Elimination Chamber’s most memorable moments
This Sunday John Cena will step in one WWE’s most feared structures, when he puts his WWE Title on the line against five of SmackDown’s very best in the Elimination Chamber.
The Chamber match has been a permanent part of WWE programming since 2002, when then Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff introduced the concept ahead of the 2002 Survivor Series. Part Hell In a Cell, part War Games and part Royal Rumble (given the countdown clock), six men are locked inside ‘Satan’s Prison’ and introduced at different intervals during the match, until all are eliminated and one man is left standing.
Sunday will mark the twentieth Elimination Chamber match in WWE as SmackDown brings back the pay-per-view bearing the same name after it went missing during 2016’s show schedule. So to get you in the mood for this weekend’s main event and to give you a little taster of what to expect inside the chains and steel, here are Gorilla Position’s most memorable Elimination Chamber moments.
The Ultimate, Ultimate Opportunist
No Way Out 2009
There were few things the Rated R Superstar cared about more during his heyday than having world championship gold around his waist - and so it proved during 2009’s event. Having gone into the show as WWE Champion, Edge was eliminated in just three minutes during the night’s first Chamber match and thus ending the Canadian’s evening and reign as champion - however, he wasn’t done yet. Edge jumped Kofi Kingston prior to the World Heavyweight Championship match and took his place in the Chamber bout that closed the show. He then rubberstamped his point by pinning Rey Mysterio to end the night with yet more championship glory.
The Almost Underdog Story
Elimination Chamber 2012
On a night when indie darlings Daniel Bryan and CM Punk walked in and out with the company’s top two belts, the script was almost flipped on its head thanks to Santino Marella. The Milan Miracle was slap bang in the middle of his most popular comedy run, hence his inclusion in this match for SmackDown’s World Heavyweight crown. Though no one gave Santino much of a chance he somehow made his way through Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett, leaving just him and Bryan to fight it out for the gold. And Marella went within an inch of one WWE’s biggest ever upsets with two near falls on the champ before finally submitting to the LeBell Lock.
Just Hanging Around
Elimination Chamber 2011
We’ve seen some incredible displays of athleticism inside the cage, from Undertaker’s chokeslam to MVP off the top rope, to Jeff Hardy and RVD scaling new heights on top of the pods. However, they perhaps pail in comparison to John Morrison’s moment of inventiveness during 2011’s WWE Championship match. Feeling like the neither the ropes nor the pods were good enough for the Prince of Parkour, Morrison climbed to greater heights, scaling the roof of the cell and flinging himself from the center onto an unsuspecting Sheamus. Sure it wasn’t the smoothest crossbody Morrison ever hit but it certainly was the most unusual and was good enough to dump the Irishman out of the match.
He’s Below You
Elimination Chamber 2010
One of the Chamber’s key characteristics is once the six men are locked into the chamber; the threat of outside interference is taken completely away…unless you’re the Heartbreak Kid that is. To make his point and to force the hand of the Deadman, Shawn Michaels spent the entire 2010 Chamber match under the ring to cost The Undertaker his World Heavyweight belt. Appearing from under the ring and the steel panels in the closing moments, HBK hit Taker with Sweet Chin Music, allowing Chris Jericho to take the Championship and set up Michaels and Taker’s WrestleMania meeting.
The Original Cash In
New Year’s Revolution 2006
WWE fans have become accustom to seeing Money In The Bank cash-ins, but it was after the Elimination Chamber match at New Year’s Revolution that we saw the very first one. John Cena had just battled through a grueling Chamber match to retain his WWE Championship, when Vince McMahon appeared at the ramp and announced that Edge would be cashing in his Money In The Bank privilege, enlightening fans on what the very nature of the ‘anytime, anywhere’ clause meant. Two spears from the Rated R Superstar later and Edge was celebrating his truly historic moment in WWE history.
Smashing Spear
SummerSlam 2003
If there’s one image that has become synonymous with the Chamber match in its fifteen-year history it’s the sight of Goldberg’s destruction during the second Elimination Chamber at SummerSlam 2003. The WCW icon had been like a rapid dog locked inside his chamber for most of the bout and as soon as he was released all hell broke loose. He scored three eliminations almost instantly, but it’s the damage he caused to the structure itself that lives longest in the memory. First he speared Chris Jericho through one of the pods, in a sea of broken perplex, before smashing through a waiting Triple H’s pod to get his hands on The Game. The Chamber has yet to see anywhere near the amount of destruction cause by the man they call Goldberg.
Hail the Heartbreak King
Survivor Series 2002
Some say the original is always the best and it’s hard to look beyond the very first Elimination Chamber and it’s winner when it comes to the event’s most memorable moment. Fans feared for a long time they’d never see Shawn Michaels back in a WWE ring when he retired in 1998. But his fairytale comeback, that began at SummerSlam that year, was complete when he was crowned WWE World Heavyweight Champion in the inaugural Chamber match. Bagging his first championship crown in nearly five years by defeating Triple H and once again climb to the top of the mountain in one of WWE’s most feel-good moments of the era.
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