It was the chamber — down under.
The final premium live event before WrestleMania, the 2024 Elimination Chamber took place in Australia for the country's first WWE pay-per-view event in more than five years. Five matches made up the Saturday night − or early Saturday morning in the U.S. − slate, highlighted by the men's and women's Elimination Chamber matches with a championship opportunity at WrestleMania 40 on the line. Even with WrestleMania spots up for grabs, the main even of the night was Rhea Ripley defending the WWE Women's World Championship in her home country against Nia Jax.
So who is going to WrestleMania 40? Here's a recap of all the action from Australia:
It was quite the scene seeing someone as menacing as Ripley soak in the moment of performing in front of her own country, especially with her family in attendance, really telling how special this night was for the Women's World Champion.
Ripley started off the match strong, but it was a brief moment before Jax became to impose her will over Ripley. The challenger played the role of heel well by taunting Ripley's family and the crowd. There were moments where Ripley looked to be getting on offense, but Jax would shut down any opportunity, including delivering a Samoan drop off the turnbuckles. But Ripley finally got a chance to attack, and she went to her aerial game with a frog splash. Ripley tried to take Jax through the announcer's table, but Jax countered by delivering a leg drop through the table. Jax went for the pin after landing an Annihilator, but Ripley kicked out.
Jax then tried to go off the top rope, but Ripley met her up there to execute a superplex that got the crowd amped. After that, Ripley hit a Riptide on the challenger to retain her title in her homeland, and officially set a date with Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 40.
Drew McIntyre can say something CM Punk can't: He's going to WrestleMania.
It was a fantastic pair to start the match, with crowd favorite LA Knight and player-hater of the year contender Drew McIntyre getting the crowd heavily involved early. Kevin Owens was the first man to appear from the pods, and his aggressive nature carried the pace of the match while taunting the other stars awaiting their turn to enter the ring.
A somewhat underrated star in recent months, Bobby Lashley got the crowd support as he displayed his athleticism with each strike delivered. Randy Orton then came in and quickly got into his vintage form, but when he did his DDT outside of the ring on Owens, he immediately grabbed at his back and appeared to be in extreme discomfort with anything he did afterwards. Logan Paul was the final competitor to enter the match, and he was immediately attacked by rival Owens inside the pod. The hits didn’t stop there, and Lashley gave the best move of the match when he speared Paul right through the pod.
With all competitors in the match, the pins started coming. Lashley’s shining time didn’t last long after McIntyre delivered a Claymore on Lashley and pinned him for the first elimination. LA Knight landed a BFT on McIntyre and went for the pin, but AJ Styles interfered by delivering chair shots and a Styles Clash to the megastar before he was pinned by McIntyre, likely setting up a WrestleMania match between the two. It was finishers galore after that, set up with Orton connecting with an RKO to eliminate Owens.
Down to the final three, Paul took out McIntyre after he delivered a splash off the top of a pod, and when he went to finish the job with his infamous brass knuckles, Orton did a RKO out-of-nowhere on the United States Champion and eliminated him. Orton gained the momentum over McIntyre and was setting up another RKO, but McIntyre avoided it. McIntyre went for his finisher when Orton scored an RKO. Orton was set up to win, but Paul came back to deliver a blow with the brass knuckles to Orton. McIntyre then crawled over to Orton to pin him and win, setting himself a date with Seth Rollins at WrestleMania.
McIntyre has been a fantastic heel recently, and the buildup to the championship match with Rollins at WrestleMania will be nothing short of entertaining.
It was a delight to see Waller get some love in his home country, including doing a "shoey" with UFC fighter Tai Tuivasa, but even in Australia, there's no denying the support Cody Rhodes has with the WWE Universe.
Rollins revealed he is "days away" from being medically cleared to compete, a big win for WWE as it'll be full-on WrestleMania season after this weekend. Rhodes then made an announcement of his own, revealing his desire to go against The Rock in a match at "anytime, any place." Rollins then told Rhodes that if The Rock accepts the challenge, the champion said he would have Rhodes' back.
Austin Theory interjected and invoked a promo like The Rock, but Rollins and Rhodes weren't having any of it, attacking the former United States Champion with a Cross Rhodes and curb stomp.
It has been expect The Rock and Rhodes would meet in a match, but Rollins acknowledging he will be in Rhodes' corner fuels more speculation that this could end up being a tag team match against The Rock and Reigns.
Dunne and Bate have been a breath of fresh air in the tag team division, and their brute attitude in getting this match off to a frenzy start set the tone for a fast-paced match.
