WWE Elimination Chamber: 15 Obvious but Bold Predictions for This Sunday's PPV

We're just two days away from the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view live from the Bradley Centre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

So far, just four matches have been announced for the event, but as we all know from WWE's storied history with questionable booking, any number of bouts could be added on the night with little-to-no explanation. 

Last year's event only featured five matches in total (excluding a dark match between Daniel Bryan and Ted DiBiase) and so this year's PPV may well follow a similar pattern of focusing all its energies into the Chamber matches themselves.

That being said, the following slideshow will list 15 bold, but what I would consider obvious, predictions for WWE Elimination Chamber 2012.

15. Another Dismal Buy-Rate for the WWE

Now, I'm not saying we could have a contender to the abysmal performances of 2011's Vengeance, or the truly embarassing December to Dismember of 2006, but Sunday's event could turn out to be a real stinker at the box office.

With all four announced matches appearing so predictable, fans will probably only tune in for the chance to see the the inevitable showdown between Chris Jericho and CM Punk at the conclusion of the WWE title match.

I would expect a similar sort of figure to that of Survivor Series (approximately 260,000 buys)—let's just hope the Miz doesn't get blamed for this one as well!

14. The Crowd Is Hot for Punk-Jericho, but That's About It

Have you noticed that on Raw recently, the crowd's response to CM Punk and Chris Jericho has eclipsed that of any other feud/storyline/superstar on the show?

On Monday's terrible debate segment, Chris Jericho calling Punk "boy" got the biggest pop of the night, and everything else on the show at present (other than the Funkasaurus) just seems like filler to this feud.

Milwaukee was a stronghold of the American Wrestling Association during pro wrestling's territorial days, so there should be good enthusiasm for the main event. However don't expect the sort of reaction that saw the birth of Austin 3:16 at the 1996 King of the Ring, in the city.

13. We Get at Least One Mid-Card Title Defended

Impromptu PPV matches have become a staple of the diet of WWE fans over the past couple of years.

WWE Creative pumps all of its effort into furthering the primary feuds of each brand, but often even the mid-card champions end up lost in the shuffle.

Jack Swagger won the United States title by defeating an injured Zack Ryder in January, but has yet to defend his (relatively) newly-won championship.

The night before Swagger's victory, at a WWE live event, Primo and Epico won the tag team titles from Air Boom—as a direct result of Evan Bourne's potty (sorry!) behaviour.

It would appear that the only realistic option would be for one of these titles to be defended on Sunday, what with Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes already being involved in the Smackdown Elimination Chamber match.

The Colons (Part Deux) vs. The Usos doesn't sound like a particularly PPV-worthy match to me (as we've already seen it countless times on television already), so the inclusion of Jack Swagger looks to be the most sensible and realistic option.

I would expect a successful Swagger defence on Sunday against someone along the lines of Alex Riley (or any other generic face with nothing better to do...) but don't be surprised to see Mason Ryan or Ezekiel Jackson randomly thrown into a feud with the All-American American, just to kick-start either of their reported pushes.

12. Beth Phoenix Retains the Divas Title

Everyone and their dog knows that we're building towards a huge showdown in the near future between the Glamazon and another dominant female wrestler... (I wonder who?)... at Wrestlemania

Therefore, the Diva's champion will almost certainly not drop the title to Tamina Snuka this Sunday.

On a related note, however, at the conclusion of this match expect.....

11. The Full Return of Kharma

Last May, Kia Stevens became the hottest property in the Diva's division after debuting in the WWE following a series of shadowy vignettes, destroying every Barbie Doll look-a-like in her wake.

The excitement was short-lived, however, as soon after, the former-Awesome Kong revealed that she was in fact pregnant and would be forced to take a leave of absence from the company—a bitter blow for fans who had expected Kharma to single-handedly change the face of the flagging diva's division.

Since Kharma's departure, Beth Phoenix has looked bored in decimating every other female in the company, and so a real challenger to the belt will be universally welcomed by all WWE fans.

After making an unannounced return at January's Royal Rumble, speculation is now rife as to when Kharma will really make her presence felt and rock the Diva's division to its core.

