WWE Elimination Chamber 2015: Final Picks, Predictions for All Bouts on the Card
WWE has resurrected the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, and Sunday night, some of the brightest young stars on the roster will compete inside the hellish structure for the opportunity to leave Texas with championship gold around their waists.
The vacant intercontinental title will be decided when Bad News Barrett, Sheamus, Ryback, Rusev, R-Truth and Dolph Ziggler compete for the right to restore legitimacy to the once-prestigious championship.
Conversely, the New Day will attempt to retain their tag titles when they defend in the first-ever tag team chamber bout.
Their opponents? Five of the premiere tag teams in the industry, including The Ascension, Los Matadores, Lucha Dragons, Prime Time Players and Tyson Kidd and Cesaro.
While those bouts share the name of the event, all eyes will be on the night's two main event battles. John Cena will battle the surging and dangerous Kevin Owens in a grudge match, and Seth Rollins will put his WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the line against the Lunatic Fringe, Dean Ambrose.
In what amounts to WWE Network's first exclusive pay-per-view telecast, the top Superstars in the company will kick off the build to SummerSlam by unleashing pain, punishment and suffering on each other.
Who will leave the show victorious, championships around their waists and pride in their back pockets?
Find out now with these final picks and predictions for Sunday's Elimination Chamber event.
Neville vs. Bo Dallas
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Bo Dallas returned to WWE television around WrestleMania 31 and remained stuck in the midcard in the ensuing weeks, even enduring a loss to former NXT rival Neville.
On the night after Payback, Dallas again stuck his nose in the business of The Man That Gravity Forgot, assaulting him with a dropkick to the injured knee.
Suddenly, and without much other background or significant build, a match was made between the two for the Elimination Chamber undercard.
Prediction: Neville
There is far too much potential in Neville for WWE Creative to even think about wasting it by putting Bo Dallas over Sunday night.
The Dallas character is immensely entertaining when done right, but the writing staff has been wildly inconsistent in pushing the third-generation wrestler to this point. Deciding to rebuild him by putting Dallas over Neville would do more harm than good for both, who are trying desperately to avoid the miserable fates that have befallen some of their fellow NXT alumni.
Neville needs this more than Dallas, and for that reason alone, he should pick up the win in an energetic opener against his inspirational opponent.
Triple Threat Match for the Divas Title: Paige vs. Nikki Bella vs. Naomi
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Prior to Extreme Rules in May, Paige was attacked by a frustrated Naomi and written off WWE programming. The former Funkadactyl underwent a character transformation, becoming a heel and the top contender to Nikki Bella's Divas Championship.
At the extreme pay-per-view, Brie Bella assisted Nikki in victory, forcing Naomi to find backup in the form of Tamina. The two attitudinal Divas knocked off the Bellas at Payback but were stunned one night later when Paige returned after a month-long hiatus.
The Brit's issues with Naomi have intensified, as has her rivalry with Nikki, with whom she has plenty of unpleasant history.
With all three Divas gunning for one another, who will be lucky and talented enough to escape the WWE Network exclusive with the most coveted prize in women's wrestling?
Prediction: Naomi
The Triple Threat rules seem tailor-made for Nikki to lose the Divas Championship without actually taking the pinfall.
Naomi has done wonders for her career with the recent heel turn, and Tamina's presence at ringside allows her to cheat to win, all the while continuing to build a new persona for herself as the lead heel in the Divas division.
Sure, that scenario calls for Paige taking the pin, but she is arguably the most popular babyface in the division, so she should recover just fine.
Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
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At Payback, The New Day again stole a win from Cesaro and Tyson Kidd, defeating them when Xavier Woods scored the pinfall for his team despite not being entered into the bout.
Sunday night, the champions will be unable to rely on sneakiness and underhanded tactics to retain their titles. If The New Day wants to leave Corpus Christi with the gold around its waists, it will have to defeat five other teams all gunning for its championships.
The Ascension got here by demolishing Macho Mandow and Curtis Axel during the Payback Kickoff Show, while the Lucha Dragons, Los Matadores and Prime Time Players round out the field.
Kalisto and Sin Cara, specifically, have been on a roll ahead of the championship bout, as they have scored victories in a huge Fatal 4-Way match and in singles competition against Kidd and Cesaro.
For the first time in history, the tag titles will be on the line, and whether The New Day is Authority-approved, as was suggested on the May 28 episode of SmackDown, it will have a tough time retaining the titles in the same manner it won them.
Prediction: The New Day
Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods never should have succeeded to the level they have with The New Day gimmick. The act was D.O.A. just a week in, crowds reacting with great apathy as they took to the ring.
Now, a heel turn and slight adjustments from WWE Creative have them as over as any other act on the show, receiving some of the loudest reactions of the night.
