WWE Elimination Chamber 2015: Best Finishes for Each Match on the Card

Since the start of the promotion for the 2015 Elimination Chamber event, WWE has let it be known that the matches on the card are not going to follow through with the tradition of the pay-per-view's past.

Even the event itself has been changed. It originally stood between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, but it is now positioned as a WWE Network special in the middle of Payback and Money in the Bank.

Time will tell if that was the right decision to make, but that's already old news, and there are plenty of things to still plan out for this show—namely, who is going to win?

If the powers that be wish to make the event something truly special to entice people to sign up for the WWE Network, it is going to have to be booked as though it is a PPV on par or even better than the one that preceded it.

There can be no matches that end as though it is just another episode of Monday Night Raw. Nor can this be treated like an afterthought in which nothing truly matters.

Every title save for the United States Championship is on the line, and the event's two titular matches need to be planned out rather carefully in order to avoid being busts.

Keeping these things in mind, how should WWE book the pay-per-view? What are the best finishes to each of the matches that will yield the most productive results for what WWE has been building up to and will want to build toward in the future?

Let's take a look at what should come our way on Sunday.

WWE Tag Team Championships Elimination Chamber Match

Credit: WWE.com

The Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Tag Team Championships has the potential to be the craziest, most entertaining segment of the evening because of the sheer number of people involved.

How can you possibly have potentially 12 people in the ring at the same time and not end up with total chaos?

What WWE needs to do is embrace this and let it become the story of the match. There are plenty of high-flyers involved, such as Kalisto, Sin Cara, Tyson Kidd and Kofi Kingston, who could figure out fun ways to showcase their agility in the odd structure. Likewise, there are powerhouses such as Big E, Titus O'Neil and Cesaro who can ground things and toss the smaller guys around.

Any referee would have his work cut out for him if he tried to keep track of the action, so that has to come into play.

Although WWE has not officially announced some of the rules, it can be assumed that both members of a team will enter the match at the same time and if one of them gets pinned or is made to submit, that entire team is eliminated.

There is the potential that several pinfalls could happen at the same time. WWE should play around with this by having opposing team members going for victories. What does the referee do if Konnor tries to pin Fernando while Diego tries to pin Viktor?

The New Day is far too over with the crowd to drop the titles to any of their challengers here, so if they are going to win, they need to somehow cheat. After all, they're heels, and they shouldn't win by sheer courage and determination.

Out of all of the teams here, the ones with the best chance to feud with the New Day after this event has to be the Lucha Dragons, as the others have had their shots and haven't really impressed. Therefore, Kalisto and Sin Cara should be the final team eliminated in dubious fashion.

To accomplish this, the New Day should capitalize on the haphazard nature of the match and score a cheap pin on one of the Lucha Dragons after they have dispatched either Kidd and Cesaro or the Ascension and look as though they are building up steam toward a victory.

To make things even more annoying, the current champions should be the final team to enter the match. That way, they can celebrate what they feel to be a glorious, hard-fought win while the WWE Universe groans, knowing that it was as weak as it could be.

Because of the heels winning in such a fashion, this should also be either the first or second match of the night so a match with a more exciting outcome happens later on to avoid leaving the fans with a sour taste in their mouths.

Neville vs. Bo Dallas

Credit: WWE.com

Every performer in WWE is responsible for holding up his or her end of the bargain when it comes to entertainment, but some are simply burdened with more weight on their shoulders than others.

When it comes to the match between Bo Dallas and Neville, this is not something that is particularly important. In fact, it's going to be used as filler to give the fans a chance to use the bathroom, grab some food, take a breather and prepare themselves for the bigger matches of the night.

It should undoubtedly still be fun to watch—just in a different way. There's no mystique to this segment because it's an obvious Neville victory.

Anything short of a Red Arrow finishing off Dallas would be an utter shock, and if WWE were to go that route and have Neville lose, it would have to be in order to set something up that's worthy of making the New Sensation get pinned.

Dallas has a funny character, but he can't be taken seriously. A fluke victory here and there is great and can be used to amazing comedic effect, but this is not the time for jokes.

To be blunt, Dallas is only on this card to lose to Neville, who is only in this match to keep him away from being jobbed out in R-Truth's spot for the Intercontinental Championship picture.

The best finish for this match is to keep it basic and have Neville do his finisher for a generic, clean win and move on.

John Cena vs. Kevin Owens

Credit: WWE.com

Too often, fans will run to the assumption that John Cena has to lose a match against someone he's feuding with because of a blind hate and their wanting to see him come up short.

