Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre Set for WWE WrestleMania 42, Rollins Returns at Elimination Chamber
Randy Orton won the men's Elimination Chamber match on Saturday to earn an Undisputed WWE Championship shot against Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 42 in April, and he got a little help from Seth Rollins, who made his return after more than four months away due to a shoulder injury.
Orton outlasted a star-studded field of competitors, beating Cody Rhodes, Logan Paul, Trick Williams, LA Knight and Je'Von Evans.
Paul eliminated Evans, Knight and Williams in that order to get the Elimination Chamber field down to three.
However, another masked man appeared to confront a member of the Vision yet again.
This masked man started climbing the Elimination Chamber structure, but a horde of security personnel and Raw general manager Adam Pearce whisked the person away.
However, that proved to be a distraction. A second masked man then appeared out of the crowd and into the Chamber through an opening referees didn't close when they escorted Williams out of the ring after his elimination.
That masked man kicked Paul then executed a Stomp. Rhodes pinned Paul, and then Rollins revealed himself before disappearing into the crowd.
Rollins legitimately suffered a shoulder injury at Crown Jewel last October when he defeated Rhodes to win the 2025 WWE Crown Jewel Championship. On the Oct. 13 edition of Raw, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed attacked Rollins, who hadn't appeared on television since.
Orton then faced Rhodes for the title, but McIntyre interrupted the proceedings and attacked The American Nightmare in the corner.
Orton didn't particularly like the intrusion and gave McIntyre an RKO. Rhodes then delivered a Cross Rhodes on the Scot. The Viper then hit Rhodes with an RKO and got the pin for the win.
The show didn't end after Orton reigned victorious. On the post-match show, SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis, who was enraged that McIntyre interfered with the match, announced that the champion would be defending his belt on Friday at SmackDown.
In order to secure a spot in the Elimination Chamber field, each participant had to win a Triple Threat match. Rhodes beat Sami Zayn and Jacob Fatu, Orton defeated Aleister Black and Solo Sikoa, LA Knight got the better of Austin Theory and Penta, Evans took down Gunther and Dominik Mysterio, Williams triumphed over Carmelo Hayes and Damian Priest, and Uso prevailed over Bronson Reed and El Grande Americano.
However, Uso was attacked prior to Friday night's episode of SmackDown, rendering him unable to compete in the Chamber. As a result, an additional qualifying match was held, and Paul defeated Fatu to make it into the field.
After winning the men's Royal Rumble match, Roman Reigns chose world heavyweight champion CM Punk as his WrestleMania opponent, which made the path clearer for McIntyre.
The men's Elimination Chamber match became for the right to face McIntyre for the WWE title on The Grandest Stage of Them All after The Scottish Warrior won the championship in controversial fashion last month.
In a Three Stages of Hell match against Rhodes, McIntyre prevailed when Fatu made a surprise return to WWE programming after being on the shelf for months due to injury.
Fatu initially stopped McIntyre from exiting the steel cage, but he eventually turned his attention to Rhodes, which allowed The Scottish Warrior to escape through the door and win the Undisputed WWE Championship.
Given the recent history between Rhodes and McIntyre, Cody entered Elimination Chamber as the clear favorite to come out on top.
Despite that, Orton prevailed on Saturday, and he put himself in position to further cement his already legendary status.
If The Viper manages to beat McIntyre for the undisputed WWE title at WrestleMania, he will become a 15-time world champion, which would break a tie with Triple H for the third-most of all time behind only John Cena and Ric Flair.
