WWE Elimination Chamber Live: Sami Zayn stuns Roman Reigns after enduring initial attack in riveting main-event

Zayn side stepped a spear from Reigns as he crashes through the barricade. Sami quickly gets Roman back in the ring and hits him with the Blue Thunder Bomb. He came a fraction of a second to realising his dream but Reigns proves once again why he is the BEST.

Incredible. Another close call for Sami Zayn who floors Roman Reigns with a Superman Punch of his own and then plants him with a Helluva Kick. Close but not close enough as Roman just gets his shoulder up.

This is reaching fever pitch. Roman Reigns tried to go for the Superman punch but Sami countered it into a exploder on the corner. But just then, as Zayn went to finish the match hoping to strike Reigns with the Helluva Kick, Reigns flew in and nailed the Superman Punch. 1…2… but Sami kicks out.

Out of nowhere, Sami Zayn has turned the tables on Reigns with a flurry of attacks. Stuns Reigns with a flying clothesline and then takes him out of the ring. Unleashes himself on Roman at the very spot where Roman was mouthing words to his family. 

Roman Reigns is clearly rattled with this crowd’s rough treatment towards him… and he is taking his frustration out on Sami Zayn. After pummelling Sami inside the ring, he now takes him outside, right where his family is seated and trash talks his wife and kids.  

Sami uses Roman’s own momentum to throw him out of the ring. Then leaps from inside the ring to outside on Reigns as the crowd erupts. But the attack is short-lived as Roman flattens Sami with a punch with Zayn was coming off the top rope. Silence has descended upon the arena but the 17,271 people were quick to get behind Sami.

After almost 5 minutes of soaking in the atmosphere, the first offence of the match comes from Reigns who roughs up Sami with a couple of powerful shoulder knockdowns. This hostile crowd is letting Roman know that they feel about him. No ackjnowledgment here to the Tribal Chief. 

This reception ought to bring a tear out of anyone’s eyes, but Sami will reserve it to being a one-time thing only. His eyes were moist yesterday on Smackdown but today, those tears have been replaced by defiance… the fierce determination that makes him believe he can do what no one in the last 900 days has been able to; DEFEAT Roman Reigns, dethrone the king, the Tribal Chief. Oh what a moment. Absolute GOOSEBUMPS!

As the Montreal crowd waited in anticipation of the challenger, their roar was silences as soon as Roman Reign’s music hit. Yes, the Champions has decided to enter first to shut the crowd up. And the BOOS he is receiving is louder than what he faced the night after he defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33. Interestingly, there is no Bloodline – Jey and Jimmy Uso are missing, Solo Sikoa isn’t around either. Only Paul Heyman

Here we are folks. It’s the moment of truth as Sami Zayn battles Roman Reigns for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship. Get ready for the pop of a lifetime. Get ready for an emotional roller-coaster like never before. And get ready as the WWE brings out something more special to this blockbuster storyline.  

It was a matter of time before Theory picked up the pieces. Delivers his finisher and retains the US Championship. But the bigger picture here folks, is Logan Paul. Rollins spoke a lot of stuff about Logan Paul and how he is in this business not out of his love for the sport but only to become famous. The statements as it turned out, came back to haunt Rollins as Logan costs him a shot at winning the US title. Stage set for WrestleMania. Seth Rollins vs Logan Paul… IT IS ON!

Logan Paul, who eliminated Seth Rollins at the Royal Rumble, comes out from nowhere. As the chamber door was open to assist Montez Ford on his way out, Paul clotheslined Rollins and stomped him to leave the Architect as easy picking for Theory. 

Montez Ford was on fire but one offence too many leads to his downfall. Theory blocks the Frog Splash getting his knees up and as Ford ricochets off, Rollins plans him with the stomp outside the ring. The medics are out there examining Ford and to assist him out of the ring as the Montreal crowd stands up to applaud his effort. We have a breakout star today, guys. 

A fine performance comes to end as Damien Priest executes the Razor’s Edge to end Johnny Gargano’s stay in the match. But Priest’s luck runs out as Rollins takes up the role of Angelo Dawkins to have him on his shoulders, allowing Ford to delivery the BlockBuster from the top role. 1… 2… 3. That’s it for Preist. Rollins, Ford and Theory the final three. 

Yes… you heard that right. Rollins and Gargano climbed on top of the pod hoping to catch a breather but it soon broke into a fight. Rollins threatened to end Gargano hoping to powerbomb him from the top of the pod all the way down, but Johnny wrestling countered it and used his legs to throw Rollins on the other participants. 

