WWE Elimination Chamber 2014 - Grudge Match: Titus O'Neil VS Darren Young

[Hard Hit Prince]

The Prime Time Players will officially square off for the first time since their shocking breakup at Elimination Chamber. Darren Young will face Titus O’Neil in what is sure to be a hard-hitting affair.

The bad blood between Young and O’Neil began brewing on the Jan. 31 edition of SmackDown. Following a loss to Ryback and Curtis Axel, O’Neil, frustrated with The Prime Time Players’ recent shortcomings, viciously attacked Young, leaving him in a heap at ringside as he walked out.

Titus explained the following week that he’d never felt better after getting rid of Young, who he described as “dead weight.” That set off Young, who got a measure of retribution with a backstage attack of his own.

Watch Titus' vicious attack | See Darren get retribution​

On the Valentine’s Day edition of SmackDown, O’Neil tried to embarrass his former partner once again. However, Young, fresh off a win over Damien Sandow, turned the tide on O’Neil. “Mr. No Days Off” left Titus reeling and in need of a tailor after ripping up his suit.

During Elimination Chamber, though, there won’t be time for sneak attacks or suit-tearing. The former Prime Time Players will have to settle their score in the ring, once and for all. Will Titus O’Neil prove that he truly is the “Big Deal?” Or will Darren Young show the WWE Universe why they call him “Mr. No Days Off?” Find out this Sunday, on the live Elimination Chamber!

This is one of those matches I'm really into even though I'm expecting the crowd to not really care for either of this man. I could see Titus getting some trademarked "barks" but both of them will have an hard-time getting the WWE Universe on the edge of their seats.

But like I said I want to see this as much as I want to see the main events, mainly because I like those midcard feuds and this one has a good reason behind it. It was rushed and out of the blue, but I like both man and I expect them to give us a good match. House-Show reports and Meltzer himself said that they had a good match and there is no reason for that not to happen this Sunday. It's time for both of them to step up and since O'Neil is clearly the most talented guy from the duo and the one with the best look and getting TV time on Raw, I'm fully expecting him to go over Young. But Young should not be squashed or anything, he has some potential so a good performance in here may open some doors in the future - maybe a a feud with Fandango down the line would be something fresh?

Prediction: O'Neil wins this and goes on to taunt his former best friend/tag partner about it for some time.

 

[Randy Orton's Head Blood]

Meeeeh. It's a throwaway match that might have a bit of story to it, but it's only there to push O'Neil up the card. He'll win this easily and "possibly" move into the main event, or midcard to face off for a singles title eventually. Darren Young is also a potential star & they're not giving him a chance. While Titus has potential, I don't think that he'll get very much from this & the push will end eventually.

Titus wins, but there's nothing big coming from this.

 

[laodaron]

I think that if they give these guys a solid 20 minutes to work, this can be well above the Del Rio/Batista match.

 

[Барбоса]

Many will view this as a throwaway match but for me, if WWE is set on producing a better, all-round card and giving talent a chance to shine, they should be looking to build a more extended lower card feud out of this, rather than a "one and done" outing.

Titus should get the victory at Elimination Chamber in a competitive but decisive manner but then in proceeding weeks Young and Titus should be brawling backstage and ringside, much like the excellent build between Miz and Riley when they split. Perhaps even a second match on RAW/Smackdown ends a double DQ/countout, leading to a final blow-off match at Wrestlemania weekend.

I mean what else are they going to do with Titus in such a short time frame between EC and Mania? This way you have two talents in a natural feud with a chance to show off some passion and intensity on the mic and in-ring.

And hey, if Young can pull off the intense, shunned former tag partner to any degree, stretch it out to Extreme Rules for the gimmick match crescendo.

 

[solidsnake]

I see this as about a 12 to 13 minute match with darren young winning via dq.....
I want to see titus being vicious and completely manhandling young after he costs himself the match. He really could develop into a legitimate badass heel. Hes this cocky brash guy on the mic and it can only get better if he is a totally merciless brute in the ring now thats a combination that automatically catapults him to stardom

 

[Pedigree1]

I dont see this match as a throwaway at all. The wwe is high on Titus,his promo this past monday night was pure Gold.. how do you spell Champion,T-I-T-U-S! That was great stuff. Titus has the look,the athletic ability in the ring,and the promos! Rare for all three. Plus he connects with the crowd with that bark of his. Its not going to be a squash,Darren will put up a good fight,but at the end of the day,Titus will get the nod in this match..