However, many times, there's a justification behind it. This match against NXT champion Kevin Owens is one of those cases.

Cena has nothing to gain and Owens has quite a bit to lose in their champion-versus-champion match, though neither title is on the line.

It goes without saying that Cena's reputation is at such a level that losses no longer hurt his credibility because of what he has already accomplished in his career; he could be made to look like a fool one night and win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship the next and not a single fan would question the validity.

Since he is that credible, he certainly doesn't need to win this match. Meanwhile, Owens is still a rookie in the company who is building up quite a reputation and has to maintain that momentum.

In a short amount of time, Owens went from wrestling his debut match to becoming the most dominant champion in NXT history, which has gotten him to the point where only a few months after showing up, he's able to legitimately challenge the face of the company.

His path of destruction speaks volumes, and if he were to hit a roadblock with Cena, it would bring things to a halt. That would establish that even the top guy in NXT, who has been running through that promotion's roster with ease, just doesn't match up to the main event.

Alternatively, if Owens were to defeat Cena, he will look like a truly unstoppable force, which would in turn make the person who takes the title away from him appear to be even stronger for conquering him. This is the same argument that was put forward during Brock Lesnar's title reign.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, if Owens were to lose, it would have the same problem as Rusev's losses to Cena created. The Bulgarian Brute was on a hot streak that ended with his feud against Cena. The same mistake shouldn't be made with Owens.

Seeing as how their respective championships aren't on the line, it's absolutely safe to have Owens score a pinfall victory over Cena and head into NXT with his head held high instead of needing to make excuses for why he wasn't able to pull off a victory.

That would be the best way to finish this match, but if WWE is hesitant to give Owens the victory, the backup plan should be to have Sami Zayn, Finn Balor or Samoa Joe cost the current NXT champion the match by interfering. That is the only other way for the outcome to be something other than a disappointment and detrimental to WWE's developmental brand.

WWE Divas Championship Triple Threat Match

Credit: WWE.com

Perhaps the toughest match to predict on the card right now is the Divas Championship bout between Nikki Bella, Paige and Naomi.

Points can be made for each woman to leave with the title, and they all come from completely different angles, which is interesting.

Nikki still has some decent momentum on her side, and it's arguable that there's no female act in the company today who can top the appeal of the Bella Twins. Because of that, it makes sense to keep the championship in their possession so it can get the most exposure.

Then there's Paige, who will be heading into the new season of Tough Enough as one of the three judges. What better way to help legitimize her position on that panel than for her to be the current champion of her division?

Sadly, there's a bleaker reason for Naomi, which boils down to her being overlooked for far too long. Ever since her time competing in NXT, she has been a grossly underrated performer who sits aside while others are rewarded while she seemingly gets no credit. It's amazing she hasn't won the Divas Championship yet, and a victory in that regard is long overdue.

As it stands right now, many would argue that the best person to hold the title isn't even involved in this match at all but is sitting down in the developmental NXT brand. With wrestlers such as Charlotte, Bayley, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch tearing the house down and the main roster's women not being their equals, WWE is in a tough situation.

Therefore, the most important factor in determining how this match should go down rests on whether WWE has any plans to bring another woman up to Raw and SmackDown from NXT. If that's the case, Charlotte is probably the top choice, and she could either debut as a heel or a babyface.

Putting the title on a heel Charlotte soon after Elimination Chamber would mean Nikki or Paige needs to be the champion, so in that scenario, it's better to just keep the belt on the Bella. If Charlotte were to be a babyface, then it's Naomi who should win the title in order to eventually drop it to her.

All in all, that's more fantasy booking than anything else, and there's no indication that Charlotte or any of the NXT Divas will be making an appearance on the main roster before Money in the Bank, so a finish needs to be constructed that does not rely on that playing out.

If the current performers are those WWE will be working with for the foreseeable future, the best ending to this match would be to rule someone out of the running for a title match at Money in the Bank and set up a singles match between the others.

It's about time Naomi got her shot, and seeing as how she's a heel, she should capitalize on a Ram-Paige, pinning Nikki and stealing the victory for herself through a distraction from Tamina Snuka. There's unfinished business, with Naomi having stolen the title shot from Paige to begin with, so this will up the ante.

Once Nikki has lost her rematch against Naomi, a singles match between the others can take place. Hopefully, by the time that feud is done, WWE will have called up either Charlotte or Bayley.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Elimination Chamber Match

Credit: WWE.com

With the Intercontinental Championship currently vacant and up for grabs, the six contenders in this Elimination Chamber match all are not only fighting for the title but the responsibility to pick up where Daniel Bryan left off.

