WWE Elimination Chamber 2020 airs this Sunday, March 8, live on WWE Network. This year’s edition features two Elimination Chamber matches — one for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship, and one for a shot at the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania — as well as a no disqualification match and two championship bouts. Here’s the complete card as of publication.
WWE Elimination Chamber 2020 card:
1. Elimination Chamber Match for a shot at the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania: Shayna Baszler vs. Asuka vs. Natalya vs. Liv Morgan vs. Ruby Riott vs. Sarah Logan
2. Elimination Chamber Match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship: The Miz and John Morrison (c) vs. The New Day vs. The Usos vs. Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode vs. Heavy Machinery vs. Lucha House Party
3. Handicap Match for the Intercontinental Championship: Braun Strowman (c) vs. Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Cesaro
4. No Disqualification Match: AJ Styles vs. Aleister Black
5. United States Championship Match: Andrade (c) vs. Humberto Carrillo
6. Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Street Profits (c) vs. Seth Rollins and Murphy
As always, we’ve got your complete rundown of the card and analysis below, featuring predictions for all six matches. Make sure to drop a comment and let us know who you think’s winning, and be here on Sunday night to see if you’re correct.
Here’s what we think will go down inside the Elimination Chamber.
Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Street Profits (c) vs. Seth Rollins and Murphy
What Should Happen: WWE should continue shining the brightest possible spotlight on Montez Ford. Make it so bright it accidentally creates its own Bat Signal on the ceiling of the arena. Working with Rollins and Murphy has made the Profits look arguably as good as they’ve ever looked, especially on Raw, so we should get another 10 minutes of that here. From the look of it, the undercard is really going to save this show.
What Will Happen: Late winter/early spring pay-per-views are usually pretty easy to pick, because they only seem to exist to facilitate whatever’s happening at WrestleMania. Even when they don’t, they FEEL like they do. The Street Profits just won the Raw Tag Team Championship on Monday and I sincerely doubt they’re going to send Rollins into WrestleMania as one half of the tag champs. The path seems to be Rollins vs. Owens, so the Profits retain. I just hope they have something for them to do at WrestleMania, too. And don’t say “hosting.”
Shit, they’re totally going to host WrestleMania, aren’t they?
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – I would love to see the Street Profits beat the former champs clean – though obviously the cheating on their behalf was revenge for cheating by the bad guys. However, I could see this match involving a similar amount of outside interference as the match on Raw, and it should be pretty good anyway. I think the Profits should retain.
Scott Heisel – With Samoa Joe being both injured *and* suspended, the odds of Kevin Owens having a tag team partner in time for WrestleMania seems extremely slim. So I’m betting the belts stay on the Street Profits’ waists with another assist from KO, and we get a gauntlet match on Monday between Kevin and all of Seth’s disciples, where if he wins, he gets Seth at Mania.
Elle Collins – Man, the Street Profits better win this. Why would you have them win the belts just to drop them right back? Ford and Dawkins definitely win, sending Seth (and by extension Murphy) back to the singles division.
Raj Prashad – After taking the belts in a must-win situation, I can’t help but pick the Street Profits to upend Rollins and Murphy yet again (probably with some additional help from Kevin Owens).
United States Championship Match: Andrade (c) vs. Humberto Carrillo
What Should Happen: I don’t know exactly where they want to go with all of this headed into WrestleMania — maybe that rumored title vs. mask match between Andrade and Rey Mysterio? — but if we’re going to keep involving Rey, Carrillo, and Angel Garza in the United States Championship scene, let’s put them all in the ring together for one big blowoff and let them have all the time and ambitious ideas they can handle.
What Will Happen: It’d be pretty shocking to see Humberto Carrillo head into this year’s WrestleMania with a championship. I feel like this will be an attempt to reestablish Andrade, especially after watching him get pinned on Monday, and set him up for whatever happens next. I really do hope they go Luchas de Apuestas at WrestleMania, though. That’d be dramatic as hell.
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – The lucha quadrangle has delivered some of the most consistently good segments on recent Raws, but I have no idea where any of it is going. I guess these two should have a quality match and Andrade retains, because he makes more sense as a champion going into Mania.
Scott Heisel – Raw’s male roster is currently 40 or so guys deep, yet somehow Humberto Carrillo has been exclusively wrestling Andrade (or Angel Garza) since December. This is like when your next door neighbor only had two or three action figures but kept on inviting you over to play even though you were tired of them. It doesn’t matter how cool those toys are, if you keep running them up against each other, you’re gonna get bored to tears. Maybe we could try having Latino wrestlers compete against *non-Latinos* for the first time this decade? Carrillo wins, I guess. Just let him fight *anybody else* the following Monday.
Elle Collins – WWE’s obviously into Carrillo, but I think it’s a little too soon for him to win the title. Andrade just returns and found himself in a faction, and I’m betting he retains until Mania.
