The coordination of methane, the first step in methane activation, to coordinately unsaturated first row transition metal dication complexes has been studied computationally to determine the most stable metal-methane interaction. The geometries and the vibrational frequencies of the encounter complexes [M(pyridine)2(CH4)](2+) have been determined using density functional theory with the ωB97XD hybrid functional and triple-ζ basis sets. The structure is dependent on the metal center; for the early transition metals η(3) coordination is favored, whereas η(2) is more favorable for the later transition metals. The periodic trend in methane binding energies in the [M(pyridine)2(CH4)](2+) complexes follows the trend in electron affinity until the Mn complex but then exhibits decreasing energies from Fe to Zn. This is attributed to increasing Pauli repulsion and ligand-ligand repulsion. For the most stable complex, [Cr(pyridine)2(CH4)](2+), the structures, energies, and spin states of the key intermediates and products in the oxidative addition/reductive elimination pathway have been investigated. It is found that the reaction is thermodynamically favorable and indicates that two-state reactivity may play an important role in lowering the energy of the hydridomethyl intermediate.