Tonight’s Elimination Chamber Will Either Surprise, Or Disappoint

Tonight is WWE's 2018 version of the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. The excitement around this event might be the lowest of any WWE event in years.

Maybe that's off, there have been some duds recently. But this just doesn't feel like the kind of pay-per-view you want to have as the primer for Wrestlemania. Which is also not totally fair, because Fastlane is still to come, but that's not going to be much better.

Anyway, tonight's pay-per-view has a lot of elements, but none of them are expected to be great, with the exception of the first ever Women's Elimination Chamber. Most of the matches should go according to plan, most notably, the Men's Chamber match. So I figured we'd skip a lot, and go straight to who has the best chance to win that Chamber match:

The Miz: Honestly, I'm not sure why he's in this match. I guess maybe because they didn't want to put the Intercontinental Title on the line during this show. They might be using this match to set up an IC rivalry for Wrestlemania, probably with someone like Finn Balor, but Miz won't be winning this match.

Chance to Win: 0%

John Cena: Here's another guy who felt really forced into this match. He should still be on the Smackdown brand right? Oh wait, we made him the only "free agent" in the company. Not Brock, not Undertaker...Cena. Oh well, he'll have some good spot tonight (like lifting Braun for a big spot) and will probably eliminate a couple people. But we can always hope that he does something incredible, like putting Finn or Elias over with a job.

Chance to Win: 0%

Finn Balor: The first guy on this list I think has ANY chance of winning tonight, and it's not a big chance. Finn still never LOST the Universal Championship, so he's still got a strong claim to it. But I don't think Vince likes the idea of a "little" guy (Finn) versus his monster (Brock) at Mania.

Chance to Win: 5%

Seth Rollins: Could we see something that would really excited people tonight, sure. WWE is best when they do the unexpected. Seth winning would fall into that category. But because he is one of their best, it's never a lock he won't win.

Chance to Win: 5%

Elias: Oh how the money-spending, grown adult, plane and hotel budget having, section of the audience would love this. Elias has quickly become one of the hottest acts at any level of WWE programming. Which is impressive, since he wasn't that "over" while in NXT, which is usually where acts like this thrive, before they fizzle out at the main roster level. Elias would be an amazing winner, but really, there's no way it happens.

Chance to Win: 0%

Braun Strowman: The Monster Among Men has a serious claim to this victory. Braun has almost fully completed the slow turn from cloud of destruction in the background, to smiling hero who's being told by the Women's Champion that he's "kinda cute". Braun is selling merch, getting over, and is 100% believable. He could crush Brock Lesnar, and no one would question it.

Chance to Win: 20%

Roman Reigns: I just have to say the name, and we're done. Anyone who follows today's WWE knows that the company wants nothing more than for everyone to just deal with Roman being "The Guy". They want him on posters, they want him headlining Wrestlemania, they want him on the Today Show...THEY WANT ROMAN. But as we've seen every week since the Royal Rumble in 2015, the crowd doesn't.

Sure, there are a lot of kids and women who cheer Roman Reigns on, but those kids and women aren't going to be making up a large chunk of the ticket buys, and travel packages for Wrestlemania. At some point WWE will have to consider those who spend the most money, but for now, that section of the audience doesn't matter.

Chance to Win: 70%