WWE Elimination Chamber 2020 Predictions and Pressing Questions

WWE’s final pay-per-view before WrestleMania 36, Elimination Chamber, takes place this Sunday in Philadelphia. And while the card itself doesn’t have many must-see matches, it could have some major implications for the WrestleMania card. The show is headlined by two matches inside the titular chamber, along with a few bouts on the midcard and title defenses from Braun Strowman, Andrade and the Street Profits (fresh off winning the Raw tag titles on Monday).

As always, we’ve assembled our team of wrestling writers to break down the biggest questions and predict the winners for Sunday’s matches Check out their predictions below, and tell us who you think will win down in the comments!

• Shayna Baszler vs. Asuka vs. Natalya vs. Liv Morgan vs. Ruby Riott vs. Sarah Logan (Elimination Chamber Match)
• Intercontinental Championship: Braun Strowman vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro and Sami Zayn
• SmackDown Tag Team Championships: The Miz & John Morrison vs. The New Day vs. The Usos vs. Heavy Machinery vs. Lucha House Party vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode (Elimination Chamber Match)
• Raw Tag Team Champions: The Street Profits vs. Seth Rollins & Murphy
• AJ Styles vs. Aleister Black (No DQ Match)
• United States Champion Andrade vs. Humberto Carrillo
• Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak

We Just Had a Pay-Per-View Last Week. Should This Show Be Happening?

Connor Casey: Probably not. I usually look forward to the chamber pay-per-view every year but thanks to Super ShowDown (*grumble…*) WWE didn’t have nearly enough time to fill up the card. If they leave it right where it is now with six matches and not let it last five hours I’ll be fine with it. But then again I had that same hope for Hell in a Cell, and we all know how that turned out. 

Matt Aguilar: I mean, if you consider Super Showdown a true pay-per-view, then no, but since I really don’t consider that a true pay-per-view and only watched it because of one match, I’ll say it’s fine. If you were going to have to pick one you would skip Super Showdown anyway. The thing that can help is what Connor referred to, and that’s keeping it concise and without a lot of fat.

Evan Valentine: Listen, there’s always going to be folks who just can’t get enough wrestling content, but in all honesty: no it shouldn’t. The big event on everyone’s mind is the upcoming Wrestlemania and while this doesn’t necessarily poison the well, it sure does dilute it. 

Ryan Droste: No. WWE simply has too many PPV events, but this is going to continue because of the revenue they generate. So from a business sense, yes. From a creative sense, absolutely not. 

Is There Any Way Shayna Doesn’t Win?

Connor: None at all. 

Matt: I mean, we all said that about Fiend and look what happened. That said, I’m still going to bet on Shayna taking it.

Evan: In the words of Vince McMahon’s theme song: “No chance in hell”. 

Ryan: Zero.

Is the IC Title Match the Sami Zayn Return We’ve Been Waiting for?

Connor: Lord I hope. Earlier this week I saw somebody upload the clip from when Zayn made his Raw debut against Cena in Montreal, and all I could remember was how much hope I had for him at the time. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he’s at least on television every week. But not having him wrestle on a consistent basis feels like a massive disservice. He’s an absolute master at storytelling in the ring, and his ability to connect with crowds was the reason I started watching NXT back in 2014. If this is how Zayn finally gets his hands on a championship I’ll be thrilled. 

Matt: He’s been so good in this managerial role that I honestly am fine with him not getting back a title at this point, but like Connor said, it’s a bit of a waste of such a talented superstar, so I’m hoping he gets the chance to switch gears and get some gold.

Evan: This really comes down to a person by person basis and in the world of wrestling. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that expectations are nearly impossible to meet, at least in the current state of things. I’ll cross my fingers but much like most matches these days, I’ll keep my expectations low and be excited if they’re surpassed.

Ryan: I love Sami Zayn as a performer. Always have, always will. Certainly injuries have derailed a promising career, literally from the moment he stepped foot on the main roster. I could definitely see him winning here, though his days of performing regularly in the ring are probably behind us. 

Does Undertaker Attack Styles Again?

Connor: I’ll go with yes. I can’t get it out of my head now that instead of Styles vs. Taker, we’ll get The OC vs. Taker, Kane and Black in a six-man tag match at WrestleMania (based on nothing besides the fact that Black keeps sticking around to feud with Styles), and I have a hunch they’ll keep building towards that here. Either way, the match should be fun.

Matt: Ugh…sure, and it will be just as entertaining as the last one…which is not entertaining

Evan: I mean sure, if Styles decides to stick around the ring for Taker’s ten minute entrance. In all seriousness though, I hope not as I want them to move forward, but I’d definitely put it in the category of too close to call. 

Ryan: I am going to go with no. They save it for television leading up to WrestleMania, and we’ll have to wait for WrestleMania for Taker’s next PPV appearance. 

We Know Roughly Half of the WrestleMania 36 Card. How Do You Feel About the Show So Far?

Here’s the card so far:

• WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre
• WWE Universal Championship: Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns
• John Cena vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
• Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. TBD
• NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
• Edge vs. Randy Orton (Probably)
• AJ Styles vs. The Undertaker (Probably)

Connor: If the battle royals were the only things left to be added to the card, I’d be perfectly fine with this lineup. Unfortunately WWE has decided to turn their biggest show of the year into a bloated marathon, so no matter how good the show is its still going to feel waaay too long.

WrestleMania XXX had eight matches. Eight. Let’s get back to that. 

Matt: Gotta say I’m pretty good with this so far. Lots of part timers or legends being used in interesting ways here, and having Ripley vs Flair on the card seems like the right move as well.

Evan: There’s definitely some gems in there, albeit mixed in with some extremely predictable ones (I can literally see Reigns’ and Goldberg’s “Spear War” inside my head play out as we speak.) As it stands, it’s totally serviceable. 

Ryan: I can’t remember a year where the excitement for WrestleMania has seemed so low. This is the time of the year where WWE is usually putting out their best content, but WWE television has been a complete slog for months now (though RAW has steadily improved, it’s still too long). There absolutely has not been a positive bump in terms of creative when it comes to the road to WrestleMania this year. We don’t need a 14 match show and not everyone needs to be on the WrestleMania card. Until WWE realizes this, it seems that we are in for these marathon shows to get everyone on the show, unfortunately. The women’s matches and McIntyre/Lesnar do intrigue me, but I can’t say the same for the rest of the card. Goldberg vs. Reigns is a complete snoozer of a WrestleMania headline match.