WWE Elimination Chamber 2026
February 28, 2026
United Center
Chicago, Illinois
Watch: ESPN Unlimited (US), Netflix (International)
Meet your reviewers:
Sean Sedor: After watching some NASCAR action for most of the afternoon (the Craftsman Truck Series on the Streets of St. Petersburg and the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Circuit Of The Americas), Sean is ready to review this Elimination Chamber show alongside Suit Williams (somebody needs to keep Suit company on these things so he doesn’t go completely insane). You can find Sean on Twitter @SASedor2994 and on BlueSky @sasedor2994.bsky.social. If you’re interested in some of Sean’s other escapades, you can watch him play Motorsports games on YouTube (just search his name and you’ll find the channel), and you can also go to the Be The Booker forums if you’d like to check out Sean’s EWR Diary, where he plays as WCW (started in 1998, currently in August of 2004).
Suit Williams: If you want to get excited for WrestleMania, and have no hope in the braintrust behind WWE Unreal, check out SuitWilliams.com, where I’ll be counting down my top 50 WrestleMania matches of all time! Part 1 dropped yesterday to mark 50 days to Mania! Follow me on all relevant social media @SuitWilliams.
#1 CONTENDER’S ELIMINATION CHAMBER MATCH
RHEA RIPLEY DEF. ALEXA BLISS, ASUKA, KIANA JAMES, RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ, TIFFANY STRATTON
Eliminations, in order: Bliss, Asuka & James simultaneously, Rodriguez, Stratton
Sean: As this show was getting started at around 7:00 PM Eastern Time, I asked myself “will Collision start and finish before this show ends?”. Should be a fun thing to keep track of. The Women’s Elimination Chamber kicks things off, with the winner getting a title shot against Jade Cargill at WrestleMania. Tiffany Stratton and Kiana James were the two that started the match, and the first few minutes were pretty pedestrian until Asuka entered. It picked up a little bit from there as Kiana charged at Asuka before she had even left her pod. After Asuka dished out some offense on the Chamber floor, we were treated to more pedestrian action inside the ring until Alexa Bliss entered the fray. Kiana would manage to catapult Stratton into one of the pods, but then she was immediately wiped out by Rhea Ripley, who cleaned house after entering the match 5th.
Everyone spilled out onto the Chamber floor, which set up Bliss hitting the Twisted Bliss off one of the pods. Then, in a very funny moment, Bliss got eliminated….essentially….because she spent too much time staring at the WrestleMania sign. She had Kiana in position for her finisher, but she just had to take a good five to ten seconds to stare at the Mania sign, which left her wide open for Asuka to spit the green mist in her face. These wrestlers are just drawn to that WrestleMania sign like a moth to a flame. Following this elimination, Raquel Rodriguez finally entered the match and had her turn to clean house. This was highlighted by hitting Kiana with a running powerslam through one of the pods before powerbombing Asuka on top of Kiana to eliminate both of them simultaneously (that was a pretty cool sequence).
Raquel continued to dominate until Rhea hit a senton off one of the pods, which set up Tiffany hitting the PME to score the elimination. As I’m sure most probably predicted, the match came down to Rhea and Tiffany. They had your basic signature move exchange before Rhea put Tiffany away with the Rip Tide, setting up Jade vs. Rhea for WrestleMania. I used the word pedestrian a couple of times earlier in this recap, and that’s a perfect description of this match as a whole. Aside from the portion of the match where Raquel Rodriguez was running through people, this was a very pedestrian, basic, simple match. There wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with it, but it didn’t leave any lasting impression on me whatsoever. It should be interesting to see what Rhea can get out of Jade at WrestleMania, but as far as this Elimination Chamber match goes, if you manage to catch the highlights later, you’ll probably get the gist of it. No need to go back and watch the full match. ***
Suit: Dead honest, I thought this show started at 7 Central. Any other promotion, and I would’ve missed the opener and been halfway through match two. Luckily, I missed everybody staring at each other in the pod-like structures before the first bell rang.
This was solid action to start the show. Things didn’t really pick up until Raquel Rodriguez of all people got in the cage and ran wild. It wasn’t Goldberg in 2003 levels of awesome (nothing can be), but this was pretty good. She ran through everybody, eliminating Asuka and Kiana James at the same time, before Ripley cannonballed her off the cage and allowed Stratton to hit a moonsault to get her eliminated.
