing Cedric Gunnison(5-1). The second show has middleweight champion Raheam Forest (6-0) facing Charles Radtke (60-3). Both shows air on UFC Fight Pass live.
What records has the Royal Rumble 2023 already set and what records have a good chance to be set
Amazing advance for the show
The debate about the men’s winner and prior year comparisons
The Steve Austin question
The business of Peacock
Original Austin approach
Cody Rhodes return
Full rundown of Raw 30 and the giant ratings and how each segment did
Complaints by the Bellas about the show
Why certain segments of the show changed
The story behind WBD clearing Mark Briscoe and the reason that hasn’t come out why there were previous issues
Different ways AEW paid tribute to Briscoe
Update on family and fundraisers
A look at the Okada-Kiyomiya angle and the keys to it
The Muto retirement at the Tokyo Dome show
What the New Japan vs. NOAH show and other New Japan shows have shown about recovery of the business
UFC 283 coverage with the retirements of Shogun Rua and Glover Teixeira
What is next for Jamahal Hill and Brandon Moreno
Business notes on the show
A look at the life and career of Jose Aldo and his biggest fights including how one of his fights changed the entire direction of MMA for lighter weight fighters and was so successful the company closed up, as weird as that is to say
A look at more Japanese awards voting
The life of Benny Galant, a 60s star who passed away this week who was a major rival of the biggest names in the history of Mexican wrestling, including El Santo and Mil Mascaras, and twice set EMLL’s company gate records. This is a major history piece covering one of the biggest eras of wrestling in any country.
The most detailed look at the ratings from the past week
Streaming numbers, international numbers
Ticket advances for all AEW & WWE shows through WrestleMania
What could be CMLL’s best match of this year
The story behind Negro Casas jumping to AAA, how long has this been in the works, how long has Konnan wanted this and his duties outside the ring
A look at upcoming AAA major shows
Update on a number of upcoming major New Japan shows
What former WWE star is mad at Dwayne Johnson over his portrayal in Young Rock
80s star arrested for a number of things
WBD head talks AEW and Slap Fighting
Behind the AEW new deal with DAZN
Lawsuit filed against AEW
Update on Kenny Omega
San Francisco records for wrestling
Conor McGregor investigation reported
Lots of big UFC fights announced
More on Luke Rockhold coming out of retirement
Famous MMA trainer will no longer corner fighters
Former pro wrestler talks about Slap Fighting and what he was offered
Update on Vince McMahon in the office
Another lawsuit filed against WWE regarding McMahon’s return and how two other suits were basically nullified
Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn is now as confirmed as it can be for the 2/18 Elimination Chamber show main event in Montreal. I’m not sure what the men’s chamber match would be for since you’ve got Cody Rhodes already for the main event at WrestleMania. Of course this is WWE and everything is subject to change, but major changes to planned PPV shows have been less with Paul Levesque in charge.
The funeral for Jamin Pugh aka Jay Briscoe took place earlier today at Laurel High School. A lot of major names in wrestling came in. Tony Khan got a jet to bring in a lot of AEW wrestlers with him. Mark spoke at length, as did his parents. They have very strong beliefs of an afterlife and Mark noted that this was the test of his beliefs. He told some funny stories including how they were kids and loved to wrestle on their trampoline as kids and pretend to be Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and others from that era. He was thankful for the people who came. (thanks to Luis Santos)
The full service is here:
There were around 1,200 people who showed up but only a few hundred were allowed in because of the size of the venue. Among those who attended with Tony Khan, Chris Jericho, Adam Cole, Adam Page, AJ Styles, Britt Baker, Jay Lethal, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Sonjay Dutt, Dalton Castle, Cash Wheeler, Colt Cabana Trent Baretta, Christopher Daniels, Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis, Jonathan Gresham, Caprice Coleman, Cheeseburger, James Ellsworth, BJ Whitmer, Bobby Cruise, Ian Riccaboni, Matt Sydal, Matt Taven, Rhett Titus, Silas Young, Ivar, Kenny King, Bobby Fish, Marty Scurll, Beer City Bruiser, Vincent and Mike Bailey.
The Royal Rumble had 500,000 Google searches over the weekend. That’s the expected number It was the same as the UFC PPV show a week prior. With no UFC event over the weekend, nothing from MMA or boxing all week cracked the top 20 on any day. The announcement of John Cena as the cover person of the WWE video game had 50,000 searches which was No. 13 on Monday.
Not a lot of major notes from last night’s show. If you didn’t see it, the angle at the end was one of the better angles in years. Aside from the Jey Uso walk out, it was pretty much what you would have expected, but the way it was done and more important, the crowd reaction showed how hot it was.
Rey Mysterio was injured in his match with Karrion Kross on Friday so they used his injury to further the storyline with Dominik.
On last night’s show we mentioned that Sheamus had done an interview regarding his tag team with Drew McIntyre breaking up. According to those in the company, either he was misinterpreted or was joking as the team is not breaking up as far as anyone knows.
Cody Rhodes called last night the biggest moment of his career, above The All In show, the return at last year’s WrestleMania, the Hell in a Cell with Rollins and the match with Dustin. Rhodes will be on Logan Paul’s podcast on Tuesday.
MLW has closed a TV deal in France for Ch. 197 (free) and Ch. 208 on Bouygues. It covers virtually every home in the country. It starts this coming week and will start with a marathon of Fusion shows.
We’re looking for your thoughts on the Rumble, so you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Not a lot happened over the weekend aside from the Rumble. The match we heard from several people a the top match of the weekend was Yuji Hino’s win over the KO-D title (DDT Promotion) from Kazusada Higuchi from earlier today at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
Other Notes
Luke Rockhold is really pushing for a boxing match with Jake Paul, claiming that Paul’s current next opponent, Tommy Fury, is as much of a boxer as he is a cricket player.
The LFA announced a 3/24 show in Niagara Falls,NY at the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino. The show will air live on UFC Fight Pass. Rafael Do Nascimento (8-1) faces Jerrell Hodge (9-3) for the interim bantamweight title in the main event.
St. Louis Anarchy from Friday night in St. Louis: Jacques Kennedy & Scott Tyler b Tommy Davis & Jay Marson, Davey Vega b Thomas Shier, Craig Mitchell b Anakin Murphy, Aaron Williams b Adrian Surge, Moonshine Mantell & KC Karrington & Nick King & Sage Phillips b Camaro Jackson & Billy McNeil & Austin Blackburn & Nikki Victory, Manders b Gary Jay, Billie Starkz b Evan Gelistico, Jeremy Wyatt b Mad Dog Connelly, Christian Rose b Kenny Alfonso, Derek Neal b Warhorse (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