 

[HBsam31]

I agree that this match should get some time, and be competitive. These matches used to mean something. Another poster mentioned a well rounded card consistently, and competitive matches like this that aren't for titles are a good start to that. I think Titus will get the win in what I hope will be a continued feud.

 

[fouldsy91]

Am I the only one who thinks this match is going to be won by Darren? Yes, Titus is the one due a push, but I think Darren winning via roll-up or even dq would be better since this is the start of the feud, and then Titus destroying Darren either by the dq, after the match if he loses by roll up or on a Raw/Smackdown could be a better way to go.

 

[WorldChampionJustin]

Say what you want, Young and Titus are both fairly good wrestlers, and could both be future champions. Young V.S. Titus should have had more build-up, it's a highly emotional story line for only having around two weeks of build-up. I'm fairly sure Titus is the one being pushed here, but I hope that it's a good match and they end of shaking hands, but with Titus's heel turn I don't see this happening. Good emotional rivalry but not enough build-up to really mean much, a rivalry between these two of this caliber seems quite under-rated, it could be much better.

 

[laodaron]

I think that the general consensus is that if they are given enough time, and they don't come out too nervous, this match could easily surpass Swagger/Langston or Batista/ADR. Neither of those matches even seem like they're watchable.

 

[WorldChampionJustin]

Batista V.S. ADR sounds terrible, old Batista was O.K. but now he's just too out of shape. ADR is just boring in general. Swagger is just eh, boring, Langston I kind of like, but not that much. Titus VS Young and the chamber match will be the matches worth watching.

 

[wrestler36]

I agree to an extent. I think people tend to underrate both of their talent in general. At the same time, PTP were never tag champs and I don't think they ever even had a serious chase for the titles. So I think this is why it is not a more high profile feud.

 

[WorldChampionJustin]

The Shield's breakup is big, because it's been hinted for weeks that there will be a breakup. This was out of no where on a smackdown. There should of been weeks of hinting towards collapse of the PTP.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

I agree the feud could be a lot more but I think (besides the obvious bad booking & poor pay offs the WWE has been putting out in general right now) that it is mostly due to Darren Young being a rather poor babyface & the fact that none of the fans really care to get behind him (no pun intended).

When Titus comes out, whether it's boos or the barking or whatever, he gets a reaction. Darren hardly has any charisma on his own & no one seems to care much about him, which is even weirder considering it seems like the WWE purposely had Darren keep the Primetime Players entrance theme & general gimmick going as the babyface to help keep him known, keep him relevant & help him get over.

I really think the WWE should have reversed the roles. Titus acts more like The Primetime Player character & all his big moves & the bark are already over with the crowd, he could be a really solid face. & I think Darren can be a really good smug heel. Maybe even using the fact that he recently "came out" to act like he is better than everyone else & sort of combining characteristics of past Superstars like Rico & Rick "The Model" Martel together to create his own unique persona.

Instead Darren seems to be floundering as the face & will most likely be irrelevant come Wrestlemania XXX. Titus is luckily making the best of what he has been given & has consistently proven to be the break-out star. But this split seems to have come at a weird time, with their feud basically being an afterthought. I just really hope Titus doesn't get lost in the shuffle as well because so far this break up has felt less like HBK & Jannetty & more like JTG & Shad.

 

[Da Solo]

Considering the fact that this was done out of the blue, both Titus and Darren are really working the hell out of this angle. If you look at the angle, it's still the generic betrayal angle we've seen since forever, but for some reason it's pretty damn interesting this time. I give Titus a lot of credit especially. His charisma and mic presence have really pushed this feud along, whether it was the GENIUS promos he cuts where he takes Renee's mic or the commentary booth comments. Plus, he has stepped up in the ring as well, and his initial beatdown on Darren looked a lot more brutal than it really was (maybe because of the inadvertent blood, but whatever). Darren has put in some good work, though. He has become quite the in-ring talent out of nowhere as PTP went on, especially since the face turn. I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed he's been turnt with his offense since coming out. Dude has new life in him now; I still remember when I was begging them to kick him out of Nexus.

