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What's the story?
The first non-co-branded WWE pay-per-view of 2018 is Elimination Chamber, which is a RAW-branded event but there could be some major repercussions regarding the earlier pay-per-views thanks to a description on the T-Mobile Arena website.
The site claims that a lot of top wrestlers would be fighting inside the unforgiving steel structure but it might not feature WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar.
In case you didn't know...
Brock Lesnar’s future opponent for the title is still up for debate with the likes of Finn Balor, Braun Strowman and a few others being considered.
The description on the site could suggest that RAW will not have a winner at the Rumble, which precedes Elimination Chamber.
The heart of the matter
Elimination Chamber takes place on February 25, 2018, a month after the Rumble and the T-Mobile Arena site listed out just a few WWE stars who would be part of the pay-per-view.
“Fans will have the opportunity to see WWE Raw Superstars battle inside 10 tons of unforgiving steel. Head to the Las Vegas Strip to see Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, The Miz and many more fan favorite WWE Superstars.”
The lack of Lesnar’s name might suggest that he will not be part of the Elimination Chamber and possibly there won’t be a Universal Title match.
However, the schedule and the wrestlers on show would be subject to change and with the event almost three months away, there could still be a Lesnar bout on the cards.
What's next?
With no clear number one contender for Lesnar’s title, we should see some sort of storyline develop in the upcoming episode of RAW. However, with the RAW roster not being part of Clash of Champions, the next PPV, ‘The Beast’ might not know his next challenger for a couple of weeks or more.
Author's take
The release from the website does seem to nail on most of the top RAW stars but it did miss out on Braun Strowman and it would be a travesty if he is not part of the Elimination Chamber match in some form.
Lesnar’s contractual obligations are always up for debate and the champion doesn’t feature as much on RAW as many would expect. Not having Lesnar at the Elimination Chamber would also take some sheen off the event but hopefully, a brilliant number one’s contender match will make the event a hit with the fans.
