Today is Elimination Chamber event day and there are two matches that involve women on the card.
First, we have a mixed-tag team match in which we all know the women won’t pull back any punches to the men. Beth Phoenix & Edge take on Rhea Ripley & Finn Balor. A match between Phoenix and Ripley in some capacity has been building up for months and months. Ripley also being the Royal Rumble winner has Charlotte Flair in her sight come WrestleMania.
Over the course of months, Phoenix has tried to get the better of Ripley and the rest of the Judgment Day while helping her husband Edge. Last we saw, a steel chair went to the head of Phoenix at Extreme Rules when she tried to assist. Both Phoenix and Edge returned at the Royal Rumble last month. Phoenix landed a spear on Ripley to get some revenge and did so once again the following night on Raw.
With Ripley doing a “media tour,” the mixed tag match was booked and Phoenix landed Dominik Mysterio with a Glam Slam on the Feb. 13 episode of Raw. Ripley returned this past Monday to make sure it didn’t happen again and attacked Phoenix from behind.
Predictions
COLBY: I have been calling for a Rhea Ripley vs. Beth Phoenix match since 2019, and now we’re finally getting somewhere with this tag match. I would’ve been okay with the Edge-Judgment Day feud ending back in the fall, and the only reason I’m okay with it still going on now is so we can get some semblance of this dream match coming to fruition. It’s hard to imagine Edge and Beth taking a loss here, but it would be a huge mistake for Royal Rumble winner Ripley to lose before her big WrestleMania match. I’m going with Judgment Day.
WINNERS: Judgment Day
GARY: As much as people love a ‘good guys win’ story ending, this match has got to go to Ripley. She is the story going in to Wrestlemania and a win tonight, especially getting the pinfall over Beth Phoenix, would continue to solidify Ripley’s threat to Charlotte Flair. It’s disappointing that this is another PLE that the Smackdown Women’s Champion won’t be featured unless we see some sort of stand off between the two after. Either way, I hope Ripley gets the win and we see Beth getting a decent amount of ring time before we move on to Charlotte and Ripley beginning to interact with one another.
WINNERS: Judgment Day
NICK: If this did not include the Royal Rumble winner who was about to face Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania I would give this win to Beth. However, besides the fact that they are in Canada, I just can’t imagine Ripley losing here.
WINNERS: Judgment Day
Next, we have the Elimination Chamber match itself. Six women will be vying to earn a chance to face Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania – huge stakes.
The participants are three from Raw and three from SmackDown. Asuka, Nikki Cross, Carmella, Raquel Rodriguez, Liv Morgan, and Natalya. Carmella and Natalya earned their spots by qualifying while the other four were the last four (other than Ripley) who lasted in the Royal Rumble match.
We even had Bayley and Becky Lynch try to enter this match as a seventh participant but they failed to defeat Bianca Belair in a Triple Threat to advance.
With the short time between the Rumble and the Elimination Chamber match, WWE has done an okay job with the build. Asuka and Morgan are poised as the top two in this match and Asuka has tapped out Morgan in their past two encounters. However, Morgan stood tall on SmackDown and the two exchanged looks after their match.
Predictions
COLBY: I think it’s safe to say WWE swerved us by not booking Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania, and now we have this Elimination Chamber match to determine who will challenge “The EST.” I like the way it is set up with three stars from each brand considering a Raw star is challenging for the SmackDown title this year. Everyone except Raquel Rodriguez has stepped inside the structure before, which should hopefully help them find their footing quickly en route to putting on a good collaborative performance. When it comes to the winner, it’s hard to look past Asuka. She has appeared rejuvenated since her Rumble return where she donned the ominous face paint once again. I would be okay with Liv Morgan shocking us all, but it certainly seems like we will get Asuka vs. Belair on the grandest stage.
WINNER: Asuka
GARY: I would not be surprised to see Liv and Asuka start this match and go all the way to the end, with the Smackdown match serving as a bit of a preview for these two facing off. (This was written before Smackdown aired). I think going into Mania, any of these girls could deliver a strong match with Belair if given good writing and a story, that being said, I’m going with Asuka getting the victory. I cannot stop imagining a grand entrance at Mania with dozen of extras in Asuka’s masks and facepaint marching to the ring with her. WWE has an opportunity to show a new vicious side to Asuka and have her really torment Belair to WrestleMania.
WINNER: Asuka
NICK: Asuka is the logical choice right? They are trying to sell her new gimmick and what better way than to take her right to the top with it. Carmella has been boosted a bit as well, but we have seen Carmella vs. Bianca more than most. I am going to go with who I want to win here. I want Liv Morgan. I can see Asuka perhaps working her way into the match anyway and making the WrestleMania bout a Triple Threat. Let’s continue the momentum of Morgan working with the top stars.
WINNER: Liv Morgan
Check back in with Diva Dirt to talk about Elimination Chamber live later today during the Discussion Post.
