-A really good first chapter for the build to Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch at WrestleMania. Both women came across as stars and both the match and the face to face encounter they had felt like a very big deal. It was interesting to see WWE lean into Dominik and Rhea's relationship again opposite Lynch. Dom got heat, but wasn't able to fully transfer it over to Ripley. The people want Rhea, so even though she's the heel going into the match, WrestleMania is more about making her an even bigger star than she is today.
Nia Jax vs. Becky Lynch 2
-WWE is going to get another main event match out of Nia Jax and Becky Lynch. This is why Nia got that win a few months back, folks. Because of that win, WWE got the moment with Jade Cargill at the Royal Rumble over, a main event at Elimination Chamber, and now a television main event that will help prop up one half of the major women's title matches at WrestleMania. Jax is useful in this role. Period.
-Man, what a match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn. Just wonderful, intense wrestling, with Zayn selling like a million bucks to really drive home the underdog desperation narrative. Zayn is one of the best at that match specifically. Well done.
-Let me throw some flowers toward Chelsea Green. She's really something out there. Each and every week she delivers what she's being asked to do. Does this character have a ceiling? For sure. Does it matter? Not right now. Green is getting over slowly and that will be noticed by the backstage brass at some point.
-No surprise seeing Raquel Rodriguez beat Green. Rodriguez is back and had a nice week, but really didn't carry any of the momentum from last week into the Chamber event or this week's show.
Not a lot of options for Gunther at WrestleMania
-Well, it's going to go one of two ways with Gunther and the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania. Either they will get a huge main event on Raw between guys like Chad Gable, Sami Zayn, and Damian Priest to crown a number one contender, or we're looking at a multi-person match at WrestleMania instead. There aren't good options here. Gable has been there and proved not to be a star on the level of this kind of match with Gunther on the WrestleMania stage. Zayn is worthy of the spot, but really can't lose with what he has behind the story of his chase to a singles title at the moment. He also isn't a guy that can give WWE a lot after being the star to dethrone Gunther either. A tough position for him. As for Damian Priest, he's a heel too and it makes no sense to position him opposite Gunther. If someone like Bron Breakker were on Raw or Ludwig Kaiser was ready to step out, I'd be more positive about the possibility of a singles match. However, they aren't, so get ready for that fatal four-way that doesn't feel all that important, but can easily bob and weave different ways to accommodate everything that doesn't work about the current crop of Gunther challengers.
-A strong street fight between Imperium and New Day. They closed out their little TV feud effectively and the Kaiser finish on Xavier Woods stood out. Well done for what it was.
-Not much to write home about in that women's tag match. Zoey Stark, Indi Hartwell, Shayna Baszler, and Candice LeRae are all ice cold. I guess when you're trying to fill three hours of television for 52 weeks a year, you need these matches, but yikes, it wasn't a fun watch.
Drewwwwwwwwwwwwww
-Drew McIntyre. What a savage. McIntyre was brilliant on the microphone and spoke well enough to not just build up his match with Seth Rollins at WrestleMania, but run down CM Punk again at the exact same time. McIntyre is doing excellent business right now and it was smart to show him attempting to sway Rollins away from involvement with The Bloodline. He looked likable and correct when doing so, but undercut himself later talking about how he won the Elimination Chamber. There isn't anything likable about McIntyre right now, but he certainly believes that there is. Thumbs way up.
-As for Seth Rollins, he was good too. He rebutted McIntyre effectively and in a way that you'd think Rollins would. Owning his selfish past was a nice call. Be on the lookout for how much this title match connects in with the one happening between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
-The main event match between Cody Rhodes and Grayson Waller went right as it should have. Waller got a little in, but Cody eventually took care of business definitively and with relative ease.
Cody hunting The Bloodline
-The talk of the show this week will be the angle with Paul Heyman and Cody after the main event match. Heyman warned Cody not to talk about Rock in the form of a challenge and Cody basically told him to "F" off. Obviously, the crowd loved that. Cody saying he's hunting The Bloodline was a fresh new perspective to put on their feud and it makes sense now for Cody to try and vanquish each one on his road to WrestleMania. As for that little challenge to The Rock? WWE would not put that out there if they didn't have a way they wanted to address it. Cody vs. Rock night one of WrestleMania is looking more and more like a viable option as this story plays out. We'll find out more on Friday.