So much can change in such a short amount of time in the wrestling business. Several months ago, it seemed pretty obvious we were heading toward a WrestleMania 40 that featured Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and CM Punk, Gunther and Brock Lesnar, Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley And Becky Lynch and Iyo Sky and Bayley, among many others. Well, CM Punk and Charlotte Flair both got hurt. Brock Lesnar is off TV after being implicated in the Vince McMahon allegations, and oh yeah, The Rock has returned to WWE and now sits on the board of directors. So, quite a bit of the ‘Mania card is still TBD, and The Elimination Chamber will go a long way to providing some clarity.
It should also be quite entertaining. Continuing the trend we saw at The Royal Rumble, there are only four matches scheduled, which should allow all of them plenty of time to breathe. We have a women’s match that will see the winner face Rhea Ripley (or Nia Jax) at WrestleMania. We have a men’s match that will see the winner face Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. We’ll also see Judgment Day defend the tag belts and Rhea Ripley and Nia Jax battle for the Women’s World Championship and a segment involving Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins and Grayson Waller.
To be honest, I don’t remember ever being this confident about my predictions ahead of a premium live event. Last year, I forecasted every single match correctly at The Royal Rumble, Payback and Survivor Series, but there was plenty of doubt in some of those matches. On paper, all four of these matches seem to have pretty obvious outcomes, but the fact that every single one has a likely winner (at least in my mind) scares me a little bit. It doesn’t scare me enough to change my predictions though; so, fingers crossed I can put up some more wins on my career leaderboard seen below…
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Event | Wins | Losses |
2023 Payback | 6 | 0 |
2023 Fastlane | 2 | 3 |
2023 Crown Jewel | 6 | 1 |
2023 Survivor Series | 5 | 0 |
2024 Royal Rumble | 2 | 2 |
Overall | 107 | 38 |
The Judgment Day (Damian Priest And Finn Bálor) Vs Pete Dunne And Tyler Bate For The Tag Team Championships
Triple H has always been a Pete Dunne fan. He put The Brawling Brutes in some high level spots back when he was playing Butch, and now, he’s gotten a nice little push here after he was repackaged as Pete Dunne. I suspect he, along with new partner Tyler Bate, are going to be given every opportunity to show what they can do in a competitive match, but let’s be realistic for a second. In what world does it make sense for The Judgment Day, in the middle of a super hot program with R-Truth and The Miz, to drop the tag titles at the premium live event before WrestleMania? It doesn’t.
Judgment Day are probably only on this card because none of the other men’s titles are being defended. Roman doesn’t defend on PPVs like this anymore. Seth Rollins is hurt. Gunther allegedly has immigration issues, and Logan Paul is working the elimination chamber match itself to try and win a shot at The World Heavyweight Championship. So, by process of elimination, we have Judgment Day defending the tag belts. That being said, I love Judgment Day, and it also makes sense to have them on the card because of their close connection with Rhea Ripley. So, the booking makes a lot of sense here. There’s just almost no doubt about the outcome.
Predicted Winner: Judgment Day
Rhea Ripley Vs Nia Jax For The Women's World Championship
Nia Jax is on the best run of her entire career. She’s moving around the ring better than she ever has. Her promo work has gone from poor to average, and she’s right there in the zone with her character. WWE has rewarded all the good work by giving her a strong performance in The Royal Rumble and a some big wins, including one over Becky Lynch. I predict sometime in the next few years, she will get a short, multiple month run with one of the two major women’s championships, and I’ll actually be excited about it. That’s how much better she’s gotten!
But Rhea Ripley is not losing The Women’s World Championship a month before WrestleMania 40, and she’s certainly not losing it in front of a hot home crowd in Australia. Just like with Judgment Day, that wouldn’t make any sense to the overall story they’re telling. Rhea is going to win because WWE is going to want her going into WrestleMania with the belt looking as strong as possible. Triple H and company are also going to want to keep Nia looking strong, as she’ll probably get a WrestleMania match, but Rhea is going to take the win here, almost certainly after picking up Nia Jax and giving her a Riptide.
Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley
The Women's Elimination Chamber Match
Let’s run down who we’ve got here. There’s Liv Morgan, Tiffany Stratton, Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Raquel Rodriguez and Naomi. The winner is going to get a shot at Rhea Ripley (or Nia Jax) for The Women’s World Championship at WrestleMania, which will be either the first or second most prominent women’s match at ‘Mania, depending on how you feel about Bayley and Iyo Sky. So, whoever wins needs to be someone WWE wants to showcase at its biggest event of the year. As such, I think there are some people we can eliminate right away.
I love seeing Tiffany Stratton in such a big spot. She’s got a really bright future, but she’s been on the main roster for like two weeks. She is not winning this match. Neither is Raquel Rodriguez. I love Raquel. I’m really glad to see her back after an extended absence. I’m still high on her long-term potential, but she’s not wrestling Rhea at ‘Mania. I also don’t think we’re going to get Naomi either. She belongs in WWE, and I’m so happy she returned after leaving under less than ideal circumstances. She’ll be in plenty of big moments moving forward, but she’s not, in my opinion, on the level where you’d immediately throw her into a world title program without an obvious feud or backstory.
So, that leaves Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan and Becky Lynch. WWE clearly wants to push Bianca to the moon. She and husband Montez Ford just launched their reality show on Hulu. She appeared at the WrestleMania press conference, and after Charlotte Flair got hurt, she’s in desperate need of someone to fight at The Showcase Of The Immortals. She’s definitely an outside threat to win this match, but given she’s on SmackDown, not Raw, and there hasn’t really been much build-up on her side ahead of this match, I think WWE will probably go in another direction with her at WrestleMania. Maybe they’ll just feed her Nia Jax or Tiffany Stratton and let her continue her winning streak.
Liv Morgan has the most obvious backstory here with Rhea Ripley, given they were formerly in a tag team together and Rhea previously injured Liv. There are some who would definitely say a ‘Mania match against Rhea Ripley is a bit of an overreach for her position on the card, but the crowd really loves Liv and WWE has put her in some high profile spots before, specifically winning Money In The Bank and cashing in on Ronda Rousey. She could absolutely win here.
But there’s a reason WWE had Becky Lynch staring down Rhea Ripley and calling her a bottom during the WrestleMania 40 press conference. She’s been the most consistent one on WWE programming talking about this match, and her story of needing to see whether she still has it and can beat Rhea is a perfect Mania program. I think she’s going to win here, though there’s more doubt in my mind about this than the other matches.
Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch
The Men's Elimination Chamber Match
If you haven’t been watching WWE programming for the last few months, this match might feel like a toss-up. Randy Orton, LA Knight, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Kevin Owens and Logan Paul are all either former world champions or guys who have main evented PPVs fighting for a world championship in the last few years. Any could be put into a big spot at WrestleMania and not seem totally out of place, but if you have been watching WWE programming for the last few months, you’re aware of the fact that Drew McIntyre is on the best run of his entire career. He is right there in the zone with his heelish character and is the perfect choice to fight Seth Rollins now that CM Punk is off the table.
I’m not saying it’s not possible Randy Orton in particular could win this match, but it would be a tremendous shock if it wasn’t Drew McIntyre. So, instead of the overall outcome, I’m more focused on what else this match tries to do. For instance, I think we’re likely going to get a continuation of Kevin Owens and Logan Paul’s ongoing feud that will lead to the two hashing out their differences at WrestleMania. Orton and La Knight are also in need of something to do at ‘Mania. Maybe AJ Styles interferes in the match to cost LA Knight, and that sets up a program for them at WrestleMania. Or maybe LA Knight gets involved with Owens and Logan Paul, and we get a triple threat there. Maybe Solo Sikoa gets involved with Randy Orton, and it sets something up for them at WrestleMania. Maybe Karrion Kross shows up and does something to Bobby Lashley. WrestleMania is just six weeks or so after Elimination Chamber. These programs need to start coming together. I predict at least one will start coming together here.
Predicted Winner: Drew McIntyre
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Mack Rawden
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Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.
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