Raj Prashad – I don’t have a great feel for this one with Andrade returning from his mandated time off. I’d assume he picks up right where he left off, but violations can kill momentum and WWE seems keen on building Carrillo. I’ve got Carrillo picking up the win and the belt.
No Disqualification Match: AJ Styles vs. Aleister Black
What Should Happen: Dress it up with all the spooky WrestleMania nonsense you want, just give me the dope wrestling match we thought we were going to get on Raw. Maybe someone realized Aleister Black vs. AJ Styles not being on pay-per-view to begin with was straight-up absurd and called an audible?
What Will Happen: This feels like it was made “no disqualification” so The Undertaker could show up and cost Styles the match without having to be clever or move quickly, right? Would The Undertaker work a show like Elimination Chamber? He grades his paydays on a Saudi Arabian curve these days. Undertaker and Aleister Black have to meet sometime before Taker’s completely finished, though, whether it’s just a nod of mutual admiration for their Satanic powers or what. Definitely picking Black with shenanigans here, especially after he got completely washed by Styles on Raw. Who knows, maybe the interference will just be the Good Brothers, who will be stopped by the Viking Raiders, and this will turn into a six-man tag to keep us from getting the one-on-one match again.
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – I guess No DQ for a match between these two probably just mean Gallows and Anderson get involved? Maybe Black will escape the curse of up-and-coming cruiserweights put into feuds with AJ Styles, but I think he’s losing here after some O.C. shenanigans. The other thing I could see happening is the Undertaker showing up and costing Styles the match, hopefully with his jacket off this time.
Scott Heisel – I’m personally into Gallows and Anderson interfering in this match so much that it summons not only the Undertaker but Kane, leading us to a six-man tag on the Mania card that allows for a few more legends to get their shit in while also giving the rub to a new talent that desparately needs it. So Aleister might lose on Sunday, but he’ll win big next month.
Elle Collins – I want to believe that Aleister wins this match and gets added to the Undertaker match at Mania. I feel like Black needs some kind of spotlight, or in a few months he’ll be hanging out with Sami, Shinsuke, and Cesaro. That said, there’s no strong reason to believe AJ won’t just knock down Aleister on his way to Taker, just to show he does well against intimidatingly funereal men. But I’m going to be optimistic and pick Black anyway.
Raj Prashad – After Styles got wrecked by the Undertaker, AJ and the O.C. took their issues out on Black. With this one being No DQ, it wouldn’t be totally surprising to see evil old guy come to avenge the evil young guy would it? Going with Black, with care from the Deadman.
Handicap Match for the Intercontinental Championship: Braun Strowman (c) vs. Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Cesaro
What Should Happen: From Friday’s Best and Worst of Smackdown:
The idea of a 3-on-1 handicap match where Sami Zayn, Cesaro, and Shinsuke Nakamura are gonna have a two-man advantage and still get squashed is a truly terrifying concept, but maybe they’re going somewhere interesting with it. Maybe they’re going to have Cesaro and Nakamura do all the work and finally put Strowman down for the count, only for manager-ass Sami Zayn to swoop in, steal the pin, and win his first WWE Championship a month before WrestleMania. And then Strowman wanders off to “wrestle” Tyson Fury again or whatever at WrestleMania, and we get Zayn vs. Cesaro vs. Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship. Is … that a thing that could happen?
What Will Happen: Braun Strowman powerslamming and pinning all three of them at the same time, followed by each of them going up to Vince McMahon afterward and asking, “thank you sir, may I have another?”
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – Pro wrestling only really works if the audience buys into it, so I’m working on mentally rejecting this match so hard that it somehow becomes erased from history, the wrestlers fading away from the match graphic like Marty’s parents in Back to the Future. Please join me, With Spandex readers, in reverse-Tinkerbell-ing this match out of existence so I don’t have to see Braun beat all these guys at the same time.
Scott Heisel – Brandon’s fantasy booking of a 3-on-1 beatdown resulting in a surprise Sami Zayn title win is brilliant. Prediction: Braun wins in nine seconds, punching all three men once each then pinning them one on top of another.
Elle Collins – There’s nobody in this match that doesn’t deserve better than their WWE booking. That said, Braun is not quite so sad a case as the other three, and as ridiculous as it seems I think he’s going to single-handedly defeat three of the actual best pro wrestlers in the world at the same time, probably so he can go on to Mania and lose to a boxer or whoever.
Raj Prashad – I really, really hope for the sake the three challengers they find some way to collectively win the IC belt. You could explain to me until you’re blue in the face that they’re trying to build Strowman as an unstoppable force for the 30,000 time, but having him go over the talent of Nakamura, Cesaro and Zayn would be downright disrespectful. Out of hope, I’m picking Zayn and Co. with their hype man getting the pin.