It didn't take long for the champions to gain control of the match, but once Dunne was able to get into the match for a beat-up Bate, the intensity somehow picked up even more than it did in the beginning. After falling behind again for a bit, Bate got in control and gave Priest a long-lasting helicopter spin that wooed the crowd. The challengers looked like they could secure the pin, but Dominik Mysterio interfered to stop the pin before he was kicked out of the match by the referees.
It was back-and-forth with near pins from both sides afterward, and when The Judgment Day members went for the finisher, Bate countered to set up a tough offensive display from the challengers. They weren't able to pin Priest, but continued to tee off on him. When things got taken to the top rope, Bálor was able to give Priest enough time to recover. Priest delivered a double chokeslam, setting Bálor up for the Coup de Grace on Dunne to secure the pin and giving The Judgment Day their first win of the night one of the best tag matches of the year so far.
The Man is headed back to WrestleMania.
Decorated stars in Lynch and Naomi showed off their veteran skills with quick-hitting sequences to get the flow of the match off to a fast-paced start, highlighted by Naomi executing a split leg drop off the chains.
The crowd made it known early it was pulling for Stratton, so there was palpable buzz once she was the first competitor let out of the pods, displaying the power that has made her a quick rising star in NXT. Morgan was the next person let into the match, and she went right after Stratton by throwing her continuously into the tough glass. But Stratton would be the first one to get an elimination, picking up a surprise pin off Naomi just before Rodriguez entered the ring.
Belair was the final competitor to enter the match and she went to town quickly before having a confrontation with Rodgriguez, with both trying to out-power each other. The high-flying moves then came in, highlighted by Stratton hitting a swanton bomb off the on of the pods onto Rodriguez, Belair and Lynch. But the success didn’t last long; Stratton was setting up to eliminate Morgan, but she countered to get the pinfall on Stratton. Not long after, Belair eliminated Rodriguez after landing a K.O.D.
The final three competitors went back-and-forth, trying to execute finishers on each other but it was counters galore. Belair was going for the K.O.D. on Lynch, but when Lynch got out of it, Morgan snuck up on “The EST” to get the pinfall. With Morgan not paying attention, Lynch got the Manhandle Slam on Morgan, and she got the pin to get the victory and secure her spot for a championship match at WrestleMania 40. The match had several great spots, including Stratton showcasing why she's a future main event star, and the women once again delivered an electric start to a premium live event.
It was a great decision to have Hartwell compete in front of her home country, and her getting some early shots in got the crowd hyped before the event officially began. The chants for Hartwell were also great spots.
Eventually, the champions took control of the match, showing off their chemistry with fast yet hard hitting moves on LeRae. It took some time, but when LeRae tagged in Hartwell, the crowd got loud to see their native star put in some work as she displayed power on Sane and Asuka.
There were some near pins for the challengers, but Sane interrupted the momentum from the challengers and LeRae was left on her own. Asuka then set Sane up for the Insane Elbow, flying high to drop one of the best finishers in the women's division to get the pin and retain the titles.
It was hard to imagine the tag team champions losing their titles in kickoff event, but it was a solid opening to the day, and the standing ovation for Hartwell − even after defeat − was heartwarming.
Elimination Chamber is Saturday, Feb. 24.
The 2024 Elimination Chamber begins at 6 p.m. Australian Western Standard Time, so it'll be a very early morning for viewers in the U.S.
Elimination Chamber will begin at 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT.
The 2024 Elimination Chamber will be at Optus Stadium in Perth, Western Australia.
The event can be streamed on Peacock, but you must have their premium or premium-plus subscription to watch. Internationally, it will be available on WWE Network.
Matches not in order
The six men competing to be the No. 1 contender for a title match against WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40 are:
The six women competing to be the No. 1 contender for a title match against the winner of the WWE Women's World Championship match at WrestleMania 40 are:
Introduced to WWE in 2002, the Elimination Chamber match puts six stars in an enclosed steel structure that surrounds the ring and the area right outside of it.
The match starts with two competitors, while the other four participants are locked in pods that are just outside of the ring. Every five minutes, a new competitor is randomly selected to be released from the pod and into the match.
Since it’s an elimination match, competitors are eliminated if they are pinned or submitted, as there are no disqualifications. Whoever is the last person remaining after everyone else has been eliminated at the end of the match is the winner.
Saturday will be the 33rd and 34th Elimination Chamber match in history. Since its inception, the match has served as championship match or winner gets a championship match at WrestleMania.
There have been 27 men’s Elimination Chamber matches, with current WWE chief content officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque having the most wins at four. Here are all the list of winners, and what they won the match for:
The women’s Elimination Chamber match was introduced in 2018 and there have been five matches. Here are all the list of winners, and what they won the match for:
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