The shock created by John Cena’s business-altering heel turn remains a major talking point on all forms of social media, and the wave ripples show no sign of slowing. Despite the firm feeling of “WrestleMania Season,” the program still has not revealed the necessary aspects of Mania’s full story arch—though once the dust settles on Elimination Chamber, we should get a clearer picture.
Tonight’s show, live from Philadelphia, could unveil a significant portion of the plot, given that WWE world champion Cody Rhodes is booked for the event. Philly is typically a significant stop on the yearly tour for WWE, and with Mania quickly approaching and no match booked for Roman or Punk, there are plenty of storylines left to manifest.
Cody Rhodes Wants To Know ‘Why?’
Cody came out with a busted eye that showed the other repercussions of Saturday’s turn. He asked the Philly crowd what they wanted to talk about, but he did not need to. Cody apologized for the language he used before telling John he owed it to the fans. He said that he wanted to know ‘why?’
“We would all love to know why,” Cody asked.
He said Cena is likely to have a clever promo ready to go with prepared lines of justification, but it was Cody who brought all the fire and energy into his promo this evening. He dug into Cena ‘giving up’ and their long history. Cody told the story of what Cena said to him following his WrestleMania 40 win, claiming the belt ‘gets heavier with every day.’
Cody said if John ‘wants some,’ then come get some (the famous Cena saying). Cody said he would remain in the ring holding the belt like it ‘weighed nothing at all’ in one of his best lines. Without Cena, Cody was still able to deliver a meaningful chapter in this feud destined for Mania.
Naomi Guilty; Bianca Crushed
The number one contender for the women’s world title (red-brand), Bianca Belair, has had a rollercoaster week since losing the tag titles to Liv and Raquel. First, she was forced to watch her former co-tag team partner (Jade Cargill) beat the p*ss out of her recent tag partner, Naomi—knocking her out of the Chamber match for which she was to start. Then, Belair ends up winning the gimmick match to face Rhea Ripley before Monday, when Ripley lost that title to Belair’s new opponent, Iyo Sky.
Tonight, she came out and was no longer playing games. She called out Naomi after recapping the Chamber incident, and she came out sporting a bedazzled neck collar—the kind that Elle Woods would rock in a gothic remake of “Legally Blonde.” She hobbled around, attempting to garner sympathy, but everything was out in front of the fans, and they were not buying it.
She told Bianca how she was allowing their haters to create a narrative, reminding her friend that she was ready to step in as her tag partner to avoid having to relinquish. Naomi also tried pitting Jade as the wedge in their relationship, with the fans playing instigator. All the while, Bianca continued to plead with Naomi for a straight answer.
Finally, Bianca threw down the ultimatum that forced Naomi to respond directly, and that’s when she admitted to being the one that injured Jade. Naomi was shook, delivering genuine tears as she finally melted down, calling Bianca a b***h for her troubles just as she hit the halfway point back to ‘Gorilla.’ Bianca turned around and stared at Naomi in the ring, and in shot, you could see the monitor cutting to a picture of someone arriving in a black SUV.
Jade hopped out of the ride wearing a white, skintight jumpsuit with splashes of red mixed in to seem like bloodstains—possibly made to look like stab wounds, symbolizing the betrayal she felt. She made it through Gorilla and looked at Bianca, who stood back and signaled to Jade that she was washing her hands of it all. She let her pass to get to Naomi.
Jade laid another beating on Naomi, who at this point had ditched the neck collar in her unsuccessful bid to run away from her troubles.
This segment delivered even with the lapse between Jade’s attack and now, but it is hard not to notice that WWE has yet to let Jade touch a mic—Chamber was understandable but tonight is ‘pattern recognition.’ Aside from that, Bianca was the segment’s MVP—again, crying on command like her Oscar-worthy spot at Chamber. For Naomi’s part, she fell flat in the beginning, but it was going to be hard to keep up with Bianca. Naomi eventually stepped up, but Bianca’s promo and facial expressions told a full story.
Braun Strowman vs. Solo Sikoa
The match was Solo’s first singles match since returning from his ‘cry in the car’ following his loss to Roman Reigns for the Ula Fala. Strowman has been beefing with Jacob Fatu, and after losing to Fatu at Saturday Night’s Main Event, this certainly feels like Solo being ‘sent out’ to put in work.
The match was back and forth before Strowman mostly took over. Solo battled back but he ended up getting put down for what was probably the 1-2-3—instead, Tama Tonga interfered to cause the DQ. The two attempted to beat down Strowman, but even the 2-1 wasn’t good enough to keep him down for good.
Jacob Fatu made his way to the ring (with music) and confronted Strowman. They beat each other through the arena, and Fatu eventually put Strowman on his back, ready to Soman Drop him from a large industrial-sized storage road case. However, Strowman fought back, and choke slammed the Samoan Werewolf off that same storage road case.
Amazingly, Fatu got up before the cameras cut— the rarest of moves as most victims of those kinds of spots stay down to sell. This is yet another spot that Fatu is booked to ‘half-no sell’ and remain strong in defeat.
UNITED STATES TITLE DEFENSES
Chelsea Green(c) vs. Michin- Philly Street Fight
Being in Philadelphia — the home of ECW– the chances were strong we would get a ‘hardcore match’ of some kind, and tonight’s bookers went with Chelsea Green’s title defense against Michin. This one was fun.
Chelsea came out dressed like Cactus Jack to honor her husband—Matt Cardona, whose time on the indies saw him cosplay as Cactus Jack in the most respectful of trolls. Eventually, Cardona got over in a ‘major’ way, and he adopted the gimmick by putting his own flare on it and branding himself “The King of the Death Match.”
Chelsea was able to retain after multiple interferences, first by Piper Niven, who was taken out by B-Fab, and then from Alba Fyre. Fyre’s role was the difference maker in a match where Michin was game. She has been game in each of her title challenges since her initial tourney finals loss, but it is now time for her to hit the back of the line.
Shinsuke Nakamura(c) vs. LA Knight
The match was easily their best in the feud that originated when Nakamura returned to the active roster from injury. It was back and forth between the former champ Knight and the current U.S. titlist. There were stark contrasts between their other PLE matches and this one, and, in fact, this one felt more like a PLE than their first PLE match.
Knight ran into a knee but was able to attempt a near-fall moments later. After Nakamura was able to gain enough momentum to muster his own near fall, LA Knight was able to put him away for the pinfall victory to become the new champ.
Like RAW’s double IC title matches booked, SD went the same way, and WWE should continue to book title matches like this on weekly WWE programming. That said, how long Knight is able to hold onto the title will be something to keep an eye on as Jacob Fatu continues to impress, and it will only be a matter of time before Fatu makes a run.
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