With a little more than a month remaining before Wrestlemania 26, tonight’s Elimination Chamber pay per view is going to put the finishing touches on setting the stage for WWE’s Wrestlemania 26.
There are only four matches on the card. Apart from the two World Title matches competed inside the Elimination Chamber, wiewers will see the finals of the tournament for the Diva’s Title where Maryse will most likely defeat Gail Kim in what could be the best women’s match WWE will have all year, the Intercontinental Title match where Drew McIntyre will likely continue his unbeaten streak by defeating Kane – who, despite his size and talent, is often used in a role to extend title reigns and increase credibility.
Assuming neither of those matches goes more than 15 minutes, which I’d put money on, that leaves over 2 hours of time to devote to the two Elimination Chamber matches.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Elimination Chamber matches, here are some of the rules (straight from WWE.com):
* Two Superstars will start the match while the remaining four are enclosed in glass pods.
* At designated times, a pod will open at random, enabling a Superstar to enter the match. This will continue until all the competitors have been released.
* A man is eliminated via pinfall or submission only.
* The last man standing is the winner.
Because Sheamus is a competitor in the RAW match and Undertaker is in the Smackdown match, the winners of those matches will be the new World Champions from those respective brands. Let’s look at the competitors and options for each of the matches:
Sheamus -I see almost NO chance of Sheamus winning this match and retaining the World Title on RAW. Given the amount of time WWE actually features him on Monday nights now that he has the belt (especially compared to past champions), it’s obvious they don’t see him as a feature part of the roster. I view the odds of him being in a World Title match at Wrestlemania 26 as being around 2%. I can’t imagine a high profile match for him to be in at WWE’s flagship event. I’d be willing to bet that he’ll be in the Money In The Bank match at Wrestlemania. The tension WWE built between Edge and Sheamus the day after the Royal Rumble was likely used to create the idea that anything can happen.
Kofi Kingston – Kofi Kingston is likely the least probable competitor to win the RAW Elimination Chamber match. He got quite the increase in credibility this past year through his feud with Randy Orton, but he’s not ready to main event Wrestlemania, nor even be in the secondary title match at Wrestlemania (as the Smackdown World Title could be the main event).
Ted DiBiase Jr – I really don’t foresee DiBiase getting the World Title just yet, but I wouldn’t be completely shocked. The WWE has been teasing DiBiase’s “face” (good guy) turn for months, though he always seems to go back to Randy Orton. I do think that DiBiase is the likely opponent for Randy Orton at Wrestlemania, and I don’t think the title would be involved in that match. Either way, I would see DiBiase’s involvement in this match to either cost Randy Orton the belt, or to get screwed over by Orton somehow.
Randy Orton – As I mentioned above, I think Randy Orton’s Wrestlemania 26 opponent will be Ted DiBiase. I don’t see him being involved with John Cena or Triple H again, given past Wrestlemania events and the probable opponents for both of those competitors. Orton vs Edge could be a decent World Title match, but Edge has a lot better possibilities to use his guaranteed Wrestlemania World Title shot he won as the victor of the Royal Rumble last month.
John Cena – There’s no doubt that John Cena is the WWE’s most marketable Superstar, though I don’t believe he’ll be in a World Title match at Wrestlemania. The writing is on the wall for there to be a Wrestlemania match surrounding the Bret Hart / Vince McMahon situation. They wouldn’t spend the time and effort on that storyline unless there was going to be a payoff of some sort. At no point did I think that Bret Hart was actually going to compete in a match at Wrestlemania, given the fact that with his past health issues (the concussions and stroke he suffered a couple years ago), I would wager that Bret Hart won’t “bump” (be the recipient of a move which causes him to hit the mat while falling) ever again. The WWE has done a nice job of building up the concept that John Cena and Bret Hart are friends, so Cena is likely to be the representative for Bret Hart in a match. I don’t foresee that being against Edge, Shawn Michaels or anyone in the RAW Elimination Chamber match, so I don’t think Cena is going to win the Elimination Chamber.