10. Sheamus Will Destroy Someone to Continue His Build

I fully expect six matches on Sunday's card, and it only makes sense to continue building the Celtic Warrior into an unstoppable force on the Road to Wrestlemania.

Expect Sheamus to star in a convincing victory early in the night against someone along the lines of Drew McIntyre.

It is quite easily conceivable that Teddy Long forces Drew to fight (unsuccessfully) for his job again to continue the two's mini-storyline from Friday nights.

9. John Cena Continues to Tease a Heel Turn, but Uitimately Wins to End the Feud

The Cena-Kane feud has been disappointing to say the very least.

After returning at the Slammy Awards in December, the Big Red Machine has tormented The Champ, in an attempt to get fan-favourite Cena to "embrace the hate", but has so far been unsuccessful.

The most recent developments of the rivalry have involved a random love triangle with former-ally Zack Ryder and prospective love Eve, and to be perfectly honest I will be more than happy to see the end of this feud on Sunday.

Expect to see a more aggressive Cena against Kane at the Elimination Chamber, culminating in an eventual win for the 12-time world champion—so that he can progress onto his feud with the Rock as soon as possible.

In conclusion to this match, however, expect another superstar to possibly embrace the hate...

8. Zack Ryder Features in the Ambulance Match

Zack Ryder has been the middle-man in the Cena-Kane feud for a while now, and this Sunday expect Ryder to play a part in either their match itself, or in at least in its conclusion.

This past Monday, he reacted angrily to Cena locking lips with Eve, and on Sunday I really can't see Long Island Iced-Z taking the antics from Monday Night Raw Supershow lying down.

The most commonly-held opinion is that Ryder could be the driver of the ambulance in the match, and to be fair I think this would provide an interesting angle going forward for Ryder vs. Kane.

By no means am I saying that Zack will forego a full-on heel turn, but expect a far more intense performer of the New Jerseyman once Sunday is done.

7. Santino Doesn't Make It into the Chamber

In my view, there are two ways Sunday can go for Santino Marella, either;

a) WWE teases him winning the match by making it to the final two with Daniel Bryan,

or,

b) He doesn't make it into the Chamber, being attacked and replaced by a surprise opponent during the event.

I am more inclined to go with the latter.

Santino has no place in the World Heavyweight championship match, and along with the Great Khali, has no realistic chance of winning the title on Sunday.

That being said, there is a possibility that he could make it into the match and provide "comedy" value for the event by surprisingly eliminating one or two of the heels in the match-up.

Personally, I would much prefer to see a more "Charismatic" character enter the match in place of Santino (a WWE.com crack which I can't take credit for unfortunately), but this would mean a face to heel ratio of 2:4, which I don't think WWE would go for.

On the other hand, a huge swerve could be pulled in this match, which I will allude to in a later slide....

6. Cole and Booket T Build Khali Up as Favourite for the Smackdown Chamber Match

Normally a tradition reserved for the Royal Rumble, the commentators will over-enthusiastically build up the chances of the largest competitor in the match this Sunday.

How many times have we heard "Who's going to eliminate a guy as huge as the Big Show?" or "How many guys will it take to get rid of Mark Henry?" during the course of a battle royale or multiple-man brawl?

This Sunday will see the continuance of the trend that sees Cole and Booker  try and idiotically explain why Khali is favourite for the match, despite the fact that in reality he has exactly a 0% chance of winning.

Expect to see Khali be either the first or second man eliminated in the bout, depending on where he enters.

5. Daniel Bryan Retains the World Title Via More Skullduggery

D-Bry has yet to defend the title he won at December's TLC pay-per-view cleanly, and don't expect this to change on Sunday.

With Randy Orton now reportedly out of the match due to injury, Bryan's greatest threat in the chamber will come from stars who already have Wrestlemania feuds seemingly pencilled in.

- Cody Rhodes will purportedly face brother Dustin (and let's be honest, won't pull an Ultimate Warrior and hold both titles at once..)

- The Big Show is all-but guaranteed another WM gimmick match vs. Shaq

- Wade Barrett will probably need to see a proper end to his rivalry with Randy Orton

- And the Great Khali and Santino will probably take their regular spot in another hilarious skit with someone like Pee Wee Herman or Subway Jared...

