WWE Elimination Chamber
WWE Elimination Chamber | |
---|---|
Promotions | WWE |
Brands | Raw (2010–2011, 2018–present) SmackDown (2010–2011, 2017, 2019–present) 205 Live (2019) |
First event | 2010 |
Signature matches | Elimination Chamber match |
WWE Elimination Chamber (often called WWE The Chamber) is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 2010, with its inaugural event taking place on February 21, 2010, replacing No Way Out. Elimination Chamber is a pay-per-view (PPV) event consisting of a main event and undercard that features championship matches and other various matches. The concept of the show is that one or two main event matches are contested inside the Elimination Chamber, either with championships or future opportunities at championships at stake.[1]
The first Elimination Chamber event took place on February 21, 2010 and aired live on PPV. The event's name was selected after WWE allowed fans to provide input via a survey on their official website and was chosen over Heavy Metal, Battle Chamber, Chamber of Conflict, and the original No Way Out name.[2] Since its origin, each event has been held in an indoor arena, with all nine taking place in the United States. In 2015, the event was replaced by Fastlane in the February pay-per-view slot.[3] However, the 2015 event was later announced to be streamed exclusively on the WWE Network in the United States on May 31 and was also available on PPV elsewhere.[4] The event did not occur in 2016, but returned in 2017 as a SmackDown-branded event for the first time.[5] The 2018 edition was a Raw-branded event and featured female participants inside the Elimination Chamber for the first time, as well as the first seven-man Elimination Chamber match. The 2019 event was a dual-branded event and determined the inaugural holders of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. The 2020 event took place in March instead of February to make room for the Super ShowDown event.
Elimination Chamber is known in Germany as No Escape (Template:Lang-de), to avoid connotations of the gas chambers used during the Holocaust in World War II.[6][7]
Concept
The Elimination Chamber match is generally contested by six participants, with two beginning the bout in the ring, while the other four are held within each inner chamber. Every five minutes, one of the four participants within a chamber is released into the ongoing match. This continues until all four have been released, and so an Elimination Chamber match typically lasts over twenty minutes. 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 even on the chamber's elevated floor (starting in the 2012 event, however, all pinfalls and submissions must take place in the ring). 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.
From 2010-2012, the event featured two Elimination Chamber matches, usually one for each brand until August 2011 when the brand extension ended. In 2010, the Raw Chamber was for the WWE Championship and the SmackDown Chamber was for the World Heavyweight Championship. In 2011, the Raw Chamber determined the number one contender for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXVII (due to Alberto Del Rio, a SmackDown superstar, winning the Royal Rumble) and the SmackDown Chamber was again for the World Heavyweight Championship. In 2012, there was one Chamber match for the WWE Championship and one for the World Heavyweight Championship. In 2013, only one Chamber match took place with the winner receiving a World Heavyweight Championship match (in December 2013, the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship were unified). In 2014, there was only one Chamber match, and it was for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. In 2015, the event was moved from February to late May and two Chambers were announced. The first housed the first-ever tag team Elimination Chamber match, which was for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The second Chamber match was for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship. The event was discontinued in 2016, however, it was reinstated in 2017 as a SmackDown-exclusive event (the brand extension returned in July 2016) and moved back to February. The main event was a Chamber match for the WWE Championship. In 2018, Elimination Chamber was a Raw-exclusive event prior to new changes for the 2018 pay-per-view schedule which included the first ever women's Chamber match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship and the first seven-man Chamber match for a WWE Universal Championship match at WrestleMania 34. The 2019 Elimination Chamber event was the first dual-branded event since 2011. It included a tag team Chamber match that determined the inaugural holders of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, and a Chamber match for the WWE Championship. The 2020 event was again dual-branded and featured a tag team Elimination Chamber match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship, as well as a women's Chamber match for a Raw Women's Championship match at WrestleMania 36.
Dates and venues
Raw-branded event | SmackDown-branded event |
References
- ^ "Elimination Chamber Match rules". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-09-24). "WWE to rename No Way Out PPV?". WrestleView. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
- ^ Caldwell, James. "WWE NEWS: February PPV gets a new title (w/Poll)". pwtorch.com. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- ^ Caldwell, James. "WWE NEWS: WWE adds second Sunday Night PPV to May". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ "Talking Stick Resort Arena". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
- ^ "WWE No Escape". WWE (in German). Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ Hoffmann, Martin (February 20, 2018). "Darum hat eine WWE-Show zwei Namen" [This is why a WWE show has two names]. Sport1 (in German). Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ^ Burdick, Michael (2010-02-21). "Results: Heartbroken". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
- ^ a b "WWE Elimination Chamber". Talking Stick Resort Arena. 2016-12-05.
- ^ "UPDATES ON GOLDBERG, THE ELIMINATION CHAMBER, FASTLANE PPVS AND MORE | PWInsider.com". pwinsider.com. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
- ^ Scherer, Dave (November 22, 2017). "WWE ADDS A FIFTH CO-BRANDED PPV, FULL 2018 WWE PPV SCHEDULE WITH DATES AND CITIES FOR THE EVENTS". PWInsider.
- ^ Arena, T-Mobile. "WWE Elimination Chamber | T-Mobile Arena". www.t-mobilearena.com. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
- ^ "NOVEMBER 26, 2018 OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: SURVIVOR SERIES REVIEW, TONS MORE". F4W Online. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
- ^ Johnson, Mike (November 16, 2020). "THE 2020 WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER PPV WILL BE..." PWInsider.