Elimination Chamber (2018)

Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss defends her title in the first-ever Women’s Elimination Chamber Match. The Empress of Tomorrow clashes with The Irresistible Force. Plus, Ronda Rousey officially signs as a Raw Superstar.

## Raw Women's Championship: Women’s Elimination Chamber Match

Alexa Bliss outplayed the odds, outsmarted her doubters and outlasted five of Raw’s best to survive the first-ever Women’s Elimination Chamber Match with her Raw Women’s Title intact. With that, she all but ensured she will walk into WrestleMania as champion.

That she did so is both a minor miracle — her competition was no joke — and business as usual for The Goddess, who, a two-week blip aside, has managed to stave off defeat and keep the title in her clutches for almost a year. Granted, Bliss had one major advantage of entering the Chamber last, but there’s no questioning the enormity of Little Miss Bliss’ accomplishments.

Before Bliss made history, however, the early stretches of the contest belonged to Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose of Absolution. The only true-blue teammates of the match ran roughshod over Bayley (who started the match with Deville) and Sasha Banks (entrant No. 4). That was until The Boss notched the first elimination of the contest by applying the excruciating Bank Statement to Rose. With that, The Walking Work of Art earned the dubious distinction of being the first competitor tossed from both the Women’s Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber Matches.

Mickie James, who seemed to be Bliss’ own prospective safety net going into the match, entered at No. 5 and finished off Absolution with a breath-taking leap from one of the Chamber pods onto Deville. She was quickly sent packing, though, by the tentative alliance of Banks and Bayley, who dispatched her with a one-two-punch of a Backstabber and Bayley-to-Belly.

That left Bliss alone against a two-on-one advantage, but the Bayley-Boss alliance proved to be as untenable as ever. The best friends cornered Bliss atop one of the pods before Banks shockingly booted The Huggable One off the edge. This instigated a ruthless throwdown that Bliss largely avoided, choosing instead to let the two tee off on each other.

Alexa’s patience paid off when Banks suffered a ruthless Bayley-to-Belly off the second rope. Bliss surprised everyone by instead pinning The Huggable One with a rollup, bringing the bout down to her and The Boss. Banks, the only woman to defeat Bliss for the Raw Women’s Title, gave an all-world effort against The Goddess, but her attempt at a high-risk maneuver backfired horribly when Banks shoved her face-first into a glass pod. Bliss administered a hanging DDT off the top rope, and history was made.

At first, Alexa seemed to recognize the gravity of her accomplishment, dedicating her win to little girls who “dream big.” And then she clarified that none of them would ever accomplish said dreams or be better than her. Basking in her own magnificence, Bliss proclaimed she had defied expectations and odds once again. Which, to be fair, she did.

Now, The Showcase of Immortals lies ahead. For a self-proclaimed Goddess, there could be no more fitting a destination.

## Asuka vs. Nia Jax

In a match where a victory would have landed Jax a guaranteed place in the Raw Women’s Title Match at WrestleMania, The Irresistible Force found herself reduced to another notch in Asuka’s ever-expanding “win” column. But given what Jax did to Asuka, it’s fair to question whether The Empress of Tomorrow will be anywhere near full strength as she marches toward a Women’s Title Match of her choosing at The Showcase of the Immortals.

Jax, to her credit, seemed entirely unimpressed with the mystique of the undefeated Superstar, stomping one of Asuka’s masks beneath her boot on the way to the ring. Jax deployed a near-flawless game plan that anticipated almost all of Asuka’s in-ring unpredictability and countered it with pure force. Even submissions — undoubtedly the cornerstone of Asuka’s own plan — proved fruitless, though they did sufficiently deplete The Irresistible Force enough to make her a step slower than she would have liked.

Asuka capitalized, evading Nia’s elbow drops and blistering her with kicks and elbows when the powerful Superstar went down to one knee. Asuka also evaded Jax’s go-big maneuver — a Banzai Bomb — and locked in an armbar after Jax missed a big corner tackle.

The Irresistible Force once again powered out of the submission, lifting Asuka into the air and ramming her into the corner. When she went to administer a powerbomb, however, The Empress of Tomorrow torqued Jax into a rollup to score the win with the last gasp of her energy. A fuming Jax didn’t hesitate to make a statement at her opponent’s expense, charging the exhausted Asuka through the barricade in a ruthless post-match beating.

Watching backstage on a monitor, Alexa Bliss could barely conceal her delight, and it’s easy to see why. Not only does she not have to worry about Jax at WrestleMania, but thanks to The Irresistible Force’s efforts, she might not have to worry about Asuka either.

## Ronda Rousey's contract signing

On her first night as a WWE Superstar, Ronda Rousey put Triple H through a table, was slapped across the face by Stephanie McMahon and got the co-sign from an Olympic Gold Medalist. Not a bad start to the in-ring career of one of the most celebrated athletes on the planet.

Things went about as well as could be imagined at first, as Rousey tearfully thanked the WWE Universe for the opportunity to fulfill a dream, promising to do her namesake “Rowdy” Roddy Piper proud. Triple H made it clear that Rousey didn’t want any special treatment in her contract as well. The only thing the document would guarantee was an invite to WrestleMania, which The Game sweetened to a match at The Showcase of the Immortals. Rousey was all too happy to sign — until she noticed Raw General Manager Kurt Angle visibly stirring with discomfort and asked him what was on his mind.

According to the Raw GM, the praise heaped on the former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion in advance of her signing was little more than lip-service to placate the new signee — behind closed doors, all the onetime Authority really wanted to do was keep Rousey under their thumb as payback for embarrassing them both at WrestleMania 31 a few years back.

A panicked Triple H tried to get the train back on its track by ushering Angle out of the ring, but The Olympic Hero offered one parting shot as The Game shooed him backstage: Stephanie had apparently called Ronda a “has-been” and said she could “take her.” Sufficiently rankled, Rousey intimidated Stephanie and then subjected The Game to a beating that made WrestleMania 31 look quaint, slamming him through the signing table.

Stephanie slapped Rousey across the face in retaliation, but the cold-eyed stare from “Rowdy” Ronda led the Raw Commissioner to flee the ring before The Baddest Woman on the Planet could again put hands on her. Rousey finished her first night at WWE by signing her deal in earnest and tossing it on the ruined Triple H.

In short, Triple H and Stephanie got their wish: Ronda Rousey is a WWE Superstar. But they might wish before long that she wasn’t.

## Results

* Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss def. Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Mickie James, Bayley, & Sasha Banks in the first ever Women's Elimination Chamber match.
* Asuka def. Nia Jax