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Elimination Chamber

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This article is about the professional wrestling match. For the pay-per-view event named after this match, see WWE Elimination Chamber.

The Elimination Chamber at New Year's Revolution 2006

The Elimination Chamber is a professional wrestling elimination-based match held in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It features a large chain-linked circular steel structure or "chamber" which encloses the ring.[1] The chamber's floor is platformed over the ringside area which elevates it to ring level and within the chamber are four inner enclosures outside each ring corner.[2] While similar in profile and nature to WWE's original large scale steel-structured match, Hell in a Cell, the Elimination Chamber match is strictly a six participant match wherein two participants begin the bout in the ring as the remaining four are held within each inner enclosure and are released into the match at five minute intervals. The objective is to eliminate each opponent from the match via pinfall or submission. The winner is the last remaining participant after all others have been eliminated. As in the Hell in a Cell match, disqualifications do not apply.[1][3] The structure itself is 16 ft (4.9 m) high, 36 ft (11 m) in diameter, weighs over 10 tons, and comprises 2 mi (3.2 km) and 6 tons of chain.[2][4] Eleven Elimination Chamber matches have taken place in WWE since its inception in November 2002.

History

Origin

Prior to the introduction of the Elimination Chamber match, WWE originally only promoted two matches in a caged environment, the steel cage and Hell in a Cell matches. The steel cage was the first type of cage-based match in professional wrestling and consisted of four fenced walls of steel surrounding the ring apron, while the Hell in a Cell was a roofed-derivation that was taller and surrounded the ring and ringside area on the ground as opposed to on the apron. In 2002, WWE announced the creation of the Elimination Chamber, a match that combined elements of WWE's Royal Rumble match, Survivor Series matches and World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) WarGames matches, such as the countdown timer and time intervals from the Royal Rumble and War Games, the enclosed cage format of War Games, and the elimination process from the Survivor Series.[5]

Brand and pay-per-view designation

In 2002, due to an excess of on-screen talent after buying World Championship Wrestling (WCW), WWE began a brand extension that divided the roster between the two primary television programs of WWE, Raw and SmackDown!. Former WCW President and then Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff formally announced the creation of the chamber during an episode of Raw and scheduled the match to feature participants from the Raw brand roster at the 2002 Survivor Series. The match was exclusive to the Raw brand for the first four matches at Raw and joint-branded pay-per-view events, but upon the creation of the ECW brand in 2006, the match was promoted for the newly created brand at the 2006 December to Dismember. Beginning in 2008, the match became an exclusive to the No Way Out pay-per-view and two were featured annually for two years among the three brands. In 2010, WWE replaced their No Way Out event with the self-titled WWE Elimination Chamber, a new pay-per-view event which continued the tradition of its predecessor.

Match

Rules

The Elimination Chamber match is a variation of elimination-based matches which draws elements from steel cage and Hell in a Cell matches, in that the wrestling ring is surrounded by a large steel fenced cage supported by girders. The Elimination Chamber is a circular chain-linked structure that encloses the ring. Its floor is platformed over the ringside area around the ring which elevates and levels it with the ring mat. Within the Elimination Chamber, facing the outside of each ring post behind each ring corner, are four enclosures referred to as inner chambers.[1][6] The match is contested by six participants, two of which begin the bout in the ring as the other four are held within each inner chamber.[4][6] At five minute intervals one of the four participants within a chamber is released into the ongoing match. This continues until all four have been released. As a result, the Elimination Chamber match will typically last over twenty minutes.[4][6] The objective of the match is to eliminate each opponent from the match by executing a pinfall or a submission, which can occur in the ring or on the chamber's elevated floor. Disqualifications do not apply in the process of elimination. The winner of the match is the last remaining participant after all others have been eliminated.[4][6][7]

