Elimination Chamber 2025 was one of the most groundbreaking premium live events I have ever seen. It’s safe to say we are officially on the road to WrestleMania.
Photo credit: WWE
Mystery Solved
The mystery of who attacked Jade Cargill all those months ago had been eating at WWE fans since the attack and on Saturday we finally got our answer.
As the Women’s Elimination Chamber match kicked off the show, a returning Jade Cargill made her way to the ring before the referees could lock the cage shut. She entered the structure and raised a fist toward Liv Morgan before quickly diverting to Naomi, brutally attacking her and leaving her incapacitated after slamming her head between the chamber doors. Naomi was deemed unfit to compete and henceforth eliminated from the match.
I’ve got only four words for everyone…I told ya so! I mean, plenty of people saw this coming, but there was still the chance that it could’ve been Bianca. I went into depth on this topic in last week’s Raw Rundown, basically stating that Naomi had the motivation to attack Jade, she was the first to show up at the scene of the crime, was quick to blame Raquel and Liv, and seemed a bit off mentally the night she lost her tag titles.
Bianca Belair heads to Wr-EST-leMania!
The final result of the women’s chamber match was the EST of WWE punching her ticket to WrestleMania. My prediction over on X was that Alexa Bliss would win the chamber, but I really had no basis as to why I thought this. Neither Rhea Ripley nor Iyo Sky has any kind of feud going on with any of the match’s participants so it was more of a gut-feeling kind of thing.
The match itself was spectacular. We had tons of violent spots inside the sinister structure. Heads bashing off of glass, bodies crashing onto the floor, faces rubbing against steel chains, and who could forget the whipping that Liv Morgan took from Bianca Belair? It sounded brutal.
Although I did love the match in ring, my only complaint is that it didn’t set up any feuds for WrestleMania besides Naomi vs Jade and Bianca vs Rhea/Iyo. Liv Morgan looked like a million bucks, but what’s next for her? Bayley and Roxanne Perez barely had any action against each other, not even one of them eliminating the other. And that’s an ongoing feud! Alexa Bliss was the crowd favorite from the second she exited her pod, but even she still seemed directionless afterward.
Tiffy and Trishy Get The W in Toronto
I both love and hate using the phrase “nothing burger” to describe a match. For as fun as it is to say, it sucks having to use it to describe what was an otherwise solid match.
In ring, sure, it was pretty good. Trish Stratus took some crazy shots from Nia Jax, getting swung around like a garden hose, but overall it just felt like a time filler. You can’t tell me that this match didn’t feel like something that you would see on any old episode of Friday Night Smackdown.
I guess Trish Stratus did a good job elevating Tiffany Stratton before the biggest match of her career at Mania, but I think a title defense against Trish and an appearance from The Queen afterward would’ve done the job much better.
Absolute Carnage
Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens in an unsanctioned match was almost everything that I wanted it to be. In my mind, this is a match-of-the-year contender. That’s two in a row from KO as well because his match at Royal Rumble was also one of my favorites.
These two did everything that they advertised to one another. We had double table breakages, hockey sticks, barbed-wire coated steel chairs, and more. I am just nitpicking at this point, but the only thing this match was missing for me was some blood. Like I said in my Smackdown Summary, I don’t always need blood to really get into a match. In fact, I’d rather them skip out on it most of the time. However, this match was different. Sami and Kevin practically killed each other. You’re telling me that a barbed-wire steel chair didn’t cause any bleeding at all? Not even on accident?
Aside from my minor complaint, this match was perfect. It was exactly what their story needed. I can’t say much more than that.
The Viper Strikes Back
The second of many big returns on the night was Randy Orton, who came back to save Sami Zayn from a package piledriver onto the concrete floor. As a massive Randy Orton fan, I was praying that Randy would make his comeback tonight. After he skipped out at the rumble, I knew it had to be here in Toronto.
Randy is back and out for blood. He stormed down to the ring and delivered RKOs to everyone he could get his hands on. I feel bad for all of those poor security guards who tried to get in Randy’s way. I will also never forgive them for taking away a punt kick to Kevin Owens from us. I have a feeling we will see one sometime in the near future. It’s only fair. One banned move for another.
Either way, I am glad we have Randy back, and this will definitely be the Mania match for both him and KO. My only question now is will we see Sami Zayn on the WrestleMania card, or will he be put on the shelf until later on?
The Men’s Chamber
We all received the result that we needed from this year’s men’s Elimination Chamber match. John Cena will head to his final WrestleMania to main event against Cody Rhodes for a chance at his 17th world championship.
First, let me just say that the finish of this match was so poetic. Who better to have dook it out for the Mania main event than John Cena and CM Punk? They have so much rich history together. The sight of them embracing in the ring before fighting, and Cena screaming “I’m sorry” as Punk faded out of consciousness was pure cinema.
The complaint that I had about the women’s match does not stand true for this one at all. We received a couple of Mania feuds from this match, including Damien Priest vs Drew McIntyre, and CM Punk vs Seth Rollins vs (probably) Roman Reigns. The only one I am unsure about is Logan Paul, but you can stick him against anyone and it’ll be an attraction. That’s why I said unsure and not worried!
What I am worried about though is the future of Drew McIntyre. He looked super weak tonight, losing to yet another roll-up from Damien Priest. Why do they keep doing this to Drew? After the year he just had it doesn’t make any sense to me. They seriously have nothing better for him at the show of shows than a one-off feud with Damien Priest? I was excited for Bloodline bounty hunter Drew. He was supposed to come for Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Jacob Fatu, Solo Sikoa, or anybody other than Damien Priest.
I can’t say I am excited for this match at all. The way Damien Priest has been booked lately is comparable to the likes of Cody Rhodes. He looks invincible. Nothing can stop him. He never loses clean. If I had to guess, Priest will probably beat the Scottish Warrior with a roll-up after kicking out of five claymores. I’m calling it now.
The Sellout of The Century
There are no words to describe what happened in the main event of the show other than legendary. This moment will never be forgotten. The John Cena heel turn was one of the most unpredictable story points in the history of professional wrestling. It officially feels like WrestleMania season is upon us.
The segment started out with what I thought would be just another cheese-ball promo from perpetual good-guy Cody Rhodes. I knew in the back of my mind he would never accept The Rock’s offer. I just had hoped he would so Cena would have a heel opponent for WrestleMania (oh how the tables turned). Dropping an F-bomb uncensored was not on my bingo card, however.
And then it happened, the moment that will go down in history. The Rock signals to John Cena as he hugs it out with the WWE Champion to deliver the low blow and end a 20-year babyface run. It was evil. It was truly diabolical. It was lemon-scented. Nobody in the crowd, on commentary, or the beaten and bloodied Cody Rhodes could believe their eyes.
For as perfect as this segment was, I have one complaint. Why did Travis Scott have to be involved in this at all? What did he add? What did he bring to the table? It wasn’t like iShowSpeed’s rumble appearance that was meaningless and designed for clicks online. This was a massive moment that will forever be stained by a clout-chasing Travis Scott. If he wanted to be involved with WWE so badly, why not just have him perform one of his crappy songs? I thought that’s what he was advertised for. Get him off of our screens. He didn’t deserve to be a part of this.