Elimination Chamber Match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship: The Miz and John Morrison (c) vs. The New Day vs. The Usos vs. Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode vs. Heavy Machinery vs. Lucha House Party
What Should Happen: Otis should summon the power of simpleton love and body slam Dolph Ziggler in the middle of the ring so hard that the entire Elimination Chamber structure collapses. That’s the plot development we’re looking forward to here, I think.
What Will Happen: Everyone seems to be picking Miz and Morrison to retain, so I’ll go with that. There’s not a lot of reason to choose otherwise, unless you’re fantasy booking a New Day vs. Usos match for WrestleMania. I’m still holding out hope they’ve got something better for Kofi Kingston to do this year than slum it in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Hell, the tag champs might end up in that, too, there’s already not enough room on the card for something outside of legends, celebrities, and NXT.
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – That tag team Elimination Chamber match a few years ago was pretty fun, so I’m looking forward to this one even if it does include Dolph and Bob. The New Day and the Usos are historically great at gimmick matches, Kalisto was amazing in the first tag team EC, and I have no idea how Heavy Machinery is going to fit in a pod. I guess I see Miz and Morrison retaining and their WrestleMania challengers being picked some other way.
Scott Heisel – As much as I would love to see my precious beef boys Otis and Tucky see gold, I gotta give it to the team with the best abs heading into WrestleMania. Miz and Morrison retain.
Elle Collins – These kinds of matches are unpredictable, and I never want to bet against New Day or the Usos, but Miz and Morrison just won the belts, and there’s every reason to think they’ll keep them.
Raj Prashad – Miz and Morrison are on the rise after reforming their partnership. Nothing in their opposition gives me pause in picking the duo to retain.
Elimination Chamber Match for a shot at the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania: Shayna Baszler vs. Asuka vs. Natalya vs. Liv Morgan vs. Ruby Riott vs. Sarah Logan
What Should Happen: Everyone who isn’t Shayna Baszler or Asuka should respectfully bow out during the Kickoff Show, and those two should pretend Elimination Chamber is an NXT TakeOver and destroy each other for 20 minutes.
What Will Happen: Shayna winning is such an obvious lay-up here you’ve got to think they’ve got SOMETHING else planned. Are we going anywhere with the Women’s Tag Team Championship? Man, why did I even type that. That could be a reason for Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan to team back up and eliminate Asuka, though. I’m just trying to come up with something to talk about beyond, “they had Shayna show up on Raw and try to tear out Becky Lynch’s throat with her teeth and we’re still doing a number one contender match.”
Just give me Liv Morgan doing her new finisher off the edge of one of the pods, you cowards!
Staff Picks
Emily Pratt – I think most of my favorite WWE PPV gimmick matches (a very specific category, I know) in the past couple of years have been the women’s ones with a fair amount of underlying drama, so I have high hopes for this match. The Raw Women’s Championship is pretty elevated right now, Shayna and Asuka have a little beef from Monday, and the Riott Squad members seem very committed to their current storyline, even if it’s been advanced in kind of whack ways so far. Natalya is also here! I think it’s a given that Baszler is winning, but that shouldn’t hurt the match’s entertainment value much.
Scott Heisel – Boy, could Shayna Baszler’s Raw in-ring debut have gone any worse on Monday? It’s one thing to get a “boring” chant from jamokes in Dubuque, but it’s another thing entirely to have a packed Barclays Arena smack-dab in the middle of the biggest city in America not giving two shits about Becky Lynch’s potential WrestleMania 36 dance partner. It’s entirely possible Shayna just isn’t cut out for arenas outside of Full Sail. I still think she’ll win on Sunday, but if the crowd seems unenthusiastic, don’t be surprised if Asuka gets added to the match between now and April 5.
Elle Collins – What’s funny is that when Roman Reigns came out and challenged Goldberg on Smackdown, I assumed he’d still have to win an Elimination Chamber match to make it official, because isn’t that how Elimination Chamber works? You build the WrestleMania match, and then the obvious opponent for that match still has to beat five other people inside a metal box, and then they “officially” get the match we all knew was coming. Anyway, that’s how it’s going for Shayna Baszler. There’s no way anybody who hasn’t already taken a bite out of Becky Lynch’s neck is winning this.
Raj Prashad – This seems like the most clearcut winner of them all with the build between Lynch and Baszler over the last month. It isn’t entirely out of the question to make this some kind of triple-threat at ‘Mania, but going with the obvious choice in Baszler.
So there you have it. That’s what we think will happen at the Elimination Chamber. Agree? Disagree? You know what to do. Drop down into the comments and let us know, and then make sure you’re here on Sunday night to find out if we’re actually getting Becky Lynch against Liv Vibes for the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 36.
