Australia’s women’s world champion Rhea Ripley will be the centre of attention at Perth’s Elimination Chamber event on February 24.
On the February 6 (all dates AEDT) edition of Monday Night Raw, Ripley was booked to defend her title against Nia Jax, providing an all-Aussie twist to proceedings.
Jax was born in Sydney but spent her childhood in Hawaii, considering herself American.
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Ripley, the overwhelming favourite to win that match in the west, would then face the winner of the women’s Elimination Chamber match at WrestleMania 40 – with Becky Lynch the frontrunner.
Lynch (def Shayna Baszler), Bianca Belair (def Michin) and Liv Morgan (def Zoey Stark) are confirmed for the Chamber match.
In other qualifying matches Naomi faces Zelina Vega and Tiffany Stratton wrestles Shotzi on the February 17 Smackdown, before a Battle Royal for the final berth on the February 20 Raw.
Ripley was heavily praised by wrestling legend Bret Hart in an exclusive interview with Foxsports.com.au last week.
The men’s Elimination Chamber match will crown the No.1 contender for Seth Rollins’ World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 40, though it remains to be seen what role Rollins will play in the Cody Rhodes/Roman Reigns/The Rock storyline, after his appearance at the Las Vegas ‘press event’/promo segment.
Aussie Bronson Reed has missed out on a spot on his home show after losing his qualifying match to Bobby Lashley on the February 13 edition of Raw.
Neither he nor Grayson Waller are currently booked to match on the biggest WWE event ever in their home country which would be a massive shame and a baffling booking choice from the company.
Two qualifiers were confirmed on the February 10 Smackdown, with Drew McIntyre defeating AJ Styles, and Randy Orton beating Sami Zayn, before LA Knight defeated Ivar on Raw to earn the fourth spot.
On the February 17 Smackdown, Logan Paul will face The Miz while Kevin Owens faces Dominik Mysterio.
Paul and Owens may lose and face each other for the US Title in Perth, or both advance to the Chamber match and be involved with each other in order to set up a WrestleMania rematch.
Also confirmed for the Elimination Chamber card is a defence of the tag team titles from Ripley’s mates The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and Damian Priest). They will face Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate after they defeated DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) on the February 10 Smackdown.
Gunther is defending the Intercontinental Championship against Jey Uso on the February 20 Raw, throwing into question whether they’ll also wrestle in Perth. Uso is expected to face his brother Jimmy at WrestleMania.
Elimination Chamber Perth takes place at Optus Stadium from 8:30pm AEDT/5:30pm AWST on Saturday February 24.
Fans can watch it live on Binge, Kayo and Foxtel, or live in person via Ticketmaster.
CONFIRMED CARD FOR ELIMINATION CHAMBER PERTH (As of February 13)
Men’s Elimination Chamber, for a World Heavyweight Championship title shot at WrestleMania 40: Drew McIntyre vs Randy Orton vs Bobby Lashley vs LA Knight vs Logan Paul/The Miz winner vs Kevin Owens/Dominik Mysterio winner
Women’s Elimination Chamber, for a Women’s World Champion title shot at WrestleMania 40: Becky Lynch vs Bianca Belair vs Liv Morgan vs Naomi/Zelina Vega winner vs Tiffany Stratton/Shotzi winner vs Battle Royal winner
Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs Nia Jax
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship: The Judgment Day [Finn Balor and Damian Priest] (c) vs Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate
Source Agencies