Despite a victory for the American Dragon being an almost-foregone conclusion, I still anticipate the WWE will continue to build the WH champion as the weasly vegan heel he has been depicted as since winning the title late last year.

Odds are he finds a way to lock himself in his chamber during the match, only appearing at the end to finish the last competitor off.

4. The Miz Is First Eliminated in the WWE Title Match

It is no secret that the Miz is not Vinny Mac's favourite person at the moment.

For reasons only Vince McMahon knows, the Awesome One has been blamed for the disappointing buy-rate of last year's Survivor Series (despite being only 1/4 of the competitors in the main event).

This aside, Miz did have a great showing in the Royal Rumble match last month, lasting longest of anyone in the event.

But dropping R-Truth on his head on last week's Raw may have been the final straw for the former WWE champion.

I fully expect Miz be one of the first-three entrants in the Raw Chamber match, but really get buried by CM Punk in the match as punishment for his perceived recent failings.

3. Punk Goes Coast to Coast

Punk is the modern day Stone Cold Steve Austin as WWE champion.

Like the Rattlesnake during the late-1990's, the odds are continually stacked against the Straight Edge Superstar as he finds increasingly ingenious and cunning ways to thwart an egotistical authority figure.

On Sunday, I expect Punk's plight to continue, and think that Mr. Laurinitis may well place the champ as one of the two superstars who start the match (along with Dolph Ziggler to kind-of nod to their Rumble feud).

I also think (like everyone else who has any sensible bone in their body) that Punk and Jericho will be the final two remaining in the match.

This ploy would be a great way to build Punk as the oppressed champion, whilst furthering Jericho as a cowardly heel by entering last in the match.

2. Kofi Kingston Does Something Crazy

Kofi Kingston has become WWE's resident spot monkey since the departure of John Morrison, and before him Shelton Benjamin.

Kofi self-alluded that he is the "forgotten man" in the six-man match but could well provide any number of show-stealing moments during his stay.

If last month's handstand walk during the Royal Rumble match is anything to go by, the sober half of Air Boom could well impress in this Sunday's chamber match.

If I were a betting man (which I am) I would expect a spot involving running up the side of the chamber and flipping over an opponent, but then eating a codebreaker to be eliminated.

1. Jericho Becomes the New WWE Champion

For my money, CM Punk is far better when pursuing the title, than when he's actually holding it, so this scenario makes perfect sense.

Make Y2J the smarmy, heel champion, continually winning by nefarious means and foul play, whilst the anit-hero challenger has to overcome the odds for a moment of glory on the Grandest Stage of Them All,

These two will have a match at Wrestlemania, so it doesn't really matter which one wins the Raw Chamber match on Sunday.

But I for one, would absolutely love it if the first ever Undisputed champion were to get another stint with the WWE's top prize, in what could be his last-ever run with the company (hopefully not).

Bonus Prediction: Sheamus Wins the World Heavyweight Title

The problem with my four previous title-match predictions is this; wins for Phoenix, Swagger, Bryan and Jericho would mean that all titles in the company would be held by heels (this includes Cody Rhodes and Epico and Primo).

Now, this is not by any means a strong enough argument for Sheamus to win the title this Sunday, but please, hear me out.

Santino and Khali are non-issues in the Smackdown chamber match, so why not have a meaningful face with a realistic chance of winning enter the match and actually win?

Sheamus-Bryan looks set for 'Mania already, so would it make a huge difference who was holding the strap going in?

I can picture a scenario where Mark Henry (or even Bryan) attacks Santino before the match hoping to replace the assistant Smackdown GM, but is subsequently taken out himself by Sheamus, who opts to cash-in his Wrestlemania title shot early (a la John Cena in 2008).

Now this is fantasy booking to an extent, but with the way WWE has recently liked to throw fans off the scent with inexplicable swerves, the Grand Daddy of all swerves could be on the cards for this Sunday.

Thanks for Reading!

I hope you enjoyed my article of 15-bold but obvious predictions for Sunday's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event.

What do you think will happen?

Please feel free to leave any thoughts, opinions and additions/omissions in the comments section below.

Once again, thanks for reading!