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What’s the story?
WWE Raw General Manager Kurt Angle announced three qualifying matches for the Elimination Chamber to take place on tonight’s episode of Monday Night Raw.
The matches announced for the show were Matt Hardy versus Elias, Braun Strowman versus Kane in a Last Man Standing match, and John Cena versus Finn Bálor for the first time ever.
In case you didn’t know...
The Elimination Chamber will be a Raw-exclusive pay-per-view and will be the first show to follow the Royal Rumble. The show will emanate from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Valley in Paradise, Nevada and will air on February 25th, 2018
The heart of the matter
The superstars of Monday Night Raw were unsuccessful in winning the 2018 Men’s Royal Rumble match, which means the No.1 contender for Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship will be determined in the Elimination Chamber.
Raw Superstars Roman Reigns and Bálor were among the final four participants in the Royal Rumble alongside John Cena and Shinsuke Nakamura, but the match would end in victory for 'The King of Strong Style'.
The last Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to take place was last year on Feb. 12, 2017 – two weeks after the Royal Rumble.
Last year’s show saw the debut of the current version of the Elimination Chamber which features padded floors over the pod area, square pod boxes, and the chamber top which features the WWE logo at the centre.
With Reigns’ loss at the Royal Rumble, the latest rumours suggest the former Shield member will qualify for the Elimination Chamber, win the match, and go on to face Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania 34.
What’s next?
With only three matches announced for this week’s show, the rest of the Elimination Chamber participants will likely be decided with more qualifying matches in the coming weeks.
Author’s take
Adding qualifying matches to the show will increase fan intrigue, but the first time meeting of Cena and Bálor in singles action will be the match to look out for.
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