They are the only logical choice to emerge from the Elimination Chamber victoriously, regardless of how great Cesaro and Kidd are or how exciting the Lucha Dragons may be.
Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
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Daniel Bryan's injuries forced the leader of the Yes Movement to give up his intercontinental championship, the second time the oft-injured competitor has been forced to relinquish a title because he was unable to defend it.
With the reintroduction of the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, WWE decided to declare the next champion inside the structure.
Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, King Barrett, Rusev and Ryback were logical inclusions, while R-Truth is the wild card, a guy who somehow winds up in the title hunt despite doing little of note in between championship opportunities.
The competitors have spent the last two weeks battling each other in singles competition, but it was the Celtic Warrior who got the last laugh Thursday on SmackDown, laying both Truth and Barrett out with the Brogue Kick to help establish dominance ahead of the bout.
Unfortunately, a lower leg injury threatens Rusev's involvement in the match.
His status is unknown as of press time.
Prediction: Sheamus
The Celtic Warrior has been nothing short of outstanding since returning from injury and completing a heel turn that has seen him develop into the biggest bully on the roster. A former world heavyweight champion and veteran of some high-profile matches, he would be the perfect person to follow in Bryan's footsteps and restore credibility to the midcard title.
Dolph Ziggler is a dark horse and could possibly emerge from the chamber bout with the gold, if for no other reason than to enhance his ongoing program with Lana and Rusev.
The most interesting element of the bout will be who WWE Creative fills Rusev's spot with if the Bulgarian Brute is unable to compete. Both Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton are noticeable stars without a match on the show.
Orton would make for an interesting addition to the bout, as he could do for the IC title what Cena has for the United States strap since WrestleMania, even though Wyatt is the more likely replacement.
John Cena vs. Kevin Owens
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John Cena's victory over Rusev at Payback opened up the opportunity for someone new to step up to the plate and challenge the current United States champion's legacy.
Enter Kevin Owens.
The NXT champion defiantly stepped out onto the Raw stage for the first time, made his way to the ring and shrugged off the chance to challenge for Cena's title. After all, he believed his championship to be superior to Cena, and more importantly, he did not respect the company's franchise star.
He planted Cena with the popup powerbomb on two separate occasions, fitting in another high-profile demolition of Sami Zayn at the latest NXT Takover special to boot.
"He's got 15 world championships, 57 T-shirt varieties and 1,000 ways to suck," Owens told Michael Cole on the May 28 episode of SmackDown. He then asked the WWE Universe to consider that, if he was willing to go the lengths that he did to brutalize his former best friend, Zayn, imagine what he will do to a guy he does not like at Elimination Chamber.
Prediction: Kevin Owens via knockout
Owens has gotten the best of Cena at every turn to this point, and that would seem to suggest that Cena will get the win, vanquish the villain and prove once again why he is WWE's resident superhero.
But this feels different. Throughout the entire two-week program, there has never once been evidence to suggest this angle is anything more than a star-making vehicle.
There is no star in the world of professional wrestling hotter than Owens is right now, and it would be a monumentally stupid booking move to have him lose to Cena.
Continuing his path of destruction would not only allow him to keep building momentum but to also make the seamless move from NXT to the main roster and be accepted in the same main event position he was in while on the developmental brand.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins
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At Payback, Seth Rollins successfully retained his WWE World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose in a Fatal 4-Way match, pinning The Viper following the Pedigree.
Kane's interference certainly affected his opponents' opportunities to wrest the gold away from him, but it was Ambrose who was one step ahead of The Authority one night later, attacking Rollins and threatening to put WWE's golden boy through cement blocks. With no other choice but to cave into his demands, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon granted the Lunatic Fringe a shot at the Architect's gold.
But that has not stopped the most powerful couple in wrestling from trying to keep Ambrose out of the match. On the Memorial Day episode of Raw, he was arrested for striking a cameraman inadvertently and nearly missed his opportunity to sign the contract for his title bout.
Ambrose channeled his inner-Stone Cold Steve Austin, driving a paddy wagon back into the arena and signing the contract to end the show.
A Pedigree delivered by Rollins on SmackDown halted some of his momentum, evening things out ahead of the monumental contest Sunday night.
Prediction: Seth Rollins
Ambrose has surpassed his fellow babyfaces, becoming the most popular Superstar on the main roster over the last handful of months. While a win and his first championship reign would be an excellent way to reward him for getting over and staying over, regardless of his position on the card, it is not the right time.
There is still far too much left to accomplish with Rollins' title reign.
There is the unresolved conflict with Kane, the potential showdown with Brock Lesnar and, most importantly, Roman Reigns' opportunity to avenge the disappointment he experienced at WrestleMania when Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and robbed him of his chance at championship glory.
With a lack of quality heels for Ambrose to work with, a run with the belt would ultimately be unsatisfying for both him and his considerable fanbase.
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