7 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Elimination Chamber 2025

3. Men’s EC Gets Rising Drama Correct

WWE Elimination Chamber 2025 CM Punk John Cena
WWE

The men’s Elimination Chamber was a great source of speculation and wish-casting heading into Saturday. Who would win and challenge Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship? Each possible outcome brought its own storyline and baggage (in a good way).

But some potential winners presented more interesting matchups with the American Nightmare. For example, a Damian Priest/Rhodes match wasn’t going to set the world on fire. And Logan Paul would not be someone that could close out a night of WrestleMania.

That’s why seeing the final three of John Cena, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins was so heartening. Each of them had a strong case to make for challenging Cody at 'Mania, and each of them would bring an interesting story to the table. Punk and Cena’s rich history also made for compelling action, a mini-match to remind longtime fans of what they hopefully will get to see in extended format at some point this year.

Action-wise, the match was solid through and through. Cena was the biggest question mark, and his involvement was measured perfectly, being present for big moments and showing flashes of his old self without having to carry the match. Rollins, McIntyre, and Punk really did a great job threading the entire match and keeping things moving. There weren’t any dead spots, and it all gelled nicely.

The finish served as a nice bit of foreshadowing for what came afterward, which works even better on a rewatch, but still functioned well in the moment.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.