Taking Our Lumps Or A Victory Lap: Wrestling Inc's WWE Elimination Chamber 2024 Report Card

You can say that WWE Elimination Chamber was predictable all you like (we certainly did) so long as you also recognize that it got a lot of business accomplished, as they say, as the last PLE before WrestleMania 40. We also got a lot of business accomplished with our predictions, as our 15 staff participants this go-round went 4-0 from a consensus perspective and 57-3 combined! Granted, that last stat sounds a lot more impressive than what it really is — hell, we only had the three dissenting votes in total, after all — but we'll take it! And with what is sure to be a more unpredictable AEW Revolution next on our docket, we'll raise the flag that bears our 13-1 consensus record for the year and fly it proudly, at least for the time being (as a few of us are genuinely scared of what that Revolution card may bring). If we don't catch some more L's soon, we might have to change the name of this column!

We predicted the main card only, as usual, so there was no opining on The Kabuki Warriors' successful tag team title defense over Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae (but we probably would have picked Kairi and Asuka too, so give us another half point or whatever if you want). While you mull that over, we'll start recapping our near-perfect performance. And no, most valued readers, that's not bragging. That's just the truth.

Others receiving votes: none

Speaking of "truth," R-Truth played no factor in this match, which is a prediction a lot of us would have gotten wrong had it been part of our recipe. Alas, it was not, which helped since Truth apparently went to Austria and not Australia anyway. Regardless, our pundits unanimously predicted that Finn Balor and Damian Priest would retain over New Catch Republic, and that they did. It just wasn't time for A) TJD to drop the belts (which is probably better-suited for a "babies-up" event like WrestleMania) or B) for Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne to don the gold — certainly not with Bate having just six main roster matches under his belt to this point. Now that's not to say that we don't see big things in the near future for Bate and Dunne. We do. In fact, we see gold sooner rather than later. Just not yet. And also, we haven't stopped celebrating "Butch" going bye-bye. Butch wasn't the worst but he wasn't the best either — and Pete Dunne might be.

The match itself was just fine (and as long as you're not Balor's thumb, you probably agree) but it begs the question now as to just what the hell is to become of the tag belts and The Judgment Day in turn come Mania. It's high time for both main roster shows to have their own champions and just how that gets accomplished is anyone's guess. Priest still has that pesky briefcase he can't seem to get rid of and Balor will be fine no matter how tag teams or factions shake out. In the meantime, let's load up the wagon for Bate and Dunne as far as knocking off a bunch more high-quality tag teams on the way to WrestleMania to keep them in the mix for whatever's next.

Others receiving votes: none

In our second of two absolute clean sweeps as far as the predictions went, none of us saw anyone but Becky Lynch prevailing in the chamber, and that's just fine. Lynch was destined for a WrestleMania showdown with WWE Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley anyway (which is Exhibit A in the case of The People vs. The Guy Who Didn't Vote for Rhea Ripley, and we'll flesh that out shortly). What was a bit surprising, however, was that Lynch got all 15 votes amid this particular crop of competition. All of Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Naomi, Raquel Rodriguez, and Tiffany Stratton had a case to make here, from long-term division dominance to hellbent on revenge to returning from parts unknown to a sentimental favorite to the new gold standard newcomer. But nevertheless, "The Man" got it done.

From a getting-business-done perspective, this match did wonders, whether the result made you yawn or not. Stratton shined and she is every bit the superstar, already, that WWE hoped she'd be, likely, YEARS From now. The pro-Stratton Australian crowd was surely a surprise to the office but she handled it like a pro and heeled it up wonderfully all weekend long, capped by her amazingly pathetic crawl out of the cage upon her elimination. And now she has a feud already cooked up with Naomi, whom she eliminated in wonderfully heelish, opportunistic fashion.

But fine, enough about Tiffany! "The Man's" going to Mania, where we're sure to get a great match with Ripley. Will the champ retain? Seems likely, which takes away from any drama we might have here so maybe somebody else sneaks their way into make it a three-way but regardless, it doesn't' look like "Mami" will be without the strap anytime soon.

Others receiving votes: Nia Jax [1]

The event was themed around its most prominent native daughter, branding the logo itself and surrounding promotional collateral in her faction's iconic colors. And while Nia Jax's work since returning to WWE has been the best of her career, there wasn't anything tangible to lend itself to an upset in Perth for the WWE Women's World Championship. Still, we had one dissenter on the Jax train, and through some investigative journalism, it was determined that this distinguished gentleman cast his vote on the side of the underdog largely because it seemed like there had to be at least one surprise and of all the surprises to be had, this one made the most sense.

Ultimately, it wasn't to be, and that's okay. [unnamed gentleman dissenter, we all still love you!] In the end, this match is going to be remembered for two things: One) A great showing by each participant, which we've come to expect from Ripley, but if you're not giving Jax at least some credit at this point, you haven't paid, or aren't willing to pay, keen attention. And Two) Albeit for a heel (technically, though certainly not in this matchup), all of Australia being behind Ripley, with her family in the front row, and an emotional embrace after the end result should tell you everything you need to know about just how much the WWE machine is behind "The Eradicator" right now. Tell us that didn't get you in the feels a little bit and we'll tell you that you're a grinch-and-a-half.

This is "Mami's" world and we're just living in it. Taking the liberty to speak on behalf of the collective, we're happy to be along for the r(ipt)ide.

Others receiving votes: Randy Orton [2]

The penultimate match of the PLE had all we could muster this time around in terms of contrarian opinions and though that only amounted to two, the possibility of Randy Orton punching his ticket to WrestleMania to challenge for Seth "Freakin'" Rollins WWE World Heavyweight Championship was palpable ahead of and throughout the match — certainly considering the field (with all due respect) of Bobby Lashley, LA Knight, Kevin Owens, and Logan Paul. While Knight, in his Johnny-Come-Lately role of the unsung crowd favorite, sniffed main event status recently enough for us to factor that in (and it looks like he's on a path toward AJ Styles come early April), the rest of the field had not, and the general take was that Owens and Paul would continue on in some fashion, as hinted at by Paul's marker, Owens' beatdowns on "The Maverick," and the end result for each in the match. That left Lashley, who most of us reasoned was the big bad (even if he's not bad, or is, or ... we don't know) to be conquered, thus bolstering the credibility of the eventual conqueror(s) therefore.

With all that in mind, it was really only ever going to be Orton or Drew McIntyre and "The Scottish Psychopath's" work of late — his targeting of CM Punk with an eye on Rollins all the while, his methodical taking out of everyone and everyone in his way thereto, his demeanor overall on the side of nastiness, and so on and so forth — has been undeniable. Add to that, in the Chamber match itself, the fact that Orton now has a beef with Paul and that a lot of us have been predicting some sort of multi-man match at Mania for Paul's US title and, well, everything made sense. When everything makes sense, we're all happy right? (Right. In wrestling. Like everyone's ever going to be happy. Right.)

Predictable isn't always bad — if you get a surprise every time you're wanting a surprise, well, that takes away from the "oomph" factor of any and all surprises. No matter how you look at it, 3:45 am call time for those of us on the East Coast or not, this was a quality wrestling show worth watching that helped set the stage for the next chapters of several attention-grabbing storylines, so we're good with it all. And while we're pleased to boast of an impressive record to date as a collective, as we mentioned earlier, we're sure to have our worlds turned upside down this coming weekend, bring us all back to some sort of humble stasis.

Vive la Révolution!