WWE Elimination Chamber 2026 Review
Chicago, Illinois.
Without question, one of the greatest pro wrestling cities in the world.
WWE is making its return to the United Center tonight, marking the first televised WWE event to take place in the building since SummerSlam 1994. This is the “House That Michael Jordan Built,” and tonight, it becomes “CM Punk’s House” once again.
There are still a lot of questions about the matches that will take place at WrestleMania. After tonight, some of those questions will be answered. A sold out crowd is ready to go, and I’m also ready to go.
Let’s have some fun.
Rhea Ripley vs Asuka vs Tiffany Stratton vs Kiana James vs Alexa Bliss vs Raquel Rodriguez – Women’s Elimination Chamber (Winner Goes On To Face WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill At WrestleMania)
Tiffany Stratton and Kiana James will be starting things out here. That’s a lot of pressure on the young upstart, Ms. James. She keeps rising to the occasion when her number is called on, though, so I’m interested to see how she does here.
Tiffany and Kiana present two of the best combinations of strength and athleticism in all of women’s wrestling today. In the early stages here, they’re both focused on showcasing their athletic ability. Works for me.
The next woman to enter the match will be Asuka. As soon as Asuka’s pod opens, Kiana charges in and attacks her. That’s one way to do it. The advantage doesn’t last long, though, and eventually, Asuka is bouncing both Tiffany and Kiana’s heads off of pods. Chicago is appreciative of it, and they cheer for her and chant “let’s go, Asuka” for the heel.
With no eliminations yet, Alexa Bliss is the next woman to enter the match. Alexa hits the ring with a flurry of offense, and the crowd is enjoying it.
Beautiful slingshot from Kiana sends Tiffany, face-first, into a pod. That was a great visual.
Rhea Ripley is the next woman to enter the match, and the crowd immediately goes nuts with a loud “Rhea” chant. She’s hitting anything that moves, but her momentum ends when Kiana spears her against the chain link of the Chamber.
We get our first “this is awesome” chant after Alexa takes out her opponents with a Twisted Bliss from atop one of the pods. Alexa’s momentum doesn’t last long, though, as she gets misted in the face by Asuka, leading to Kiana rolling Alexa up for the pin. Alexa Bliss is the first woman to be eliminated, seconds before Raquel Rodriguez enters the match.
Running Powerslam through the pod from Raquel to Kiana! Tejana Bomb that slams Asuka onto the prone body of Kiana! Raquel stacks them both up and pins them at the same time! Kiana James and Asuka are both eliminated. That was a great stretch.
We’re down to Raquel Rodriguez, Rhea Ripley, and Tiffany Stratton. One of them will go on to face Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Title at WrestleMania.
Rhea hits a cannonball from atop a pod, knocking Raquel down. This allows for Tiffany to land the Prettiest Moonsault Ever, and just like that, Raquel has been eliminated. We’re down to Rhea and Tiffany, and business has really picked up.
I wouldn’t say the crowd has turned against Tiffany, but there has been a couple times in this match where she either receives noticeable boos for doing something to a heel, or a heel gets noticeable face pops for doing something to her.
Tiffany’s nose is a bloody mess. It looks to have been hit by a Rhea kick. The blood is dripping onto the mat.
PME attempt, but Rhea shoves Tiffany from the top rope, causing her to crash into a pod. Tiffany gets back in the ring, only to take a Riptide, and Rhea Ripley is your 2026 women’s Elimination Chamber winner. It will be Jade Cargill vs Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania, seven weeks from now.
You know what? That was a lot of fun. No slow spots, and all six women had at least one opportunity to shine. Lots to enjoy, and the right woman won, giving us a big-time marquee match for WWE’s biggest show of the year. Really good way to start the show. 4 Stars
Becky Lynch vs AJ Lee – WWE Women’s Intercontinental Title Match
This is AJ’s third match back since making her return to pro wrestling, but this will be her first singles match of any kind since she lost to Nikki Bella on the March 16th, 2015 episode of Monday Night Raw. I don’t know if you’re any good at the calculation of time, but that was a whopping 11 years ago.
