A prelude to a superfight

The WWE championship will be defended in an Elimination Chamber match at the pay-per-view of the same name today (Sat., Feb. 19, 2022) at the Jeddah Super Dome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. And while WWE could go any direction here, it seems clear where they’re headed with this.

Here are the participants:

• Bobby Lashley, who comes in as the WWE champion after defeating Brock Lesnar for it at Royal Rumble. He won that match thanks to an assist from Roman Reigns, which he won’t be getting here
• Seth Rollins, who remains in and around the main event scene but is just coming off a match with Reigns at the Rumble and doesn’t seem to slot here
• Austin Theory, who is here for reasons I cannot tell you and will likely do very little in the match
• AJ Styles, a perennial main event level player who is back in the mix after an extended stint in the tag division. It doesn’t seem likely he’s going to win the title out of nowhere here
• Riddle, who is still in the tag division and, in fact, has a tag title match coming up at some point. He’s here to fill things out, presumably
• And, finally, Brock Lesnar, whose presence in the match feels more like a spoiler than anything else

There have been reports that WWE was considering doing a title vs. title match at WrestleMania 38 and you know what? That feels like the right call, all things considered. Could, say Lashley vs. Rollins for the WWE title be worth it enough to bypass doing Lesnar vs. Reigns with both the top titles on the line?

I certainly don’t think so.

My hunch is Vince McMahon won’t think so either. Furthermore, why have Lesnar, who will challenge for the Universal title in the main event of the biggest show of the year, lose at the PPV just before it?

All signs point to The Beast standing tall in his first ever Chamber match.

We’ll find out soon enough!