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The last stop on WWE’s premier live event schedule before WrestleMania 42 hit Chicago’s United Center on Saturday night with the WWE Elimination Chamber 2026.

Randy Orton and Rhea Ripley punched their respective tickets to world title matches, AJ Lee won the Intercontinental Championship, and CM Punk retained his spot in WrestleMania 42’s main event.

As we wrap the final big stop before WrestleMania, here are five takeaways from Elimination Chamber.

1. Trapped in a steel cage of emotion

For as straightforward the rest of the show was, the main event was a doozy.

Nothing on this card was more egregious than LA Knight getting eliminated after a low blow and a roll-up from Logan Paul. For a star that gets the reactions he does and puts on the work he can in the ring, I can’t fathom how Knight continues to fall below the guys leapfrogging him up the roster.

Seth Rollins getting revealed as the masked man who’s been attacking The Vision makes all the sense in the world. With Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker on the shelf, it appears WWE is setting up another big match for Logan Paul at “The Showcase of the Immortals” after Rollins eliminated him with a stomp to end Paul’s night. Where that leaves Austin Theory is unclear — unless Rollins is making himself some new friends along the way.

The main-event finish went a ton of different directions, with Drew McIntyre doing everything in his ability to keep Cody Rhodes out of the title picture. The path forward remains up in the air from here — a Fatal 4-Way between McIntyre, Orton, Rhodes and Jacob Fatu would ensure everyone gets a share of the spotlight, but “Smackdown” GM Nick Aldis making a Rhodes-McIntyre title match for next week opens the possibility of a more direct Orton-Rhodes title tilt at WrestleMania 42, while Fatu could face off against McIntyre in a non-title match. 

If the latter is the direction, it feels supremely unfair for a guy like McIntyre to be left out of the title picture. The same can be said for Fatu, who is a talent ripe for the main-event scene, without much of an opportunity. The next two weeks should provide a great deal of clarity for where we’re headed.

2. Very nice, very evil

I can’t properly articulate how excited I am to have Danhausen back on my television.

WWE has some of its best moments with comedy wrestlers blended into the seriousness of its weekly episodic shows, and I’m fascinated to see how they use Danhausen. A best-case scenario is he carves out a role that flexes into the mid-card, with opportunities to touch into the main event.

3. Bálor belongs

CM Punk is heading back to a WrestleMania main event, a spot that had escaped him during his first WWE run. Punk is unquestionably one of the absolute top stars in WWE and will carry gold this year into his second consecutive WrestleMania show-closing match, this time solo against Roman Reigns as a likely capper for WrestleMania 42 weekend.

Saturday’s match against Finn Bálor at Elimination Chamber provided just enough doubt if Punk would get derailed from his clear path to Las Vegas. Bálor was exceptional yet again in a contest that did more than enough in swaying the audience to eagerly anticipate a triple-threat match that almost certainly won’t be in the cards.

For all the tension that’s built in the Judgement Day over the past year, not having some outside interference be the reason Bálor couldn’t wrap his waist in gold is a bit of a shame. Punk continues to look strong, and if a Judgement Day breakup is in the cards for making a match at WrestleMania, I would have loved to see the envelope pushed a bit this weekend in their fragmentation.

4. The unstoppable force meets the immovable object

As soon as the bell rang signaling the end of RHIYO’s tag-team title reign on Friday, it felt like a foregone conclusion that Rhea Ripley was on her way back to the world title picture. 

Just one day ended up separating her departure from championship gold before her next quest kicked off. A pin of Tiffany Stratton shakes up the “Smackdown” title picture in a big way, with Ripley now on a collision course against WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill for a significant WrestleMania showdown. 

The champ is coming off a big 2025, where she had a standout rivalry with Naomi, won Queen of the Ring and eventually claimed the WWE title. Her match against Ripley feels like it’s on another level, though. Arguably the biggest moment of her career thus far, Cargill and Ripley feels like a main-level match if built the right way.

5. A WrestleMania showdown in the making

AJ Lee getting matched against Becky Lynch was a slight surprise for Elimination Chamber in the build toward WrestleMania 42, with most expecting that the big-time payoff match would happen on the grander stage. Instead, WWE opted to move Lee’s big moment to Chicago, providing a hallmark moment Saturday next to her husband, CM Punk, with both holding their championships up high.

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There were opportunities for shenanigans throughout this one, including a moment where Lee had Lynch tapping out but the referee was knocked out. Ultimately, Lee got the submission anyway in her first singles match since her return, claiming Intercontinental gold. The win gives Lee a direct path to WrestleMania for what is almost assuredly slated to be a return match against Lynch in a culmination of their rivalry.