It came down to the two front-runners, and surprisingly, Rhea got the win. I figured they would stick with the Stratton/Jade Cargill deal they had been running last year, but with Rhea losing the Women’s Tag Titles on Smackdown, that probably tipped the hand that they were shifting her back into a singles role for Wrestlemania. I wouldn’t call any of the work blowaway, but it was a fine Chamber match. ***1/4
WWE WOMEN’S INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE
AJ LEE def. BECKY LYNCH (c)
Sean: I’m watching this pre-match video package and man….all I can think about is how totally cartoonish and absurd this current iteration of Becky Lynch is (and this is coming from someone who’s been a fan of Becky since her NXT days). It’s so over-the-top in all the wrong ways. The match started off with a generic opening exchange as a MJF/Kevin Knight in-ring promo kicked off Collision. AJ got the better of Becky early until Becky dropped her with a boot. She worked AJ over for a few minutes until AJ started to mount a comeback. A spinning DDT off the ropes and a Shining Wizard only managed to get two, and Becky responded with a superplex. As referee Jessika Carr was trying to fix the turnbuckle pad (which Becky herself had undone a few moments earlier), she got taken out, and while AJ then made Becky tap out with the Black Widow, there was no referee to call for the bell (the crowd has been pretty timid for most of this match, but they did come alive for that moment).
Becky hit AJ with a DDT on a chair inside the ring, and followed up with a Manhandle Slam, which only got a two count. The crowd was really into things at this point, and after Jessika Carr prevented Becky from ramming AJ into the exposed turnbuckle, Becky herself would eat the exposed buckle when AJ moved out of the way. One Black Widow later, and AJ Lee is your new WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion. The crowd didn’t seem super into this one until the referee bump (typical), and the actual match wasn’t all that compelling. AJ Lee was never known as this superworker by any stretch of the imagination, and while (like I mentioned earlier) I’ve been a fan of Becky for a long time, this is the least interested I’ve ever been in her. I honestly can’t remember the last time she had a good match (probably one of those Lyra Valkyria matches from last year). With regards to closing stretch, if I didn’t know any better, I would think they’re setting up Becky Lynch vs. Jessika Carr at WrestleMania (she was a former indie wrestler, to be fair, and has been wrestling in EVOLVE under a mask). That’s how heavy handed the stuff between those two felt (at least to me). Anyway, since AJ made Becky tap out yet again, I presume this is all just setting up a match for WrestleMania where Becky finally beats her. If this match was any indication, I am not looking forward to any rematch between these two. *3/4
Suit: Going from the commercials INTO a video package pissed me off. At least on Peacock, we were able to get one or the other. I’m watching this opening exchange, then I see Sean is double-screening Collision? Come on Sean, you have to focus to see the intricacies in PAUL’s booking! A woman in a mask might show up! (MJF/Kevin Knight sounds awesome, by the way.)
I don’t know what happened to Becky Lynch, but she is the shits right now. Her heat segment featured some of the worst strikes I’ve seen on TV in a while, and I’m not even a harsh grader. Meanwhile, AJ looked a lot better than she did in her last couple of appearances, so credit to Becky for however much she helped with that.
This match just kept on going, huh? There wasn’t that much heat, because AJ isn’t as big of a star as the company wants you to believe she is, coming from someone who liked AJ Lee well enough back in her prime. There was way too much shit going on, with a phantom tap, a ref bump, an exposed turnbuckle, and a chair. It’s match two for the midcard women’s title. Settle down.
AJ eventually got the tapout with the Black Widow after they blew the spot leading into it because they were out of position. Just entirely too much going on to mask a completely washed pro wrestler, and it isn’t even the one who was gone for a decade. *1/2
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
CM PUNK (c) def. FINN BALOR
Sean: I had no idea Finn Balor had gone back to using his old music, so that was a pleasant surprise. Meanwhile, CM Punk, as you would expect, got a big ovation from his hometown crowd, and he got the full Michael Jordan-era Bulls introduction as part of his entrance (shoutout to the one guy in the crowd who was yelling “CM Sucks” before the lights went out for Punk’s entrance). These two had a title match a few weeks ago when RAW was in Ireland, which I heard was a good match (though I’ll never know for myself as I don’t watch RAW). Following the initial opening exchange, Punk got in his first big shots of the match with an elevated kick and a backbreaker. After a chop exchange between the two, Balor took control and methodically worked Punk over for a bit until Punk managed to fight back.
