Randy Orton shocks Chamber field, Rhea Ripley also books WrestleMania 42 shots
randy orton emerged from the Elimination Chamber in Chicago with a surprise victory that altered the WrestleMania 42 landscape, while Rhea Ripley won the women's Chamber to secure a title match. The results set immediate matches and questions: a Friday Undisputed Championship bout was ordered to determine Orton's eventual WrestleMania opponent, and several program threads from the night tightened into clearer paths to April.
Randy Orton's pin on Cody Rhodes
In the men's Elimination Chamber, Randy Orton pinned Cody Rhodes to win the match. The finish included outside interference: Drew McIntyre assisted Orton, a detail that directly produced the pinfall. The six-man Chamber field listed for the match was Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Je'Von Evans, Trick Williams, Logan Paul and LA Knight. Earlier storyline developments on SmackDown — Jey Uso being taken out by a mystery man — had opened a spot that allowed Logan Paul to enter the Chamber over Jacob Fatu.
Nick Aldis books Drew McIntyre vs Cody Rhodes for Friday
After the show, SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis announced that Drew McIntyre must face Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed Championship on Friday. The outcome of that match will determine which champion Orton will challenge at WrestleMania 42. That official action creates a direct cause-and-effect chain: McIntyre's involvement in Orton's Chamber victory (the interference) led to Aldis scheduling the Friday title bout, which in turn decides Orton's WrestleMania opponent.
Rhea Ripley to challenge Jade Cargill
Rhea Ripley won the women's Elimination Chamber and will challenge Jade Cargill for the WWE Women's Championship at WrestleMania 42. Ripley entered the Chamber as the fan favorite and emerged with a guaranteed title opportunity in April. The women's outcome clears a direct path for a championship match at the Showcase of the Immortals.
CM Punk, AJ Lee, Danhausen and the masked-man reveal
Other nightside outcomes altered multiple title pictures. CM Punk retained the World Heavyweight Championship in a hard-fought match against Finn Bálor in Chicago. AJ Lee defeated Becky Lynch to capture the Women's Intercontinental Championship. The crate reveal on the card turned out to be Danhausen, a moment that was met with fan confusion at the United Center. Separately, the masked assailant who had been active in recent segments was unmasked as Seth Rollins; Rollins attacked Logan Paul and helped eliminate him inside the Chamber.
Predictions and build: Mark Kaboly and Uncrowned’s Horsemen in Chicago
The Elimination Chamber event was previewed and predicted by commentators and panels before the show. Mark Kaboly laid out a slate of expected outcomes and notes: he predicted CM Punk would defeat Finn Bálor and expected an in-ring attack by Dominik Mysterio on Bálor post-match; he foresaw AJ Lee upsetting Becky Lynch for the Intercontinental title; and he highlighted the six-man Chamber field named above, suggesting Je'Von Evans would impress and that Orton would land a spectacular RKO on Evans at some point. Kaboly characterized the men's race as a three-way among Orton, Cody Rhodes and LA Knight and suggested the likely WrestleMania main-event contender would still involve Cody if Drew McIntyre remained champion.
Members of Uncrowned’s Horsemen — Kel Dansby, Robert Jackman, Drake Riggs and Anthony Sulla-Heffinger — also previewed the final PLE before WrestleMania. Jackman argued Cody Rhodes or Randy Orton were the most sensible men's winners given name recognition on a less star-studded WrestleMania card, and he voiced support for Ripley winning the women's Chamber while noting that extracting her from the women's tag storyline or ending "RhIyo" would be necessary to set that up. Jackman predicted Rhodes and Tiffany Stratton as winners. Dansby pushed for LA Knight as a crowd-pleasing winner who could carry a WrestleMania program with Drew McIntyre, assuming McIntyre remained champion. Dansby also floated Raquel Rodriguez as a women's winner to force a triple threat at WrestleMania. Sulla-Heffinger similarly argued that Liv Morgan's earlier elimination of Rodriguez from the Royal Rumble suggested a plan culminating in Morgan reclaiming gold and protecting Stephanie Vaquer in a triple-threat finish, adding that a perceived fracture of Judgment Day represents a notable ongoing storyline development.
The Elimination Chamber took place at the United Center in Chicago on Saturday, scheduled to air at 7 ET/4 PT in the United States and on Netflix in international territories. The night's results and the subsequent scheduling by Aldis create a condensed timeline of decisive matches on the road to WrestleMania 42 in April, tightening immediate stakes for several top names in WWE.
Andreas Hale provided a detailed breakdown of the action in Chicago, underscoring the night's interplay between surprise outcomes and storyline enforcement as WWE moves toward its April centerpiece.
