The most important professional wrestling present in Australian historical past noticed Aussie celebrating in the principle occasion, with Rhea Ripley clearly emotional at instances whereas and after defending her title.
The Adelaide-born girls’s world champion fought off Nia Jax in the principle occasion of Elimination Chamber at Perth’s Optus Stadium, capping off an thrilling if predictable present.
The most important shock, in a means, was what didn’t occur – with The Rock failing to seem.
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It had barely rained in Perth all 12 months, but town awoke to showers this morning and so they continued intermittently all through the day, together with simply earlier than the kickoff present started.
Whereas the ring and Chamber construction are coated, the entry ramp and followers are usually not, that means if the clouds don’t clear issues might get a bit slippery.
As soon as once more The Rock was mentioned on the pre-show, with WWE persevering with to say he gained’t seem however then instantly teasing that he would possibly – leaving us with extra questions than solutions, as unlikely as an look could appear.
Additionally on the pre-show, Melbourne’s Indi Hartwell and Candice LaRae fell in need of claiming the ladies’s tag titles in opposition to Asuka and Kairi Sane, however the Aussie was given an enormous ovation in an indication of what’s to come back with Grayson Waller and particularly Rhea Ripley.
Waller was proven coming into the world in an Aussie cricket high which drew the largest cheer of the present to this point.
Within the opener of the principle card, Becky Lynch earned a girls’s world title match at WrestleMania 40 after successful the ladies’s Elimination Chamber, pinning Liv Morgan final. Lynch is successfully sure to face Rhea Ripley in Philly.
Tiffany Stratton, a latest call-up from NXT, was the clear star of the match with the group delivering her favour till there have been huge boos when she was pinned – together with bulls**t chants – regardless of the very fact she’s a heel.
Aussie Bronson Reed, absent from the present, revealed on social media at this level he had simply develop into a dad – explaining his absence within the course of.
Males’s tag champions Finn Balor and Damian Priest succesfully defended their titles in opposition to the ever-underrated Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate, in a really stable match.
The Rock didn’t seem within the Grayson Waller Impact phase, which was headlined by Cody Rhodes difficult him to a one-on-one match – presumably on evening one in every of WrestleMania.
The anticipated outcomes continued as Drew McIntyre earned a WrestleMania world heavyweight title match in opposition to Seth Rollins, successful the boys’s Chamber match due to help from Logan Paul on the finish to take out Randy Orton.
Earlier within the contest LA Knight was shock attacked by AJ Types, organising a feud between the pair, presumably for the proper to have a two-letter first title and six-letter final title.
In the principle occasion Australia’s Rhea Ripley defended her girls’s world title in opposition to Nia Jax to advance to a WrestleMania 40 showdown with Becky Lynch.
ELIMINATION CHAMBER MATCH CARD
Ladies’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) def Nia Jax
Males’s Elimination Chamber, for a World Heavyweight Championship title shot vs Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40: Drew McIntyre def Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley, LA Knight, Logan Paul and Kevin Owens
The Grayson Waller Impact with friends Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins – Rhodes challenges The Rock to a one-on-one match
Undisputed WWE Tag Group Championship: The Judgment Day [Finn Balor and Damian Priest] (c) def Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate
Ladies’s Elimination Chamber, for a Ladies’s World Champion title shot at WrestleMania 40: Becky Lynch def Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Naomi, Tiffany Stratton and Raquel Rodriguez
Kickoff Present – Ladies’s Tag Group Championship: The Kabuki Warriors [Asuka and Kairi Sane] (c) def Indi Hartwell and Candice LaRae
WHY THE ROCK DIDN’T SHOW UP
The WA authorities has each proper to be barely disillusioned after not one of the 4 greatest male stars in WWE proper now wrestled on the present they paid some $5 million for.
Seth Rollins had the excuse of being injured, and Cody Rhodes already has a WrestleMania match deliberate; each made the journey to Perth anyway and featured in a highly-publicised promo phase. You simply might’ve match a Rhodes match in, however the followers principally simply wished to sing his theme music and be taught extra about his Mania plans, which they obtained.
The disappointing, however comprehensible, half got here with Roman Reigns and The Rock each failing to make the journey.
This does additionally play into the present story, with Rhodes mentioning Rock can’t be ‘The Folks’s Champion’ if he’s by no means across the folks; Reigns turning right into a part-timer, whereas nonetheless being the champion (and thus holding up the division for years) has additionally been some extent of competition.
However utilizing one thing that frustrates followers as a storyline doesn’t cease it from being irritating. And WWE tried to have it each methods with The Rock particularly.
Whereas one half of their collective mouth was saying he wouldn’t attend – due to course he wouldn’t fly 30+ hours for a shock look, and naturally he wouldn’t have his first match again at 6am American time – they have been additionally letting followers dream of seeing him in Perth.
A pre-Elimination Chamber promo summed it up completely. The Rock particularly mentioned he wasn’t coming to Perth, however then additionally mentioned if anybody talked trash about him, he’d be there. This was clearly not fully severe – he half-acknowledged the impossibility of showing mid-promo if he wasn’t within the nation before-hand – however he nonetheless let the chance sit within the minds of followers.
Being round Perth all weekend it was fairly clear folks anticipated The Rock to point out up; you want to be a fairly hardcore wrestling fan to consider the enterprise realities of why he wouldn’t seem at a paid worldwide occasion.
The very fact is, WWE had no purpose to get The Rock to point out up in Perth. It will not have made them any more money, particularly if he was going to interrupt the Rhodes-Rollins promo phase as a shock. And it will’ve been massively inconvenient for him, which issues.
This is likely one of the issues with wrestling; it’s an trade constructed on lies, often in a enjoyable means as a result of everybody performs together with it. However they will additionally get away with lots as a result of few analyse wrestling that severely.
It’s not false promoting for The Rock to not seem, as a result of it was by no means marketed. However WWE, and different wrestling promotions, will say-without-saying one thing’s gonna occur on a regular basis. They’ll drop hints, making an attempt to ensure you’re tuning in for the subsequent huge present, and hope that it’s value it sufficient instances that you just overlook the instances they disillusioned you.
It was nonetheless a spectacular present, and the 50,000-odd followers at Optus Stadium appeared to get pleasure from themselves from begin to end. However there was a particular murmur of discontent after the Rollins-Rhodes phase ended and The Rock didn’t present up, and leaving your followers sad – in a means that makes them sad with the corporate, not with a selected wrestler – is at all times a foul thought.
Max Laughton is in Perth for Elimination Chamber with due to WWE.