WWE Elimination Chamber is going international this year! The annual gateway-to-WrestleMania event will emanate from down under on Saturday. Perth, Australia, will host the event for the first time, marking the second occasion that WWE has hosted a Premium Live Event in the country. And we’re ready, even if we might have to wake up early to see it.
Our WWE/wrestling team decided to dive right into it and predict the matches for Saturday.
Note: Because it was announced late, we did not make picks on the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships Match that will occur on the Kickoff Show.
WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championships Match: The Judgment Day vs. Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate
Chris Novak: This one seems pretty elementary, but I’ll sing some praises for Dunne and Bate first. It’s been a long journey for the two of them. Their first memorable match took place before 28-3 happened. Seriously! Now they’re both here and working together on the main roster seven years later. I don’t forecast them winning this, but they’ll be an intriguing team to watch when they inevitably split the titles. I will go Judgment Day, Damian Priest pinning Dunne.
Ben Axelrod: The New Catch Republic tag team has a lot of promise, but they aren’t at the point where I’m dying to see them win tag team gold yet. As I see it, there’s no reason to dethrone Judgment Day heading into WrestleMania, as one would imagine they’ll be involved in a marquee match at the show of shows (Street Profits? The Creed Brothers? Some sort of four-way?). Either way, keeping the titles on Balor and Priest while adding some depth to New Catch Republic through a loss makes the most sense. I say Finn Balor pins Dunne with some help from JD and Dirty Dom.
Robert O’Neill: Like Ben, I’ve also enjoyed Bate and Dunne as a team. It doesn’t seem like the right time for them to win these titles, yet. I thought they might do Balor vs. Priest at WrestleMania which would require Judgment Day to drop the titles here, but I no longer see that. Priest pins Dunne and at WrestleMania we get a multi-team match featuring Raw and SmackDown’s best teams trying to win the titles.
WWE Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Nia Jax
Chris Novak: This one’s also easy. Rhea Ripley will surely win this match over Nia Jax and go into WrestleMania as champion. You’d have to expect that the Australia crowd will be delighted to see Ripley as she walks into Perth as champion. This one is pretty by the book and any other result would be genuinely shocking.
Ben Axelrod: I can’t think of a worse possible booking decision for WWE than having Rhea Ripley lose her title in Australia one month before WrestleMania. The only questions about this match to me are: 1. Will it be the main event? 2. Will Jade Cargill get involved, setting up a potential WrestleMania match vs. Nia?
Robert O’Neill: Not much to add here that hasn’t already been covered by Chris and Ben. Rhea Ripley wins and also this should be the main event.
Women’s Elimination Chamber Match
Chris Novak: In maintaining the theme of predictability, I’ll go with Becky Lynch to win. Becky vs. Rhea is one of the biggest matches that the company can pull off right now. So it won’t surprise anybody when they pull it off at the biggest stage. The Chamber field is one of the best they’ve ever had in terms of pure ability and starpower. So this should be a really entertaining match that I see Becky winning, pinning Liv Morgan in the process.
Ben Axelrod: Becky Lynch winning this match has been so telegraphed that it almost makes me question whether it will actually happen. Bianca Belair no longer having an obvious WrestleMania partner following Charlotte’s injury could throw a wrench in this, but it’s hard to imagine Becky not emerging victorious following a months-long build. I think this comes down to Becky vs. Bianca in the end, with The Man getting the better of the EST of WWE.
Robert O’Neill: I’ll also go with Becky Lynch. While Ripley vs. Belair is undoubtedly a huge match, you can save that for down the line, perhaps at Summerslam or WrestleMania 41? Lynch vs. Ripley is the biggest women’s match WWE can put on at the moment and could even main event night one of WrestleMania 40.
Men’s Elimination Chamber Match
Chris Novak: Drew McIntyre feels like he has to be the choice here. He’s among the most compelling characters on WWE TV currently. He’s certainly earned another shot at the top championship and given the story around him lately, it only makes sense to push him in that direction. There’s no telling who’ll win between Drew and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. But that’s all the fun in it isn’t it?
Ben Axelrod: It’s a credit to McIntyre that he not only seems like the obvious winner here but that it’s what the fans want to see. Not only have we already seen a McIntyre-Rollins match multiple times before, but even if it was a fresh matchup, it’s not necessarily one I would have considered WrestleMania worthy.
That changed roughly three months ago, however, as McIntyre kicked his slow burn heel turn into full gear. For my money, McIntyre is the best heel in the business at the moment, and he should be rewarded as such.
McIntyre winning would also pave the way for him to finally get his WrestleMania moment with actual people in the audience. There could also be some nice symmetry here in him pinning former rivals in Randy Orton and Bobby Lashley.
Robert O’Neill: McIntyre is the obvious choice, but I’m almost more curious as to what the other five guys in the match will be doing. All five being from Smackdown and one of them being United States Champion Logan Paul leads me to believe we’ll see many of the five in a multi-man match at WrestleMania 440 for Paul’s championship. I think the seeds to that will start to be planted here. Perhaps LA Knight or Kevin Owens will pin Paul to jumpstart the build.
That’s all the time we have now!
