WWE Elimination Chamber is all set to pop off tonight (Sun., Feb. 19, 2012) from the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at 8 p.m. ET, live on pay-per-view.
CagesideSeats.com will provide LIVE blow-by-blow, match-by-match coverage of Elimination Chamber below, beginning with the first match of the evening and right on through to the main event.
Tonight's show will feature both a Raw and Smackdown Elimination Chamber match for the WWE and world heavyweight championships, respectively. On the Raw side, CM Punk defends against Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, R-Truth, Kofi Kingston and Chris Jericho while the Smackdown side sees Daniel Bryan defend against Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, Great Khali and Santino Marella.
Also booked for the card are matches pitting John Cena vs. Kane in an Ambulance match and Beth Phoenix vs. Tamina for the Diva's championship.
Kick your shoes off, relax, and enjoy all the action with your favorite pro wrestling website. And remember to keep refreshing!
Full results and match coverage after the jump.
WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER 2012 RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG:
Punk def. Ziggler, Miz, Truth, Kingston and Jericho to retain WWE championship
Bryan def. Show, Rhodes, Barrett, Khali and Marella to retain world heavyweight championship
John Cena def. Kane
Jack Swagger def. Justin Gabriel to retain U.S. championship
Beth Phoenix def. Tamina to retain Diva's championship
Geno here.
Broadcast is live.
Video promo kicks us off putting over the fact that the Elimination Chamber is the final obstacle between the superstars and they're shot at immortality at WrestleMania. Again, this would be fine if it wasn't for the Royal Rumble having just happened last month.
Nonetheless, here we are. Let's have some fun tonight.
Already have a WrestleMania sign sighting, as the cameras panned to it immediately before dropping down to the ringside broadcasters, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Booker T.
The Chamber is dropping down and we'll start with the ... Raw Chamber match? What the hell is this?
Raw Elimination Chamber
Chris Jericho is first out and we know he'll be last in via his victory on Raw this past week. Miz gets a decent pop out next, so he'll be in a Chamber pod. Now Dolph Ziggler out. Here comes R-Truth, so it looks like Punk and Kofi Kingston will start the match.
Entrant 1: CM Punk
Entrant 2: Kofi Kingston
Interesting to have Punk start the match. With Jericho coming on last, it damn near gives away the psychology of the match but I guess we'll see how they play it. Punk takes control early but Kingston gets back quick. They do a spot with Kingston jumping over the top rope to avoid a move from Punk. Visually impressive, I guess.
First big spot onto the Chamber comes from Punk taking a back body drop that saw him land more on his hip/knee. Kingston goes for a catapult into the cage and Punk counters and sends Kofi into Jericho's pod. Now Punk delivers a straight suplex. That HAS to be extremely painful. No way to protect yourself against it.
First pinfall comes and it's a two count back inside the ring. They slow down and the first countdown hits.
Entrant 3: Dolph Ziggler
Mr. Showoff/Perfection comes roaring out of the pod and starts working over Punk, who is clean shaven, by the way. Ziggler shows off by doing pull ups off the cage and Punk makes him way for it. Ziggler counters and gets a two count on a pinfall back in the ring.
Now Ziggler works Kofi and Jericho's talking trash to him from his pod. Now it's all three guys working. Kingston and Punk go off the ropes headed for Ziggler but he moves and they collide. That was a sweet spot. Punk attempts to pin Kingston while we count down to Miz or Truth in next.
Entrant 4: R-Truth
No real response for Truth coming in. He attacks Ziggler and sends him out to the Chamber. Oh, big splash launched from over the top rope. Truth gets a two count on Ziggler after another nice spot. Punk back in and he looks for the high knee in the corner. Doesn't get it at first but stays with it and nails it. Right after he hits a superplex for a two count.
Crowd is hot for the right spots.
Kingston goes for the Trouble in Paradise but Punk sends him out. Body slam to Truth and Punk goes to the corner with Jericho in the pod still, taunting him before hitting the flying elbow. That gets the pin on Truth and he's out.
Eliminated: R-Truth
Ziggler tries to quickly get a pin on Punk but gets reversed. Kingston comes in and hits the Trouble in Paradise on Punk. Ziggler distracts him just long enough for Punk to recover to avoid getting pinned. Kingston over the ropes and he catches himself in the cage. Jumps off onto Ziggler and hits a huge DDT on the Chamber floor.
Man, this is a damn good match so far. Countdown starts and everyone is down. Miz acting tough before coming in. WWE stupidly does the deal where they tease who is coming in next, even though we know it's Miz.
