{"id":153133,"date":"2026-02-13T23:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T04:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=153133"},"modified":"2026-02-13T23:40:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T04:40:36","slug":"cody-rhodes-qualifies-for-2026-mens-elimination-chamber-in-controversial-fashion-on-wwe-smackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/02\/13\/cody-rhodes-qualifies-for-2026-mens-elimination-chamber-in-controversial-fashion-on-wwe-smackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Cody Rhodes Qualifies for 2026 Men’s Elimination Chamber In Controversial Fashion on WWE SmackDown"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week’s WWE SmackDown in Dallas, Texas<\/a>, played host to a couple of 2026 Elimination Chamber qualifiers<\/a> for both the men’s and women’s bouts. WWE Universe, even the qualifying contests are stacked with the likes of Giulia, Alexa Bliss, and Zelina putting it all on the line to have the opportunity to enter the steel structure. On the men’s side, it was a bit more personal, as the “American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes battled Sami Zayn and Jacob Fatu.<\/p>\n

All three have orbited the Undisputed WWE Title scene for the better part of a year, and all of them have an axe to grind with current champion Drew McIntyre. Zayn failed at the 2026 Royal Rumble PLE to dethrone McIntyre, while Fatu and Rhodes have been at each other’s throats to see who gets first dibs on the “Scottish Psychopath.”<\/p>\n

This Friday night, we saw a battle for the ages as these three went to war.<\/p>\n

Hacob Fatu and Cody Rhodes were hitting bombs against one another, with Sami Zayn essentially playing third fiddle. That said, Zayn took exception to that and would hit home run shots on both men, almost winning on a number of occasions. After a Cody Cutter on Zayn at the tail-end of this thriller, Fatu would swoop in, throw Rhodes out of the ring, and hit a Mighty Moonsault.<\/p>\n

Jacob had Zayn, but Drew McIntyre would hit a Claymore Kick on him, breaking up the pin. McIntyre would wreak havoc. Powerbombing Fatu onto the announcers’ desk, and then in the ring, delivering a Claymore to Rhodes and draping Zayn over his seemingly lifeless body, as Drew walked away. In a remarkable showcase of will, Rhodes would get his shoulder up, prompting Drew to come back and rain down strikes on Cody.<\/p>\n

Zayn would hit Drew with the Helluva Kick and tried to go for Rhodes, but Cody would catch him in a Cross Rhodes, to finally end this PLE-level SmackDown main event, and qualify for the Men’s 2026 Elimination Chamber Match.<\/p>\n

\"A
Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cody Rhodes joins big names such as his friend and mentor, “The Viper” Randy Orton, and “Megastar” LA Knight to round out 50% of the 2026 Men’s Elimination Chamber Match. Cody Rhodes is on a warpath, and it seems like nothing can stop him from redemption at WrestleMania 42<\/a> against Undisputed WWE Champion Drew McIntyre.<\/p>\n

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/b><\/strong><\/amp-ad><\/p>\n

Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/span>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/span><\/a><\/u> for more on the Elimination Chamber, WWE SmackDown, and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/span><\/em><\/amp-ad><\/amp-fx-flying-carpet><\/amp-ad><\/amp-ad><\/p>\n

You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/span>Netflix<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(Raw, WWE archives, WWE Unreal, and other specials),\u00a0<\/span>USA Network<\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0The CW<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(NXT),\u00a0<\/span>ESPN\u00a0<\/span><\/a>(WWE PLEs),\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Tubi<\/a>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0A&E<\/a>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments) and\u00a0Peacock<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(Saturday Night\u2019s Main Event). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/span>YouTube.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week’s WWE SmackDown in Dallas, Texas, played host to a couple of 2026 Elimination Chamber qualifiers for both the men’s and women’s bouts. WWE Universe, even the qualifying contests are stacked with the likes of Giulia, Alexa Bliss, and Zelina putting it all on the line to have the opportunity to enter the steel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3735,"featured_media":153137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2192,26,4,3],"tags":[98,686,505,3006,106],"class_list":["post-153133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wrestling","category-smackdown","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-cody-rhodes","tag-drew-mcintyre","tag-elimination-chamber","tag-jacob-fatu","tag-sami-zayn"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3735"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153133"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153306,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153133\/revisions\/153306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}