Unbelievable scenes as Reed lays everyone flat. Rollins and Gargano fall to a double Samoan Drop, while Priest is shattered through a pod. Reed then flies from the top rope on to Theory outside the ring. Meanwhile, the final pod opens up allowing Montez ford to enter. Still no eliminations, mind you.

A crazy couple of minutes with Theory, Rollins, Gargano and Priest putting up a classic with a flurry of offence. Rollins pulls off the Superplex off the top rope to Priest and follows it up with his patented Falcon Arrow. The crowd breaks into a ‘This is Awesome’ chants but the mood suddenly sombers up seeing Bronson Reed exit the pod.  

Austin Theory with the momentum early but thwarts it away trying to trash talk his way into the mind of Gargano. He instructs the former NXT Champion to form an alliance, but Gargano partners woth Rollins instead to play ping-pong with Theory instead. They stomp the proverbial mudhole into Theory inside his pod before in comes Judgment Day member Priest. 

Time for the penultimate match of the PPV before the Reigns vs Sami saga unfolds. Seth Rollins and Johnny Gargano are the two men that start whereas the US Champion Austin Theory is safely locked up. But wait, not for long as he is the third man to entering to make it a triple-threat… for now.

Rhea tried to hit Beth with the Conchairto… again, but The Glamazon slipped away and nailed Ripley with the Glam Slam outside the sing. Edge dives through the ropes to take out DOM, and then spears Balor before he and Beth delivered the Shatter Machine to pick up the win.  

Edge and Beth had Balor and Ripley in the Edge-cator, a modified version of the Superplex before Dominik distracts the referee. He passed the brass knuckles in the ring, which Ripley uses to take out Edge after head-butting Beth. Balor almost picked up a dirty pinfall victory before Beth came back in just in the nick of time to save the day. 

Beth gets the DDT on Ripley but as he goes for the tag, Balor slithers out from inside the ring and takes out Edge from the apron. Meanwhile, MAMI’s little boy is back… but all he can do now is get a close look of Beth delivering a bone-jarring Superplix off the top rope. Rhea Ripley’s expressions tell the story.

Edge starts the match to a rousing reception and unleashes with a flurry on attacking maneuvers on Finn. But soon the Rated-R Superstar tags Beth, which means Rhea Ripley will have to enter the match. Dominik Mysterio tries to force a distraction but Edge chases him up the ramp. Good riddance!

Metalingus plays… and the GRIT couple make have arrived for the mixed-tag team match against the Judgment Day. It has been almost 17 years since Edge last wrestled in Montreal, Canada. Another local boy takes his spot in front of one of the most vocal crowds in the world. It was after last year’s Wrestlemania that Edge formed the Judgment day, and ahead of the next, he looks to destroy it.  

The crowd did not like the outcome of the match so what does Lesnar do? What he always does. Takes his frustration out by delivering two F5s to referee Chad Patton, first in the ring and then on the broken announce table. Lashley isn’t spared either as he too eats an F5 after the match, through the table.

Bobby Lashley had Brock Lesnar in the Hurt Lock, and just when he seemed to eb fainting, the Beast went low and got disqualified. Lashley wins via disqualification to take the score 2-1.

Lesnar’s early advantage negated as Lashley plants two spears on the beast. The Almighty goes for the Hurt Lock but Lesnar, after resisting, picks Lashley up on his shoulder and delivers a thunderous F5. Not enough as he kicks out so Lesnar goes for another F5, only for Lashley to kick out again. Less than 5 minutes into this match and already four finishers.

The Montreal crowd erupts as Brock Lesnar’s music hits. Lashley’s welcome was rather lukeward. The Pyro goes up and we’re ready. Lesnar with the early advantage as he is lifted into the corner and then delivered a belly-to-belly suplex. Lesnar is rocked as ‘Suplex City’ fill the arena

Asuka and Carmella team up to eliminate Raquel but the the teamwork is short-lived as it comes down to the final two. Carmella with a super kick to Asuka but the Empress kicks out at two. As Carmella gloats and trash talks, Asuka catches her in no-man’s land and makes her tap out. Asuka is the lone survivor and is heading to challenge Bianca for the Raw Women’s Championship at Wrestlemania. What a match to kick off the show. And we’re only starting.

A double-submission executed on Liv with Natalya applying the Sharpshooter and Asuka joining with an armbar. Liv passes out with pain and the referee has no choice but to call for the elimination. Carmella then plans Natalya with a SuperKick to send her back. The first two participants have been eliminated. 

Incredible scenes as Liv Morgan plans Raquel with a Sunset Flip from the top of the pod. Carmella tries to take advantage with an attempted pinfall over Rodriguez but she kicks out.