Structure

According to a WWE Magazine article in 2009 by WWE's production designer Jason Robinson, who co-designed the structure, several designs for the Elimination Chamber were considered before settling on the final design. The structure was manufactured in Colorado Springs, Colorado, taking between six to eight weeks to fabricate from the design blueprints. The Elimination Chamber costs US$250,000 to construct. A 50-foot flatbed truck is needed to transport the chamber. Assembly in the arena takes eight hours to complete. When not in use, the structure is stored at a dock in Newark, New Jersey.[2]

The structure itself is made of black-painted steel with an outer structure of 16 frames, each weighing 300 pounds (140 kg).[2] The chamber is 16 ft (4.9 m) high and 36 ft (11 m) in diameter. The structure weighs a total of 16 tons, 10 of which consists of steel.[2][3][4] Each inner chamber consists of three large steel framed sheets of plexiglass, costing US$225 per sheet.[2] The chains that surround the chamber stretch 2 mi (3.2 km) long and weigh 6 tons.[3][4] Eight motors are used to suspend the structure over the ring before each event.[2]

Variations

The fifth match, held by the ECW brand at December to Dismember, was a slight variation called the "Extreme Elimination Chamber".[8] In this variation of the match, each chamber would have one of four weapons for the competitors locked inside to hold on to. When each competitor's chamber opened, their weapon entered the match along with them.[9] The four weapons used in the match were a crowbar, a table, a steel folding chair, and a barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat.[9]

Match history

The Elimination Chamber has been scheduled exclusively to WWE pay-per-view events and debuted at Survivor Series 2002 at Madison Square Garden on November 17, 2002. Since the inaugural match, there have been ten other matches (eleven overall) as of Elimination Chamber (2010) on February 21, 2010. The Raw brand has been featured in the most matches, with seven; ECW has been featured twice, including its joint-branded match with SmackDown. The SmackDown brand has been featured 3 times including the joint-branded match with ECW. No Way Out has featured more Elimination Chamber matches than any other pay-per-view, with four. Triple H holds the distinction of being involved in the most number of Elimination Chamber matches to date, with six and the most number of victories, with four. The majority of matches have been contested for a top-tier championship, with the World Heavyweight Championship being fought for the most in five matches, while two matches in 2008 awarded the winner with number-one contenderships. The Elimination Chamber match has been contested only in indoor arenas in the United States and once in Puerto Rico. Since 2008, the match has been featured in February pay-per-view events.

Key
Symbol Meaning
# The overall match number
Brand The WWE brand which was featured in the match
Stipulation What each match was contested for
Match The officially promoted match with all the participants
Event The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands
History
# Brand Winner Stipulation Match Date Event Location Ref.
I Raw Shawn Michaels World Heavyweight Championship Triple H (c) vs. Booker T vs. Chris Jericho vs. Kane vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Rob Van Dam November 17, 2002 Survivor Series (2002) New York City, NY [4][10]
II Raw Triple H World Heavyweight Championship Triple H (c) vs. Goldberg vs. Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Kevin Nash vs. Randy Orton August 24, 2003 SummerSlam (2003) Phoenix, AZ [11]
III Raw Triple H World Heavyweight Championship [A 1] Batista vs. Chris Benoit vs. Edge vs. Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton vs. Triple H
(with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee) 		January 9, 2005 New Year's Revolution (2005) San Juan, Puerto Rico [12]
IV Raw John Cena WWE Championship John Cena (c) vs. Kurt Angle vs. Carlito vs. Chris Masters vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Kane January 8, 2006 New Year's Revolution (2006) Albany, NY [13]
V[A 2] ECW Bobby Lashley ECW World Championship The Big Show (c) vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Hardcore Holly vs. CM Punk vs. Test vs. Rob Van Dam December 3, 2006 December to Dismember (2006) Augusta, GA [8]
VI SmackDown-ECW The Undertaker World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXIV Batista vs. Big Daddy V vs. Finlay vs. The Great Khali vs. Montel Vontavious Porter vs. The Undertaker February 17, 2008 No Way Out (2008) Las Vegas, NV [14]
VII Raw Triple H WWE Championship match at WrestleMania XXIV Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho vs. John "Bradshaw" Layfield vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H vs. Umaga February 17, 2008 No Way Out (2008) Las Vegas, NV [15]
VIII SmackDown Triple H WWE Championship Edge (c) vs. The Big Show vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Vladimir Kozlov vs. The Undertaker vs. Triple H February 15, 2009 No Way Out (2009) Seattle, WA [16]
IX Raw Edge[A 3] World Heavyweight Championship John Cena (c) vs. Edge vs. Chris Jericho vs. Kane vs. Mike Knox vs. Rey Mysterio February 15, 2009 No Way Out (2009) Seattle, WA [17]
X Raw John Cena WWE Championship Sheamus (c) vs. John Cena vs. Triple H vs. Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Kofi Kingston February 21, 2010 Elimination Chamber (2010) St. Louis, MO [18]
XI SmackDown Chris Jericho World Heavyweight Championship The Undertaker (c) vs. R-Truth vs. John Morrison vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk February 21, 2010 Elimination Chamber (2010) St. Louis, MO

