The biggest pro wrestling show in Australian history has arrived, with WWE to take a major step on the road to WrestleMania 40 via Elimination Chamber at Perth’s Optus Stadium. Live from 8pm AEDT!
But while a main event of Aussie women’s world champion Rhea Ripley defending her crown, and two Chamber matches to crown WrestleMania challengers are locked, there’s one Hollywood-sized mystery hanging over the event.
Is there any chance The Rock will appear in Perth? That and more in our burning questions preview of Elimination Chamber.
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WHAT THE ROCK SAYS… AND DOESN’T SAY
We would love to tell Australian fans not to get their hopes up about The Rock making a surprise appearance in Perth, ahead of his looming WrestleMania in-ring return.
We know the WA government attempted to secure an appearance from the iconic wrestler turned Hollywood megastar, instead seemingly missing out on both Rock and WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
Logically, The Rock will not appear on Saturday night. An appearance from The Great One down under would be something you’d want to advertise to sell more tickets and get more people watching the show – that’s the wrestling business in a nutshell.
But just this past week, even while saying he would not be in Perth, he kept the door open.
In a social media video, seemingly filmed backstage after his latest appearance on Smackdown a couple of weeks ago, The Rock explained: “They kept asking The Rock. Will you come down to Perth?
“Listen, The Rock can’t be there in Perth. The Rock wishes he could be there in Perth. He’s gonna be there in spirit, and that’s all that matters.”
WWE chief content officer Triple H added on 6PR: “When you’re a superstar in Hollywood, your schedule’s pretty tight.”
But in that same video The Rock, after running down Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes before their talking segment with Aussie Grayson Waller (about their feud with The Rock and Reigns), said: “As a matter of fact, if they talk trash, The Rock will fly down there to Perth before that interview is over and he’ll do it (slap them).
“Don’t wonder why The Rock can make it that quick. The Rock makes magic happen.”
WA premier Roger Cook even penned an open letter on Friday offering “logistical support” (presumably bending the space-time continuum) to get him to Perth.
It’s hard to expect WWE to explicitly say ‘no, The Rock will not appear’, because that would lessen the hype for the show.
But at the same time it’s very likely the Optus Stadium crowd will be expecting him to make a surprise appearance during the Rhodes-Rollins-Waller segment. And because of a combination of their own expectations, and the refusal to shut it down completely, they will be disappointed if he’s not there.
Traditionally wrestling promoters would try and avoid disappointing moments like that.
WHO IS PREDICTED TO WIN AT ELIMINATION CHAMBER?
While WWE booking isn’t always the most logical thing in the world – see Cody Rhodes over the last month – especially when you’re getting towards WrestleMania, you can read the tea leaves to figure out who’ll be winning on the final stop before the big show.
It would be utterly bizarre if Rhea Ripley lost her women’s world title to Nia Jax, given Ripley is clearly the bigger star and has been building towards a WrestleMania match with Becky Lynch for some time.
Lynch, as WWE has reminded fans often, is competing in the women’s Elimination Chamber for the first time and you would only really note that as a way to talk down her chances. Again, given they’re already booking towards a Ripley-Lynch Mania match, she pretty much has to win on Saturday night.
Sportsbet has odds for the event and Ripley is listed as a $1.04 favourite to beat Jax ($8.50), while Lynch is $1.30 to win the women’s Chamber ahead of Liv Morgan ($5) and Bianca Belair ($6).
Expect the Judgment Day of Finn Balor and Damian Priest ($1.13) to retain the tag titles against New Catch Republic ($5), likewise the women’s tag champions The Kabuki Warriors ($1.10) vs Indi Hartwell and Candice LaRae ($6), though there’s at least some minor chance they give Hartwell the feel-good moment at home in Australia and flip the titles over (if only briefly).
The men’s Chamber is slightly less predictable than the other matches, given Drew McIntyre has fought Seth Rollins plenty of times recently, but they’ve clearly tried to build McIntyre’s momentum to make him a genuine threat ahead of a WrestleMania rematch.
The original plan, CM Punk, fell through due to injury which explains the McIntyre idea feeling a bit odd – but still making enough sense to have him as a $1.33 favourite. Randy Orton is the only other real contender at $5 while both ‘Any Other Participant’ and LA Knight are $7 (which begs the question why you would back Knight instead of Knight plus three others).
HOW CAN I WATCH ELIMINATION CHAMBER?
WWE Elimination Chamber Perth is available streaming on Kayo and Binge, plus on Foxtel via the WWE channel (144).
The pre-show begins at 5pm local/8pm AEDT, and the main card begins at 6pm local/9pm AEDT.
ELIMINATION CHAMBER MATCH CARD
Men’s Elimination Chamber, for a World Heavyweight Championship title shot vs Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40: Drew McIntyre vs Randy Orton vs Bobby Lashley vs LA Knight vs Logan Paul vs Kevin Owens
Women’s Elimination Chamber, for a Women’s World Champion title shot at WrestleMania 40: Becky Lynch vs Bianca Belair vs Liv Morgan vs Naomi vs Tiffany Stratton vs Raquel Rodriguez
Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs Nia Jax
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship: The Judgment Day [Finn Balor and Damian Priest] (c) vs Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate
The Grayson Waller Effect with guests Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins
Kickoff Show –Women’s Tag Team Championship: The Kabuki Warriors [Asuka and Kairi Sane] (c) vs Indi Hartwell and Candice LaRae
Follow WWE Elimination Chamber Perth live below!
Max Laughton is in Perth for Elimination Chamber with thanks to WWE.
