Seth Rollins’ Planned WWE Elimination Chamber Opponent Revealed

Seth Rollins didn’t wrestle at WWE Elimination Chamber due to injury, but there was a plan for a big opponent at the show.

The January 15th edition of WWE Monday Night Raw was the last time Seth “Freakin” Rollins wrestled. That was the night when Rollins beat Jinder Mahal to retain the World Heavyweight Title. It was also the night that Rollins suffered a knee injury.

There were initial fears that it was a major injury, but Rollins managed to avoid a major ligament tear. Since then, he has rehabbed the injury as best he could while still appearing on Raw regularly.

At WWE Elimination Chamber, Seth Rollins joined Cody Rhodes as the guests on the Grayson Waller Effect talk show. Rollins announced that he was days away from being cleared to return. In the same interview segment, Cody Rhodes challenged The Rock to a match any time he wanted it.

It has been reported by Fightful Select that WWE had a plan for Rollins at Elimination Chamber if he didn’t get hurt in mid-January. They reported that Australia’s own Bronson Reed would have been Rollins’ challenger at Elimination in Reed’s home country. Reed hinted at this in promos on Raw when he spoke about going after a champion who didn’t see it coming.

Due to the knee injury that Rollins suffered, the match was canceled and Reed didn’t appear on the show at all.

While losing out on the Rollins match might have disappointed Reed professionally, there was good news for Reed out of the ring because his wife recently gave birth to a baby and Reed was there for it.

FULL DISCLOSURE:
Originally, I was set to be at #WWEChamber
It would have been an incredible moment. Unfortunately, plans changed.
But everything happens for a reason. My wife and I have had our baby early, I was supposed to miss the PLE to make sure I'm here for my…

— BIG BRONSON REED (@BRONSONISHERE) February 24, 2024

Hopefully, Reed can be on the show the next time WWE visits his home country of Australia and even bring his family along for the trip. Congratulations to Bronson and his family on the wonderful baby news.

Seth Rollins Will Face A Very Familiar Opponent At WrestleMania 40

As for Seth Rollins, the Elimination Chamber PLE also set up his WrestleMania 40 match on April 6th or April 7th when he faces the Men’s Elimination Chamber winner Drew McIntyre. Rollins is 2-0 against McIntyre in World Title defenses over the last few months, so perhaps the third time will be the charm for the Scottish Warrior.

This was another example of WWE having to pivot due to injury because it was originally going to be CM Punk against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40, but Punk is out with a torn right triceps that he suffered at the Royal Rumble last month. Punk wrote about how emotional it was for him to miss the Chamber event because he knew that was the night where he would have won and earned his shot at Rollins to set up the WrestleMania match.