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The venerable Elimination Chamber match has been around for over a decade. Here are the five best matches from its illustrious history.
Way back in 2002, WWE had finally vanquished its Monday Night War rival World Championship Wrestling. They now had an unprecedented stake in the pro wrestling market, having outlasted all of their major competitors such as the NWA and ECW.
They also had a huge roster of talent, having absorbed many WCW and ECW stars after the fall of those companies. In short, they had numerous talented wrestlers, all of whom were deserving of being in the main event picture and world title contention.
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The Elimination Chamber was the brainchild of Triple H. He had fond memories of the Tower of Doom match in WCW, a multi-competitor triple-stacked cage that unfortunately, while a novel idea, didn't quite work, mostly due to the small size of the middle and top cages.
He went back to the drawing board and developed a solution. Instead of three separate cages, WWE would present the match inside of a massive, domed chamber. The match was meant to evoke Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome with its overall look and feel.
The structure more or less paid homage to the hardcore wrestling setup that made the Attitude Era one of the most popular phases in WWE history. The satanic structure that Triple H conceptualized now had 4 pods and miles and miles of steel woven around it. Superstars who walked in would never walk out the same.
The first Elimination Chamber was a resounding success, so much so that the WWE has continually revisited the match type over the years.
Here are the five best Elimination Chamber matches in WWE History.
#5 New Year's Resolution 2006
On our first match of the countdown, we travel back in time a decade and a half to 2006. The Ruthless Aggression Era was in full swing, and John Cena had emerged as the dominant force.
Cena had reigned as Raw's world champion for roughly a year, turning back each and every challenger who came his way. When he was booked to defend his title against five other men in the Elimination Chamber match, many people believed that it would be the end of his title reign at last.
Kurt Angle, perhaps the favorite to win the match, was taken out relatively early by a superkick. Then Carlito and Chris Masters realized they were in over their heads and made a pact to work as a team until they are the two finalists. They managed to eliminate HBK and Kane before turning their attention to an outnumbered Cena.
Cena was beaten, battered, bloodied and bruised, but Carlito's treachery against Masters evened the odds a little. Cena managed to defeat Carlito, defying the odds once again and proving he is Super Cena.
But then, Edge, who was the first-ever Money in the Bank winner, decided to cash in his contract. Edge had held onto the contract for so long people had assumed he would wait until Wrestlemania to guarantee a main event spot.
Edge instead cashed in on a severely weakened Cena, easily defeating him to claim the championship. This match not only was a spectacular piece of storytelling, but it also set a precedent for MITB winners to cash in on wearied opponents.
Edge was popularly known as the 'ultimate opportunist' and this was just another example of what he was capable of doing.
#4. Elimination Chamber 2018: Women's match.
Once the Women's Evolution in WWE hit full swing, matches featuring female superstars went from being a sideshow for titillation to being full-fledged sports entertainment contests.
But many fans wondered why the WWE had yet to include an all-women Elimination Chamber match on one of their cards. The time seemed ripe for such an expansion, and WWE finally gave the women their chance at the 2018 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.
The match turned out to be nothing short of brilliant thanks to both the fantastic booking and the athletic ability of the women involved, in particular, Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Alexa Bliss.
WWE was also building toward a women's tag team division, so two full-time teams were competing in the chamber. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville represented Absolution, while Frenemies Bayley and Sasha Banks were set to oppose them.
Rounding out the chamber was Alexa Bliss and sometime ally, Micky James. Bliss sought to get James on her side to have an ally in the match as well, but her plans went awry when the veteran wrestler was eliminated early.
Absolution and the Frenemies turned the match into a mini War Games for a time, until the veteran team of Bayley and Sasha prevailed. Then it looked like all hope was lost for Alexa Bliss to retain her title.
But Sasha turned on her ally Bayley, and the treachery enabled a battered but determined Bliss to win the first-ever Women's Elimination Chamber match in dramatic fashion.
#3. Elimination Chamber 2017
The 2017 Elimination Chamber match was a masterful work of storytelling, elevating a star to the main event picture.
Part of the crux of the Elimination Chamber match was the rivalry between WWE World Champion John Cena and AJ Styles. The two men fought rabidly inside of the confines of the Elimination Chamber until Dean Ambrose joined the fray.
Then the match turned into a temporary three-way dance. Ambrose showed off his amazing ability to counter wrestle while AJ and Cena were overcome by the fresher challenger.
Corbin joined the fray, laying waste to the competition, but he was then eliminated by a sneaky pin from Ambrose. Corbin, though out of the match, beat down Ambrose so badly that all Miz had to do was lay across him for the pin.
Bray Wyatt joined the fray, and Miz took a fall. The master of vultures was then able to shrug off heavy offense from both AJ and Cena to hit twin Sister Abigails on both men and claim his first-ever world championship.
Wyatt is one of those superstars whose transformation is the stuff of legend. He was finally able to claim his position as the top competitor owing to his spectacular show at the elimination chamber match.
#2. No Way Out 2008
The Elimination Chamber, held at No Way Out in 2008 featured a rarity for the match type. Rather than competing for the title itself, the six participants were competing for the right to challenge World Champion Edge.
Going into the pay-per-view, the biggest feud in WWE at the time was between the Undertaker and the Animal Batista. Unlike many of the Undertaker's opponents, Batista wasn't intimidated or overpowered by the Deadman, and their battle for supremacy had lasted for over a year.
Their rivalry would come to a head at the chamber match. After Great Khali and Big Daddy V were eliminated, Finlay entered the fray and, to his credit, took the fight right to Taker and Batista. Unfortunately, the strategy didn't pay off and he was eliminated.
MVP tried a different tactic. He attempted to avoid the two behemoths as they battled it out in the chamber. But when he attempted to climb a pod to escape the wrath of the Undertaker, he wound up being chokeslammed fifteen feet to the mat.
The Undertaker beat Batista with a wild counter into a Tombstone, one of the most fluid and amazing spots in chamber history. The Deadman thus won the right to challenge Edge, and ended his feud with Batista in one stroke.
#1. No Way Out 2009
No Way Out 2009 sought to outdo the magnificence of last year's Elimination Chamber match, and by all accounts, they succeeded.
Since the brand split was in full swing, both Smackdown and Raw presented their own versions of the Elimination Chamber match. In a total shocker, reigning champion Edge lost within three minutes to Jeff Hardy during the SmackDown event, thus eliminating the champion first.
Later, Raw presented its own Chamber match, but the sneaky and devious Edge struck. He attacked Kofi Kingston from behind and beat him so badly the future New Day member could not compete. Edge then locked himself in a pod and demanded to be added to the match. Thanks to his involvement with Vicki Guerrero, who had an on-screen managerial role at the time, his tactics worked and he was added to the mix of challengers.
Jericho and Rey Misterio started things off, putting on a clinic for the first five minutes before big men Kane and Mike Knox join the fray. The two plucky undersized wrestlers teamed up to eliminate the monster heels. Then Edge joined the match and the bout turned into a brutal three-way dance.
But when John Cena joins the match, the defending champion proves why he is the Face that Runs the Place. Super Cena demolished all three men with ease, proving his dominance as the top guy in the company.
However, his three opponents realized that as powerful as Cena is, he's just one man. The trio of Misterio, Jericho, and Edge triple-teamed Cena with finishers until they put him away.
The final two wind up being Misterio and Edge, and while Rey put on a hell of a fight, Edge emerged victorious in his second Elimination Chamber match of the night.
There you have it. The five best Elimination Chamber matches in WWE History. Questions or comments? Please leave them after the article and as always thanks for reading!