Raquel pins Nikki to force the first elimination of the match. As the production team was caught in replay, the referee counted 1, 2, 3. We are one athlete less in the match with one performer still to leave her pod, ASUKA. Liv Morgan drills Raquel with the Code Red but doesn’t have the strength to pin her.

Shades of Nikki ASH as she climbs to the top of Carmella’s pod and throws herself on the other three with an unbelievable crossbody. The crowd loves it as they break into the H.S chants. In the meantime, Carmella comes in but walks back inside another pod after Raquel smashes Nikki through hers.

The second woman inside the Elimination Chamber is Nikki Cross. Yet to take her jacket off, but goes after the other three on all corners of the ring. Action spills to the outside with Nikki shoving Natalya, Raquel and Liv on the steel chains. Gnarly display from Nikki. Asuka enjoys what she sees, while Carmella trash talks… from inside the pod obviously.

Here comes Raquel Rodriguez after Natalya pummels Liv Morgan in the first few opening minutes of the contest. With the Montreal crowd egging her on, the former Divas Champions has Liv rocked. Rodriguez comes in doesn’t waste time, lays waste to Natalya and Liv with a corner splash to both. Executes a fallaway slam to Morgan in a stunning display of power.  

Asuka, Carmella, Raquel Rodriguez and Nikki Cross take their places inside the pods, which means Liv Morgan and Natalya are the two women staring the match. Natalya walks out to a rousing reception in from of her home crowd of Canada. Meanwhile, Liv takes a round of the chamber, carefully assessing her opponents. This is her fourth Chamber match.

Alright then! It’s Kickoff time. The Chamber has descended on to the Bell Centre, and the first match is coming up, the Women’s Elimination Chamber match. The sombre music lights up the arena. Just to brush up your knowledge, two participants will begin the match and after regular intervals, the remaining four will be released from the respective pods. The final remaining superstar will win and take on Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship.

… he got F5d from the top of the pod from BROCK LESNAR! And to be honest, it was the moment that provided a glimpse into what he was capable of. Theory has arrived in the building, and in an interview with Byron Saxton, began chirping. He called Rollins the ‘Past’, gloating about his chances of winning the chamber match. 

With Sami returning to his home town, imagine the clattering of Boos in the Arena when the Tribal Chief’s entrance music hits. In all probability, Reigns can expect a hostile environment as the crowd stands behind Zayn, very similar to what John Cena experienced when he walked out at the Hammerstien Ballroom against against RVD. A famous placard that night said ‘If Cena wins, we riot’… and WWE listened as RVD picked the win. But whether Sami can pick up the win makes for a very interesting finish. The Montreal crowd has witnessed some crazy WWE events unfold in front of them (Remember 1997?), and tonight will be no different.

After a break, Asuka returned to the WWE with a new ‘evil’ touch. And ever since she came back at the Rumble, The ‘Empress of Tomorrow’ has been booked strong. Liv Morgan has been on a role herself, winning titles and putting on great matches, while Raquel Rodriguez announced herself last month by eliminating superstars at the Rumble. Nikki Cross is back to being her unhinged version and Natalya seeks retribution after undergoing a facial reconstructive surgery. Carmella too can surprise, as experienced in the past. But while all of them seems impressive on paper, expect Asuka to pick up the win and face Bianca at Mania.

Sure enough, this one’s involves four more superstars but make no mistake, the Rollins vs Theory feud is expected to continue inside the chamber. Staying put to Vince McMahon’s predictions, Theory really has pushed himself, making a rapid rise in his stocks with a string of quality matches against Rollins and Lashley. He surely is the future and it’s time he step up even further. No longer the Selfie King, Theory can put on five-star classic, and if his opponent is The Architect, imagine the kind of match these two can potentially dish out. The stakes will be high tonight as Theory and Rollins add the next layer to their rivalry.

 Brock Lesnar vs Bobbly Lashley is feud that remains a dream for many years. When Lashley broke into the scene in 2005, Lesnar had already departed from the company to pursue a career in MMA and UFC. Later, after conquering the Octagon, when Lesnar returned in WWE, Lashley was away. Then, even though in 2018, Lashley made a comeback to the crème de la crème of professional wrestling, it wasn’t until last year that Brock and he crossed paths. At WWE Day 1, Lesnar inserted himself into the Fatal-4 way match winning the WWE Championship,  which set the stage for their first-ever one-on-one contest at last year’s Rumble. Lashley picked up the victory after Roman Reigns attacked him but Lesnar squared things up defeating the Almighty at Crown Jewel, even though he was left unconcious after the match. Lesnar vs Lashley kicked off when Lesnar returned at Raw XXX and F5d the former WWE Champion, and things reached a boiling point at the Rumble where Bobby eliminated Brock. Tonight’s the night, ladies and gentlemen. Except a physical, no-holds-barred contest.