Entrant 5: The Miz
In he comes and he's attacking Punk first. Sends him into a pod with a loud thud, head first. Looked brutal. Now it's Ziggler's turn to again take another bump on the steel. This guy is killing himself in there to get this thing over. It's why we love him.
Miz puts Kingston on the top rope and gets kicked away but first but eventually ends up dumped off onto the steel. Looks like they're setting up for Jericho to come in and have Miz alone waiting for him.
Miz blows a spot in the corner with a clothesline on Punk and the crowd lets him hear it. Roll up from Punk gets two but Miz explodes out to hit a DDT for a two count of his own.
Punk and Miz go back and forth until Punk hits a slam into a two count and then the Anaconda Vice right after. Just as he locks it in the countdown starts for Jericho to come in.
Entrant 6: Chris Jericho
Punk lets the submission go and they stare off. They charge each other with punches. Jericho takes control with a dropkick to a downed Punk. CM battles back but Jericho teases the Walls of Jericho. Reversed into the GTS and that misses. Lionsault from Jericho and the ensuing pin gets two.
Ziggler in for a surprise pin on Jericho but it only gets two. They get up and Jericho hits the Codebreaker. Dolph is out.
Eliminated: Dolph Ziggler
Jericho celebrates before beating on Kingston. Then it's back into the ring to work over Punk some more. Punk works his way out and hits a catapult over the ropes onto the steel. They battle on the outside and Jericho climbs back into the pod to try to get away. Punk gets in anyway and they brawl.
Jericho gets innovative and beats Punk down using the door.
Jericho and Kingston go at it now and they hit another big spot on the steel. Man, these guys are really selling out for this one. Kofi getting beat down by Miz now. Goes for the hanging corner clothesline but Kofi responds with a kick and climbs the ropes. Miz meets him there for a superplex. He doesn't get it because Punk shows up and walks Miz over for a powerbomb into a pin.
It gets two and sets up Kingston climbing on top of one of the pods. Crossbody off the top and he's selling more than Miz and Punk. His pin only gets two and here comes Jericho with the Walls of Jericho Liontamer, old school style.
Kofi, who was just selling a back injury, can't help but tap.
Eliminated: Kofi Kingston
Jericho goes all heel and continues the beatdown on Kofi before he can get out while the referees scold him. He throws Kingston out personally and with the Chamber door wide open, Punk kicks him out. The refs go out to check on him and they're saying he's out.
A camera man was knocked down, too, and they've stopped the entire match for this. Announcers using their "low voice because this is serious stuff." Miz and Punk left in the ring and Miz hits a backbreaker. Punk busts out and gets a kick to the head that Miz sells well but it only gets two.
Lawler tells us Jericho is unconscious.
High knee and bulldog by Punk gets a two count.
Punk up top but Miz brings him down and hits the Skull Crushing Finale. The ensuing count damn near gets three before Punk kicks out. That was way too close for comfort. Well done by both guys.
A much fresher Miz takes control again and just starts working over Punk in the corner with what looks like shoot punches. He's literally just throwing his head away with his hands while telling Punk he's "nothing." Punk just slides down like he's beaten. Miz steps off and goes for a dive and Punk moves to send Miz into the pod head first.
GTS.
1.
2.
3.
Punk retains.
Eliminated: Miz
CM Punk wins Raw Elimination Chamber match to retain the WWE championship.
That injury angle to end the match was a little weak but surely it's just a nice way to get Jericho into a title match against Punk at WrestleMania.
We go backstage and they've got Santino dressed like Rocky and they're doing the full blown schtick. He's putting raw eggs into a cup and drinking them down. After he does so, he turns around and pukes.
Time for a video promo for John Cena. The focus was on a weight lifting gym he trains at with some close knit friends. It did almost nothing to get me excited about his pending match against The Rock at WrestleMania.
Time for the Diva's match and that means I'm taking a break.
Beth Phoenix vs. Tamina -- We're like 5 minutes into this thing and the only thing of note is a bad bump off the ropes to the outside from Tamina. Landed hard on her side with no cushion. Looked brutal.
Samoan drop from Tamina into the corner and she goes for the Superfly Splash but gets countered for the first time, I believe. Superplex from Phoenix. They trade shots to give the crowd a chance to get into it. Superkick gets a big pop on the other corner and now Tamina is going for the Samoan Splash on the other side. It hits but Phoenix kicks out.
Weird seeing a real match from the women in WWE.
Tamina goes back up to the top and Beth rolls out of the ring. Tamina gets out and sends her back in but when she comes back Phoenix gets a counter and the Glam Slam shortly after, which gets the pin.
