According to Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns is a “failure,” but it was Wyatt who was left out in the cold at the end of a qualifying match for the Men’s Elimination Chamber Match, where Universal Champion Brock Lesnar’s WrestleMania opponent will be decided.
Fighting words aside, that’s a bitter pill for Wyatt to swallow, given that he won his first WWE Championship inside the Chamber last year and has been chasing those heights since losing the title at WrestleMania. Re-entering the site of his greatest triumph would have been the perfect launching point for him, and Wyatt fought like a man who understood the stakes, taking the match to the outside when Reigns began to gain the advantage.
Even when The Big Dog slowly but surely clawed his way back, Wyatt hung with him every step of the way, turning the match into a high-stakes war of attrition. Reigns regained the upper hand by kicking out of Sister Abigail to send Wyatt into a twitchy, wide-eyed frenzy and powering out of a second attempt in order to set up a match-ending Spear. The loss would have been bad enough for Wyatt, of course. But thanks to a post-match attack from “Woken” Matt Hardy, whom Wyatt cost a Chamber position last week, The Eater of Worlds’ night ended in something even worse than failure: Deletion
Credit: WWE.com
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“Woken” Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt briefly joined forces during the Men’s Royal Rumble Match to cancel Rusev Day before eliminating each other, but their rivalry does not appear to be ending in a stalemate.
The Reaper of Souls cost The Woken One the chance to compete in the Men’s Elimination Chamber Match, handing the honor instead to Elias, whose attack of The Woken One’s shoulder led to a spirited rally from the former Raw Tag Team Champion. Wyatt’s gruesome imagery flashed across the TitanTron right as Hardy was commencing the deletion process and, with Matt distracted, Elias struck from behind and executed Drift Away to punch his ticket. Wyatt himself appeared on the TitanTron after the pinfall, cackling uncontrollably at Hardy’s misfortune.
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Elsewhere, Kofi Kingston was saved from elimination by his eliminated New Day compatriots, who broke Kingston’s fall with their own bodies (Xavier Woods) and a plate of pancakes (Big E). “Woken” Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt joined forces to eliminate overwhelming sentimental favorite Rusev, only to eliminate each other moments later as their heated rivalry continued.
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After weeks of taunts and mind games, Bray Wyatt finally got his chance to go one-on-one with “Woken” Matt Hardy and made good on the opportunity, defeating his multi-dimensional nemesis inside The Manhattan Center.
The Woken One did not go quietly into defeat, of course. In his first bout with Wyatt since the former WWE Champion pushed him past his breaking point, Hardy proved to be all but impervious to Wyatt’s typical mind games. When Wyatt hung upside down off the ropes, Matt looked him dead in the eyes and screamed “Wonderful!”
Less than wonderful, however, was how “Woken” Matt met his end: At the hands of a ruthless Sister Abigail after The Eater of Worlds tied him up in the ropes. Hand the skirmish to Wyatt, but with both Superstars confirmed as competitors in the Men’s Royal Rumble Match, The Great War remains undecided.
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For the last two weeks, Heath Slater has watched his partner Rhyno fight to the very end in an effort to teach The One-Man Band about toughness. Consider the lessons taken to heart: Slater certainly fought hard against “Woken” Matt Hardy, but the former SmackDown Tag Team Champion suffered defeat — or deletion, rather — at the hands of the multi-dimensional Superstar all the same. Despite a strong opening by Slater, Hardy once again obtained the advantage by gnawing at The One-Man Band’s hand and subjected him to the “deletion process,” culminating in a wonderful Twist of Fate.
Credit: WWE.com
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