Elimination Chamber Preview

With less than 24 hours before this pay-per-view, only four matches have been announced. Are you kidding me? WWE, in an era where you're so worried about buyrates that you hastily got rid of Survivor Series (article forthcoming on that as well) because it did poorly last year, going into a pay-per-view with only four matches announced is a bad idea.

Traditionally, the February pay-per-view tends to be less than stellar, with the lone exceptions being the 2001 and 2009 installments of No Way Out. More often than not, it's a phoned-in throwaway pay-per-view between Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. This year's card looks to be no real exception. But, I don't get paid to pick nits with what WWE does or doesn't do, so with that in mind, I suppose this will be an awfully short night of work for me. Away we go with Elimination Chamber predictions.

Divas Championship-Gail Kim vs. Maryse

I'm still not down with the Butterfly belt. I still think that WWE has a small enough pool of female competitors that they should keep them all relegated to one show, or at the very least, just have one Women's Championship and allow that champion to appear on either show, a system similar to what they set up for the Unified Tag Team Championships once they realized what a colossally bad idea it was to have two sets of belts amongst three tag teams. The tag team division has been much better ever since moving to one belt, and I feel the Divas portion of the roster could get an equal shot in the arm.

But, hope-ictions notwithstanding, I'm going to go with Gail Kim, simply to balance out the fact that I'm picking heels to win every other match on the card.

Winner-Gail Kim

Intercontinental Championship-Drew McIntyre vs. Kane

Everything about this match should scream for the Scotsman (since only five people reading this probably watch "SmackDown!", McIntyre is billed as Scottish) to retain. McIntyre is liked backstage and is seen as having tremendous upside, and Kane is a former World Champion whose sole purpose these days is to put other guys over. I have to say, though, in watching "SmackDown!" recently, I'm bothered by the way Kane covers up when an opponent is striking. It takes a lot away from the realism of the punches when they're all clearly hitting padded forearm. This seems to be a common theme of Kane's. Go on Youtube and watch him take a Pedigree sometime if you don't believe me.

Winner-Drew McIntyre

World Heavyweight Championship (Elimination Chamber Match)-Undertaker vs. John Morrison vs. R-Truth vs. CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio

A few random thoughts. One, I know he's not held in high regard by O Show nation, but R-Truth is way over with fans. In a time where WWE is struggling to make new stars, this guy has the potential to be a main eventer. Get over the fact that he used to have that knee K-Kwik gimmick. Undertaker used to wrestle as Mean Mark, and that doesn't seem to stop anybody from backing the guy.

Another guy who had future main eventer written all over him is John Morrison. I'm excited that he's in this match, even though he won't win. But why is WWE already putting out a DVD of this guy? I get that he's over and a lot of people will probably buy it anyway, but how can you put out a "Best Of" DVD for a guy who's been around for as little of time as Morrison?

Side rants aside, my pick is Chris Jericho. The scenario I envision happening is as follows: the match comes down to Undertaker and Chris Jericho. Shawn Michaels comes out and either distracts or attacks Undertaker, allowing Jericho to win. This way, Jericho vs. Edge at WrestleMania will happen, as will Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker. It's a very logical way to tie up all the loose ends. Too logical and too obvious for WWE to not do.

Winner-Chris Jericho

WWE Championship (Elimination Chamber Match)-Sheamus vs. Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Triple H vs. John Cena vs. Ted DiBiase

The winner won't be Orton or DiBiase, because if WWE is smart, their falling out will be soon so that they can build towards a match at WrestleMania. From there, let Orton and DiBiase have a nice, long feud that lasts for as much of the year as possible to really build up DiBiase.

If I'm going to be wrong on any pick this is going to be the one. I say Sheamus wins, simply because he's still a rookie and he needs all the build he can get. There's no possible way for him to lose his title without getting pinned or submitting to someone, so the best way to keep him strong is to put him over and have him walk into WrestleMania still the champion. As for his opponent in Phoenix, I would take an educated guess and say Triple H.

Winner-Sheamus

Well, that's it. Four matches announced, and it's the day of the pay-per-view. I think I could have written a longer article if I just tried to predict what other matches would be announced during the show. The Miz will probably defend his United States Championship. Ezekiel Jackson might throw out an open challenge. Regardless, I still don't get the logic behind waiting until the show itself to change the card.

Like I said at the beginning of this article, if you're so concerned about buyrates, put the full card out there. Advertise and build it ahead of time so you have time to build all the matches up, because I highly doubt there are many people out there ordering pay-per-views under the hope that they'll add something really exciting to the card. December To Dismember was proof of that.

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