WWE Elimination Chamber 2026 is sort of upon us, and because it does yearly, the query looms — which remaining wrestlers are getting world title shots at WrestleMania? With each Royal Rumble winners having declared their respective challenges, Drew McIntyre and Jade Cargill still await their opponents; meanwhile, Roman Reigns waits to see if he’ll tackle CM Punk as planned, or whether Finn Balor will throw a large wrench within the Las Vegas gears by winning the World Heavyweight Championship in Chicago. Finally, AJ Lee looks to win her first championship gold in greater than a decade when she takes on Becky Lynch for the ladies’s Intercontinental title.
Who will win all these matches? That is the query we asked the Wrestling Inc. staff the moment the ultimate Chamber spots were won. It isn’t the best query — Lynch vs. Lee was particularly tricky, and there was a major split with at the least one in all our consensus Chamber predictions — but we just went 4-for-4 on the Royal Rumble, so we’re feeling pretty good about our track record immediately. Who’s going to WrestleMania? Let’s get to the picks!
WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Becky Lynch (56%)
Becky Lynch will probably be defending her Women’s Intercontinental Championship for the second time on this reign against AJ Lee at Elimination Chamber, who will probably be difficult for her first title because the Divas Championship over a decade ago in her hometown of Chicago. Lynch won the title back from Maxxine Dupri on “WWE Raw” in January, having reigned for 163 days before Dupri unseated her. But Lee presents a brand new challenge entirely, despite this being their first-ever singles match against each other, having beaten Lynch at every turn last 12 months.
Lee first teamed with husband CM Punk to defeat Lynch and her husband Seth Rollins at Wrestlepalooza, after which she was on the winning side beating Lynch and her team inside Women’s WarGames at Survivor Series. Nonetheless, the poll put to the Wrestling Inc. staff favors Lynch getting the upset victory in away territory, with 56% backing her to retain the title in Chicago. In fact, that definitely tells of a closely split vote, talking to a belief that Lee stands likelihood of taking the title on the night.
It may very well be argued that Lynch needs this victory to sustain her feud with Lee, although as champion she could have her own claim to a rematch if she were to lose. And it does seem quite early on this title run, with Lynch having only defended the title one time against Dupri in their very own rematch. It may very well be reasoned that she gets the win on tonight to tug their ongoing saga back to 1-2, thus sustaining their feud along the road to WrestleMania.
Written by Max Everett
World Heavyweight Championship: CM Punk (94%)
As much as we agree that Finn Balor is deserving of one other world title, especially after his initial reign with one ended prematurely, the overwhelming majority of us at Wrestling Inc. cannot overlook the placement and the timing of his upcoming WWE World Heavyweight Championship match against CM Punk.
WWE Elimination Chamber, in fact, will emanate from Chicago, CM Punk’s hometown. It is also the place that absolutely and naturally became unglued upon “The Second City Saint’s” return to WWE in November 2023. As such, we imagine that WWE will need to capitalize on that electricity once more with Punk’s first televised in-ring victory in his hometown since coming back to the corporate.
One other factor to think about here is the timing of Balor vs. Punk. Following the 2026 Royal Rumble, Men’s RR winner Roman Reigns made it clear that he’d be difficult for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 42. In reality, Reigns declared that he personally selected to pursue the title since it was held by Punk, whom he “hates.” WWE also made it clear, though, that “The Tribal Chief” would not be on programming for the rest of February, which meant that Punk would not give you the chance to directly bounce off of Reigns, his possible grand stage opponent.
In Reigns’ absence, evidently WWE has placed Punk in a feud with Balor that may simply fill time and end just before Reigns returns for the March 2 edition of “WWE Raw,” when the already-advertised WrestleMania night two primary event can formally begin its construct.
Should Balor defeat Punk at Elimination Chamber, we consider it will function more of a complication, and admittedly an unnecessary one, than a profit to the story surrounding the World Heavyweight Championship this WrestleMania season. In any case, Finn Balor vs. Roman Reigns doesn’t scream “WrestleMania primary event” to us. And even when Balor quickly dropped the title back to Punk beforehand, what could be the aim of the reign in the primary place?
Written by Ella Jay
Women’s Elimination Chamber Match: Tiffany Stratton (50%)
Before the Royal Rumble last month, many believed that Bianca Belair would challenge Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 42, but after Belair didn’t return on the show and subsequently revealed she was undergoing surgery for her finger, the “EST of WWE” was seemingly ruled out of the two-night event. Subsequently, with 2026 Royal Rumble winner Liv Morgan deciding to challenge Stephanie Vaquer for the Women’s World Championship, the victor of the Elimination Chamber will determine Cargill’s opponent, and our staff has chosen to select the secure option heading into this weekend.
Out of the six women involved, Rhea Ripley, Asuka and Alexa Bliss are all seemingly tied up in tag team storylines, while a world title push for Kiana James would feel too early. With Raquel Rodriguez and Tiffany Stratton left on the board, 50% of us consider that the latter is heading to WrestleMania as a result of her history with Cargill. Last 12 months, Stratton and Cargill faced one another five times, 4 of which were for the WWE Women’s Championship. The feud finally ended when Cargill defeated Stratton for the title at Saturday Night’s Important Event in November.
Although Stratton was sidelined with an injury for 3 months after the match, renewing the rivalry with Cargill at WrestleMania may very well be seen as a stale selection. With WrestleMania sales being disappointing, WWE could go for Ripley’s star power — she earned 38% of our vote, while Bliss got the remaining 12%.
Written by Julien D’Alessandro
Men’s Elimination Chamber: Cody Rhodes (88%)
With all due respect to the remaining of the Men’s Elimination Chamber participants, the injury to Bronson Reed robbed the match of any drama it could’ve possible contained. There could’ve been stuff happening with the Vision, possibly that masked man would show up, or multiple masked men. Either way, it will’ve given the match something to do until its inevitable conclusion, where corporate mascot Cody Rhodes wins the match and earns a world title match at WrestleMania.
He and Drew McIntyre have been on a collision course from the jump, and 88% of the Wrestling Inc. staff think that Saturday will probably be when it’s all finally made official. The rogue votes for LA Knight and Randy Orton got here from the subsection of the writers who dare to dream, and bless them for it, but that is going to be Cody’s match, through and thru, if only in order that he can say that he’s won one when all is alleged and done.
Again, Bronson Reed could’ve really thrown a wrench in things, and Brock Lesnar announcing an open challenge suggests to us that he won’t be beating someone as much as take their spot. So we’re just left with Cody.
Written by Ross Berman