WWE Elimination Chamber 2012 Results: Grading Each Match at the Latest PPV Event

Last night's Elimination Chamber PPV was, in my opinion, mediocre for a PPV leading into WrestleMania. The night was filled with some strange booking by WWE which made me wonder how much stock they really had in the event.

Here, I will take a look at each match and grade the overall performance and impact of the match.

Raw Chamber match: B

This match had the potential to be so much better than it was. There were six wrestlers who had the potential to pull off the best Chamber match in history and instead they had one that was just OK.

There was a fair share of excitement, but the only real high spots were Kofi leaping from one of the pods and Kofi and Punk colliding mid-air after a double springboard attempt.

The most confusing part is how Jericho exited the match. He was kicked by Punk and sent reeling through the Chamber door and onto a camera man.

Jericho didn't move the rest of the match and WWE played up the alleged injury by having him shown being inspected by doctors later in the evening.

Had Jericho lasted the whole match and had a better outing, this probably would have rated higher.

Divas Title Match: B-

This match really had nothing special, but it was a Divas match with some decent wrestling and lasted over seven minutes.

Tamina was unable to capture the title from Beth Phoenix, but came close on a couple of occasions during the match.

Beth had an impressive showing as well, including a superplex and some good mat wrestling. This match was not as good as I was hoping, but much better than the average Divas match, which is why it was in the B range at all.

SmackDown Chamber match: C+

This match started out pretty slow, and actually got a "boring" chant from the crowd at one point, but it picked up and ended up being decent towards the end.

The big story is how Santino actually came close to winning the match a couple of times and becoming World Champion.

Whether this is the start of Santino going after the title in some way is not the point; what is important is that he performed well on a main-event stage in WWE.

The crowd was behind him heavily, but Daniel Bryan ended up getting the better of him using the LeBell Lock.

Another surprise was how Big Show was the second man eliminated from the match, but he didn't leave before ripping open the top of Bryan's pod and climbing in to beat on the champion.

The match had good energy for the second half, but the first half kept the grade somewhat low.

US Title match Swagger vs. Gabriel: D

This match was just randomly thrown together in the back during a segment about cheese. I didn't even know the title was on the line until the ref held it up before the bell.

The match was short and did not have any standout moments for either man. Overall, this was a wasted segment which should have had a more built-up feud in its place. Ted DiBiase and Hunico could have had one last match on a PPV instead.

This would have gotten an even worse grade had it not been for the fact that Swagger and Gabriel are both good in the ring and made the most of the time they had.

Kane vs. John Cena Ambulance match: B+

This match was about as good as we could have expected. It was two powerhouses in a no-DQ situation, so we knew there would be no chain wrestling or technical prowess on display.

The two men did have a good match though and it had its moments of excitement. The spot with the announce table was decent and the final moments where Kane was given an AA off the ambulance looked cool.

The only complaint I had was how predictable the match was. Kane got the better of Cena in the beginning, but Superman overcame the odds, won the match and celebrated like normal.

He didn't embrace the hate or turn heel like a lot of people hoped, but he did keep himself looking strong heading into his match with The Rock.

What were your impressions of the PPV last night?