Tonight, WWE Monday Night RAW rolls into Memphis with the clock screaming toward Elimination Chamber and the runway to WrestleMania 42 getting narrower by the hour.

There’s a particular kind of tension that only exists in this part of the calendar: not quite the chaos of the Rumble fallout, not yet the all-out sprint of WrestleMania week. It’s the middle stretch where reputations get tested, momentum gets stolen, and qualifying matches become their own mini main events because everyone understands the truth—Elimination Chamber isn’t “a match you get booked into.” It’s a match you survive, and the people who earn their way in tonight are choosing violence for their April ambitions.

Two triple threat Elimination Chamber qualifiers built to force hard choices and uglier finishes. And hovering over it all is the increasingly intertwined top of the RAW mountain—CM Punk’s Chicago title defense is already set, while his WrestleMania collision with Roman Reigns has been locked in. That means every big development tonight—every qualifier, every interruption, every statement—feeds a road where the destination is clear, but the bodies along the way are piling up fast.

Here is everything announced for tonight’s show

• Gunther vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Dominik Mysterio (Men’s Elimination Chamber Qualifier)
• Bayley vs. Asuka vs. Natalya (Women’s Elimination Chamber Qualifier)
• We’ll Hear From WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk
• We’ll Hear From AJ Lee

The Chamber isn’t filling up—it’s taking shape

At this stage, qualifiers don’t just add names. They define the tone of each Chamber match.

On the women’s side, the early field already has a compelling mix of momentum, dominance, and unpredictability: Tiffany Stratton, Rhea Ripley, and Alexa Bliss are in. On the men’s side, the qualifiers have already started weaving together veteran gravity and modern urgency with Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and LA Knight positioned in the conversation.

So tonight’s winners aren’t just “the next two.” They’re the ingredients that decide whether these Chamber matches become sprint-and-steal chaos, or slow-burn wars of attrition where the last person standing looks like they crawled out of a car wreck.

Men’s qualifier: Gunther vs Je’Von Evans vs Dominik Mysterio

This is the kind of Triple Threat that doesn’t just test skill—it tests identity.

Gunther in a qualifier is a thesis statement: power is still power, and the Chamber becomes a punishment chamber when you add someone who treats every strike like a court summons. If he qualifies, the men’s match immediately tilts toward brutality and survival math—who can absorb damage, who can pick moments, who gets trapped with him in the wrong pod sequence.

Je’Von Evans represents the opposite energy: the rising threat who isn’t supposed to belong in a structure built to break people. In one night, he can go from “buzz” to “problem.” Even if he doesn’t win the Chamber on Feb. 28, simply entering it gives WWE a platform for a star-making performance—one where speed and fearlessness become weapons against size and experience.

Dominik Mysterio is the wildcard that turns any format into a heist movie. The Chamber is designed to punish mistakes; Dom’s entire game is creating mistakes for other people, then arriving late to the scene like he was always the plan. In a Triple Threat, he doesn’t need to be the best—he needs to be the last one with an opening.

And that’s the real hook: three different philosophies, one slot, and a stipulation that practically begs for opportunism. WWE didn’t announce this match as a qualifier by accident—this is the kind of matchup that tells you what sort of Chamber they want: violent, unpredictable, and shaped by whoever can adapt fastest.

Women’s qualifier: Bayley vs Asuka vs Natalya

If the men’s qualifier is a clash of philosophies, the women’s qualifier is a clash of instincts.

Bayley is the strategist who knows how to turn big-match pressure into a checklist: minimize risk, maximize damage at the right time, then flip the switch when the finish is in sight. She doesn’t need to out-athlete everyone—she needs to out-think the chaos.

Asuka is chaos with purpose. Her presence changes how opponents breathe, how they time their offense, how they manage fear. In a Chamber context, Asuka is terrifying because she can stack eliminations before anyone has time to settle into rhythm.

Natalya is built for structures like this because she understands the long game. Triple Threats reward patience, and the Chamber rewards endurance. If she qualifies, she brings a very specific danger: she doesn’t have to be flashy to be inevitable.

What makes this qualifier feel pivotal is the broader shape of the women’s Chamber build. With Stratton’s breakout energy, Ripley’s dominance, and Bliss’ unpredictability already in the mix, tonight’s winner decides whether the match leans toward a violent collision course, a chess match, or a nightmare blend of both.

The bigger RAW backdrop: the road signs are already up

Even with only two matches formally announced, tonight’s RAW is happening under the shadow of two massive fixed points:

• CM Punk is set to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Finn Bálor at Elimination Chamber.
• Roman Reigns has declared that Punk is his WrestleMania target, meaning Punk’s entire February is about making it to April intact—and Bálor is standing directly in the way.

And I assume CM Punk will appear on the show and continue to build to his title match against The Judgment Day’s Finn Bálor at Elimination Chamber. That assumption matters because Punk doesn’t just “show up” in this stretch—he sets the temperature. If Punk is in the building, the show has an unavoidable gravity: promos become challenges, interruptions become declarations, and every rival with a grievance sees an opening to make a point at the champion’s expense.

And then there’s AJ Lee. An announced appearance isn’t filler in February—it’s a signal. WWE is telling you in advance that she matters tonight, which usually means she’s either stepping into the Chamber conversation, escalating a championship rivalry, or colliding with someone who needs an opponent with instant credibility.

Add in other names advertised around the show, and it becomes clear what this RAW is designed to do: finalize more Chamber pieces, push the WrestleMania direction one step closer to “inevitable,” and make sure every major player leaves Memphis either with momentum—or with a target painted on their back.

Final thought

RAW doesn’t need a stacked list of matches to feel important this time of year. It needs pressure. It needs stakes. It needs moments that make Feb. 28 feel closer and April feel inevitable.

Tonight’s show has that. Two qualifiers, two new names entering the most unforgiving structure WWE can offer, and a main-event ecosystem where the champion already knows who’s waiting at WrestleMania—he just has to survive long enough to get there.

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