The night before WWE Elimination Chamber 2026, SmackDown in Toronto descended into complete chaos — and it changed every single one of our predictions. Jey Uso was hauled out in an ambulance before the show even got going, a mystery attacker putting him on the shelf. Drew McIntyre cost Jacob Fatu a Chamber spot and handed it to Logan Paul. And in the biggest development of the night, Rhea Ripley and IYO Sky dropped the Women’s Tag Titles to Nia Jax and Lash Legend — a result that immediately reshuffled the entire Women’s Chamber picture heading into Chicago.
On Wrestling Uncensored episode 771, Dave Simon and Johnny North broke down every match, every angle, and every WWE Elimination Chamber 2026 prediction live as SmackDown unfolded.
The show is Saturday night in Chicago, Illinois — and if SmackDown taught us anything, it’s that nothing is settled until the bell rings.
Join us LIVE! for our WWE Elimination Chamber 2026 Reactions Show
🎯 Key Takeaways
- Rhea Ripley is now Dave’s Women’s Chamber pick: Losing the tag titles on SmackDown frees Rhea for a singles run — and Rhea vs. Jade Cargill at WrestleMania is the match Dave wants to see.
- Cody Rhodes is the lock in the Men’s Chamber: Logan Paul enters after Jacob Fatu was screwed by Drew McIntyre, but Cody wins regardless of who’s in it. A potential Cody/Drew/Jacob Fatu triple threat at WrestleMania is the best possible outcome.
- CM Punk beats Finn Bálor in his hometown: Chicago belongs to Punk, and JD McDonagh or Dominik Mysterio probably costs Bálor the match to set up something bigger.
- Becky Lynch retakes the title from AJ Lee: With babyfaces winning across the board, Becky is the logical heel win — probably with some chicanery to extend the feud toward WrestleMania.
- The Masked Man mystery is over — and it’s nobody: Dave’s convinced that what we saw on SmackDown — a random nobody being escorted away by security — is WWE’s complete resolution of the angle that was supposed to involve Seth Rollins.
SmackDown Night Before Elimination Chamber: Everything That Happened
SmackDown opened with pandemonium. Jey Uso arrived at the building and was immediately attacked — no explanation, no clear assailant — and was loaded into an ambulance before he could even get to the ring. GM Nick Aldis tried to restore order backstage as every wrestler in the building converged on the scene, screaming and pushing.
Drew McIntyre showed up in the arena crowd and appeared to be mocking Jey Uso’s situation. But then later in the night, Sami Zayn confronted Jacob Fatu backstage, making the case that Jacob attacked Jey because Jacob now had a qualifying match — and was conveniently the first person to “discover” Jey after the attack. Jacob got heated and turned it back on Sami. Classic whodunit — and with the Chamber Saturday night, it may never be fully resolved.
It all stems from a Raw injury that cascaded through the entire show. On Raw, Bronson Reed, Jey Uso, and Chad Gable — under his El Grande Americano gimmick — were in a triple threat to determine a Chamber spot. Reed rolled out of the ring during the match, and for a very uncomfortable minute, he just lay there while Jey and Gable stood in opposite corners, not knowing what to do.
The Netflix broadcast showed the commercial break live, so fans watching at home saw the whole awkward stretch of the two men playing to the crowd while waiting for direction. Dave’s read: Bronson Reed was supposed to win that match. Instead, Jey Uso won — and that put the whole Chamber field in motion. Reed appears to have torn his bicep, which could mean he misses WrestleMania entirely.
Paul Heyman used the chaos to angle for a Logan Paul Chamber spot while Jacob Fatu lobbied for his own shot. Nick Aldis made the call: Logan Paul versus Jacob Fatu in the SmackDown main event, winner replaces Jey Uso. Meanwhile, the Wyatt Family storyline continued its slow descent into irrelevance — Uncle Howdy beat Solo Sikoa in a long, unimpressive match, seemingly got the Bray Wyatt lantern back, then had it ripped away immediately by Tama Tonga kicking him in the head. The MFTs fled with the lantern, Solo disappeared without consequence, and the whole thing ended with zero resolution after months of build. On the same night, Oba Femi squashed The Miz in a long promo-heavy segment that went nowhere.