Compilation release

In July 2010, WWE released Satan's Prison The Anthology of the Elimination Chamber, a DVD featuring every Elimination Chamber match as of WWE Elimination Chamber.[19] The European release of the DVD will be titled Iron Will.[20] Note that this was the first time WWE allowed Chris Benoit to appear in one of it DVD's (the last occurring in 2007).

Notes

  1. ^ This match was for determining a new champion to the vacant championship.
  2. ^ This edition of the match was promoted as the Extreme Elimination Chamber, which featured a weapon in each inner chamber.
  3. ^ Kofi Kingston was originally scheduled to compete in this match, but Edge attacked Kingston while he was making his entrance and was allowed to take his place.

See also

References

Notations

  • "WWE Elimination Chamber History (2002–2008)". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 17 February 2008. Retrieved 14 February 2008.

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c "Elimination Chamber Description". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Robinson, Jason (2009). "Cold Steel". WWE Magazine: pg. 49. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |pages= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  3. ^ a b c "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts". Wrestling’s Historical Cards. Kappa Publishing. 2007. p. 119.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g McAvennie, Mike (21 May 2007). "The painful process of Elimination". WWE. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  5. ^ Sforcina, Matther (2 February 2008). "Wrestling-Evolution Schematic: The Elimination Chamber". 411 Mania. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  6. ^ a b c d Cohen, Eric. "Elimination Chamber match description and history". About.com: Professional Wrestling. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
  7. ^ "Specialty Matches: Elimination Chamber". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  8. ^ a b Tello, Craig (3 December 2006). "Mission Accomplished". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2 February 2008. Cite error: The named reference "ECWChamber" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b Tello, Craig (29 November 2006). "Chamber of Horrors". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
  10. ^ "Survivor Series 2002 – Elimination Chamber match". WWE. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
  11. ^ "SummerSlam 2003 Main Event". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 21 December 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
  12. ^ "New Year's Revolution 2005 Main Event". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
  13. ^ "New Year's Revolution 2007 Main Event". World Wrestling Entertainment. 6 January 2006. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
  14. ^ "The Deadman doubles down". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2 February 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
  15. ^ "The Game gets his title match at WrestleMania". World Wrestling Entertainment. 17 February 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
  16. ^ Passero, Mitch (15 February 2008). "Regaining the throne". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  17. ^ Tello, Craig (15 February 2008). "Shameless in Seattle". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  18. ^ "Preview: WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  19. ^ http://www.wweshop.com/item/satans-prison--the-anthology-of-the-elimination-chamber-dvd/DvdCDs/35-00704
  20. ^ "Iron Will: The Anthology of WWE's Toughest Match DVD". Silver Vision. 24 June 2010.
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