By Pat McNeill, PWTorch Columnist

PWTorch Columnist Pat McNeill will be liveblogging tonight's WWE Network Special. Drop by at about 7:45 PM Eastern and join the party.

Are you ready for the Elimination Chamber? Good. You’re ahead of me.

Renee Young opens the kickoff show by announcing that the injured Rusev is out of tonight’s Elimination Chamber match. Who will replace him? Bray Wyatt? Cody Rhodes? Jack Swagger? “Cannonball” Tony Parisi?

The rumor is that Rusev’s replacement is a former World Champion. That narrows it down somewhat.

Kane tells The New Day that all three of them can be in Elimination Chamber, provided they can fit in one pod. I see comedy gold on the horizon.

We have a preshow match. It's Zack Ryder taking on Stardust. Yeah, that's about right.

JBL helps out the prospective feud between Stardust and Arrow. The Cross Rhodes is now called the Queen’s Crossbow. And Ryder loses again.

Okay, let’s hit fast forward.

Backstage, Tom Phillips has an interview with Dolph Ziggler’s Russian mail order bride.

Up next, we’re promised a MizTV interview with “former Intercontinental champion” Daniel Bryan. Really, WWE?

JBL says Miz and Rock combined have made a billion dollars at the box office. That's probably the line of the night.

Daniel Bryan is out to plug his upcoming book. He’s here to hand the I/C Title to whoever wins Elimination Chamber. And he says he’ll be back in the ring, some day. Miz offers to be Daniel Bryan’s agent.

Bryan decides to “improve” the segment by adding Axel & Sandow to the mix. Sandow knocks out Miz and Axel legdrops him. Let’s just say Miz isn’t in line to take the podcasting crown from Stone Cold any time soon.

Let's skip ahead to the main show, shall we?

The ad for this show promises pain, suffering and agony. And that’s just the backstage segments.

We kick things off with the tag team Elimination Chamber match. I hear this is how the NBA will be deciding the title next year.

Question from Greg Powell on Twitter: Any chance we see The Ascension soon on Destination America?

Answer: Sorry, Greg. I don't think Ring of Honor is interested.

The Lucha Dragons and The Ascension start us off. We’re going at four minute intervals. It doesn’t take too long for the wrestlers to realize there aren’t any tag team rules here.

Kidd & Cesaro are in next. Cole tells us Ascension & Lucha Dragons are feeling the effects of having a bad four minute match.

Los Matadores are next. Kalisto climbs to the very top of the Chamber and drops onto one of the Ascension. Of course, that gets a near fall. Ascension eliminates Los Matadores. Well, somebody had to do it.

The Ascension eliminates the Lucha Dragons. Uh-oh.

If you hadn’t figured out already that New Day would be the final team out, you might want to consider a Torch subscription.

Primetime Players eliminate The Asecension. That’s better.

Chris Speirs asks on Twitter: "Still think this goes plus 20 minutes?" Dear God, no.

"This is awe-some!" No, not real-ly!

Earlier, Lawler accidentally called Michael Cole “J.R.” It could be worse. He could have confused Cole with Lance Russell.

Young rolls up Cesaro while Cesaro and Kidd are fiddling with Kofi Kingston. Kidd & Cesaro are gone.

The New Day triple teams Titus and pins him. That let the air out of the building.

We get a very good video package hyping Money In the Bank.

Lawler talks about Rusev’s injury from Thursday. For a moment, Lawler blanks on the names of the other Smackdown announcers. And who can blame him?

Up next, Nikki vs. Paige vs. Naomi. You can follow this match on social media by using the hashtag #8MinutesOrBust.

Naomi nails Paige with a kick. Naomi's got electric boots. And a mohair suit. (You know, I read it in a magazine.)

Naomi hits Paige with a reverse rana, but Nikki pins Naomi with the Rack Attack. Sorry, we didn't get our eight minutes.

Time for the semi main event, with John Cena against Kevin Owens. Yeah, I actually need to pay attention to this match. Be back in a few.

I know many of our readers don't care for John Cena's character, but the man has made exceptional use of the "Schoolhouse Rock" font.

Owens has Cena in a headlock. Yeah, this is weird.

Yes, Owens did a springboard moonsault. Yes, both wrestlers kicked out of each other's signature moves. And yes, Kevin Owens beat Cena in the middle of the ring with his finisher, clean as a sheet.

It's official. Kevin Owens is the Anti-Cena. And that match was awesome. Kudos to both wrestlers.

Joseph Daoud writes via Twitter: "Do you think they are pushing out Cena little by little for his exit in a couple years? Or is he still around for a while?"

Answer: Cena's in there until his body completely breaks down. So, about three or four years. And if he uses his time to make new wrestlers, (like he just did) then he's earned a few more years as a headliner.

Now that that's over, let's see a couple more former NXT champions. Adrian Neville vs. Bo Dallas. Neville wins with the Red Arrow while the announcers make fun of each other.

Dean Ambrose is backstage with Roman Reigns. Triple H swings by to tell Reigns that if he interferes in Ambrose's match, Ambrose will be disqualified. This is somehow different from the rules of every other wrestling match.

It is time for the Elimination Chamber. Replacing Rusev tonight will be...Mark Henry. Oh, well.

According to Cole, Ryback has promised that tonight, the good guy wins. I figure that's good news for Dolph Ziggler.

Ziggler and Barrett start. R-Truth is called in third, but Barrett somehow cuts him off before he can exit his pod. Well, that's just embarrassing.

This is going about as well as you'd expect from a Ziggler vs. Barrett vs. R-Truth match.

Barrett throws Ziggler into Mark Henry's pod, and it cracks open. So, Henry is in fourth. And Ryback is in fifth.

Truth pins Barrett with the Lie Detector. So much for that.

Sheamus is due out last, but the pod won't open. What's the big deal? Have someone throw Ziggler into Sheamus's pod. Problem solved.

Ryback pins Truth with the Shell Shock. Sheamus finally escapes, and uses Dolph's head to destroy another pod. Sheamus pins Henry with the Brogue Kick.

This crowd is dead.

Sheamus pins Ziggler with the Brogue Kick. It's Sheamus and Ryback left. "This is about to be brutal." Lawler said it. I didn't.

After a few painful looking spots, Ryback gets Sheamus with the shell shock and pins him. Ryback is your WWE intercontinental champion. Daniel Bryan presents Ryback with the title, then gets the crowd to chant "Yes" for the big guy.

That presentation made up for the disappointing match. (Okay, no, it didn't. But let's move on anyway.)

BREAKING NEWS: Cena vs. Owens again in two weeks at Money In The Bank. Book it, Runjin.

Video package for the main event. Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for the WWE Title. A long time ago, they used to be friends.

The match starts slow and builds well. Ambrose survives getting powerbombed on the security barricade.

Down goes referee John Cone. Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds, and the second referee comes in and counts the pin. Dean Ambrose is your WWE champion!

Oh, no...

John Cena wakes up and disqualifies Rollins for pushing him. Ambrose wins, but he's not the champion. The Authority types beat Ambrose down, until Reigns comes in and eliminates them all.

So Dean Ambrose is leaving Corpus Christi with the WWE title. I'm thinking there must be a rematch. Ambrose says he's the champ, and he's buying the beer tonight.

Seth Rollins is torn. On the one hand, Ambrose has possession of his WWE title belt. On the other hand, Dean offered to buy the beer.

Well, that does it for us. Join James & Greg at half-past for the postgame show. Bruce Mitchell might have something to say about this on the postgame show.

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