Elimination Chamber 2026 Chicago
Disclaimer: The Crass Pinhead Rating System is essentially a standard five-star rating system. It is analogous to a ten-point rating system (a half star is roughly equivalent to one point). It is superior to the system popularized by The Wrestling Observer in that it will never exceed five stars. The CPRS is based on my opinion, and I will do my best to take into account a combination of realism, excitement, shocking moments, getting over angles or storylines, star power, etc. I am not very interested in flippy guys “getting their shit in” and not selling. I am the Wrestling Chud.
- terrible. Worth watching only to gawk at.
- subpar. Bad outweighs the good, worth watching only if you’re a big fan of a participant. Sometimes just plain boring.
- solid. Good outweighs the bad, a fine example of a wrestling match.
- great. Exceeds expectations, a must-watch. Also takes into account star power, shocking events, or great storytelling.
- phenomenal. A one-to-three-times-in-a-year level match. A future classic. This is as high as the scale goes.
- Women’s Elimination Chamber Match: Tiffany Stratton v Alexa Bliss v Asuka v Rhea Ripley v Raquel Rodriguez v Kiana James w. Rhea Ripley
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Raquel looked like a beast
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Everyone was in character
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Kiana James impressed
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Good use of cage
- Women’s Intercontinental Championship match: c. Becky Lynch v AJ Lee 1/2 w. AJ Lee
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excellent facials by Lynch, brilliant heel as always
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Solid work from AJ despite retirement
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Good finish
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Blood
Lynch’s character work elevates an already solid match. She is so good at being hateable. It was also nice to see someone actually submit to a submission move.
- World Heavyweight Championship match: c. CM Punk v Finn Bálor 1/2 w. CM Punk
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good finish
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Elevated Finn
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Hard-fought victory
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Blood
Ironic that the non-cage normal rules matches both got blood.
Main Event: Elimination Chamber match: Cody Rhodes v LA Knight v Trick Williams v Logan Paul v Je’Von Evans v Randy Orton w. Randy Orton
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few moments of weirdness, punches not connecting
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LA Knight fell jumping up to the top rope for the elbow drop
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Great showing from Je’Von. What an athlete.
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Fun fake-out finish, unexpected return of Seth Rollins.
This is one of those strange shows where the match I was looking forward to the most, the main event, ended up being the least impressive.
LA Knight’s botch here, while I do think it was an accident, actually plays into my prediction that he will continue to be “passed over” and screwed by WWE despite his popularity, in preparation for his win (yes) over Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania.
I feel bad for Danhausen, who made his WWE debut here. He was booed incessantly by fans who clearly weren’t in the mood for him or were stupidly expecting Chris Jericho. At the time of this posting, he has made his Raw debut and has gotten over with the fans, and made me laugh out loud. I hope he gets the dancers for every entrance. Should be cheaper than some guys’ pyro, anyway.
Also props to R. Truth for making Papa John’s look edible, if only for a few seconds.