play0:54Rhea Ripley books her ticket to WrestleMania by winning chamber matchRhea Ripley wins the 2026 women’s Elimination Chamber match to earn a title match against Jade Cargill at WrestleMania.
play1:08AJ Lee wins first title in WWE in 11 yearsAJ Lee forces Becky Lynch to tap out to the “Black Widow” to win the Women’s Intercontinental Championship.
play0:35CM Punk retains title, cements match against Roman Reigns at ManiaCM Punk defeats Finn Balor to retain the World Heavyweight Championship, cementing his matchup against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
play0:44Randy Orton wins the chamber, sets up match vs. Drew McIntyre at ManiaRandy Orton wins the Elimination Chamber match to seal a match against Drew McIntyre for the WWE championship at WrestleMania.
play0:46Seth Rollins revealed as masked man, helps eliminate Logan Paul in the chamberSeth Rollins is revealed as the masked man after he helps to eliminate Logan Paul in the Elimination Chamber.
play0:43Danhausen makes WWE debut coming out of mystery crateThe mystery crate is revealed to be the debut of Danhausen at Elimination Chamber.
Andreas HaleMar 1, 2026, 12:35 AM ETCloseAndreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and pro wrestling. In Andreas’ free time, he plays video games, obsesses over music and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also a host for Sirius XM’s Fight Nation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer at DAZN and Sporting News. He started his career as a music journalist for outlets including HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated filmmaker as a producer for the animated short film “Bridges” in 2024.Follow on XMultiple Authors
Rhea Ripley books her ticket to WrestleMania by winning chamber matchRhea Ripley wins the 2026 women’s Elimination Chamber match to earn a title match against Jade Cargill at WrestleMania.
Rhea Ripley wins the 2026 women’s Elimination Chamber match to earn a title match against Jade Cargill at WrestleMania.
AJ Lee wins first title in WWE in 11 yearsAJ Lee forces Becky Lynch to tap out to the “Black Widow” to win the Women’s Intercontinental Championship.
AJ Lee forces Becky Lynch to tap out to the “Black Widow” to win the Women’s Intercontinental Championship.
CM Punk retains title, cements match against Roman Reigns at ManiaCM Punk defeats Finn Balor to retain the World Heavyweight Championship, cementing his matchup against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
CM Punk defeats Finn Balor to retain the World Heavyweight Championship, cementing his matchup against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
Randy Orton wins the chamber, sets up match vs. Drew McIntyre at ManiaRandy Orton wins the Elimination Chamber match to seal a match against Drew McIntyre for the WWE championship at WrestleMania.
Randy Orton wins the Elimination Chamber match to seal a match against Drew McIntyre for the WWE championship at WrestleMania.
Seth Rollins revealed as masked man, helps eliminate Logan Paul in the chamberSeth Rollins is revealed as the masked man after he helps to eliminate Logan Paul in the Elimination Chamber.
Seth Rollins is revealed as the masked man after he helps to eliminate Logan Paul in the Elimination Chamber.
Danhausen makes WWE debut coming out of mystery crateThe mystery crate is revealed to be the debut of Danhausen at Elimination Chamber.
Randy Orton and Rhea Ripley were the last ones standing in the men’s and women’s Elimination Chamber matches to earn the right to challenge for WWE titles at WrestleMania 42 in April.
Also on the card, CM Punk beat Finn Bálor — again — to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. And Punk’s wife, AJ Lee, will also leave Chicago’s United Center with a title in hand after submitting Becky Lynch in a match for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship.
Rhea Ripley books her ticket to WrestleMania by winning chamber match
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Ripley won the women’s Elimination Chamber. Seriously, was there any other choice? The outcome was made even more obvious when Ripley dropped the women’s tag titles on “SmackDown” the night before.
While predictable, this was the only way to go for Ripley. She’s arguably the biggest star on the entire roster, and not having her challenge for a world title at WrestleMania wouldn’t feel right. Still, it would have been nice if the WWE found a way to cast doubt on the outcome by building one of the other women as a viable option to win.
The end justified the means. Hopefully, WWE will make the outcome less obvious at next year’s Elimination Chamber. Chamber matches should provide an element of drama for fans rather than clearing a hurdle to the obvious.
Lee won her first singles match since ending her decade-long retirement last year. While it has been great to see Lee back in a WWE ring, taking part in a women’s division she helped push to new heights, she is now tasked with carrying a title that was held by an incredible in-ring performer in Lynch. The new car scent of Lee’s return from retirement is officially gone, and she’ll be judged by her work moving forward.
