MAKING A CASE FOR EVERY SINGLE ELIMINATION CHAMBER PARTICIPANT

With the Royal Rumble in the rear view mirror, WWE is gearing up for one final detour on its road to Wrestlemania. The Elimination Chamber has been a staple for the WWE since its debut in 2002. There have been 34 EC matches to date, and this year’s Chamber is the most star studded in WWE history. 

 

The key to a good chamber match, more so than violence or high spots, is the belief that anybody can win it. If you’re immediately able to throw out 4 of the 6 contestants as having no chance of winning, the anticipation for the match will be flat, no matter how exciting the action is. For that reason, I’ve decided to make a one paragraph pitch for why each person in the chamber has a chance to win. 

 

Women’s Elimination Chamber

 

Alexa Bliss: The wrestling world was abuzz when Alexa came back at the Royal Rumble. The dirt sheets had been saying for weeks her contract was still in dispute (perhaps we finally stop listening to tabloids, yes?) so her return was a welcome surprise. Bliss seems primed to become the de facto leader of the Wyatt Sick6, and if she truly has them on her side, we can expect them to get involved in the match. Regardless of how tough the other women are, if Bliss has 5 supernatural freaks helping her, it’s going to be a very tough out. 

 

Bianca Belair: Between the tag titles and the “who attacked Jade” storyline, people might be overlooking Belair in this match, but make no mistake about it, she’s one of the absolute best in the game. While it has been great to see her “take a step back” and become a mentor for Jade, and even more great to see her help get Naomi back to a place of prominence, she is the EST and it's high time she reminds everybody of that. Belair is ready to step back into the main event picture. 

 

Bayley: Bayley’s resume speaks for itself. Two time Raw women’s champion, two time Smackdown women’s champion, NXT champion, 2 time tag champion, Money in the Bank winner, Royal Rumble winner. To discredit Bayley because she’s been involved with Roxanne Perez down in NXT would be a huge mistake. Don’t forget that the precedent has already been set for a rumble winner to challenge the NXT champion at Wrestlemania, why not the Chamber winner, as well? Whether the plan is to keep her involved with NXT or return to full time on the main roster, there’s no reason Bayley can’t pick up this win. 

 

Liv Morgan: Arguably the female wrestler of the year for 2024, Liv shut a lot of her doubters up, myself included. Everybody who said she wasn’t a main event player (me) had to eat a huge slice of humble pie (it was gross). Morgan is a bona fide superstar, and it seems like her and Rhea are going to be in a “fight forever” situation. Given that Rhea is the champion, it would make total sense for Liv to get her rematch for the title at Wrestlemania, and winning the Chamber is the fastest way to accomplish that. 

 

Naomi: If Naomi was the one to attack Jade (she was), it was done because she was jealous of Jade and Bianca hogging the spotlight. With Jade out of the picture, it only makes sense for her to turn on Bianca now, and finally sit atop of the women’s division. Naomi can use Bianca’s naïveté to help protect her for the majority of the match, and then when it gets down to final 3, Naomi can turn on Bianca so she can have a one-on-one chance to headline Wrestlemania as a solo star. 

 

Roxanne Perez: As stated before, there’s no reason that the winner of this match can’t challenge for the NXT title, so if your excuse for dismissing Perez is based on the fact that she hasn’t spent much time on the main roster, throw that argument out the window. Also, while it’s true that she hasn’t been on the main roster for very long, look at what she’s done in that short time. She defeated the massive Raquel Rodriguez to qualify for the Chamber, she started a feud with one of the greatest of all time in Bayley, and she was the iron woman of this year’s Rumble match. It’s clear that WWE has a ton of faith in her, so why wouldn’t that faith extend into having the biggest underdog in the match give us a feel-good moment for the ages? 

 

Men’s Elimination Chamber

 

CM Punk: Punk’s sole mission since returning to WWE has been to headline Wrestlemania. While Punk is, in many ways, performing better than he has in his entire career, Father Time is undefeated. It feels like this may be the last chance Punk has to realize his dream. He’s hugely popular with the crowd, and don’t forget he has that Paul Heyman favor still in his back pocket. Maybe it’s time he cashes that in and has Roman return the favor for Punk helping him win War Games. 

 

Damian Priest: Priest won Money in the bank in 2023 and held on to it for nearly a year before successfully cashing it in at Wrestlemania 40. With a fresh start on Smackdown and his Judgement Day squabbles seemingly behind him, many people are wondering what is next for Damian Priest. With no obvious feud in front of him, Priest is the wild card of this whole match, and matches like the Chamber are tailor made for a wild card to win. 

 

Drew McIntyre: Drew has seemingly pissed off the whole roster, pretty much just by telling the truth. His rivalry with Punk was the clear feud of the year in 2024, and with McIntyre being an equal opportunity pisser-offer (trademark pending), he has the ability to throw everybody off of their game. He’s already had a couple of ominous moments with Cody, so the groundwork has already been laid for them to feud. Is this the year Drew finally gets the Wrestlemania moment he deserves? 

 

John Cena: Are you ready for a stat that is going to blow your mind? John Cena’s last televised singles win was against Triple H in April 2018. That’s 7 years ago, which is math that could be done by someone who was born after Cena’s last televised singles win. He came up just short at the Rumble, but it’s obvious Big Match John is not going to let his final run with the company go to waste. It seems ridiculous that his final Wrestlemania wouldn’t be a main event spot. And for everybody wanting Cody to turn heel, what better way than to have 70,000 people rooting against Cody when he takes on Cena for the title he captured one year ago? 

 

Logan Paul: Say what you want about Logan Paul, the fact of the matter is he draws money and is a hell of a heel. Every other person in this match is a babyface or a tweener, the only true heel in this match happens to be one of the biggest names in the pop culture world. Logan doing the press tour before Wrestlemania would get picked up by every news outlet in the world, and we all know how much WWE loves their free press. 

 

Seth Rollins: It may seem easy to dismiss Rollins in this match. Sure, he’s already had a feud with Cody, but that was long before Cody was the champion. And yes, it does seem like he’s embroiled in a three way feud with Roman Reigns and CM Punk. However, Rollins is sliding quickly into heel territory after his nasty rampage at the Rumble, and one thing you can’t deny is that Rollins is this generation’s Mr. Wrestlemania. Why wouldn’t you want to have a proven performer go against a proven rival for the biggest prize on the biggest stage of the year? If I told any wrestling fan, with no context, it will be Rollins vs Rhodes for the title at Wrestlemania, 10/10 will respond with “yeah I’d watch that.”