Edge’s comeback to the WWE after a 9-year hiatus will go down as the stuff of legends, but ever since his Hell in a Cell bout with Seth Rollins, the Rated-R Superstar has blown hot and cold lately. The idea to turn him heel at last year’s WrestleMania backfired with the fans no longer accepting the Hall of Famer as the bad guy, and after a gap, he returned inflict payback on the faction he created The Judgment Day. However, it didn’t go as per plan as the quartet of Balor, Priest, Ripley and Dominik Mysterio pummelled him and put his wife Beth through a Conchairto last October at Xtreme Rules, forcing him to say ‘I Quit’. And now, after yet another comeback at the Royal Rumble, Edge and Beth have a chance to even the odds. The Rated-R Superstar said it on record that he is nearing the end of his career, and needs that one stunning match-cum-rivalry. And while this may not be it, it certainly will put him in good stead towards his next feud.

Oh yes! It indeed it. No storyline has captured the imagination of fans quite like the Sami Zayn vs Bloodline angle. Having risen from the Indy circuit, Sami has come a long way since being the NXT Champion and the crowd sing-along babyface. The WWE tried to inject life into Sami’s character by turning him heel and boy… what a move that proved to be. From siding with a heelish Kevin Owens to going on a conspiracy saga, Sami reached the peak of his popularity with the WWE Universe when he alligned himself with the Tribal Chief’s stable. And from there, Sami has been red-hot and unstoppable, massively over with the crowd. The comic timing, proving his loyalty by at War Games, earning Jey’s trust… all the way to leaving him in no-man’s land after turning his back on Reigns is straight out of an Oscar movie. The pop he received at the the Rumble says it all, a clip that garnered WWE its all-time highest viewership on social media. MADNESS!

The Elimination Chamber will begin telecasting in India from 6:30 AM and 8:00 PM ET. However, the kickoff show will begin an hour prior where experts Wade Barrett, Kayla Braxton, Kevin Patrick and Peter Rosenberg will try and decode the strategies in the minds of WWE Superstars heading into their respective matches.

Creatively, the Elimination Chamber promises to play a huge role in setting up what could arguably be one of the greatest Wrestlemania’s of all time. The storyline between Sami Zayn and The Bloodline is the single hottest thing going around in all of professional wrestling. The way things ended at the Royal Rumble, with Sami betraying the Bloodline and Jey Uso walking away, this has all elements of a Hollywood blockbuster. Heck! Possibly even more. Interestingly, the idea of a build-up towards another dream Mania match can come true. Yesterday on SmackDown, Bray Wyatt issues a challenge to the winner of the Lesnar vs Lashley match for Mania, all but indicating that a much-awaited one-on-one contest between The Beast and the Eater of Worlds can indeed become a reality. The two crossed paths long back in 2015 but nothing materialised barring a couple of indirect showdowns. The seven-year-wait may finally come true.

1 Brock Lesnar vs Bobby Lashley

2 Edge and Beth Phoenix vs Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley

3 Elimination Chamber match for the United States Championship – Austin Theory (c) vs Seth Rollins vs Montez Ford vs Damian Priest vs Johnny Gargano vs Bronson Reed

4 Elimination Chamber match for a shot at the Raw women’s championship at WrestleMania – Asuka vs Liv Morgan vs Nikki Cross vs Raquel Rodriguez vs Natalya vs Carmella

5 Main Event: Undisputed WWE universal championship – Roman Reigns (c) vs Sami Zayn

The first-ever Elimination Chamber took place way back in 2002, and while on kayfabe, it was the brainchild of the one Eric Bischoff, it was Triple H, who actually came up with the idea. A brutal steel structure weighing over 700 tons with miles of chains involved. 21 years ago, in front of the Madison Square Garden, Shawn Michaels captured the WWE Heavyweight Championship from The Game, in a six-way showdown involving Booker T, Chris Jericho, Kane and Rob Van Dam. Two decades later, here we are. Initially, the Chambers matches were used sporadically over the years before an whole PPV was given to the match-type in 2015. Ever since, the Road to Wrestlemania goes through the Elimination Chamber.

We are almost there. The Road to Wrestlemania reaches its penultimate destination, passing through the dangerous Elimination Chamber in Montreal which promises to set, mould and shape WWE’s Showcase of the Immortals like never before. What a last couple of months it has been in the WWE, with the saga between Sami Zayn and the Bloodline rising way above the rest, to go with the contest between two behemoths in Bobbly Lashley and Brock Lesnar. Add to that the two Elimination Chamber matches and this could well be one of the greatest penultimate PPV’s culminating before Wrestlemania. This is going to be a crazy next few hours. Are you ready?