Look… I get that AJ Lee wasn’t born and raised in Chicago. However, she lives there now, and it is her adopted hometown. Announcing her as being from New Jersey seems like a wasted opportunity for a big pop. AJ herself might agree, as she laughed when the New Jersey announcement was made.
In the very early stages, it sure seems like AJ has been training hard for this match. Her offense looks clean and crisp. How will she fare when the match goes on and she is taken to the deep waters? We shall see. You can definitely tell they’re trying to pace themselves, though.
Rough looking spot just now, with Becky cranking an armbar on in violent fashion, but for whatever reason, AJ didn’t sell it at all. She looked like she was just chilling on the mat, not moving at all for a few seconds. I don’t know if she was still recovering from the Superplex that she took seconds earlier, but it looked weird, whatever it was.
Ref Bump! Followed by Ref Bump part deux! With Jessika Carr down and out, she isn’t available to see Becky tapping out to the Black Widow.
Don’t fret, though… moments later, Jessika Carr was conscious again, and she was able to see Becky tapping to another Black Widow. Becky was driven into the exposed turnbuckle… that she exposed, by the way… and it was enough for the Black Widow to be locked in. We have ourselves a brand new Women’s Intercontinental Champion. At some point in their struggles, AJ ended up with a bloody lip.
There were some wonky moments, but this was definitely the best that AJ has looked since making her return. Both women were tasked with something difficult, but for the most part, they pulled it off. I’m not sure if I agree with the decision to put the title on AJ here, though. I know you want to have a big moment, and giving her the win in Chicago is a big moment, but I assumed a title win would come at WrestleMania if it was going to happen at all. A minor complaint, but a complaint nonetheless, I suppose. 3.25 Stars
CM Punk vs Finn Balor – World Heavyweight Title Match
I’m not sure that there are too many people predicting a title change here. Does the match not getting the main event spot indicate anything different? On one hand, you could say that a title change in the main event would piss the crowd off to send them home, so putting it here at least gives the crowd another match to deal with. However, on the other hand, you could say that a title change is a huge deal, and if you were going to do it, you’d think you would do it in the main event spot.
“Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project plays, and Punk gets the full Chicago Bulls-style introduction by former Bulls Public Address Announcer, Ray Clay. For fans of a certain age, that was a beautiful thing to witness. Then, of course, the music turns to “Cult Of Personality” and the Chicago crowd loses their minds. He really is like a God in Chicago. My goodness.
Slow-ish start to the match, with both men feeling each other out a bit.
We started off with more of a technical vibe to things, but we’ve moved on to the brawling phase of the match. Finn has taken control, and he’s taking the punishment to Punk.
Punk appears to be bleeding from the mouth, making him the third person on the show to be bleeding from the face the hard way. Physical stuff.
Punk finally hits Go To Sleep after multiple attempts, but he is too close to the ropes, and Balor slumps to the floor.
Finn has been working a beautiful match. He has been targeting Punk’s midsection, not only to make it more difficult for Punk to lift him up for Go To Sleep, but also to soften him up for Coup de Grâce.
After struggling and struggling, Punk finally gets a Go To Sleep in the center of the ring, and he gets the pin and the win. Really good match, as you would expect from two of the best of their generation. 4.25 Stars. Finn remains criminally underrated and underutilized. Hopefully, his time comes sooner than later.
After the match, Balor offers a handshake, which Punk accepts. As Finn leaves, AJ Lee runs to the ring, and she celebrates with Punk. Nice moment for the Chicago crowd, and an even better moment for Punk and AJ.
It’s time to find out what is inside of the crate that we’ve been seeing on WWE programming for the last couple weeks. Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis pry the crate open, and there’s a coffin inside of it. The coffin door opens, and we hilariously see that it just leads to a bit of a tunnel to the backstage area, with multiple people looking out from behind a curtain, waiting for their cue. Out of the tunnel walks a bunch of women that are dressed like Danhausen. Behind them is Danhausen himself, making his official WWE debut. He and the women dance their way to the ring, and that’s it. Of note, he received little-to-no reaction when he first arrived, and then received huge heel heat when he was done doing whatever the hell he was doing. The entire thing was stupid, pointless, and the only way it could’ve gone any worse is if Danhausen tripped and injured himself during the entrance. That was terrible.
Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes vs Je’Von Evans vs LA Knight vs Trick Williams vs Logan Paul – Men’s Elimination Chamber (Winner Goes On To Face Undisputed WWE Champion Drew McIntyre At WrestleMania)
Main event time.
Trick Williams is the first man to make his entrance, and the crowd is going nuts. The man is a STAR. WWE isn’t going to be able to keep him heel for much longer.
It will be Cody Rhodes and Je’Von Evans to start things off. That’s an interesting pairing.
Je’Von Evans is announced as “Je’Von Williams” by Mark Nash. Ouch.
One thing we can say for sure is that Danhausen didn’t kill the crowd completely. They were animated for every entrance in this match, and they’ve been amped up for the five-minute initial portion of the match itself.
Trick Williams is the next man in, and we immediately get a showdown between him and Je’Von Evans. The future is now.
Cody goes for a pin attempt on Trick and gets a small pocket of boos. Moments later, more boos for Cody when he attacks Trick.
Logan Paul is next, and he immediately gets attacked by the other three men in the match, much to the glee of the Chicago crowd.
My feed went out for a moment or two, and when it came back, LA Knight was in the ring. Okay then. Still no eliminations, so I’m guessing I didn’t miss too much while I was waiting for the feed to come back.
Randy Orton is the final entrant, and all six men are now in the match.
Je’Von with a Frog Splash on Trick from atop one of the pods, but Logan Paul capitalizes on Je’Von with an immediate Paulverizer to get our first elimination. A surprising lack of huge spots for Je’Von during his time in the match before being eliminated.
LA Knight goes for his patented Elbow Drop from the top rope, but he slips and falls to the mat, earning some boos from the crowd. Yikes. Seconds later, Logan Paul takes advantage of an “injured” Knight and pins him to eliminate him.
Cross Rhodes to Trick, but Logan Paul throws Cody aside and pins Trick himself. The arena has come deflated as Logan has now eliminated three of the crowd favorites.
A masked man runs to the ring and tries to ascend the Chamber, but he is pulled down by security. As he gets pulled away, Adam Pearce unmasks him, and he’s an unknown man, but not the same one who was unmasked on Smackdown. During the confusion, another masked man enters the Chamber and hits Logan with a Stomp. Cody pins Logan to eliminate him, and the masked man unmasks himself, revealing Seth Rollins to a huge pop. Seth has a stare down with Cody before leaving through the crowd. We’re down to Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton.
Drew McIntyre is here, and he enters the Chamber by attacking Cody. Eventually, Drew is taken out with an RKO, and when Cody goes to take advantage of it, he eats an RKO of his own. Just like that, Randy Orton wins the match and earns a shot at the Undisputed WWE Title at WrestleMania.
There was a TON of overbooking in the last few minutes of this one, with three different men looking to interfere, but the crowd was eating it all up. The question now is whether or not we get the rumored five or six-man title match at WrestleMania. As of now, it’s Drew McIntyre defending his title against Randy Orton, but there’s plenty of time for things to change as we move closer to WrestleMania over the next seven weeks.
The match was fun, but not on the same level as the women’s Chamber that opened the show. It wasn’t non-stop action, and there were a couple wonky moments, but it was still entertaining. Let’s call it 3.5 Stars.
While it won’t be remembered as a classic pay-per-view or anything, there was a lot to enjoy here. One really good Chamber match, and one Chamber match that crossed over into “great” territory, to go with two crowd-pleasing title matches… we’ll just forget everything about the Danhausen debut… and that makes for a show worthy of checking out if you haven’t already done so.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my thoughts, folks. I’ll be back on Monday with my usual weekly column. See you then.
