It’s the final Premium Live Event before WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Elimination Chamber decides the final two title challengers for Jade Cargill and Drew McIntyre. The night kicked off win the Women’s Elimination Chamber match, so it’s safe to assume the men will bookend the night.
In the women’s match, there are several who are very familiar with this structure. Alexa Bliss, who won the inaugural women’s Chamber in 2018, Asuka, Tiffany Stratton, Raquel Rodriguez, and Rhea Ripley. Kiana James is this year’s standout much like Roxanne Perez and Stratton in previous years. James entered her first Royal Rumble this year, checking off yet another career milestone.
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The match felt extremely fast-paced this year. There weren’t any eliminations until all the women were in the ring, but Raquel Rodriguez was able to take out James and Asuka at the same time. While Stratton had her eye on the prize after losing the Rumble in January, Mami came out on top once again. She’s never won the Chamber, but she eliminated Stratton with the Riptide, pinning her for the win. She will now face Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship, a match that many have anticipated since Cargill’s arrival to WWE in 2023.
Next up is Becky Lynch defending the Women’s Intercontinental Championship against AJ Lee. These two have been feuding since last fall when Lee returned to WWE. Lee had the momentum in the early goings, but Lynch using referee Jessica Carr as a weapon changed the tide. Lee then locked in the Black Widow submission while the ref was down in the corner, and Lynch was tapping. Unfortunately, nobody was there to call it. Lynch hits Lee with the Manhandle Slam as the referee comes too and Lee somehow kicks out! As Lynch argues with the ref, Lee changes the momentum yet again. She pushes Lynch into the exposed turnbuckle and hits the Black Widow a second time to secure her first title in 11 years.
CM Punk followed up his wife’s title win with a title defense of his own against Finn Balor. Punk is technically slated to defend against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 42, but anything is possible. There were so many nearfalls in this match — Balor goes for the Coup de Grâce but Punk rolls out of the way and hits the running knee. He goes up top for a high-risk maneuver of his own: an elbow. Balor can taste the end, stalking Punk, but the champion senses it and moves out of the way.
He locks in the Anaconda Vice that Balor rolls through. They battle outside the ring; Balor throws him back in. Just when it looks like he has it won, Punk goes for the GTS, Balor hits the Slingblade and goes for another Coup de Grâce. Punk turns it into a Sharpshooter and Balor broke it with a rope grab. When they both got back up, Punk hit the GTS to retain the title. They showed their respect for one another post-match. Lee came to celebrate their wins.
After a month of teasing this mysterious crate, WWE finally unveils what’s inside. Ahead of the men’s Chamber match, they unsealed the crate that contained a coffin inside. Out came several Danhausen dancers as well as Danhausen himself. While he had been signed to AEW for the last several years, he has remained on the shelf. He teased his release ahead of Elimination Chamber on social media. Some fans were happy to see him while others didn’t seem to understand it. As a result, he received many boos.
The men’s Chamber closed the night. Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, Trick Williams, Logan Paul, LA Knight, and Je’Von Evans entered but only one man was victorious. The match was fairly standard until Paul suddenly picked up momentum and got two eliminations. Not too long after, one masked man appeared and acted as a distraction.
Another one popped up, stomping Paul. Rhodes eliminates him from the match and the man unveils himself as none other than Seth Rollins! McIntyre is trying to prevent Rhodes from winning the match and becoming his WrestleMania opponent. Orton takes advantage of it with an RKO. He will meet McIntyre, attempting to win No. 15.
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