Beth Phoenix def. Tamina to retain Diva's championship
Another backstage spot with Santino as Rocky. This time he's hitting a piece of meat hanging suspended. It's a ham. He even hits the Cobra.
Back into the ring and John Laurinaitis is introduced, flanked by David Otunga. Time for the big announcement.
Nuclear heat for Johnny Ace when he goes into introducing himself and his various titles with the company. He says he's appeared in front of the WWE Board of Directors. He stumbles hard over his lines and Lawler and Booker T talk about how nervous he is. The crowd is giving him the "WHAT" treatment and it's throwing him off bad.
He talks about Teddy Long doing bad on Smackdown and he intends to appeal to the Board and suddenly ...
... ALBERTO DEL RIO IS BACK!
ADR comes out and Laurinaitis has a big smile on his face. Otunga marking out a bit, as well.
Del Rio starts by bagging on Long. Says he likes to play favorites and he holds grudges. He's corrupt and a piece of trash good for nothing. No need for people like that in this business. Tells Laurinaitis he has a great idea.
He thinks Ace should be the permanent General Manager for Raw but Smackdown, too.
Cue Mark Henry's music. He comes out to the ring walking a lot better than he has been as of late.
Somebody's gon get they ass kicked. Somebody's gon get they wig split.
Henry says Long is a bully. Claims Long assaulted him two weeks ago. The crowd laughs at this. "Just like the good guy that I am, I fell for it. And I was wrongly suspended for it." He turns to Laurinaitis and starts putting him over big time. No different than Del Rio, he says, Laurinaitis should be the permanent G.M. of both Raw and Smackdown.
Hey, there he is. Chrisitian makes his return, just like he teased. He's rockin a full beard and looking great.
He's back as a heel. Putting down Long and says Randy Orton is faking a concussion. Starts airing his grievances against Long and brings up the unsafe working environment crap. Asks the Board of Directors to name Laurinaitis the G.M. or Raw and Smackdown.
Otunga suggests a picture and while Henry is tentative at first, they get in and do a pic. They get some good heat from the crowd.
Where's Triple H?
Just as I say that, the crowd breaks into a big chant for him. Otunga gets silly and it takes entirely too long to take the picture.
Out they go with some damn good heat.
Time for another Santino segment as Rocky. This time he's doing the stairs. This is a pay-per-view show, folks. People paid money to see this.
Unreal.
The show the Chamber coming down again and unbelievably enough, Cena vs. Kane is going to be the main event of this show. Wow.
Backstage interview with Show. He talks about his terrible WrestleMania legacy, how he's yet to have his big immortal moment. Tonight it starts and he's walking out champion.
We shall see.
Smackdown Elimination Chamber
Khali out first, so he'll have a pod to hang out in for a while. Good. His legs look like they're going to give out on him at any second. Too bad he has to stand the whole time he's in there.
Cody Rhodes next out and he'll be in a pod. Same for Santino Marella. Bryan actually gets to be in a pod, too, so he won't have to go the whole match like Punk did. That means it's Barrett and Show to start this one. For some reason, Booker is saying Bryan has no chance to win tonight and Cole starts defending him.
I just ... this show is really devolving into a gigantic piece of garbage.
Entrant 1: Big Show
Entrant 2: Wade Barrett
Cole outright admits just as we get started that this is "really, a sort of weird match up." Oh, Cole. Show starts out by chest slapping the skin off Barrett. That move is so funny to me because it's a shoot move that really hurts within a worked match. Bret Hart cringes every time.
Barrett battles back and takes Show down by going after his legs and now hitting with lots of kicks. The plan early looks to be plenty of rest spots so Show doesn't gas terribly if they're planning on having him go far enough. He hits a big suplex over the top rope and covers but only gets two.
Barrett takes another slap and falls to the mat in pain. Because, you know, he's really hurting from that shit. Take it easy, Show. Bump on the steel from Barrett and a leg drop back in the ring. Countdown hits and who's first in?
Entrant 3: Cody Rhodes
He's in no hurry to come in with Show just hanging out in the ring waiting for him. He tries to use his speed and Show grabs him up, takes him to the corner and hits with another slap. Man, that's so painful, even to the ear when we hear that slap.
Rhodes tries to battle back and gets sent out to the steel. He sells well enough that I wondered briefly if he was legitimately injured. Answer is no, by the way.
Barrett comes in and gets tossed again. Rhodes gets set up on the fence and Show tries a standing splash but Rhodes moves. No matter, he ends up getting tossed like a lawn dart into the chains anyway.
That was awesome.
Finally, Barrett and Rhodes get the idea to team up to take on Show and wear him down. That doesn't last long, though, and Barrett starts working Rhodes over. He sends him into the fence a few times while Booker shouts from commentary, "PUT IT ON THAT BOY! PUT IT ON THAT BOY, WADE!!"