📋 Men’s Elimination Chamber 2026 — Final Lineup
| Entrant | How They Qualified | Dave’s Odds |
|---|---|---|
| Cody Rhodes | Pre-qualified | 🔒 Lock to win |
| Randy Orton | Pre-qualified | Low — big threat presence |
| LA Knight | Pre-qualified | Low |
| Trick Williams | Pre-qualified | Low — crowd favourite |
| Je’Von Evans | Pre-qualified | Very low |
| Logan Paul | Won qualifier (Drew McIntyre interference vs. Jacob Fatu) | Low — narrative role |
Logan Paul Gets In — Jacob Fatu Gets Screwed
The SmackDown main event had multiple moving parts and delivered genuine drama. With no referee in the ring after officials went to deal with a mysterious masked man at ringside, Jacob Fatu had Logan Paul beaten with a Samoan Drop. Then Drew McIntyre appeared and nailed Jacob Fatu with the title belt — allowing Logan to roll Fatu up for the three count. Logan Paul is going to Chicago.
Dave’s immediate analysis: that finish just built a legitimate WrestleMania story. Jacob Fatu was cheated out of a Chamber shot by Drew McIntyre — the same Drew McIntyre who’s heading toward Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania. That gives you a clear path to a triple threat: Cody wins the Chamber, Jacob Fatu demands inclusion because Drew screwed him twice, and you get Cody vs. Drew vs. Jacob Fatu for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania — which is a far more compelling match than Cody and Drew one-on-one for the fourth time.
“Jacob Fatu’s got a legitimate beef now. You could still enter Jacob Fatu into a triple threat with Cody and Drew — because Jacob got screwed by Drew here for his match at the Chamber that he would have won.”
— Dave Simon, Wrestling Uncensored Episode 771
Women’s Elimination Chamber: Why Rhea Ripley Changed Everything
When the show started, Dave’s pick for the Women’s Chamber was Tiffany Stratton. By the end of SmackDown, it wasn’t even close — Rhea Ripley had to be the choice. During the show, Rhea Ripley and IYO Sky dropped the Women’s Tag Titles to Nia Jax and Lash Legend. That result immediately freed up Rhea Ripley for a singles run into WrestleMania, and the match that makes sense — that looks great on a poster, that the company can build around, and that hasn’t been done before — is Rhea Ripley versus Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 42.
The Women’s Chamber field is Tiffany Stratton, Rhea Ripley, Alexa Bliss, Raquel Rodriguez, Kiana James, and Asuka — and when you run through the process of elimination, there are really only two candidates: Rhea or Tiffany. Dave had been leaning toward Tiffany before SmackDown, but losing the tag belts changed the calculus entirely.
Tiffany Stratton was runner-up at the Royal Rumble and will likely be runner-up in the Chamber too, which puts her in a tough spot heading into WrestleMania with no clear match. Johnny North pointed out the rough position Tiffany finds herself in — two consecutive runner-up finishes usually signal the opposite of what’s happening here.
📋 Women’s Elimination Chamber 2026 — Process of Elimination
| Entrant | Dave’s Take |
|---|---|
| Rhea Ripley | 🔒 Dave’s pick — lost the tag belts, now free for Jade Cargill at Mania |
| Tiffany Stratton | Was the pick before SmackDown — probably runner-up again |
| Asuka | Always has a chance because she’s Asuka — won’t win |
| Raquel Rodriguez | More credible than Alexa, had a backstage segment with Jade |
| Alexa Bliss | Not winning |
| Kiana James | Least likely winner |
The Rhea vs. Jade match hasn’t been done. It looks incredible on a WrestleMania poster. Both women are physical specimens, and a Rhea Ripley — freed from tag team obligations, fully focused and motivated — going one-on-one with Jade Cargill for the Women’s Championship is exactly the kind of fresh, visual, main event worthy match that could close out night one of WrestleMania. Dave called it simple: Rhea and Jade one-on-one is cool. It’s a cool match. It looks cool. The match will be interesting.
CM Punk vs. Finn Bálor: Chicago Belongs to Punk
This one isn’t complicated. CM Punk is wrestling Finn Bálor in Punk’s hometown of Chicago at WWE Elimination Chamber 2026, and Chicago is going to be absolutely electric from the first note of Punk’s entrance music. The crowd will be behind him the entire way, and Finn Bálor — despite being a credible opponent and a good worker — is not beating CM Punk in Chicago.