Titus should go over though. There's more to invest in with him and less of a time span to do it in, as he's already 36. He could easily be a top heel in the future. Darren could hold down the midcard for a bit, though. Either way, I expect their match to be better than most of us are anticipating. They'd work well with each other, and with some good time this can be done up nicely.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It could be a decent match but, let's face it, there's simply far more important happenings at Elimination Chamber. People are looking forward to The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family and the Elimination Chamber match itself. Those two matches are what's gonna make money for EC this year and, frankly, a feud between a couple of lower mid-carders at this point just doesn't rank all that much importance. It's obvious that a majority of fans want Daniel Bryan to walk out of the ppv as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. If it happens, then fans will get the happy ending that they want. If it doesn't, some will grumble that the entire show sucked and there'll be an endless stream of bitching between now and WrestleMania XXX if Bryan doesn't still wind up in the title match somehow.

The match could be pretty decent, but I'm not really expecting all that much. There are six matches on the main card and I'm thinking the match times will run like this, not counting ring introductions:

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber match: 35 minutes
The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family: 25-30 minutes
Batista vs. Alberto Del Rio: 17 minutes
Big E vs. Jack Swagger: 15 minutes
The New Age Outlaws vs. The Usos: 15-18 minutes
Darren Young vs. Titus O'Neil: 7-10 minutes.

 

[Notorious718]

Agreed with Jack-Hammer. I don't doubt that these two can put on a passable match but it's going to be overshadowed by the Elimination Chamber and the Shield/Wyatt matches and I doubt a match like this will put the fans on the edges of their seats by comparison. That being said, I do hope to see a good back and forth match and not just a squash victory by Titus for the sake of moving him up the card. Should this match have a decisive, non-screwy finish, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Titus is going to win. But it also wouldn't surprise me if this match ends in a DQ or double countout with both guys brawling in the crowd or something to that extent, setting up a rematch at Wrestlemania. I'm leaning towards that latter finish. At this stage, if the feud ends at Elimination Chamber, what's left for them to do at Wrestlemania (assuming they end up on the card at all)?

 

[Mustang Sally]

This is one of those matches I'm really into even though I'm expecting the crowd to not really care for either of this man.

That's about the size of it. For one thing, it certainly has had a short build-up; Titus first sneak-attacked Darren just a few weeks ago and except for a couple skirmishes outside the ring, they haven't engaged each other. There's no meat to this feud; it's a made-for-PPV event.

Plenty of folks on this forum seem to be nuts about Titus. I'm not one of them; he knows the in-ring moves but his execution is sloppy because he's awkward and his protruding belly gets in the way of his overall look. Honestly, I prefer Darren's ring repertoire......yet, that doesn't excite me either.

Still, this is another PPV event in which we pretty much know the result.....Titus wins.....unless, of course, they want to extend the feud, hoping it will gather steam as it proceeds, in which case they might surprise us and give the win to Darren.

Either way.....meh.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

Looking forward to seeing how both this guys do In there Single ppv debut, Both guys have looked good in singles action so far and I would like to see WWE continue the Feud until Wrestlemania as I am really enjoying the Rivalry bettween the two and think there is much more life left in the storyline for it to end at Elimination Chamber. As for who wins this Match, I can see Titus picking up the victory, but he in no way go's over clean.

 

[Dagger Dias]

This could end up being surprisingly good. Even though I really wish they could have gotten a reign as Tag Team Champions, the split between the Prime Time Players has happened and here we are with a grudge match between them. Titus is almost certainly going to emerge victorious here. Darren Young brings less to the table in singles competition than Titus O'Neil does. Young should be kept around still as he could be used as a jobber. Titus, on the other hand, has potential. He gets my prediction for the win because this will help him establish himself for singles competition. If the feud gets extended, unlikely but you never know, I'd expect him to win the overall feud. I expect an average match towards the beginning of the evening, probably 2nd after the Intercontinental Championship match if this match itself doesn't open the show.

DAGGER'S PREDICTION
Titus O'Neil will defeat Darren Young.