In the penultimate edition of Raw before the Elimination Chamber, the final spots in the men’s and women’s Chamber matches were up for grabs. Those spots were secured by Seth Rollins and Roxanne Perez and the six men and six women who will enter the chamber are now confirmed.
On the men’s side, Rollins joins CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Logan Paul, Damian Priest and John Cena. The women’s match will feature Perez, Liv Morgan, Bayley, Bianca Belair, Naomi and Alexa Bliss.
Elimination Chamber takes place on March 1 in Toronto.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Elimination Chamber matches are set
Women’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match — Roxanne Perez def. Raquel Rodriguez via pinfall with Pop Rox. Bianca Belair and Naomi showed up at Raw after video from last week that implied Rodriguez and Liv Morgan were the ones who attacked and injured Jade Cargill. Morgan and Rodriguez claimed they weren’t the attackers but Belair and Naomi showed up during the match and attacked Morgan at ringside. Rodriguez was distracted when she saw the attack and Perez took advantage to score the win.
Men’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match — Seth Rollins def. Finn Balor via pinfall after a stomp. Early in the show, Balor vowed to Judgement Day that he was going to win the match while Rollins was also interviewed and claimed he simply needed the win more than Balor. The two had a lengthy back-and-forth match but Rollins was ultimately able to hit the stomp and get the win to secure the final spot in the men’s Elimination Chamber match.
WWE seems to have a lot of belief in Perez after having her go for a record amount of time in the Royal Rumble and now punching her ticket to the Elimination Chamber. That makes sense given Rodriguez and Morgan’s story isn’t really focused on the women’s world championship now and the women’s side needs more fresh faces to pick up momentum. On the men’s side, there wasn’t much of a surprise. As solid as Balor is every time he’s on screen, he doesn’t feel like a top player and is more involved in internal strife with Judgment Day than anything. Rollins is the big name who was able to round out a Chamber full of big names and has stories going with multiple men in the match, including CM Punk. Grade: B
What else happened on WWE Raw?
- Adam Pearce granted Sami Zayn a match with Kevin Owens. Pearce initially told Zayn that everyone in WWE had already told Zayn no and that he couldn’t make the match happen. Zayn said he wouldn’t leave the ring until he got the match. Pearce eventually relented but said that the match would happen at Elimination Chamber, though it would be unsanctioned, meaning nobody could stop Owens from doing whatever he wanted.
- AJ Styles def. Dominik Mysterio via pinfall with a Styles Clash. Styles fought off interference from Carlito before getting the win. After the match, Bron Breakker jumped in the ring and tried to blindside Styles with a spear, but Styles side-stepped him, leading Breakker to hit Mysterio. Styles then hit Breakker with a kick and threw him from the ring.
- Dakota Kai def. Ivy Nile via pinfall with a GTK in a women’s intercontinental championship No. 1 contender match.
- Jey Uso and Gunther brawled after Gunther cut a promo about how the fans hyped Uso up into challenging for the world heavyweight championship at WrestleMania. Gunther said his attack on Uso was in Uso’s best interest and he should have chosen to challenge Cody Rhodes instead, but now he’s in a mess. Uso eventually came out and ran to the ring where the pair fought until separated by WWE officials.
- Penta def. Pete Dunne via pinfall with a Penta Driver. Ludwig Kaiser made his way to the ring during the match, eventually leading to Dunne yelling at him to get out of his business. This allowed Penta to take advantage of the distraction and get the win. Penta then fought off a post-match attack.