5 Things we learned from WWE Elimination Chamber 2020

WWE Elimination Chamber 2020 is in the record books, and the Road to WrestleMania now looks a whole lot clearer than it may have done a few weeks ago.

Shayna Baszler is now the undisputed challenger for Becky Lynch’s RAW Women’s Championship, the two set to meet at WrestleMania for the gold.

Elsewhere, we have a new Intercontinental champion - but his immediate future looks bleak to say the least, while the Street Profits, Andrade and The Miz and Morrison all retained their respective titles.

It was a curious night in some respects, with many of WWE’s big hitters not visible on the show, but it was nonetheless packaged full of action, talking points and, of course, things we learned.

To summarise the highs, lows, ups and downs of the event, here are exactly five things we learned from the 2020 version of WWE’s Elimination Chamber.

---

#5. Sami Zayn could be headed for some pain

Sami Zayn - a deserving Intercontinental Champion?

Sami Zayn captured the Intercontinental championship on Sunday, coming out on top in a three-on-one handicap match featuring his pals, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura, and the previous champ, Braun Strowman.

In some respects it’s fantastic – Zayn is a tenacious worker who is well respected behind the scenes, but his runs with Championships have been few and far between, this being the first major title he’s captured in some six years, following his NXT Championship victory.

But let’s face it – Sami’s character is in some hot water right about now. Strowman was understandably livid after the match, vowing that Sami would be made to pay. Whether the two end up tangling at Wrestlemania for the title remains to be seen, but it’s a decent guess that Zayn will be needing to steer clear of the Monster Among Men for a while, for his own safety!

#4. Street Profits on a roll

The Street Profits retained in Style

Last night saw the Street Profits retain their RAW tag team championships at the expense of Seth Rollins and Murphy.

It solidifies the reign of Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins, who finally managed to snare the gold away from the Monday Night Messiah and his disciple a number of weeks ago. It was, for many, just rewards for the pair who have worked and battle their way through the ranks in WWE, establishing themselves in NXT before moving up to the ‘main’ roster.

Their work on RAW had been slow and steady – back in the summer, they started appearing in backstage features before slowly easing themselves into in-ring action, and gaining a substantial support base along the way.

Their victory over Rollins and Murphy was undoubtedly the biggest of their career. At Elimination Chamber, they may have taken advantage of an ‘assist’ of sorts from Kevin Owens but, seeing The Street Profits up their title win with crucial retention confirms that, in my view, that the Street Profits are here for the long haul as big-time players in the WWE tag team division.

#3. Shayna dominates

Baszler was in crushing form at Elimination Chamber

Sunday's Elimination Chamber event – and the vast majority of its short build-up, for that matter – belonged to Shayna Baszler.

The former MMA star has been in deadly form in recent weeks as WWE build her as a credible contender to Becky Lynch’s RAW Women’s Championship, the two now confirmed as opponents at WrestleMania next month.

If Sunday’s Chamber taught us one thing decisively, it was that WWE dispelled any myth that Baszler may not be ready for the big stage – her position in the RAW Women’s Championship picture was emphasized and then some as she ran roughshod through the competition. Eliminating each and every one of her fellow competitors in the match, Baszler left no doubt in the minds of those watching that she means business.

Some may feel that it did the rest of the RAW women’s roster very few favors have Baszler dominate them quite so decisively, but in firmly framing the Queen of Spades as, possibly, the one to dethrone The Man at WrestleMania, WWE made their intentions crystal clear.

#2 WWE is in safe hands

Drew Gulak (above with Daniel Bryan) performed well at Elimination Chamber

Elimination Chamber on Sunday was, if anything, an opportunity for some of the younger, or lesser used and established stars in WWE, to showcase their talents.

For the first time in a while, not only were the WWE Champion and Universal Champion absent from the show, but their respective WrestleMania challengers in Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns were also nowhere to be seen, leaving the card – on paper at least – decidedly short on some of WWE’s current megastars.

While it was odd to not have either of the two main men’s titles defended or even really discussed on the show was a little odd, but the event as a whole didn’t necessarily suffer for it. The likes of Drew Gulak and Aleister Black stood up to the task and delivered with excellent performances – admittedly with contrasting results.

Whether this puts them closer to the forefront in WWE’s longer-term thinking remains to be seen, but there’s little doubt that, in terms of depth of talent, the company has very little to fear going forward.

#1 Styles struggles?

The Undertaker attacks Styles at Elimination Chamber

One talking point emanating from Elimination Chamber was the performance of The Phenomenal One, AJ Styles.

I’m a huge AJ Styles fan, so don’t take what follows as a criticism – he’s one of the best wrestlers on the planet and is undoubtedly one of WWE’s best talents. Just now, though, there seems to be something amiss with Styles.

While watching from a distance, it’s difficult to know what that is or what is causing it, so to speculate would be wrong. Nonetheless, he doesn’t seem to be at his fluent best – though it would also be worth stating that, in recent weeks, he’s been dominated by The Undertaker and so really hasn’t had an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to what appears to be a feud between the two building towards WrestleMania.

Styles more than played his part in a decent match against Aleister Black on Sunday – and continued the Taker storyline accordingly, but as a huge AJ fan, I’m keeping everything crossed that all is well for the former WWE Champion and that he’ll be in ship shape ahead of the biggest show of the year.