Dave and Johnny’s working theory is that JD McDonagh, who has been working with Bálor, will find a way to interfere and cost Finn the match — not to protect Finn from a clean loss, but to keep some avenue open for escalation toward WrestleMania. That could mean a rematch, a tag match, or some kind of faction involvement. The interesting backstage note: CM Punk’s wife is Becky Lynch, who is also on this show. Johnny raised the question of whether Punk would want his match placed later in the card so Becky can go on after him. Dave and Johnny’s best guess for show order: Women’s Chamber opens, then Becky vs. AJ Lee, then Punk vs. Bálor, then Men’s Chamber closes the show.
There’s a larger concern with the CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns WrestleMania build that both Dave and Johnny addressed. The promo that kicked off the feud — Roman choosing Punk, the two of them face-to-face delivering genuinely great television — was the peak of the storyline, and Roman hasn’t been around since.
Punk is essentially building a WrestleMania main event by himself. He’s in the ring every week, cutting promos at someone who isn’t responding. It’s like the Booker T versus Triple H feud at SummerSlam — one guy doing all the work while the other shows up at the pay-per-view and wins. “Punk is literally there; he’s got nothing else to say. Roman’s not saying anything. He’s not on TV. He’s not around.”
Becky Lynch vs. AJ Lee: Becky Wins, But They’re Not Done
Dave’s pick for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship match is Becky Lynch. The logic is simple: the whole card skews babyface, and with AJ Lee as the Chicago hometown hero — or at least Chicago-adjacent now — you need one heel victory. Becky cheating to win, setting up a rematch at WrestleMania, makes the most structural sense.
Johnny agreed: AJ Lee getting her title back against her former rival in her adopted hometown would be feel-good television, but it doesn’t advance the story in any interesting way. Give Becky the win, extend the feud, and figure out what the WrestleMania version looks like.
Dave floated the idea of a celebrity tag at WrestleMania — Becky and a partner versus AJ and CM Punk — but immediately talked himself out of it. Punk wrestling twice at WrestleMania seems unlikely. Whatever the WrestleMania version ends up being, the match on this show is Becky retaining.
AJ Styles’ Perfect Sendoff — Then Brock Lesnar Ruins It
One of the genuine highlights of the week’s WWE programming was AJ Styles’ retirement sendoff on Raw. The Undertaker appeared, had what appeared to be a teased confrontation — the crowd bought it completely, anticipating a WrestleMania match — and then Taker announced that AJ Styles would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. AJ genuinely seemed surprised, and seeing him with his family in the moment was a genuinely touching moment on television.
Dave gave WWE full credit: this is how you send a legend off. Not losing to Baron Corbin in eight minutes at WrestleMania. A proper farewell, in front of your peers, in a state where fans love you.
And then Brock Lesnar. Paul Heyman came out to reposition Brock as the new Undertaker — the WrestleMania attraction match that any challenger should be honoured to participate in. The open challenge promo was not good. The rumor going around is that LA Knight gets the WrestleMania match with Brock, which is what the crowd was chanting for. Johnny mentioned fans were also chanting for Oba Femi, who would be a genuinely interesting opponent — but that probably doesn’t happen given they don’t want Oba eating a loss right now.
Dave’s read on the Brock-as-Undertaker comparison: Brock has presence and aura, but Undertaker was magical in a way Lesnar simply isn’t. “The aura is not the same as Undertaker’s.”
The Masked Man Mystery: Dave’s Verdict — It’s Over
During the Logan Paul versus Jacob Fatu main event, a masked man interfered — super kicking Austin Theory — before Logan Paul punched the mask off. Security and referees swarmed the guy and took him away. Commentary said, “Who is that guy?” and then moved on. The reveal: nobody. Some random person. Dave’s completely convinced this was WWE’s resolution to the entire Masked Man storyline that’s been running for months.
The original plan, Dave believes, was for Seth Rollins to be the masked man — setting up a feud with Bron Breakker at WrestleMania. But Bron Breakker is injured and won’t be at WrestleMania, so they scrapped the whole angle.
With no payoff available, WWE did what WWE does when backed into a creative corner: they resolved it with nothing and moved on. “I think what they did tonight was their way of tying a bow around the whole masked man mystery — which is so WWE.” Johnny pushed back — said he hoped Dave was wrong, that this had been a months-long angle affecting major matches. Dave’s counter: he’s betting that’s it. It’s over. The masked man was nobody.
AEW Dynamite: The Weekly Parade of Matches That Mean Nothing
Dave’s AEW Dynamite summary this week was delivered in the voice of a man who has run out of patience for a product he keeps coming back to. Jon Moxley opened the show against “El Clown” — a name that pretty much tells you where that match was going, and somehow it took 20 minutes. Orange Cassidy lost to Gabe Steele, who is British, is 28, looks older, wrestles in Japan, and is not cool enough for the Deathriders despite periodically working matches with them.