CM Punk retains title, cements match against Roman Reigns at Mania
The match itself was a solid affair as Punk and Bálor battled to a stalemate until Punk hit his second GTS of the night to get the win and celebrate in the ring with his wife, AJ Lee, afterward.
Randy Orton wins the chamber, sets up match vs. Drew McIntyre at Mania
Who he’ll face is still up in the air because “SmackDown” general manager Nick Aldis — who is fed up with McIntyre’s constant interference in matches — announced that McIntyre will defend his Undisputed Championship this Friday against Rhodes.
Rhodes vs. Orton would be a fresh matchup for WrestleMania. It could get really interesting, given their history dating back to their time in the Legacy stable over a decade ago, where Orton served as Rhodes’ mentor. It’s the right move if they decide to have Rhodes beat McIntyre for the Undisputed Championship on Friday. But where would that leave McIntyre for WrestleMania?
Seth Rollins revealed as masked man, helps eliminate Logan Paul in the chamber
After weeks of teasers, it was finally revealed that the masked man is none other than Seth “Freaking” Rollins.
The former leader of The Vision got his revenge when he curb-stomped Logan Paul, after a little bait and switch with another masked man. Rollins’ interference seemingly cost Paul a win in the Elimination Chamber match. Rollins pulled the mask off to reveal himself, and now we have to figure out where this is going.
Unfortunately, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed have been sidelined by injuries, which certainly disrupted whatever the original plan was. Rollins and Paul faced off at WrestleMania 39, which Rollins won. A retread of that match three years later doesn’t seem like the way to go, but WWE doesn’t have many options for Rollins at this point.
Danhausen makes WWE debut coming out of mystery crate
The mystery crate is revealed to be the debut of Danhausen at Elimination Chamber.
Danhausen was revealed to be in the box that has been part of “Raw” and “SmackDown” storylines in recent weeks.
Orton beat Cody Rhodes, Logan Paul, Trick Williams, Je’Von Evans and LA Knight, with some helpful interferences by WWE Undisputed champion Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins, who returned from injury. In the women’s Elimination Chamber match, Ripley was victorious over Tiffany Stratton, Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Raquel Rodriguez and Kiana James. Ripley will now compete in her seventh consecutive WrestleMania. With the win, Orton will challenge the winner of Friday’s title match between McIntyre and Rhodes on “SmackDown,” while Ripley will go toe-to-toe with WWE women’s champion Jade Cargill.
Lee’s match with Lynch was solid, but it was clear that she was knocking off some rust throughout the match. For her part, Lynch has been great in putting Lee over, and her ring generalship has been exceptional. But Lee will now be without Lynch heading into WrestleMania season. It will be interesting to see how WWE handles her next feud. She’s now 3-0 against Lynch in a mixed tag match, Survivor Series: WarGames and now singles competition. We’ll see who Lee faces in her first title defense and if she works with some of the younger talent on the roster.
The second purpose may have been to turn Bálor into a babyface and pull him out of Judgment Day. Bálor has been teasing a split from the group over the past few weeks and demanded that he win or lose his match with Punk completely on his own, without help from Dominik Mysterio or JD McDonagh. Bálor lost on his own, and in a move unfitting of a heel, he shook Punk’s hand afterward. This will almost certainly set up his split from the group and we could be heading to a new era of Finn Bálor in WWE.
Rhodes felt like an absolute shoo-in to win the men’s Elimination Chamber match and head back to the main event of WrestleMania against his rival, Drew McIntyre. Instead, McIntyre inserted himself into the match, attacking Rhodes when it was down to him and Randy Orton as the last two competitors. Apprearing to assist Rhodes, Orton hit McIntrye with an RKO. But just when Rhodes thought the coast was clear, following a successful Cross Rhodes on McIntryre, he ate an RKO from Orton. Three seconds later, and Orton is heading to WrestleMania in pursuit of his 15th world championship.
Andreas HaleMar 1, 2026, 12:35 AM ETCloseAndreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and pro wrestling. In Andreas’ free time, he plays video games, obsesses over music and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also a host for Sirius XM’s Fight Nation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer at DAZN and Sporting News. He started his career as a music journalist for outlets including HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated filmmaker as a producer for the animated short film “Bridges” in 2024.Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseAndreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and pro wrestling. In Andreas’ free time, he plays video games, obsesses over music and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also a host for Sirius XM’s Fight Nation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer at DAZN and Sporting News. He started his career as a music journalist for outlets including HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated filmmaker as a producer for the animated short film “Bridges” in 2024.Follow on X