It slows down big time with Show literally just laying in the corner of the ring like he's taking a nap while Rhodes and Barrett carry this portion of the match. Countdown is on.
Entrant 4: Santino Marella
He comes in with punches on Barrett and does the splits spot. Oh, dear god he's doing Ultimate Warrior schtick. Shaking the ropes and lifting his arms and everything. He turns around and runs into Show, who ONCE AGAIN hits the chest slaps. What the hell is with this guy and slapping people in the chest?
Rhodes comes running in to take Show's knee out and he sells by falling down and screaming, "OH JESUS." Unintentional comedy that has me falling out of my chair here. Now Show is yelling spots out and they get picked p by the mics.
He starts cleaning house, sending both Rhodes and Barrett to the outside on the steel. Points to Bryan and everyone sells.
Holy ass, Barrett and Rhodes hit a double suplex on Show on the outside. That was impressive. Looked super painful.
Back in the ring and Rhodes hits a moonsault on Barrett. Instead of pinning Show, who is gone right now, they attack each other. Love the psychology there. Derp.
Rhodes sends Barrett out and now he's working on Santino, who is still, amazingly enough, involved in this match. Rhodes taunts Great Khali in his pod while beating on Santino. Countdown time.
Entrant 5: Great Khali
The big man comes in and cleans house while the crowd chants that he can't wrestle. He knocks everyone down before Big Show climbs in the ring and hits him with a spear for the pin. Oh, boy, that was nice.
Eliminated: Great Khali
Show is getting crazy and trying to reach over the top of the pod, because it's an open structure. Show tries to snap the damn thing to get it open and he's now actively breaking chains. Oh what the hell.
Show breaks into the pod and climbs his way in from the top. Now he's in there with Bryan and beating the crap out of him. That's never been done before, I don't believe. Pretty crazy to see Show doing it. Now the countdown hits and Bryan is able to escape out.
Entrants 6: Daniel Bryan
It doesn't matter because Show sends him flying through it and it breaks. This sequence has been more interesting than the entire rest of the match combined.
Show is in the ring now just pummeling Bryan. He calls for the choke slam and it hits. But in comes Barrett with a big boot to put Show down. Now he's working knees in the ropes. Santino comes in with a surprise roll up of Barrett but it only gets two.
Barrett sends Santino out and meanwhile Rhodes hits a Beautiful Disaster on Show. And another, this time off the fence. Barrett jumps in with an elbow and Rhodes covers him to get the pin. Wow. Weird way to send him out of this match.
Eliminated: Big Show
HOLY SHIT, Santino comes in quick and rolls up Rhodes for the pin while he's celebrating sending Show out.
Eliminated: Cody Rhodes
Rhodes hits Santino with the Cross Rhodes before leaving. Barrett comes in for the pin but Santino kicks out. The crowd pops big for the kick out and they're hot for him. Much more than anyone else so far tonight.
Barrett sends him out and works him over. Traps him in the fence and now Barrett and Bryan are going at it. They set up a pinfall attempt from Bryan that fails and now he's working for the LeBell Lock. Barrett powers out, though, and back up they go.
I'm off to take a restroom break, folks, need a minute here.
Back. Barrett in the ring and has control over both guys, seeing as they're on the floor. Can't believe Santino is still in this match.
Bryan hits a big knee of the ropes. Barrett gets control again after a short time anyway and looks to set up Bryan for Wasteland off the top rope. Instead, Santino shows up to make the save and he tries to hit a superplex. Wade sends him off and goes for an elbow. Marella moves and Bryan hits a big headbutt. Santino covers and out goes Barrett.
Eliminated: Wade Barrett
There's no way Santino was booked to win this match but he's so unbelievably over the live crowd and with me marking out, I want them to call an audible and have him win.
Bryan plays heel and laughs like Marella has no chance. Santino does more Warrior schtick before hitting an arm drag. Bryan takes over again, though, and now he's working Santino over. The crowd is going nuts for Santino every time he kicks out.
Spot in the corner with Bryan missing a knee and Santino with a roll up that gets two. Crowd NUTS for him. Bryan up top and misses a splash. He's down and Santino pulls out the Cobra sock. IT HITS.
Pin.
1!
2!
KICK OUT!!
Bryan gets up and boom he's got the LeBell Lock. Booker asking for Marella to move to the left while the crowd screams in the hopes he gets out. He starts to posture up and the place has no roof now. Bryan keeps it on strong and finally Santino taps.
BEST MATCH EVER!!!
