WWE Elimination Chamber preview

Read on for my look at tonight's Elimination Chamber PPV, and how I would book it.

First off, we only have 5 matches on the card. My first thought was to add a 6th match as a qualifier for the Smackdown Elimination Chamber, but now I'm thinking a little differently.

Let's go with Ted DiBiase vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Yoshi Tatsu vs. David Hart Smith in a #1 Contendership match for the U.S. Title. Kidd pins Smith. Kind of an out-of-the-blue match, but it gets something going in the U.S. Title picture, and uses some guys who don't get used much.

As far as making a 6th participant in the Elimination Chamber goes, Theodore Long should come out at the start of the show and announce that Big Show will be the 6th participant, because of how he lost his qualifying match. Later on in the show, Big Show gets taken out backstage by The Corre. Not a total decimation, but enough for the announcers to doubt that he'll be in the Chamber match.

Now as for what matches are actually booked, Slater and Gabriel should win the Tag Team Titles. I enjoy Santino and Kozlov, but I think these two could use a boost in the credibility department so they don't look like total lackeys to Barrett and Jackson. And so it's not as easy to lose them in the shuffle when The Corre dissolves at some point (because they'll be a bigger deal than they were without the Titles).

They'll go on to feud with makeshift teams of people who aren't really doing anything else, as is kind of the norm for WWE's Tag division. Hart and Tatsu, Masters and Barreta, and JTG and Percy Watson should be in the mix after the championship rematch. I'm not just teaming JTG and Watson because they're both black; I think they'd have better chemistry as partners and characters than JTG and Masters or Watson and Baretta. They can still face these teams if they lose the titles to R-Truth and Johnny Curtis or Derrick Bateman and Daniel Bryan.

Moving on, Alberto Del Rio should beat Kofi Kingston. Kofi should look better than he did in their Smackdown match, but whiff Trouble in Paradise to hit the ropes or turnbuckle, leading to Del Rio surprising him with the Cross Arm-Breaker (Del Rio should work on the arm during the match too)

The Miz should beat Jerry Lawler. No surprise there. They should get the Cole interference out of the way somewhat early (meaning not in the actual finish of the match). Cole should try to get Miz the win, but Lawler kicks out. Then once he's ejected, Miz wins clean with the Skull-Crushing Finale. Miz needs to look stronger in his matches, especially when facing someone over twice his age. Lawler can put up a fight, but in the end Miz should have the stamina, youth, and speed to get the win.

John Cena wins the Raw Elimination Chamber. I'm sure some people would want a different result here, but I think that this is the best way to go. Part of me wants to see Morrison or R-Truth get that spot, but it's WrestleMania and we need a big WWE Title match. Punk should try to stay in his pod when it's his turn to come out (Orton should already be out at this point), then when Orton's getting beat down by Sheamus Punk can attack him from behind then bailing again when Orton tries to counter. This eventually leads to Sheamus catching Orton by surprise, and Punk pinning him. Orton won't get his big revenge until next month. That's really the only other story that needs to be booked here. Save Triple H for after WrestleMania. You don't have to throw every big name on that show, and we've already got Taker and The Rock (and maybe Diesel).

Edge wins the Smackdown Elimination Chamber. Another one that's not a shock. Big Show should try to make it to the ring for this match, to the shock of Barrett. But he'll be limping and bandaged from the attack earlier. The rest of The Corre will come out and finish the job. He'll be unable to compete, and the referees will start without him. Save Dolph Ziggler for later too. Once all the spots for (Mania's) Money In The Bank match are set except for the final Smackdown slot, have an Open Invitational Battle Royal where the winner gets it. Have a few indy stars in the match to sell how anyone who's not on Raw can be in it. (They would have heard about it in advance from "local advertising"). Ziggler comes in and wins. Long has to accept him as a member of the roster from that. Ziggler can then win MITB to "keep his job" and hold that for a while before presumably winning World Title #2.

Save Cody Rhodes for this Smackdown, and save Christian for the Edge-Del Rio feud, possibly for after Mania when they do the inevitable rematch at Extreme Rules. Or even after that match, with Christian being Del Rio's first challenger other than Edge.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. That's how I'd book the event formerly known at No Way Out. I'll be back later to talk about how it actually goes down.