The Road to Elimination Chamber: Return of The Great One

Big Announcement on RAW:

Not a whole lot of storyline developments from RAW or SmackDown as the Elimination Chamber PPV draws closer. The stage has been set for both EC matches: one for the World Heavyweight title and one for the number one contendership for the WWE title. Before we get to that, we must attend to the biggest news coming from WWE this week: The return of The Rock.

Last week, Vince McMahon announced that WrestleMania XXVII would have a special guest host and then left the internet to speculate. Well, after the smoke cleared, The Rock's music filled the RAW arena last night and the People's Champion made his triumphant return to the squared circle. The Rock still knows how to pull off an intense promo and his catchphrases are still catchy, if not a little worn. Obviously, he'll be at WrestleMania and teased that he could "Lay the SmackDown" on anyone at the drop of a hat. The person he called out was a bit of a surprise though. None other than WWE's golden boy, John Cena.

Several years ago, as John Cena started to see his star rise with exposure through WWE films and such, many compared him to The Rock. Cena took issue with that. Cena's first love is wrestling and anything else is second banana. This called into question The Rock's passion for the business, whether he had used WWE as a springboard for greener pastures, and whether The Rock abandoned WWE and its fans when he got famous.

I think the whole thing was blown out of proportion anyway. It seems like Cena was saying more about his loyalty to and passion for wrestling than The Rock's perceived abandonment. Wrestling has a long history with Hollywood with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Goldberg, and Stone Cold Steve Austin all trying their hand at acting. These efforts were met largely with indifference. But The Rock broke through. He went from hokey pro-wrestler to bonafide Hollywood celebrity. So can you really blame him for leaving WWE? I think not.

Anyhoo, The Rock has called out John Cena. It is unclear whether this will lead to an actual match or just a (hopefully) epic confrontation at WM27. Either way, The Rock said last night that he'd never leave us again. And I believe him. No one expects him to quit his day job and return to the WWE grind, but it's always nice to see him and he has paid proper respect to where he came from over and over again.

Elimination Chamber matches:

RAW Elimination Chamber: John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. CM Punk vs. King Sheamus vs. John Morrison vs. R-Truth

Cena will probably end up winning this match and going on to headline WM27 against The Miz. If WWE's plan is to have a Cena/Rock match, then look for CM Punk to win the Chamber match and somehow steal the WWE title from The Miz before WrestleMania so that we can have a CM Punk/Randy Orton main event.

Likelihood of winning: 1. John Cena; 2. CM Punk; 3. Randy Orton; 4. King Sheamus; 5. John Morrison; 6. R-Truth

SmackDown Elimination Chamber for the World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Wade Barrett vs. Kane vs. Drew McIntyre

With Alberto del Rio already waiting for World Heavyweight Champion at WM, only two match-ups make any sense. Del Rio vs. Edge or Del Rio vs. Mysterio. One of these two will go into Atlanta as World Heavyweight Champion.

Likelihood of winning: 1. Edge; 2. Rey Mysterio; 3. Dolph Ziggler; 4. Kane; 5. Wade Barrett; 6. Drew McIntyre

WWE Championship: The Miz (c) vs. Jerry "The King" Lawler

This match is a complete joke. I'm all for giving Lawler a shot at the WWE title. He's a legend and he's earned it. But not at the PPV before WrestleMania. No one in their right mind believes that Lawler will be main eventing WrestleMania. They'll tease that The King has a shot, but The Miz will win on Sunday. His biggest challenge will be whether he can escape next Monday's RAW with the WWE title. If they're going to make a change in the WrestleMania main event, it'll happen then.

Notables who are not doing anything at Elimination Chamber: Alberto del Rio, Intercontinental Champion - Kofi Kingston, United States Champion - Daniel Bryan, Tag Team Champions - Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov, Big Show, the rest of The Corre, the rest of Nexus, Jack Swagger, all the Divas, Ted DiBiase, and Cody Rhodes.

Because the Elimination Chamber PPV only has three matches currently announces, expect some non-sensical matches to be added to the card as filler.

Other notes:

The Undertaker is expected to return next Monday, but there is some speculation that the mysterious promos are pointing to another dark and shadowy wrestling legend. None other than Sting. The most famous wrestler to never work for WWE is no longer on the TNA website and maybe, just maybe, heading for WrestleMania. Possibly as the Undertaker's opponent. Stay tuned.