Elimination Chamber 2025: John Cena Turns, and Toronto Watches History Change Sides

The women's Chamber begins with a major angle before it becomes a match. Jade Cargill returns, ignores Liv Morgan and attacks Naomi so violently that Naomi is removed before she can compete, leaving Bianca Belair trapped in a pod watching the destruction. That opening immediately gives the match emotional stakes beyond the WrestleMania opportunity. It also asks the remaining wrestlers to recover the wrestling rhythm after several minutes devoted to the attack.

Liv Morgan and Bianca become the most important performers once the match settles. Morgan works almost the entire contest, eliminates Bayley and Alexa Bliss, and repeatedly uses Bianca's emotional distraction against her, while Roxanne Perez gets another valuable major-event performance against established main-roster names. The Chamber spots are varied without becoming reckless for the sake of spectacle. Bianca's braid whip to Liv and the dive from the pod are especially memorable because the crowd reacts before the next sequence has time to begin.

The final stretch between Bianca and Liv is the correct payoff to everything that came before it. Liv repeatedly turns Bianca's hair into a weapon, Bianca survives the Oblivion attempt and the KOD finally ends a match that has revolved around both women since Jade's attack. Bianca winning is predictable in the productive sense: the story has spent half an hour establishing why she should be the person walking toward WrestleMania. The match is strong enough for B+ / 8.4, with the unusual Naomi removal keeping it just outside the top tier.

The card needs a match that allows the stadium to enjoy itself without another half hour of violence, and this tag serves that purpose. Trish Stratus receives the hometown response, Tiffany Stratton brings the athleticism, and Nia Jax provides a familiar opponent for both babyfaces. Candice LeRae does the less glamorous connective work between the larger personalities. Nothing about the structure is ambitious, but it rarely needs to be.

Stratus looks comfortable enough that the nostalgia never becomes charity. She takes the extended punishment, reaches Stratton for the hot tag and later produces the biggest individual move with a top-rope Stratusfaction on Jax. Stratton is the sharper athlete and gives the match its fastest sequences, especially once she enters against LeRae and Jax. The finish is a little awkward because everyone has to reach the correct position for the final moonsault.

Stratton pinning Jax is still the right conclusion. It keeps the champion strong, gives Stratus a Toronto victory and allows the event to move forward without manufacturing unnecessary controversy. This is the only match on the show that feels like a pleasant television-level attraction placed on a major stadium card. C+ / 6.7 reflects a match that does its job and almost nothing beyond it.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have wrestled each other often enough that another match requires a reason to exist. The unsanctioned stipulation supplies one because the story is no longer about proving who is better; it is about whether either man can hurt the other enough to make the grievance stop mattering. They begin by fighting rather than feeling each other out, and the violence grows naturally from chairs to crowd brawling, tables and finally barbed wire. The Toronto crowd understands every escalation because it already knows the friendship underneath the hatred.

The best aspect is the selling. Sami's damaged neck becomes the match's moral center, giving every powerbomb and every refusal to stop a consequence beyond another nearfall. Owens looks less like a wrestler chasing a victory than a man determined to force his former friend to admit that the relationship is broken. Sami's Blue Thunder Bomb through the stacked chairs and Owens' Fisherman's Buster through the table are spectacular, but neither would matter as much without the exhaustion surrounding them. The slower late pace makes the violence feel cumulative rather than decorative.

Owens eventually wins with repeated apron powerbombs, and the finish is uncomfortable by design. He keeps attacking after the bell, exposes the concrete and appears ready to cross another line before Randy Orton returns to stop him. That return gives the audience release without softening what Owens and Zayn have just done to each other. A+ / 9.5 is warranted because this is a violent match with emotional memory, excellent selling and a finish that strengthens the story rather than merely ending the spectacle.

The men's Chamber has six stars and enough WrestleMania business to become cluttered, yet it remains remarkably easy to follow. Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins establish the physical tone, Damian Priest arrives as a credible power threat, and Logan Paul gives everyone an obvious target. Cena enters fifth to the reaction expected for the final Chamber appearance of his career. CM Punk entering last finally brings the match's emotional hierarchy into focus.

The eliminations are designed to create consequences without feeling like administrative housekeeping. Priest catches Drew with a flash pin, Drew retaliates with a Claymore, and Logan uses the opening to eliminate Priest, setting the McIntyre-Priest rivalry in motion. Punk removes Logan, then the match narrows to Punk, Cena and Rollins, which is where it becomes excellent. Cena and Punk briefly cooperate against Rollins before their own rivalry takes over, and the audience treats every exchange as if a decade of unfinished history has returned at once.

Rollins' final contribution is the decisive one. After Punk eliminates him, Rollins Stomps Punk outside the ring, Cena applies the STF and Punk passes out rather than submitting, sending Cena to WrestleMania without making Punk surrender. The result protects Punk, advances Rollins' obsession and gives Cena the victory the story needs. A / 9.2 stops short of the Owens-Zayn score because the middle section occasionally feels like setup for later rivalries, but the final third is elite Chamber wrestling.