WWE Elimination Chamber 2018 predictions

WWE returns to pay-per-view (PPV) -- if your cable provider is carrying the event, of course -- tomorrow night (Sun., Feb. 25, 2018) live from the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada with its Elimination Chamber event starting at 7:00 p.m. ET with the Kickoff show leading right on into the main course at 8 p.m. ET on the WWE Network.

Set for the card: The first ever women’s Elimination Chamber match for the Raw women’s championship, the first 7-man men’s Elimination Chamber match with a title shot at WrestleMania 34 on the line, and much more!

Luckily for you Cagesiders, our staff of learned wrestling blowhards is here to help figure out just how the event is going to play out with predictions for each match on the card.

Let's get to it.

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Elimination Chamber predictions

Men’s Elimination Chamber (Cena vs. Reigns vs. Rollins vs. Strowman vs. Elias vs. Balor vs. Miz)

Geno Mrosko: Come on, you know exactly who is winning this match and exactly why they are winning it. I do not agree with this decision, but Vince McMahon feels how he feels and I actually admire his persistence. To be fair, the guy he chose is actually really, really good. Pick: Reigns

Sean Rueter: Witness him. Pick: Roman Reigns

Kyle Decker: It’s hard to forget about or ignore the rumors and rumblings when picking a match like this because the rumors about Roman facing Lesnar have been around almost since last year’s Mania. Booking doesn’t back it up as much as someone like Strowman, who’s super hot right now, or Rollins, who just put together a masterful effort in the gauntlet last Monday. But it’s hard to bet against Roman main eventing yet another Mania. Pick: Roman Reigns

Cain A. Knight: Really, anyone besides Elias or Miz would make for a worthy opponent for Lesnar at WrestleMania 34. But after what happened on Monday I think they should go full steam ahead with a huge push for Seth Rollins. The Demon King would be an equally compelling choice for the Lesnar match. Strowman’s had too many unsuccessful chances at the Universal Championship over the last 6 months, and Cena is quite delusional in thinking that he will somehow be left off WrestleMania if he doesn’t win this match. Unfortunately for all of these guys, it’s not their yard. At least that’s what WWE tells me. Pick: Roman Reigns

Reverend Kain: Four straight WrestleMania main events. Pick: Roman Reigns

Women’s Elimination Chamber (Bliss vs. Banks vs. Bayley vs. Rose vs. Deville vs. James)

Geno Mrosko: They’ve done a poor job of setting up a clear big money Raw women’s title match for WrestleMania, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if they went the multi-woman match route. That would make it easy to avoid doing a title change here. Bayley is the strongest of all the challengers here according to television wins but again, they haven’t done well setting up for a title change, so I don’t expect there will be one. Pick: Bliss

Sean Rueter: The Boss is due to win one of these historic deals she keeps taking part in. And would you really be surprised if she won the belt on Sunday and lost it on Monday? Pick: Sasha Banks

Kyle Decker: Coming out of the women’s Rumble, my feeling was that if Asuka was going to challenge for the red belt, Alexa Bliss didn’t feel like much of threat. That had me thinking of a title change in the Chamber, likely to Sasha Banks. Then Sasha and Asuka went out and tore the house down and I felt it confirmed my theory. Now, since then, nothing has happened that backs this up, but I still like the idea of Sasha (leaning more into her heel roots) vs. Asuka for the title at Mania enough to pick it here. Pick: Sasha Banks

Cain A. Knight: Rumors suggest Alexa Bliss will defend her title at WrestleMania 34 against Nia Jax, and I don’t see anything obvious here to make me think otherwise. Sasha Banks is the most interesting character in the Raw women’s division and should probably win the title here. But the Boss forced Bliss to tap out on Raw, so I assume that means Banks will come up short when it counts. Bayley could be a dark horse here, but it’s really hard to take Absolution or Mickie James seriously as championship contenders. Pick: Alexa Bliss

Reverend Kain: This feels like we’re going to swerve somehow, the only question is how. Sasha Banks is the obvious choice, and honestly the one I’d pick if I had the book, but it’s hard to make money betting on the Boss in PPV title matches. Absolution are adrift since Paige’s injury. Mickie James can still go as good as anybody but I can’t see her getting the title headed into WrestleMania. So, by process of elimination, and as an echo of her title win around this time last year... Pick: Bayley

Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Titus Worldwide (Raw Tag Team championship)

Geno Mrosko: There’s an actually interesting story with Titus Worldwide, and there has been dating all the way back to Titus holding those press conferences only Tom Phillips would attend, but they aren’t going to get a run with the tag team titles, especially not this close to the biggest show of the year. Pick: Cesaro & Sheamus