Punk managed to connect with a dive to the floor, but Balor managed to avoid the GTS. A short time later, Punk (who was bleeding from the mouth at this point) managed to avoid the Coup de Grace, and followed up with the Randy Savage elbow drop. While the match up to this point had been perfectly fine, I was honestly pretty bored. The action is solid enough, but it just wasn’t doing much to get me excited. Both guys then took turns hitting their finishers, though in both cases, they managed to survive. Balor went on a tear as the action spilled out to the floor, but when Balor tried for another Coup de Grace attempt, Punk countered it into a….very weak looking Sharpshooter, and then followed that up with the GTS, and that was it.
This was technically the match of the night up to this point, though on this card, that’s not saying much. The wrestling itself from start to finish was very solid (I can’t knock the work that much), but as I mentioned earlier, it just failed to really grab me in any way. It was slow and methodical, which is typical of big CM Punk singles matches these days, and halfway through I was just waiting around for it to be over. Perfectly fine from an in-ring standpoint, but it just wasn’t super compelling. Punk got the win as we all expected, and now his match with Roman Reigns is officially set in stone for WrestleMania. I suppose Balor shaking Punk’s hand after the match will continue to set up his eventual babyface turn/departure from the Judgment Day, which is a group that has seemingly had infighting since Day 1. ***1/4
Suit: Ok, the Bulls intro for Punk popped me. Fun fact: Ricky Steamboat came out to Sirius at WrestleMania 3. Go watch Steamboat/Savage, it’s great.
This…wasn’t. I don’t know what you want me to say. It’s a Finn Balor singles match where we all knew he was losing. Perfectly professional professional wrestling that I won’t remember in a week. The finish came out of nowhere, with Punk just stomping on Balor before herking him up into another Go To Sleep. Punk vs. Roman Reigns is now official for WrestleMania. ***
MYSTERY BOX REVEAL
IT’S LITERALLY JUST DANHAUSEN
Sean: So it was revealed that the giant crate contained….a coffin. Inside the coffin were….a bunch of girls in Danhausen face paint….and then Danhausen? Are we to believe that all these girls were stuffed in this crate with Danhausen, or that nobody noticed the crate didn’t have a back to it? In all seriousness, I guess Danhausen deserves a smidge of credit. There is no way this guy would have gotten as far as he has without this gimmick (probably helps that he made the right friends, too). As for the debut itself? It was goofy….it was super cheesy….and it didn’t seem to get over that much with this Chicago crowd! After Michael Cole received a jar of teeth from Danhausen, the lights went out and he just….disappeared! “What the hell was that?” were Michael Cole’s exact words, and those words pretty much sum up this segment.
Suit: I give this company no credit. But I’m hoping there’s a swerve here for Danhausen’s sake.
…nope. It was just Danhausen.
WrestleMania 41, SEVEN WEEKS AWAY!
#1 CONTENDER’S ELIMINATION CHAMBER MATCH
RANDY ORTON DEF. CODY RHODES, JE’VON EVANS, LA KNIGHT, LOGAN PAUL, TRICK WILLIAMS
Eliminations, in order: Evans, Williams, Knight, Paul, Rhodes
Sean: It’s just before 9:30 PM on the East Coast as this main event is getting ready to start. A good sign for this show being over at or under three hours (now watch this match go almost an hour). Cody Rhodes and Je’Von Evans (not Je’Von Williams, as the ring announcer mistakenly called him) started off the match, and after a solid first few minutes, Trick Williams entered the match. He immediately dropped Cody before squaring off with Evans. He eventually hit both Cody and Evans with a Rock Bottom/Book End/Whatever you want to call it at the same time, but then it broke down into a three-way brawl until Logan Paul entered the fray. The other just ganged up on him immediately, and sent him into one of the pods.
