Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss now knows the five opponents she will be facing at Elimination Chamber on Feb. 25.
Raw General Manager Kurt Angle ran down Bliss’ five adversaries: Bayley, Mandy Rose, Mickie James, Sonya Deville and Sasha Banks.
Last week, Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon announced the first Women’s Elimination Chamber bout with Bliss defending the Raw Women’s title. If Bliss wins the match, she will go on to defend the Raw Women’s title at Wrestlemania – making it the second consecutive year she has defended a championship at the Showcase of the Immortals. Last year Bliss defended the Smackdown Women’s Championship in a six-pack challenge, which was won by Naomi.
It’s not a surprise to the particular five aforementioned wrestlers added to the Elimination Chamber match. Bliss has been in notable programs – good or bad depending how a fan looks at it – with Bayley, James and Banks. All three wrestlers are capable of putting on a good match with Bliss, as well as each other, and this match could be a good stop on the road to Wrestlemania.
It makes sense to add Deville and Rose to boost up Absolution’s profile before Wrestlemania. This will be the second big match for Deville and Rose on the main roster, the first being the Royal Rumble.
However, unlike the Royal Rumble both Deville and Rose will have more time in the ring with their opponents. This gives them the opportunity to showcase how they have progressed since being called up from NXT.
There are different stories to be told in this match. Everyone will be gunning for Bliss, but fans could see Deville and Rose working together – or turn on each other during the match.
There’s also a chance Banks could come full circle with her heel turn and cost Bayley the match, or blame her if she loses, setting up their feud for Wrestlemania.
As for the Chamber itself, fans shouldn’t expect the women’s match to be as brutal as the men’s. It’s unlikely any of the pods will break like previous Elimination Chamber matches.
That said, the wrestlers could use the structure to pull off some impressive moves. Bliss could land a Twisted Bliss from the top of one of the pods.
The Raw Women’s title match isn’t the only bout for the women’s division scheduled at the event.
On Raw, Angle added another match to Elimination Chamber. Nia Jax will face 2018 Women’s Royal Rumble winner Asuka. If Jax wins the match, she will be added to the Raw Women’s title bout at Wrestlemania 34 – making it a triple threat match.
Speaking of Elimination Chamber, Roman Reigns qualified for the Elimination Chamber after he defeated Bray Wyatt on Raw. Reigns now joins John Cena, Elias and Braun Strowman. Cena, Elias and Strowman earned the opportunity to enter the match after winning their respective qualifying matches. There are still two open spots left in the men’s Elimination Chamber bout.
The winner of the men’s Elimination Chamber match will challenge WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 34.
Mia Yim made her return to WWE during Monday Night RAW following her release from the company back on November 4th, 2021, during a segment between The O.C. and The Judgment Day, by attacking Rhea Ripley.
AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson had been looking for some help as they battle with the faction, and Ripley has been a factor in their battles. Now, Yim joins them to help neutralize Ripley.
Yim commented on her return during a backstage interview, and made reference to the former Retribution stable that spelled the end for many promising runs.
“Oh my gosh, it feels so good to be back. It took me a year to try and find myself but now I’m ready. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to kick some ass and get my retribution. But the boys are waiting on me so I’ll see ya later.”
Following the walkout of Sasha Banks and Naomi, who were at the time the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, details have been mum on what would go on with the vacated titles, but now there finally are some details to share.
With rumors that both Banks and Naomi will be returning to the company with Vince McMahon now in charge, the Women’s Tag Team titles are now back in the spotlight after going off the radar at the time of Banks’ and Naomi’s departures.
WWE has officially announced a new tournament to crown new Women’s Tag Team Champions that will finally begin on Raw this upcoming Monday.
While it seems to lineup the returns of Banks and Naomi, no official word has surfaced as of yet.
For Raw, the main event between Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan in a Wrestlemania rematch was a good way to end their show. With this new “Wildcard Rule” being introduced at the beginning of Raw, this led to two Smackdown superstars main eventing a Raw show. While we will look into the “Wildcard Rule” later, the match between these two was back and forth and ended with Kingston retaining his championship. Kofi has all the momentum going into the Money in the Bank PPV, which is great considering he is the WWE Champion.
For Smackdown, after the Hardy Boyz had to forfeit their tag team championships due to injury, the match to determine the new champions was great. After Shane McMahon originally was going to give the titles to Daniel Bryan and Rowan, the Usos interrupted and stated that they should at least get the opportunity to earn them. Daniel Bryan and Rowan ended up winning, which is a positive sight moving forward because it will bring more attention to the division with these two as champions.
The Bad
For Raw, even though things were good for the Usos on Smackdown, they were really bad on Raw. They came out during the Revival’s match and told them that they put Icey Hot on their ring attire. This led to bad acting and just an attempt at humor, which didn’t go well.
For Smackdown, while the Aleister Black promos have been good so far, they are starting to over welcome their stay. This has been going on for about a month, so hopefully we see him in the ring before he loses all momentum.
The Final Verdict
Both brands had interesting shows this week because this new “Wildcard Rule” was introduced. This “Wildcard Rule” means that four superstars from Raw will be on Smackdown and four Smackdown superstars will be on Raw every week. This idea does seem like a bad one though because it will take time away from superstars in their respective brand. Along with that, this is right after the Superstar Shakeup, which now feels completely pointless. As to who had the better show this week though, Smackdown had better matches and was still able to help put good build towards Money in the Bank. In conclusion, Money in the Bank is still about two weeks away, but proper time has been put into it and all the matches gain momentum in build week by week.
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