Clark Connors turned out to be Steele’s mystery partner; they attacked Orange Cassidy together, and Darby Allin made the save to set up what will presumably be a tag match nobody asked for. Mansoor beat Kevin Knight in a match that ran too long. Kevin Knight cut a promo about going for the world title. Dave does not believe in Kevin Knight.
The Babes of Wrath tag title match was cut short when Penelope Ford got hurt at ringside — her ankle, which was initially feared to be broken but appears to be a sprain. With Megan Bayne suddenly alone and the planned finish off the table, a disqualification ended the match. Johnny noted the unfortunate irony: if the Brawling Brutes or whoever the challengers were had been set to win the titles, you’re not going to do the planned finish with only one champion able to compete. AEW Revolution is two weeks away, and Dynamite continues to feel like a show full of matches looking for a reason to exist.
One piece of news that touched on AEW’s broader situation: Warner Bros. officially finalized its purchase by Paramount this week, which Dave flagged as potentially significant for AEW’s television future. TBS and TNT are Warner Bros. properties, and the new parent company dynamic could impact what happens with AEW’s deal going forward.
Reality Check: WWE’s SmackDown Did Its Job — Now Deliver on Saturday
⚡ Reality Check: The Chamber Card Looks Better Than It Should
The Reality: SmackDown went off the rails in every direction and somehow, by the end of it, the Elimination Chamber card in Chicago looks legitimately interesting. Rhea Ripley losing the tag titles creates a fresh story. Jacob Fatu getting screwed by Drew McIntyre creates a legitimate WrestleMania thread. CM Punk in Chicago is must-see television. Becky and AJ have genuine heat between them. Even the Brock Lesnar situation — which should be embarrassing given how weak the open challenge promo was — at least creates a name on a marquee. The problem isn’t Saturday night. The problem is the night after, and the night after that, when WWE has to sustain storylines through the Road to WrestleMania without dropping what they built tonight. They have a history of getting distracted, adding unnecessary people, or just forgetting what made something good. The Wyatt/MFT lantern angle is the cautionary tale sitting right there on the same card: months of build, no payoff, nobody invested. Don’t let the good stuff become that. Build the triple threat. Let Rhea and Jade breathe. Get Roman on TV. Do the work.
WWE Elimination Chamber 2026 Predictions — Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Dave Simon’s pick to win the Women’s Elimination Chamber 2026?
Rhea Ripley, and it wasn’t close once SmackDown ended. Rhea and IYO Sky dropping the Women’s Tag Titles to Nia Jax and Lash Legend on SmackDown freed Rhea for a singles run. Dave’s pick for the Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania 42 is now Rhea Ripley vs. Jade Cargill.
Who is in the Men’s Elimination Chamber 2026 match?
Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, LA Knight, Trick Williams, Je’Von Evans, and Logan Paul, who won a last-minute qualifier over Jacob Fatu on SmackDown when Drew McIntyre interfered with the title belt to give Logan the win.
Who is predicted to win the Men’s Elimination Chamber 2026?
Cody Rhodes. Dave called it a lock regardless of who else was in the match. The post-Chamber plan appears to be Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, potentially as a triple threat with Jacob Fatu after Fatu was screwed out of his Chamber spot by Drew McIntyre.
What happened to Bronson Reed before the Elimination Chamber?
Bronson Reed appears to have torn his bicep during a triple threat qualifying match on Raw against Jey Uso and Chad Gable. He rolled out of the ring and couldn’t continue. Jey Uso won the match instead, though Jey was then attacked and taken to the hospital on SmackDown, opening up the Logan Paul vs. Jacob Fatu qualifier slot.
Will CM Punk beat Finn Bálor at Elimination Chamber 2026?
Dave and Johnny both predict yes. CM Punk is the Chicago hometown hero, and the crowd will be electric behind him. JD McDonagh is expected to get involved somehow, likely costing Finn Bálor the match in a way that extends whatever storyline is building toward WrestleMania.
When and where is WWE Elimination Chamber 2026?
WWE Elimination Chamber 2026 takes place on Saturday, March 1, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois. Wrestling Uncensored will have a live reaction show at 10 PM ET on YouTube at https://youtube.com/live/2RnFDE7C4RU and across all streaming platforms, including Rumble, Twitch, Kick, DLive, and Twitter.
