(Here’s the link for the match on the WWE Network: http://network.wwe.com/video/v31678253/?contentId=31678253&contextType=wwe-show&contextId=elimination_chamber)
For me, this is one of the very best six man tag team matches the WWE has ever produced (if not THE best). The Shield were known for having great multi-man matches by that point. They’ve already featured twice on this list (read my review of #93 here and #46 here). Their ability to put on a great match was never in doubt. The Wyatts were known for Bray’s mysterious rants and little else. Bray had competed in a few great matches by that point (notably with Daniel Bryan at Royal Rumble 2014), but as a unit the Wyatt’s presence was felt more than their wrestling. At Elimination Chamber 2014, however, both teams sunk everything they had into a stellar brawl.
At first, it seemed strange that the two teams were colliding. They were both ostensibly heels, for starters. The Shield’s face turn was just beginning and the crowd loved them. But they were still classed as heels. It was a rivalry that appeared out of nowhere. The Wyatt’s deprived The Shield of an opportunity to fight for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the Elimination Chamber. And that was it! It felt like a rivalry that should have been fought at WrestleMania. Two of the great stables of the modern era needed to collide in the biggest event of the wrestling calender. However, WWE had alternative plans for Bray Wyatt. Nevertheless, the Shield and the Wyatts made the most of their chance to create a match for the ages.
Of course, a brawl begins the match (thanks to the crazy Dean Ambrose). Things settle down, but not for long. The fast tempo is set and is rarely decelerated. Erick Rowan and Luke Harper both fought like super-workers. Of course, a few years later, we all know that Harper is a good worker. Rowan has yet to prove himself. But back in 2014, they were merely Bray’s lackeys, heavy brawlers who looked nervous in the ring. In this match, they fought just as well as everybody else. Harper’s cracking dropkick early on in the match was a signal that he wasn’t going to let everyone else do the hard work. You’d think the peak of the match was the sequence involving Seth Rollins and Harper. Harper tries a top-rope German suplex. Rollins flips out of it, clotheslines Harper over the rope, and executes a suicide dive onto the prone Harper. That’s merely the middle of the match, and things only intensify from there. Later, Harper even hits a suicide dive of his own.
It’s almost like a classic wrestling brawl; the action never stops. Weapons don’t come into play, but the announcer’s table does come into play. Reigns plays the ‘big dog,’ able to match the Wyatts for strength and brawling ability. Ambrose is almost crazier than Bray. Rollins has the speed advantage. The Wyatts are just powerhouses. The two teams take each other to the limits in a match that is as chaotic as it is entrancing. The Shield would go on to have other great bouts against Evolution (either of which I’m surprised aren’t in this list). But this remains their zenith, as well as the Wyatt’s zenith. When the crowd chants this is awesome before the match even begins, you hope something special will happens after the chants die down. In this match, something special did happen.
VERDICT: 9/10. The WWE’s greatest ever six-man tag team match (I may as well give a definitive statement every now and again!). The Shield and The Wyatts brawl, wrestle and batter each other with an intensity that is as fierce by the pinfall as it was when the match began. Just brilliant!
Does this match belong in the WWE Network’s ‘ 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die’ List? Leave your thoughts/comments below!
Click here for my review of #39 Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (ECW Television Title, ECW Hardcore TV, May 2, 1995)
Click here to view my list of reviews of the WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die
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