WWE Elimination Chamber 2019: Star Ratings For All 7 Matches

6. Women’s Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber Match

Stars Daniel Bryan Kofi Kingston
WWE.com

Significantly better than the sum of its parts, and significantly better than the pre-match anxiety forecast by your writer, this opener—while baggy and very contrived before the big set-pieces made for an explosive finishing sequence—was some accomplishment.

Bayley and Sasha Banks provided the spine with choice doubles work, and did very well to carry the load—particularly since the threat of collapse was so potent. To its wider detriment at times—the sheer amount of dead-selling and turn-taking broke the immersion—each tandem shone in unconnected sequences, even the maligned IIconics, whose symbiotic double-pin of Naomi was smooth and full of character. The Riott Squad’s dual-pod high spot raised the temperature, but it was Nia Jax who stole the show. Possibly the most controversial figure in the game, the Irresistible Force deserves huge credit for her contribution here—as does Liv Morgan, whose top-rope Samoan Drop bump was as brave as it was brutal.

Jax’s pod bump was just astonishing in its ballsy commitment and jaw-dropping execution, and it created a platform for that rarest of things: a nice thing, in WWE, of which Banks and Bayley were the recipients. Banks’ work in particular was so good that it will stem the heel turn protests. For a while.

A wildly uneven field of performers worked a memorable and at-times excellent match from a demonstrably unworkable stipulation.

Star Rating: ***1/2

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!