The WrestleMania 40 card should look a whole lot clearer after Elimination Chamber.
The Chamber match winners should fill out the remaining world championship clashes on the men’s and women’s sides as well as produce some other angles and feuds that WWE can carry into Philadelphia.
We may also finally learn what The Rock — who teased an appearance — will be doing at WrestleMania with Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins set to appear on “The Grayson Waller Effect” talk show, or we could just see an attack by The Bloodline.
With plenty at stake in Perth, Australia and an early 5 a.m. bell time on the East Coast, The Post’s Joseph Staszewski does his best to predict how it will all go down Saturday on Peacock.
Ripley will be leaving her home country of Australia still champion. It will just be a matter of how WWE gets there. It may still want to protect Jax, who has been absolutely dominant since her return to the company. If it was anywhere else but Australia, I could see a potential DQ option. But I think Ripley finally finds a way to win this clean as she will look even more unbeatable heading into WrestleMania, especially if it’s against Becky Lynch — who recently lost to Jax. Lynch has been pushing herself as an underdog in recent weeks.
This match feels more about adding legitimacy to the team of Dunne and Bate than them being a real threat to Priest and Balor’s title reign. A bigger storyline is brewing with R-Truth, DIY, Miz and the Judgment Day that should conclude at WrestleMania. The contrasting styles in this one at Elimination Chamber, however, should make for a memorable match.
Liv Morgan’s return at the Royal Rumble certainly makes things interesting as both she and Lynch have clear stories with Ripley, who the winner would face at WrestleMania.
It was an attack by Ripley that put Morgan out of action in storyline. Lynch, arguably the divison’s biggest star, remains the favorite as she doesn’t have any other clear opponent for Philadelphia. She and Ripley have never had a one-on-one match and the two faced off at the WrestleMania press conference.
There are a few other things to keep an eye on. This will be Tiffany Stratton’s first main roster PPV match and it will be interesting to see how strongly she is booked. Jade Cargill not being in this match makes it interesting to see what WWE does with Bianca Belair. Does the former AEW star somehow cost her the match to protect the former champion from being pinned clean?
Which of these things doesn’t belong? United States champion Logan Paul that is. It likely means this match will be used to set up his WrestleMania feud. That could mean a rematch with Kevin Owens as their Royal Rumble finish didn’t truly settle things. A battle of the “megastars” with LA Knight or a date with Randy Orton could also be possible.
Then we have to get to who wins this thing. The clear choice appears to be McIntyre. He is hitting on all cylinders, has given himself a clear goal of being a world champion again and has inserted himself right in the path of World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes. While Orton can never be counted out, Rollins vs. McIntyre is the best Mania match WWE can make after CM Punk’s injury.