WWE has the Elimination Chamber 2018 PPV tonight on WWE Network, here is the Pulse Wrestling crew’s full prediction and previews!
Elimination Chamber match for a WWE Universal Championship match at WrestleMania 34
Braun Strowman vs. Elias vs. Finn Bálor vs. John Cena vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins vs. The Miz
Michael – This seems like a hugely anti-climatic match. Everything anyone has heard is that Vince McMahon is dead set on having Roman Reigns versus Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. Personally, I would like to see any of the others win, with the exception of Elias. The best I can hope for is Balor and Rollins developing some bad blood instead of just friendly professional competition. Because that is a match which would be nice to see at WrestleMania. I’d like to see The Miz look good, maybe even being the second to last one eliminated. Maybe this match sets up Elias as an Intercontinental challenger? As for Strowman, let’s just watch him destroy the chamber and continue to look like a monster. Still not sure what to do with him at WrestleMania though.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Spain: It’s pretty obvious that this is leading towards Lesnar/Reigns at WrestleMania, which I’m totally fine with. My hope for this match is that is that we get to see Roman look like someone who can conceivably take on Brock: I want him to be an absolute destroyer in the Chamber. With so little doubt about this match’s result, its main purpose other than to be a spectacle is to make everyone excited for Reigns’ rise.
Winner (and new number one contender): Roman Reigns
Widro – Roman
Winner: Reigns
Matt – Now if the question was “who do I WANT to win” the answer would be Braun Strowman. I think the big man has proven to be a commodity WWE should bank on and fans would believe him defeating Brock Lesnar. That being said, Roman is the chosen one and has been for awhile, and will be for the foreseeable future. Braun, Balor and Rollins would ALL be better choices to face Lesnar at ‘Mania but we’re not the ones with money invested in the success of WrestleMania.
Winner: Reigns
Sam Keola: It would be crazy if they don’t pull the trigger and have Braun go to Mania to face Brock.
Winner: Braun
Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship
Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Bayley vs. Mandy Rose vs. Mickie James vs. Sasha Banks vs. Sonya Deville
Michael – I am not sure about this match. I am not a huge fan of the Elimination Chamber anyway, but I just don’t really think the match style fits the competitors. Then again, I thought that about War Games and Adam Cole and was proven wrong. I would guess Alexa Bliss holds on to the title here, just because I think they could set up Bliss versus Nia Jax pretty easily for WrestleMania. I see Bayley and Banks continuing to work their slow-simmering feud. Also, let’s take a shot here and say Sonya Deville turns on Mandy Rose at Paige’s instruction, turning Mandy Rose face. Also, Bliss turns on Mickie James again for the victory, because of course she would.
Winner: Alexa Bliss
Spain: This is quite hard to call for me. I can buy Sasha defending the belt at Mania, and I suppose I could see Bayley doing it too. It seems that Alexa Bliss is the surer choice: she’s done phenomenal work so far, and a WrestleMania Championship match is something that she deserves and could definitely handle. I say it’s not going to be a sudden title change right before the Show of Shows.
Winner (and still WWE RAW Women’s Champion): Alexa Bliss
Widro – Hard to really see any of these women as champion right now besides Bliss or Sasha and it doesn’t feel time for a title change.
Winner: Bliss
Matt – While a freshly turned Banks vs Asuka at ‘Mania intrigues me, we’ve seen them face off before whereas Bliss and Asuka have been largely kept apart. I’m excited to see a cowardly but trickly heel versus a dominant babyface Asuka. It may be the only way to plant a seed of doubt about an Asuka loss.
Winner: Bliss
Sam Keola: Alexa retains
Winner: Bliss
Ronda Rousey’s official Raw Contract Signing
Michael – It is a contract signing, so I wouldn’t expect much action for Rousey here. I do think they set up her WrestleMania debut though. Maybe Rousey gets interrupted by Charlotte. Or Charlotte and Bliss. Or by Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. But, what I hope happens is that she gets interrupted by Asuka. Asuka comes out and says she doesn’t want a title shot at WrestleMania, she wants the new girl – Ronda Rousey.
Winner: Ronda Rousey for signing, Asuka for using her Royal Rumble victory to challenge Rousey at WrestleMania. Why not?
Spain: I guess Stephanie could get involved and start some shit, seeing as how I can only remember one contract signing ever going well, but that is more or less the only thing I can imagine happening. It’ll be interesting to see Ronda display some of what her personality is going to be, or even do anything that’s not pointing at the WrestleMania sign.
