WWE Announce First Ever Women's Elimination Chamber Match

[Royal Rumble spoilers below]

Tonight it was announced that the first ever women's Elimination Chamber match will take place at the Raw-exclusive Elimination Chamber pay per view.

The match was announced by Stephanie McMahon on Raw, and will take place on February 25th at the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip.

Stephanie revealed that Alexa Bliss will be defending her Raw Women's Championship in the Elimination Chamber match - and suggested that Royal Rumble winner Asuka wait before deciding which title to compete for at WrestleMania 34.

Asuka is a Raw Superstar, but after winning on Sunday was granted the choice of facing either fellow brand-member Bliss or SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair. Before she could make her decision, former UFC megastar Ronda Rousey made an appearance, offering handshakes to both Asuka (who slapped it away) and a wary Stephanie.

A second Elimination Chamber match at the February pay per view was announced ahead of tonight's Raw. General Manager Kurt Angle explained that the winner of this match will go on to face Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, and that the first three entrants will be decided in qualifying matches tonight.

At the time of writing, Braun Strowman is the only confirmed entrant - defeating Kane in a Last Man Standing match. The other two matches set to take place are John Cena vs. Finn Balor and Matt Hardy vs. Elias.

Despite not yet qualifying, the favourite for this bout will surely be Roman Reigns - as speculation over a Lesnar vs. Reigns rematch in New Orleans has been circulating for a long time now. The pair main-evented WrestleMania 31 in 2015, but the match became a triple threat when Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract (and won).

The first ever Elimination Chamber match took place at Survivor Series 2002, and was won by Shawn Michaels. The most recent saw Bray Wyatt win his first WWE Championship in 2017.