WWE Elimination Chamber 2012: 5 Issues with the Pay-Per-View

Elimination Chamber 2012 is in the books and now there's nothing left before Wrestlemania.  While the Pay-Per-View wasn't terrible, I did have issues with it.

Naturally, being a member of the IWC, I guess I'm bound to have at least one issue with everything I see.  Still, there are some improvements WWE could have made.

The John Laurinaitis Promo

A mini-issue was the return of Alberto Del Rio.  Seriously, I was hoping never to see him again.

I understand why this happened at the Elimination Chamber.  I understand that Teddy Long's character has grown extremely stale.

Yet, this point of the PPV was way, way too boring.  Laurinaitis stumbled through his speech and the only entertaining part was the return of Christian. 

This could've easily been done on some other episode of Raw, but it wasted time on a PPV.  I fast forwarded through parts of it.

And, I reiterate—what a shame to see Del Rio back.

No Appearance from Kharma

Tamina and Beth Phoenix had a decent match at the Elimination Chamber, but I expected more to happen after the match.

Once the obvious winner, Beth Phoenix, got the pin, I was expecting for the evil laughter to blare over Milwaukee and down to the ring and Kharma would come marching.

Nothing happened. 

May there be something tonight?

Jack Swagger vs. Justin Gabriel

I'd love to see the WWE begin to push both of these guys.  Gabriel certainly has a level of excitement and a ton of athleticism.

Swagger, a former World Champion—no matter how forgettable the run—has proved to be quite effective in the ring.  He's the reigning United States champion, which I'd almost forgotten until I saw him at the Elimination Chamber.

This match was an awful choice as an unannounced event.  How about a tag title match? 

At least they've been on television recently. 

Stereotypical Cena Win

Well, who'd have thunk it?  Cena rose above the hate and beat Kane.

Cena was in the ambulance. And right as Kane's about to shut the door, Super Cena comes to life and, within a couple minutes, tosses the Big Red Machine off the top of the ambulance and then into it.

Match over.

Was there such a problem with having Cena show some ruthless aggression?  With him showing even the slightest bit of hate?

As expected, it didn't happen.

How Very Predictable

I didn't actually think it would be a good idea to have Great Khali, Kofi Kingston or Santino Marella walk out with a world championship, but I called this PPV every step of the way.

We had no doubt that Daniel Bryan would win, though some of us wanted to believe they'd allow the Big Show walk out with the championship.  It was pretty obvious to me that Punk would win, and he'll now go on to face Jericho at Wrestlemania—so predictable.

Beth Phoenix retained—not shocking.  Worst of all, Cena rose above the hate, which was also very predictable.

I'm not asking for some magnificent ball of fire, but throw me through a loop for once!