Triple H – He’s my pick to win this match for several reasons. First of all, it’s easy for me to find reasons that I don’t like the other options in the RAW match. Also, I don’t see too many options for Triple H at Wrestlemania, given how the WWE is handling Shawn Michaels, and I think the most likely scenario is to have Triple H with the World Title. I could see Triple H vs Edge in a Wrestlemania match, though it’s not the direction I think WWE will go. I actually think that Shawn Michaels will face Triple H at Wrestlemania with the title on the line… or at least that’s what I hope happens (since I don’t want to see HBK vs Undertaker again).
Now onto Smackdown’s Elimination Chamber Contestants:
C.M. Punk – I’ve been a big fan of C.M. Punk since his time in Ring of Honor, and I like him as World Champion, but I don’t think the odds are in his favor of getting into one of the World Title matches at the flagship event this year. They’ve been focusing on him quite a bit on Smackdown with his Straight Edge Society, and I’d really like to see he and Luke Gallows get the chance to add more heat to the tag team division. Though, I will say that I’m a bit biased towards tag team wrestling, and it has frustrated me in past years when WWE hasn’t even shown a tag title match at Wrestlemania most years in recent history. Punk vs Edge will be a great feud that WWE will undoubtedly tap before 2010 ends, but I think there’s a different option for Edge at Wrestlemania 26 which is a better option.
Rey Mysterio – In my opinion, Rey Mysterio is more of a Money In The Bank match competitor for Wrestlemania 26 than he would be a World Title match competitor. I don’t really see any viable competitors to challenge Mysterio, and I don’t see him as enough of a high profile competitor to carry a World Title match. The odds of him winning an Elimination Chamber match tonight is very VERY slim.
John Morrison – The former ECW / Intercontinental / Tag Team champ seems to be groomed for an opportunity to fight for a title in the main event of a pay per view and even get a title run with one of the top two belts, but it shouldn’t happen tonight. Just like Mysterio, he’s more of a Money In The Bank match competitor for Wrestlemania 26.
R-Truth – No chance he’ll win this match. He’s probably only in this match to give him a high profile opportunity to show the WWE fans what he’s capable of doing with his high energy offense and see how they respond to him. If he’s only in the match for a minute or two and doesn’t get much offense, I’d be real surprised.
The Undertaker – Although I would bet against it, I do think that The Undertaker has the second-best odds of winning the Elimination Chamber to retain the World Championship for Smackdown. I don’t think Edge would take his guaranteed World Title shot against the Undertaker. If Edge were still undefeated at Wrestlemania – which I don’t believe is the case, there’s a chance they’d do this match, but Edge has more potential as a “face” for now, so I don’t think it’s a likely match between he and the Undertaker. As for potential Wrestlemania matches, I’m guessing they’ll probably have HBK vs Undertaker again, though I’m not sure how they’d get to that point if Undertaker still has the belt. Just as with the Royal Rumble, I’m sure that the WWE’s decision for who to win these two Elimination Chamber matches is determined by what they see Undertaker doing at Wrestlemania.
Chris Jericho – I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Chris Jericho is no longer a World Tag Team Champion and his former tag team partner – The Big Show – has the belts back with a “douchey” character as his partner (The Miz). Chris Jericho was the tag team partner of Edge when Edge got injured and was forced to sit on the shelf until he recovered. One off the first couple days after Edge was put on the shelf, Jericho made some disparaging remarks about him, and it’s certainly not a storyline that WWE is forgetting about. Upon returning to the WWE at last month’s Royal Rumble, Edge IMMEDIATELY targeted Chris Jericho, eliminating him from the Royal Rumble. I don’t think that’s as much payoff to the angle as WWE wants to go with, so I truly believe that WWE will have Chris Jericho win the World Title in this Elimination Chamber match.
