WWE Elimination Chamber lineup leaves much to be desired

WWE selected a group of men without any excitement around them as the focal point for a major PPV on the road to WrestleMania

The road to WrestleMania is supposed to be paved with excitement, with each week leading into moments that have massive implications for the grandest event of the year. 2021 has started off less than that, and that is saying it nicely. This week on Monday Night Raw the participants in the Elimination Chamber were announced and with a roster as deep as it has, WWE went with six men that caused as much excitement as a visit to the dentist’s office.

Drew McIntyre, AJ Styles, The Miz, Randy Orton, Sheamus, and Jeff Hardy are the six men scheduled to take part in this event. McIntyre is the only individual out of that group who is younger than 40-years of age. Many people were criticizing this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble because of the age of many of its participants. The same could be said about the chamber match and the fact that Edge is waiting on the other side – another individual who is nearly 50-years of age.

It is not just about age, but there is absolutely zero intrigue behind any of the current participants scheduled for the contest. The Miz has not won a singles match since October where he defeated Otis for the Money in the Bank briefcase. Sheamus has one singles victory in 2021, while Hardy has been 50/50 booked for months on end. Orton and McIntyre’s title feud lasted extremely too long, and fans are tired of seeing those two compete against each other. This match lineup is yet another example displaying the lack of creativity within the booking of the entire promotion.

Look at the WWE roster, specifically that on the Raw brand. One glance and it is easy to pick out six men that could have been involved in this match. Imagine a scenario where McIntyre and Sheamus are removed from the contest to have their singles feud, while Keith Lee, Mustafa Ali, Kofi Kingston, Ricochet, Styles, and Braun Strowman took to the cage to figure out who is going to move on to WrestleMania. The opportunity to build to an important match with diverging angles coming into it and out of it is right there for the WWE to leverage. Instead, the company falls back to the lazy booking that has become all too commonplace in recent years.

The WWE Elimination Chamber was once an important step in the build to WrestleMania. While it can still be a fun match, the announcement of the 2021 version leaves much to the imagination. Instead of building the match to moments such as KofiMania, fans are getting more of the same which is exactly the opposite of what fans want to see.