Clearly, WWE wanted Bryan to be a focal point going forward by giving him the championship at WrestleMania, so it is a big loss for him to have had to abandon that role.

Out of this group, there seems to be one person who stands above the rest in being able to fill that spot and do what's necessary for the championship.

First off, R-Truth is not that person. He was out of place at WrestleMania fighting for the strap, and he's still not qualified to be a proper contender. R-Truth is basically in this match to be the easy elimination and nothing more.

Although King Barrett was the most recent champion outside of Bryan, he has the King of the Ring push going for him. There's really no need to give him a title on top of this, because it would be redundant. If he boasts about being King of the Ring, he ignores the title. If he chooses the latter to be the focal point, why bother having him be King Barrett instead of just Bad News Barrett?

Similar to Barrett, the situation of not needing another element added to him is applicable to both Dolph Ziggler and Rusev. Those two are currently feuding over Lana, so the title is unnecessary. There's nothing stopping them from having a grudge match of their own, so a title defense being lumped in would be extraneous.

On top of this, Rusev may not even be appearing in the match at all because of his injuries. If he is to be replaced, that wrestler won't win because he was never a potential winner to begin with. Either way, Rusev or his replacement can be ruled out.

That leaves Ryback and Sheamus as the two who should win this match and the Intercontinental Championship. While Ryback could be a fun change of pace and help make up for the poor booking WWE has given him in the past, the superior choice based on the company's mindset is the Celtic Warrior.

It doesn't appear as though John Cena will be dropping the United States Championship any time soon, so having the other champion in the midcard division be a heel offers a distinct difference. With Ryback as champion, he would be fighting the same handful of people who could challenge Cena, whereas Sheamus can feud with the opposite end of the spectrum.

Your mileage may vary on who the best performer in this match is, but when it comes down to credibility, Sheamus has been booked the strongest over the years. He has been a more steady main event player than anyone and would bring that status to the IC title more than the others involved.

Since his character is that of a brutish and powerful fighter, the smartest way to get that message across and start his title reign off with a bang is for him to nail an emphatic Brogue Kick and pin them to end the match.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose

Credit: WWE.com

Despite his popularity and the number of people in the WWE Universe who would like to see a title change happen here, poor Dean Ambrose doesn't have much of a shot at winning this match.

There is a potential obvious money match looming between Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, so if that were to happen, Rollins would need to enter that pay-per-view as the champion.

Since that can only happen if he retains here or loses and quickly wins it back, it'd be better to not play hot potato with the belt and just keep it on Rollins.

Ambrose is sadly no stranger to losing pay-per-view matches since the Shield split last year, but WWE has to avoid making the mistake of making him lose via ridiculous methods. There shouldn't be any exploding monitors, holograms or any other odd shenanigans taking place.

It seems as though WWE is hinting at Roman Reigns playing a big part in this, so one option would be for him to accidentally cost Ambrose the match. Perhaps he attempts a spear on Rollins, who evades the attack, resulting in Reigns spearing Ambrose instead.

If Reigns is not involved in the finish, WWE could choose the less ambitious route and just have members of the Authority interfere and help Rollins retain. There are plenty of people, such as Kane, Triple H, Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble, who could cause distractions and mess things up for the Lunatic Fringe.

With Big Show having sat out so long, this could also be an opportunity to bring him back and have him be the one to deliver the knockout blow on behalf of Rollins. That is possibly the best way to go about ending this match, as it brings someone into the fold who can balance out what is likely going to happen with Kane.

Obviously, tension has been brewing between Kane and Rollins for months. One reason why is because the Devil's Favorite Demon keeps bringing up how he's responsible for Rollins winning the title to begin with. This all started back at Money in the Bank, which just so happens to be the next event.

Could we see a title match between Rollins and Kane when things reach the boiling point? If that is to happen, Big Show would be brought back into the fold with the Authority to play the muscle role that Kane would be abandoning in the feud.

Ambrose is not winning the championship, so the end of the match should be about damage limitation for him, meaning he loses in a way that doesn't just make him seem like a chump. Interference will definitely come into play, resulting in a Rollins victory, but it's just a matter of who does what.

WWE should book this match to showcase how Ambrose could get the job done if it weren't for outside forces, and the biggest outsider of them all should be the one to execute the final blow.

How would you book the 2015 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view? Who do you think should win the matches that make up this card?

Tell us your thoughts and predictions in the comments section below!

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.