CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas —
On the one hand, yes. Rollins retained his title against Dean Ambrose in the main event of WWE Elimination Chamber by disqualification, ensuring he lives to fight another day as WWE World Heavyweight Champion even as he technically lost his defense. But he’ll have a hard time finding anything to defend, as The Lunatic Fringe made good on his Elimination Chamber Kickoff promise to “take” Rollins’ title, absconding with The Architect’s crown jewel moments after the bout and leaving Rollins a titleholder with no title.
He did WHAT?!: Watch The Lunatic Fringe's most brazen heist yet
How the contest got there is a complicated story involving two referees, an errant knee and a potentially eaten hat, so it’s appropriate that things started off innocuously enough: Rollins, flanked by J&J Security and Kane — acting in their “official” capacity — standing across the ring from a solitary Ambrose, whose planned backup of Roman Reigns was forced to steer clear of the bout or risk Dean’s disqualification. The Lunatic Fringe didn’t seem hampered by the lack of reinforcements; in fact, he appeared energized at the opportunity to take Rollins down by himself, tossing The Architect to the mat and plying a series of holds to weaken the champion in the opening moments. Once the advantage was established, Ambrose went old school to press the advantage, pulverizing Rollins’ chest with chops and a running dropkick before spiking him cranium-first into the canvas by way of a top-rope leg drop.
The strategy wasn’t pretty, but it worked, which is partially why things turned south when Ambrose went fancy with an attempt to superplex Rollins off the top rope. Thanks to an assist from J&J Security, the champ wriggled free of his former Shield brother’s grip and plunged The Lunatic Fringe — himself entangled in the Tree of Woe position — into the mat with a stomp to the sternum.
The WWE Universe didn’t take kindly to Rollins’ tactics, showering him with derisive “Justin Bieber” chants that only drove the champion to play a more savage tune on his challenger. Rollins muscled Ambrose to the mat with a chinlock and, moments later, followed up with a textbook STO into the turnbuckle. With Ambrose knocked loopy, Rollins took the opportunity to pepper his old buddy with a few punches to the face and a corkscrew neckbreaker, the subsequent two-count of which led to a tense face-to-face between Rollins and veteran official John Cone, who will become very important to this story.
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