WWE Elimination Chamber

WWE Elimination Chamber Press Conference Recap: HHH, Sami Zayn, Austin Theory & more

— Below is a recap of WWE’s post Elimination Chamber media press conference, written by Mike Johnson, pwinsider.com

Byron Saxton welcomed everyone.

Austin Theory was the first guest. He bragged about winning and going to Wrestlemania. He issued an open challenge for Monday on Raw. It was mostly in-character stuff.

Edge and Beth Phoenix were next. Edge said that for nine years, he was retired and now he gets to team with his wife and he gets to have fun with his wife and his a Shatter Machine after Beth hadn’t wrestled in 13 months. He’s not thinking about retiring right now but when he does he would like it to be in character.

Beth was asked about preparing for big matches now vs. competing while touring consistently on the road. She said that the division has so much more diversity now and the prep reflects the current women’s division. She knew she had to work hard and put time in the gym to stand toe to toe with the opposition. It’s challenging but she’s thankful she lives with another pro wrestler so they can put time in the ring together.

Edge was asked if he saw himself to working in other areas of the business when it is time to retire. He said he’d like to lend his brain to “this place” while also acting. He’s stepped in the ring with Terry Funk, Undertaker and Seth Rollins, working with generations of talents. He’s taking it a step at a time.

Beth was asked about Rhea Ripley. Beth said she met Ripley when she worked the Mae Young Classic and she had “such magic” around her. She heard a lot of “what if” dream match talk about her and she was happy to step in the ring with her. Edge joked he has a shiner coming from being hit by Rhea tonight.

Edge teased that he would be the one who answers Austin Theory’s open challenge on Monday and would kick his teeth in if Austin Theory accepts.

Next up was Triple H. He thanked for media for being here and thanked the fans “in general.” He said tonight this was like Wrestlemania when that show is actually six weeks away. He said it was an odd feeling to have something this monumental when Mania is so close. He said there were a lot of big breakout performances tonight. He felt that everyone brought their A-Game tonight and came as if they had a statement to make tonight.

He wanted to thank Montreal and the Bell Center. He said when the crowd is the star of the show, you have something special. He said it was electric and backstage at gorilla, the crowd was almost deafening. It was the largest WWE gate in Montreal history. A sellout of 17,200+ in attendance. They had 15,000+ for Smackdown. They set a new record for the largest gate and the most viewers in Chamber history. Montreal showed they are one of the premiere cities for WWE in the world. He said it was a very historic night, bringing up historic names from the business, saying they got them to today. He said he could feel Pat Patterson “up there, in this moment, in Montreal, with tears in his eyes” and said it was something Pat would have enjoyed.

Triple H said every match delivered. The Women’s Chamber was the best he ever saw. He said so many had a breakout night in the Men’s Chamber. He said Logan Paul gave them a moment.

Triple H praised the main event. Sami Zayn reminds him of a Mick Foley with his connection to the crowd, on an emotional level.

They are heading into the biggest Wrestlemania there has ever been in 42 days.

He was asked about transitioning as an exec. He said that if there was anything that made him great, it was his passion for this. He said that if you don’t have that passion for it, you don’t make it in the business. He sees some talents lose that passion over time, but it’s never diminished for him. He still loves it the way he did the first time he saw Chief Jay Strongbow and thought it was the greatest thing he’s ever seen. When it’s done well, there is nothing as great as what pro wrestling and WWE is, there is no one who loses themselves in anything the way a live crowd loses themselves in WWE. It connects you and it ebbs and flows. If they have a bad five minutes on a 3 and a 1/2 hour show, they never hear the end of it. There’s no way someone would have walked out tonight and didn’t believe they didnt want to come back.

Triple H was asked how he feels about a potential WWE sale. He said he guesses that depends on who is buying it and what the outcome is. He said he is staying out of that and has the best job in the world and as long as they are allowed to create and their talents are able to do what they do, “I’m good” and he’s happy.

He was asked how a reaction like Sami gets on one night, how does that change how you present or book him the next night in the same place. He said that if someone gets a big reaction one night, if they get something slightly less, that’s good. He thought that sometimes you have to feel it and go with your gut. He knew last night that today was going to destroy it.

Sami Zayn was next. He said that he feels very strange. He feels detached right now and strange. He can’t put his finger on what it is. He knows what they did but he feels like he needs to go back and watch this to see how it played out. He said that’s how it’s been the entire Bloodline storyline. He wants to see how it looked on camera and the camera angles.

Zayn said it was a dream come true but it was an unhappy ending. Sometimes you have a dream and it’s going in a certain direction but then you wake up. The storybook ending is not what happened tonight. He has to admit there’s a smart part of him that wishes he could have given that ending to himself, his family, his city. You dream of that happy ending and so close but it doesn’t happen.

Zayn said when he looked out at the crowd after the three count, he felt, “This is not fun” as you could feel the pain on their faces and not in a storyline way. He said that George St. Pierre was the benchmark athlete who belonged to the city and was rallied around by the city like no other. He felt like there was a real buzz in the building and it felt like GSP came back to Montreal to lose and thar’s a downer. It was a great fight but it was a downer.

Zayn was asked when we’ll see another Wrestlemania in Canada. Zayn said it comes down to a lot of business stuff that is beyond his pay grade but the secret is out on Montreal. He said there are some cities that have the rep for the best wrestling cities and live crowd. Every performer knows it and the world knows it – Montreal is one of those cities. He said you see the fans standing on their feet and it’s like damn, Montreal crowd. He’s biased but it’s a world class city.

Zayn said it was here in Montreal that he felt tonight could happen. He said that for the first few months of the Bloodline, he and Roman didn’t appear together. The first time they do is in Montreal. He said there was an immediate on-screen chemistry and it being in Montreal amplified it. The storyline needed that moment and it was a specific moment that turned the page for the story.

Zayn was asked about passionate promo on Smackdown and what got him to that point. He said he had a lot to say but you had to assess the situation and adapt to the crowd. You can’t ignore them when they have that energy. He said it created a really memorable segment. The Bloodline segment has allowed them to have so many memorable segments. We are in an era of content. Being good is not good enough anymore. It’s hard to do something memorable, much less something just good. He said he feels he’s left people with segments they will remember 5-10 years down the road. He had to adapt and acknowledge the segment with Cody, take the good stuff and run with it.

Follow Us

Results

Most Popular