7 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Elimination Chamber 2025

Downs…

4. Not The Best Vibe

WWE Elimination Chamber 2025 Randy Orton Kevin Owens
WWE

Maybe this is a one-night feeling, but is anyone else less than excited for a Kevin Owens/Randy Orton blowoff match at WrestleMania 41?

Orton returned at Elimination Chamber to save Sami Zayn from any further injury after his unsanctioned match, as Owens had pulled up the mat on the floor and was threatening to deliver a package piledriver. Randy dropped Owens with an RKO and was about to put him on the IL with a punt when the officials intervened and KO scrambled out of the ring and up the aisle.

During the past few years, Orton has been extremely well-received by fans, a career resurgence that has belied nearly 15 years of malaise, a reputation for being “methodical” and extremely dry as a performer. Orton’s Legend Killer/Viper/Apex Predator persona was often bland, intense and ultimately uninteresting. His matches teetered on boring, albeit technically sound. But the last few years, he’s been nearly universally praised for his character work, becoming the most interesting and popular that he’s been in forever.

Again, it could just be a gut feeling from this one night, but a returning Orton out for revenge on Owens and looking intense and threatening to punt KO gave circa 2008-2018 vibes, and that is not meant as a compliment. If we’re getting “super serious and intense Randy,” then this could be a snoozer and a huge letdown from what fans could have had with Owens/Sami Zayn at WrestleMania.

For now, this will get a very mild “down” with the full knowledge that the view could change dramatically as the story unfolds.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.