WWE Elimination Chamber 2021 match card, rumors

The next pay-per-view (PPV) on the WWE schedule is the Elimination Chamber event set to take place next Sunday (Feb. 21, 2021) in the ThunderDome at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. This event is one the company uses as annually as a bridge from Royal Rumble to WrestleMania; this year it will be joined by Fastlane on Mar. 21.

Five matches are official for the card:

• Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Sheamus vs. AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy vs. The Miz vs. Randy Orton in an Elimination Chamber match for the WWE championship

Signs pointed to a singles match between former friends McIntyre and Sheamus, but Shane McMahon returned on the Feb. 8 Raw and booked a Chamber full of former WWE champs as a challenge for the current one.

They’ll have a Gauntlet Match on tomorrow’s episode to determine whose pod door opens last at the PPV.

• Kevin Owens vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn vs. King Corbin vs. Jey Uso in an Elimination Chamber match to determine the #1 contender for the Universal title
• Roman Reigns (c) vs. the winner of the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match for the Universal championship

Untitled kayfabe authority figure Adam Pearce tried to book Reigns in a Chamber match like his Raw counterpart, but the Tribal Chief and his special counsel said not so fast. He’d defend his title at Elimination Chamber, but not in Elimination Chamber. Roman gets the winner of the SmackDown Chamber match later that same night.

Pearce responded by putting two former challengers in the #1 contender match - Reigns’ nemesis KO and his cousin Jey. Zayn & Corbin and Bryan & Cesaro qualified by winning tag matches.

• Asuka (c) vs. Lacey Evans for the Raw Women’s title

Ric Flair earned this title shot for his client/special lady friend by getting her a #1 contender match against his daughter Charlotte, then enraging the younger Flair so she got herself disqualified from said #1 contender match.

• Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Keith Lee vs. Riddle for the Intercontinental championship

A returning Lee wondered if maybe he shouldn’t get the next shot at The Hurt Business CEO since The Bro hasn’t been able to get the belt off Lashley. They had a match, the Limitless One won, then Bobby took them both out. This Triple Threat was announced shortly thereafter.

In addition to these matches, Lana & Naomi earned a shot at WWE Women’s champ Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler, but a date hasn’t been announced yet. Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair mixed it up with Jax & Belair on last Friday’s SmackDown, and the winners of the Women’s Dusty Cup on tonight’s NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day show will also earn a title shot.

Another Apollo Crews/Big E Intercontinental championship match seems inevitable, and Street Profits continue to angle for a chance to reclaim the SmackDown Tag titles from Dirty Dawgs Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode.

We’ll probably only get a couple more matches added to the line-up for Feb. 21, however. The Chamber matches will need time, and WWE has been doing a good job keeping PPVs around three hours lately.

Thoughts on how Elimination Chamber is shaping up, Cagesiders?