Paul managed to recover and briefly got some offense in before LA Knight entered the match and cleaned out. Evans and Knight then followed Paul up to the top of one of the pods, and sent him flying off it onto Cody and Trick. Following a BFT by Knight onto Evans on top of that same pod, Randy Orton entered the match, and ran wild on everyone before Knight cut him off with a DDT. The first elimination finally occurred when Paul took out Evans with the….*checks notes*….Paulverizer, after Evans had just hit Trick with a Frog Splash from the top of one of the pods. Paul than scored another elimination as he pinned LA Knight….after Knight completely botched an attempted top rope elbow drop. From there, an exchange between Paul and Trick set up another elimination, as Cody hit the Cross Rhodes on Trick, only for Paul to steal the pin. At this point, it was pretty clear that Paul was getting all of Bronson Reed’s elimination spots, so in that respect, they really didn’t change their original booking plans (and it makes sense why they took out Jey Uso to get Paul in there).
It was at this stage that we got the overbooked closing stretch. As Trick was being taken out of the Chamber, a decoy masked man tried to get involved, but this only served as a distraction for a different masked man to enter the Chamber and take out Paul. Cody got the pin, and Seth Rollins revealed himself to be the masked man (which led to a typical goofy Paul Heyman reaction). However, with the Chamber door still open, that allowed Drew McIntyre to enter the match and attack Cody. Once Orton had gotten back up, he took out Drew with a RKO, and then allowed Cody to hit Drew the Cross Rhodes before hitting him with a RKO for the pin.
Randy Orton scored the victory, and (for now) is getting the title shot against Drew McIntyre. I say for now because I don’t see a universe where Cody Rhodes is completely being left out of a WrestleMania title match. With Jacob Fatu and Sami Zayn also still involved in the title orbit, it certainly seems we’re getting some sort of multi-person match for McIntyre’s title at Mania. With regards to the Elimination Chamber Match itself, it was looking like a slightly better version of the women’s Chamber, but then we got all of the overbooking in the final few minutes which predictably took everything down. Orton being the one to get the nod for a WrestleMania title match in 2026 is very funny, but again, I fully expect that this title match will become some sort of multi-person affair eventually, whether that’s a three-way with Cody involved, or even a five or six man match with Jacob Fatu and Sami Zayn involved. The bottom line is that the WWE Title scene on SmackDown is a complete mess, and it’s probably going to get even messier over the next few weeks. Similar to the Women’s Elimination Chamber Match, you’re better off just catching highlights or a clipped version later on than watching the actual match itself. **1/2
Suit: I previewed this show and forgot that Randy Orton was in this match. Je’Von Evans has 6-7 on his shirt because he’s young and cool and hip, haha. He also took so long for his entrance that the ref had to tell him to get in the goddamn ring.
This match fucking suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. Half of it was trying to put any semblance of life into the corpse of The Vision by having Logan Paul get half the eliminations. We then got MASKED MEN MAYHEM, as a fake masked guy tried to sneak into the cage and got carried away before another masked man entered the cage with no problems. This masked man was actually Seth Rollins, who has to fight somebody at WrestleMania, so he helped eliminate Paul.
The door was still open, so Drew McIntyre showed up to continue this clown car of bullshit as he tried to screw Rhodes out of another title shot to continue the feud that no one asked for to begin with. Orton and Rhodes teamed up to take McIntyre out, but Orton caught Rhodes with an RKO to win the match.
Cody vs. McIntyre was as stale as month-old bread, but Jesus wept, how is Randy Orton the fresh, vibrant answer in 2026? This absolute disaster of a Smackdown World Title scene is the result of WWE’s complete lack of elevating any new or more interesting stars in the last 24 months, leaving us with either some convoluted way to get to the blowoff of an ice-cold feud, or DREW MCINTYRE VS. RANDY ORTON AT WRESTLEMANIA FOR A WORLD TITLE. I’d call this match a shit sandwich, but that would imply that something decent was on the outside of it. A complete trainwreck from soup to nuts.
(UPDATE: WWE is running Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes this Friday on SmackDown for the WWE Title. Thanks for coming, Drew. Enjoy an undercard match with Jacob Fatu or something.)
I wish I had this show blacked out in my area. Then, I could’ve wasted an hour of my time in a more entertaining way. *
