8 Match Star Ratings For WWE Elimination Chamber 2020
1. Elimination Chamber Match For The RAW Women's Championship #1 Contendership
The decision to start the match with Natalya Vs. Ruby Riott was not a smart nor an effective one.
Three narrative threads that ranged from meh to compelling were plotted on television to build the match: the aftermath of the Riott Squad break-up, the marauding debut of Shayna Baszler, and the barely-explored, momentous match-within-a-match between the two most dominant NXT Women's Champions ever. WWE didn't go with even the least interesting story beat, opting instead for an exchange between Ruby Riott and Natalya that was met with total silence.
Fans, conditioned to respond only when Baszler entered the match, only responded when Baszler entered the match, and they only barely did. The layout was excellent, committed and necessary in theory. Baszler arrived, swung Liv Morgan head-first into a pod in a true 'Holy Sh*t' moment of brutality, after she had shredded everybody in her path with some proper squelching knee strikes and instant choke-outs. This was a very welcome rocket-strapper of a match removed entirely from the damaging 50/50 dullness of last week's RAW catastrophe with Kairi Sane. The issue is that, for unfathomable reasons, they didn't gimmick the countdowns. Perhaps this decision was made to register Shayna's dominance, but it compelled fans to switch off.
The big Asuka/Baszler showdown didn't quite level up to its fantasy-booked mythology, but it was just nasty, vicious and dramatic enough to put Baszler over as a killer.
A net success extracted from a position of real peril.
Star Rating: ★★★¼