Miz is now a two-time WWE champion.
WWE
The Extermination Room 2021 closed with a surprise: The Miz paid its money into the Bank contract and won the WWE Championship from Drew McIntyre. He did so with the help of Bobby Lashley, who looked set to lose his U.S. championship with Drew McIntyre on his way to WrestleMania.
It achieved a strong pay-per-view, starting with a fantastic extermination chamber match that Daniel Bryan won. In what would become the theme of the show, Bryan was instantly defeated by universal champion Roman Reigns in the ensuing match.
Elsewhere, Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair failed to win the Women’s Tag Team Championships, and Riddle won the US title by pinning John Morrison.
Keep reading for a complete overview of the elimination room.
The Miz earns money and becomes WWE Champion
Bobby Lashley led Drew McIntyre into a trap after the room, destroyed him outside the ring and then put him in the Hurt Lock. Miz’s music played and he ran the ring and officially filled out his money in the bank contract.
The bell rings. Miz won twice after a DDT, but scored the victory after a Skull Crushing Final. The program goes off the air as The Miz celebrates its championship victory.
Yes, really.
Drew McIntyre retains WWE Championship
In the main event of the show, Drew McIntyre retained his WWE championship by winning the elimination match. McIntyre last eliminated AJ Styles to retain his championship.
The match built up to a showdown between Sheamus and McIntyre, with Sheamus as the last contestant in the match. Sheamus eliminated Kofi Kingston with a Brogue Kick, and McIntyre eliminated Jeff Hardy with a Claymore Kick, so it looked like the two would clear the house and fight to close the game. It should not have been, because Sheamus was pinned down by AJ Styles following a phenomenal forearm.
Randy Orton was the first to be eliminated, which was also a surprise. Kofi Kingston entered fourth place in the room and quickly caught Orton with a creative roll. Following his pen, Orton RKO’d Kingston and Hardy before departure. AJ Styles, who had yet to officially enter, took advantage by ordering Omos to break his room door. Omos did so, and AJ ran from outside and walked through the room door, trying to pin Kingston and Hardy without success. Note that this absolutely does not make sense, as AJ is not a legal man until his room door is open. Alas.
The game was good, but much more disconnecting than the SmackDown starting batsman. This is especially true during the period when five men were still active – AJ, McIntyre, Sheamus, Kingston and Hardy – where they performed regularly in various fields. But that improved after Hardy and Kingston were eliminated, when AJ, Sheamus and McIntyre had a strong closing division.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax retain labels
Nia Jax pinned Sasha Banks with a Samoan drop after a bizarre distraction thanks to Reginald, Carmella’s sommelier.
The fight started slowly, with Nia Jax struggling against Banks and Bianca Belair. Things picked up as soon as Baszler entered, and we finally got a solid performance thanks to Baszler and Banks’ excellent opposition. The finish came when Jax and Banks were the legal women. Reginald comes to the ring with luxury champagne and a glass and rolls the champagne into the ring when he tells Banks to break it over Jax. Sasha refused, and was hit by Jax, Samoan sank and then pinned.
The distraction was contrived, Banks looked stupid and Jax’s execution was sloppy.
Rating: 2 stars. It looks very likely that Banks will face Belair at WrestleMania, and this match has suffered under the knowledge that Jax and Baszler will surely retain. It is further hampered by a bad finish and Jax, which is generally not very pleasant to look at. However, Shayna Baszler reigns supreme and was the highlight of the match.
Riddle wins US championship
John Morrison replaces Kieth Lee in this American Triple Threat contest, in which Riddle and Bobby Lashley also participated. Riddle won the fun battle by pinning Morrison.
It started with Lashley being a monster, destroying both Riddle and Morrison. Riddle and Morrison then decide to work together to take the animal down. At first it does not even work, but eventually they gain the upper hand for Lashley and make them beyond the ability to work with a tandem offense.
Inside the ring we find a large wrestling match between Riddle and Morrison. Morrison is tragically underutilized. Eventually, of course, Lashley returns to the ring. Riddle shakes him with a ripchord V-Trigger, but Lashley finally clears. Morrison takes MVP’s crutches and tries to swing to Lashley, but Lashley avoids them and places Morrison in the Hurt Lock. Riddle takes the crutch and hits Lashley in the back – the announcers hastily tell us that these are no disqualifications – causing Lashley to retreat and regroup outside.
Riddle then planted Morrison with his BroDerrick tombstone slam for the win. He immediately ran away from Lashley, a true fighting champion.
Rating: 3.5 stars. A fun match with three talented guys. It’s silly to see how Riddle, a supposed baby face and a tough guy, looks so weak compared to Lashley. But it was nice to see Morrison’s talents.
Roman Reigns defeats Daniel Bryan
This Universal Championship match was short but sweet. Bryan, stumbling and barely walking, tells the referee to ring the bell. Roman immediately goes to a spear, but he is stopped while Bryan locks the Yes Lock. Broadcaster Michael Cole loses his head and shouts that Bryan is going to work a miracle. Fantastic moment.
It shouldn’t have been, though, as Reigns turned on Bryan and slammed him with mounted punches. He then locked up a Guillotine and strangled Bryan for the win.
Just as Bryan had no opportunity, neither did Reigns. He was spurred on by Edge, who announced he would defy Reigns at WrestleMania.
Daniel Bryan won the SmackDown Elimination Chamber
The main show opened with the SmackDown Elimination Chamber contest. There were Cesaro, Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Corbin and the eventual winner, Daniel Bryan. Bryan started the match with Cesaro and after about 50 excellent minutes Jey Uso last eliminated to win the match.
After five minutes of rock-solid wrestling between Bryan and Cesaro, Corbin was the third to enter the Room. He was a demolition machine that took both off and broke Bryan’s knee. Corbin would eventually be the first to leave the room, but was tapped by Cesaro’s sharpshooter.
Zayn was in fourth place, with Owens and eventually Uso. A highlight comes when Zayn enlarges the room and is followed by Cesaro. Cesaro holds himself with the links upstairs in the room and kicks Zayn down to the room floor. Zayn was the second to be eliminated when Owens stunned and pinned him down.
After Zayn’s elimination, Uso trapped Owens’ arm in the room door and struck him with super kicks. He then stabbed himself after a top rope splash.
After taking out Cesaro Uso on the outside, we got some excellent back-and-forth action between Cesaro and Bryan. Just as it looked like Cesaro was going to eliminate Bryan – amid a single-legged giant swing on Bryan’s injured leg – Uso is clocked with a superkick. Uso then tied Cesaro up with a splash.
That left Uso and Bryan behind. Uso immediately hit a splash on Bryan for a two. He then scaled down the top of a chamber pod and tried to make a giant splash, but Bryan pushed his knees up and then hit Uso with the running knee for a pin and won his third chamber match.
The good news? Bryan wins a shot at Roman Reigns’ Universal Championship. The bad news? Roman Reigns immediately comes out to start the game. No rest for Bryan.
Rating: 4.5 stars. Excellent stuff. Bryan fans like me will probably be disappointed: it looks like his win will be nothing, as Reigns is now focusing on his WrestleMania match with Edge. In fact, Bryan was probably chosen to win the Chamber over Cesaro so he could lose to Reigns. Regardless, it was an excellent attack.
Kick-off Show results
John Morrison defeated Ricochet, Elias and Ali to win a place in the triple threat match in the United States Championship. Bobby Lashley will now defend his American title against Morrison and Riddle.
Morrison won the match by rolling up Ali, while Ali was distracted by his Retribution faction that bombed Ricochet on the outside.