Widro – Something will happen where Ronda will punch Stephanie setting up some kind of insipid angle.
Winner: Stephanie
Matt –
Winner:
If Jax wins, she will be added to Asuka’s championship match at WrestleMania 34
Asuka vs. Nia Jax
Michael – I am not sure about this match. I am not a huge fan of the Elimination Chamber anyway, but I just don’t really think the match style fits the competitors. Then again, I thought that about War Games and Adam Cole and was proven wrong. I would guess Alexa Bliss holds on to the title here, just because I think they could set up Bliss versus Nia Jax pretty easily for WrestleMania. I see Bayley and Banks continuing to work their slow-simmering feud. Also, let’s take a shot here and say Sonya Deville turns on Mandy Rose at Paige’s instruction, turning Mandy Rose face. Also, Bliss turns on Mickie James again for the victory, because of course she would.
Winner: Alexa Bliss
Spain: I truly can’t see Asuka going down to Jax, though I’m sure the one or two times that Nia will come close will be a huge boost to her. Expect Asuka’s winning streak to continue until at least WrestleMania.
Winner: Asuka
Widro – I hope this isn’t one of those matches were Jax gets all offense then Asuka rolls her up. Asuka should look strong here.
Winner: Asuka
Matt – Asuka has been booked flawlessly since her NXT debut and I don’t see them diverging from a proven formula this close to ‘Mania.
Winner: Asuka
Sam Keola: I’m hoping this isn’t a cheap way to get rid of the undefeated streak. I wouldn’t put it past them to think this way since Asuka could walk out of WM as champ anyway. Will it be a screw job with Alexa’s help ala Scott Hall for Nash/Goldberg? It all feels way too rushed so it’ll probably be a mess. I’m going with Nia being added because it all makes no sense to do this so soon.
Winner: Asuka
“Woken” Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt
Michael – We’ve already seen this match too many times. As I’ve said before, Matt Hardy has to change something in his in-ring style to show any sort of difference between his normal character and his Woken one. Bray is floundering right now. I just see them wanting to build this towards a Hardy compound match thing at WrestleMania, no matter how much that will suck. As such…
Winner: Bray Wyatt
Spain: This feud could have been amazing for both men, but instead it’s turned into a total wash that’s diluted anything good from the original “Broken” Matt Hardy and has failed to allow Bray to branch out into anything new. I know Bray has already beaten Hardy once, but it seems that WWE don’t much care about this gimmick; they certainly don’t know how to utilise it. I’m calling it for Bray in what has been more or less a holding pattern for years now.
Winner: Bray Wyatt
Widro – Barf
Winner: Wyatt
Matt – Something special needs to happen in this match to make this feud relevant again. Both men have two of the most unique characters on the WWE roster today and a storyline between the two of them should be anything but boring but yet that’s what we’re seeing. They need to turn up the volume on these characters in order to capture the Universe’s attention once again.
Winner:
Sam Keola: This entire feud has been mishandled from day 2. What should have given both men the rub they so desperately needed if given any decent amount of tv time has turned into a bad SNL skit and laugh track. I expect this will be bumped to the preshow. Who ever loses will get buried in the shuffle. Whoever wins will get buried in the shuffle. Some eternal fight indeed. If it’s not regulated to preshow I expect Jeff to show up in some capacity.
Winner: No one. Loser: the fans.
Raw Tag Titles
The Bar (c) vs Titus Worldwide
Michael – Even though they have taken away Apollo’s last name, I still see no reason to take the belts off Sheamus and Cesaro. They are the class of the Raw tag team scene, so let’s keep them strong.
Winner: The Bar
Spain: I’ve loved that people are finally getting behind Apollo, but I can’t see the Bar losing the Tag Team Championships a month or so before WrestleMania. Call it an excellent effort from Titus Worldwide, but a clean victory for the Bar.
Winners (and still WWE RAW Tag Team Champions): The Bar
Widro – The tag division was red hot a few months ago and now feels cold. Wouldn’t mind a title switch here.
Winners: Titus Worldwide
Matt – As much as I’d like to see some glory for the super-talented Apollo, I don’t see the Bar dropping the belts before WrestleMania. And after seeing the MMC this past week, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apollo turn on Titus Worldwide before the end of the night.
Winners: Bar
Sam Keola: I’m hoping Titus Worldwide takes the belts. If Sheamus is as injured as rumored he needs to be out of the ring.
Winners: Titus Worldwide
