At WWE Elimination Chamber, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes turned down The Rock’s offer to become “his champion.”
Then, moments after winning the right to challenge Rhodes at WrestleMania by winning the Men’s Elimination Chamber Match, John Cena aligned with The Final Boss and executed a brutal attack on The American Nightmare.
How will the titleholder respond? Don’t miss all the action, this Friday at 8 ET/7 CT on SmackDown on USA.
Cody Rhodes returns to SmackDown after John Cena’s vicious betrayal at WWE Elimination Chamber
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Elimination Chamber go home had SmackDown’s best rating since USA premiere
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If the Feb. 28 episode’s numbers are any indication, fans are excited for the Road to WrestleMania 41… and this was before John Cena turned heel!
Building on the previous week’s Rock-produced numbers seemed like a tall order for the Feb. 28 SmackDown. But The Final Boss did make an appearance via satellite. That, combined with the overall push to the next night’s Elimination Chamber premium live event, helped last Friday’s episode improve in one of the two metrics we use to track a show’s performance.
According to Programming Insider, the latest SmackDown had an overall audience of 1,731,000. It did a .52 rating with the 18-49 year old demographic. The total viewership number was down slightly (<1%), but the demo was up a little more (2%). And that made it the highest rated episode since the show moved to USA Network last September.
The 18-49 number was also the best on all of television last Friday night, a feat SmackDown often pulls off even without WrestleMania season hype. Second place went to the NBA clash between Cleveland & Boston on ESPN, which did a .51 from 1.81 million viewers on ESPN. In third was the highest rated broadcast show, CBS’ Fire Country was a distant third. That was also the highest rated broadcast show on Feb. 28, scoring a .30 in the demo from an audience of 4.29 million.
Want more from Secret Base? Check us out at https://www.patreon.com/secretbase for a new drop every Monday! The problem with other people deciding you have massive potential is that if YOU don’t reach THEIR expectations, well, then it’s your fault. That’s the way the cookie crumbled for Ben Simmons. And then the cookie turned into beef. Like some weird, culinary alchemy.
We’re less than two months from ‘Mania, and folks seem excited by the build so far. Can the EC fallout show exceed these numbers? We’ll find out, then add it to our running tally of the past year’s worth of SmackDown’s numbers:
* Moved from FOX to USA Network (broadcast to cable)
** Added a third hour
For complete results and this week’s SmackDown live blog click here, and to read a recap & review of the night’s events click here.
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WWE Elimination Chamber 2025 Results: John Cena Ends Losing Streak With Historic Win
ByAlfred Konuwa
, Contributor.
John Cena won the Elimination Chamber.
John Cena won his record fourth Elimination Chamber, ousting CM Punk and tying Triple H for the most ever.
The WWE men’s Elimination Chamber aired prior to WWE’s main event segment, which featured Cody Rhodes making his decision on whether or not he would sell his soul to The Rock. This was very interesting as the winner of the Chamber could either be an existing heel who could reappear in the main event, or a babyface turning heel in the main event. With Rhodes strongly favored to decline The Rock’s offer, there was also a possibility of Rock finding his own Manchurian champion to do his bidding against Rhodes.
The men’s Elimination Chamber had a tough act to follow after Jade Cargill dramatically returned in the women’s Chamber in the night.
Consummate heel Logan Paul walked out first with an American flag. Of course, he was booed by the partisan Canadian crowd. Damian Priest walked out next, followed by CM Punk and John Cena. This meant Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre were set to start the Chamber in a rematch of their WrestleMania 40 opener.
Rollins, dressed like a spike obstacle from Sonic the Hedgehog, entered last. The arena filled up with light “CM Punk” chants as Rollins and McIntrye did battle to start the match.
A smarmy CM Punk egged Rollins on while Seth banged McIntyre’s head on Punk’s pod.
After using the fog from his breath last year, Logan Paul used graffiti to decorate his pod. One of his tags read “OVO,” in honor of Canadian hip hop superstar Drake, who was in attendance.
Damian Priest was first out of the pods. He threw Seth Rollins into Drew McIntyre with a Razor’s edge. Between Roxanne Perez-Bayley, Tiffany Stratton-Trish Stratus and Damian Priest-Razor Ramon, there was a lot of talk of idols on this show.
Even with Paul still in the pods, fans chanted “F.U. Logan!” They got their wish as Logan Paul officially entered the Chamber. After a flurry of offense, Paul taunted Canada and was mauled by Priest because of it.
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John Cena entered the final Elimination Chamber match of his career as he ran wild on everybody. Fans exploded as Cena finished off his offense with an AA to Seth Rollins and a Five Knuckle Shuffle on Logan Paul.
After an AA to Paul, Cena immediately ate a Claymore Kick. Priest then rolled up McIntyre for the elimination. This, after McIntyre made a big deal of wanting to embarrass John Cena, only to take his eye off the ball and get eliminated by Priest. McIntyre stuck Priest with a Claymore Kick, and Paul finished off Priest with a Frog Splash from the top of the pod. It’ll certainly be McIntyre vs. Priest at WrestleMania.
CM Punk entered last, telling Paul “you know it’s me, MFer.” Punk teased a spot from the top of the pod before locking eyes with John Cena to the chorus of “holy s—t” chants.
Rollins stopped the party with his own obsession with Punk. Rollins told Cena “Why don’t you go back and film some more movies?! His ass is mine! Stay out of it!”
As Cena and Rollins went back and forth, Paul broke it up. Punk stuck Paul with a GTS, bringing the field down to three.
It was noted that the Final 3 (Cena, Punk, Rollins) have held 26 world championships among them. There were dueling “let’s go Cena/CM Punk!” chants. No love for poor Seth, who played the de facto heel.
After a Hart Attack from Punk and Cena on Rollins, a tribute to Bret Hart and the Hart Foundation, Punk and Cena did battle. More fans sided with the sympathetic Cena. Cena trapped Punk in an STF, which Punk countered with an Anaconda Vice. Each man escaped the other’s finishing hold.
Punk countered a Cena cross body with an AA. Nearfall. “This is awesome!”
Seth Rollins threw Cena through the glass pod and set his sights on CM Punk. Rollins hit Punk with a Pedigree for a nearfall. Seth came back with a Buckle Bomb followed by a stomp for another long two count.
Cena entered the fray, causing a distraction. Both Cena and Punk hit their finishers on Rollins and Rollins lost. Cole once again emphasized that Seth Rollins’ obsession with Cena cost him the match.
Both Cena and Punk kicked out of the GTS and the AA, respectively. Rollins hit Punk with a Stomp, prompting Cena to trap Punk in the STF. Punk passed out as Cena won.
After the match, Cody Rhodes and Cena faced off. Cody shook Cena’s hand. This brought out The Rock, who entered to a remixed version of his song featuring Travis Scott. For more on what transpired, including Cena’s shocking heel turn, click here.
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