Sean Rueter: Apollo won’t wallow. Or something. Full disclosure...This is just me being contratrian. Pick: Titus Worldwide

Kyle Decker: Titus Worldwide feels like a bit of a filler feud for the Bar, but I wouldn’t be shocked with a change. Pick: The Bar

Cain A. Knight: It doesn’t feel like a genuine push is coming for Titus Worldwide. It feels more like WWE needed to fill out the card with one final match, so they gave Titus Worldwide the surprise win on Raw to set this up. I guess it really doesn’t matter who wins this one, because the Raw tag titles are going to be buried underneath at least 10 more important matches at WrestleMania 34. Regardless, Cesaro and Sheamus seem like a safe bet to retain. Pick: The Bar

Reverend Kain: Sheamus’ neck issues have me assuming the Bar won’t be long-term champs, but on the other hand, it might be true that Crews can’t lose, but there ain’t no Crews no more, so... Pick: The Bar

Asuka vs. Nia Jax

Geno Mrosko: Jax winning this match would be promotional malpractice. WWE can be baffling in its decision making at times, but they’ll get it right here. Pick: Asuka

Sean Rueter: If only there was some way we could tell if The Empress might be able to handle the Immovable Force (or whatever nickname they’re trying to get over for Nia)... Pick: Asuka

Kyle Decker: It would be pretty wild if Asuka’s big undefeated streak ended the PPV after she won the first ever Royal Rumble. I mean, this is WWE so it’s surely possible, but it’s not going to happen. I commend them for adding in the stipulation to make it feel more feasible, but the Royal Rumble winner shouldn’t go into Mania to challenge for the title just coming off her first ever loss. Pick: Asuka

Cain A. Knight: I do recall Charlotte randomly losing her PPV streak around this time last year, so nothing is certain. But it would be foolish for Asuka’s undefeated streak to end before she faces off with Ronda Rousey. WWE has done well making it seem like Nia Jax has a chance here, but the truth is that she is a significant underdog. Jax will probably find her way into the Raw women’s title match at WrestleMania 34 regardless, because stipulations don’t usually matter in WWE. Pick: Asuka

Reverend Kain: As much as I’m tempted to hope they pull the streak off like a band-aid and get it over with (because winning streaks in WWE never pay off like you want them to), I don’t think it’s happening against anyone but Ronda Rousey outside of a title match, so this seems pretty open and shut. Pick: Asuka

Woken Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt

Geno Mrosko: It’s downright baffling that they haven’t even really teased a Final Deletion or a Wyatt Compound match or anything of the sort, right? They did tease, however, that this will be the end of this feud. Who knows? It’s probably better if it is. I’ll assume, then, that they put the babyface (?) over. Pick: Woken Matt Hardy

Sean Rueter: Something’s not clicking, and there’s probably nothing else for these fellas to do at ‘Mania besides keep laughing at one another. So I think Matt needs more breaking, waking, shaking or baking. Pick: Bray Wyatt

Kyle Decker: This feud never really got off the ground, did it? It kind of started and it was cool because it brought out Broken Matt, but then they had that match on Raw 25 which Bray won and that was that. Since Bray won one, I’ll go with Woken One here. Honestly, his character in the WWE is fresher than Wyatt’s anyway. Pick: Woken Matt Hardy

Cain A. Knight: This feud has seriously stalled ever since Bray Wyatt defeated Matt Hardy with ease on Raw in the Manhattan Center last month. At this point I’d rather see them combine their lunacy together into a team rather than continue this pointless feud. If Matt Hardy loses this match, there’s really no reason to believe his woken gimmick will ever escape the lower card of WWE. Pick: Matt Hardy

Reverend Kain: The magic ain’t all there but I’m still into his Broken Brilliance and Woken Wisdom. Anyway, Bray won the last beat so... Pick: Matt Hardy

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. The Miztourage

Geno Mrosko: It’s starting to look a whole lot like a Fatal 4-Way at WrestleMania 34 with Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Titus Worldwide vs. Gallows & Anderson vs. The Revival. The Miztourage is the odd team out, and that means losing here. Pick: Gallows & Anderson

Sean Rueter: Personally, I’ll alway Bo-lieve in a team that has a guy who’s technically still competing in the 2015 Royal Rumble. Pick: The Miztourage

Kyle Decker: Imagine if the Miztourage went over the Club. That’d be the wildest thing. Not that it couldn’t happen. It’d just be wild. Pick: Anderson and Gallows

Cain A. Knight: Let’s see, the Miztourage are jobbers, while Gallows & Anderson are something slightly north of that. I guess that means Gallows & Anderson will win. Pick: Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

Reverend Kain: Too sweet me if you know how this one ends, hoot. Pick: Balor Club

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That’s how we see the card playing out.

You?