Daniel Bryan wins Smackdown Elimination Chamber Match to retain world heavyweight championship.
Out comes Sheamus and he takes Bryan out to all but confirm he's challenging for the world heavyweight championship at WrestleMania 28.
Backstage comedy skit making fun of Natalya. Fart gimmick still going strong.
They set up an impromptu match with Jack Swagger and Justin Gabriel. And by they, I mean Teddy Long. Swagger endorses Laurinaitis straight to Long and says one man should be running both shows. Long agrees but says that one man should be him.
This poorly put together match will be for the U.S. title, by the way. That's how important it is.
Jack Swagger vs. Justin Gabriel -- This match opens with few surprises. Swagger beating Bariel to a pulp, hitting all his usual spots. He even starts doing push-ups using Gabriel's back. Hornswoggle is out with Gabriel, by the way, while swagger has Vickie Guerrero screaming and being generally annoying.
Gabriel finally gets his offense in and the crowd is completely dead now. Cool down match before the main event.
Swagger puts a quick stop to Gabriel's attack and seemingly out of nowhere has the Ankle Lock and Gabriel taps quicker than I've ever seen anyone tap. Terrible match but it was just to kill time and let the crowd rest before the main event.
Jack Swagger def. Justin Gabriel to retain U.S. title.
Lawler tells us Undertaker will be live at Raw tomorrow night to call out Triple H. I guess we'll get to see the hair cut.
Promo time for the main event.
John Cena vs. Kane -- Everything goes according to plan, with Cena getting a decidedly mixed reaction and the crowd immediately engaging in the dueling chants he's become famous for. They've taken on a life of their own, to the point that Cena is almost immaterial.
They brawl to get things going and this one is going to be short on blow-by-blow. It's going to be a lot of the usual stuff in matches like this. They already hit the Ambulance at the top of the stage to get some supplies to bust each other up with. Cena also threw Kane into the steps once already.
Inside the ring they go shot for shot and the crowd gets hot. Kane slows it down by taking Cena out with a side slam. He tries to come off the top rope and Cena times him with a mid-air dropkick. Looked good.
Five moves of Doom time for Cena already. Kane can't see him. Maybe because he's wearing a mask?
Either way, the five knuckle shuffle hits and the consecutive streak of the first attempted Attitude Adjustment failing hits 5,678,395.
Uh-oh, Kane with the choke glove. It works and Cena is now "out cold" as Cole says. Kane starts dragging him out and doesn't help cushion his fall when they go outside the ring. He gets underneath it, though, and oh, look how convenient this is -- a freaking wheelchair is just chilling under the ring.
Kane puts Cena in said chair and now he's rolling him up to the ambulance.
Cena uses his superior strength to get out, you know because he can bench press a lot of weight, everyone. He hits Kane with the chair up against the ambulance before putting him in it and rolling him over into some boxes set up on the stage. That was the weakest bump I've ever seen.
This match is terrible, like we all imagined it would be.
They continue brawling around everywhere. Cena putting Kane into anything he can find. None of it looks convincing. They make it back to the ring area and Cena picks up a mic and blasts Kane with it. Asks if that gets him a spot in the fave five. Now he's using stuff from the announce tables like monitors. He's now setting up the steel steps near the tables before picking them up and drilling Kane with them.
He's smiling and asking the camera, "You wanna have some fun?"
This isn't very fun for us at all, John.
Cena just continues the slaughter and at this point it looks like a squash. Kane got some offense in early but Cena's not even selling any injuries he may have incurred early on.
He picks Kane up and walks up the steel steps while carrying Kane to give him the AA onto the announce table. Kane, just in the nick of time, pops out and hits the choke slam on Cena through the table.
Well, there you go.
Kane limps his way up the set and finds a stretcher. He brings it down to Cena and starts putting him on it. Cena gets on and positions himself so he won't fall off. Always good to see him aid his opponent.
They get all the way up to the ambulance and Kane goes to toss Cena inside and he gets him in there. Just before he can close the second door, Cena fights out and suddenly he's not hurt at all! He starts smashing Kane like this is the beginning of the match and this is why we despise this man.
Cena puts Kane's head into the door and they climb on top of the ambulance. AA on top? Chokeslam attempt gets countered into it. Cena sent him off the top of it into a pile of something we can't see because it's not being shown on camera. Previously set up and all that.
Cena picks Kane up and puts him in the ambulance and closes the doors to win the match. The ambulance drives off with sirens blasting as Cena heads to the ring and points at the WrestleMania banner.
John Cena def. Kane
They end it with Cole telling us Cena has risen above the hate and now he's ready for his match at WrestleMania 28 against The Rock.
End.