Rowdy Roundtable: Favorite Elimination Chamber Matches of All Time
The ninth Elimination Chamber pay-per-view airs tonight on the WWE Network, live from the Toyota Center in Houston, TX. The RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey will be defending her title in a singles match against the leader of The Riott Squad herself, Ruby Riott, but two matches will be contested within the Elimination Chamber structure: “The New” Daniel Bryan’s WWE Championship defense and the crowning of the inaugural WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Since its inception in 2002, the Elimination Chamber match has gone through highs and lows, blood and burns, and even a remodel. Members of the RondaRousey.com staff came together to talk about their own personal favorite Elimination Chamber matches over the years.
LaToya Ferguson, Managing Editor
As is my way, I’m going to cheat with my answer and go with a
From just a purely wrestling match perspective, the WWE Championship (defended by Edge) Chamber match’s final three—Triple H, Jeff Hardy, and The Undertaker—put on a damn wrestling clinic in the first match on a No Way Out pay-per-view. And the crowd was absolutely on fire for this entire match, which only makes it more thrilling, even on rewatch (and even with Kozlov). But the key to this match—and in considering it alongside the other Chamber match that night—was champion Edge being the first competitor eliminated, not even three minutes into the match.
So that already guaranteed a new champion, but then after the match, Edge even tried to get Vickie Guerrero to start the whole thing all over again. Since she couldn’t and wouldn’t do that, it seemed like that was the end of the Road to WrestleMania for Edge… until “The Ultimate Opportunist” shot his shot by attacking Kofi Kingston during his entrance for the World Heavyweight Championship (defended by the Superman to Edge’s Lex Luthor, John Cena) Chamber and straight-up taking his spot. (Kofi really deserves his spot in tonight’s Elimination Chamber match more than anyone because of this.)
Of course, Edge also had to deal with competitors like Rey Mysterio and John Cena, two men who (understandably) hated him. But even after getting his ass absolutely kicked by Mysterio (after, luckily, coming out second to last), everything still somehow came up Edge in this one. The greatest moment in the match is Chris Jericho, Mysterio, and Edge working together to eliminate champion Cena as quickly as they do, which of course led to this infamous gif:
Not too long after that, Edge ended up winning the match and World Heavyweight Championship, outsmarting everyone once again. (Edge outsmarting everyone is one of my personal favorite WWE tropes.) These certainly aren’t the bloodiest Chamber matches or the most hate-fueled, but come on—sometimes you just need a hot crowd, some great wrestling (outside of the weirder choices in competitors), and some crafty maneuvering.
Kimberly Schueler
After thinking about it, I realized my favorite Elimination Chamber match is still the first one. I remember when I first watched it as a kid, the cage seemed so intense and it actually kind of freaked me out. I expected a lot of blood, and there certainly ended up being a fair amount. I don’t remember being that invested in the Shawn Michaels/Triple H story aspect of the match, but I’ll never forget the feeling of seeing the crazy spectacle of the Elimination Chamber for the first time.
Albert Ching
It’s an obvious choice, but I’m picking the original Elimination Chamber match—from Survivor Series 2002—as my favorite in the “genre.” (Even though I was in attendance for the second-ever Elimination Chamber match at Summerslam 2003, and still remember how shocked/deflated the crowd was when Triple H pinned Goldberg.)
The thing that still stands out to me about the original Elimination Chamber special was how it firmly established an icon of the industry—Shawn Michaels—was back for good. As someone who started watching wrestling right around the time Michaels disappeared following his match with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin at 1998’s WrestleMania XIV, I was always aware of his reputation as one of the best in the business but saw very little of it. Most of the HBK appearances I watched in my formative fan years were scattered non-wrestling roles, like his stint as WWF Commissioner.
When he returned to the ring at SummerSlam 2002 after more than four years away due to injury, it was thrilling and unexpected, but also seemed like it might be a novelty—something he did once to prove he still could. It wasn’t clear how much, if at all, he’d be able to continue from that point—yet three months later, his next match was in the then-never-before-seen Elimination Chamber, alongside fellow top stars of the era, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Kane. Not only was the match itself—taking place at in the hollowed halls of Madison Square Garden—highly memorable,
Michaels ended up winning that match and the World Heavyweight Championship. It’s easy to see the parallels between Michaels and the man he helped train, Daniel Bryan, who also had an against-the-odds in-ring comeback after being away for years due to injuries thought to be career-threatening. Bryan’s coming into this year’s Elimination Chamber as the WWE Champion, but whatever happens, like Michaels, he’s already won by not just being back in the game, but being back as one of the best.
Kyle Fowle
I have a special affection for the Chamber match from 2017. John Cena walked in as the champion, having won the title from AJ Styles in an incredible match at the Royal Rumble. Styles was in the match looking to reclaim gold, and the rest of the pods were filled by The Miz, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, and Baron Corbin. Corbin felt like a bit of an outlier, but every other Superstar had been on an incredible run.
Cena and Styles started the match, getting a chance to continue their heated feud immediately before the rest of the entrants came in. Corbin and Ambrose get eliminated early, the latter due to a post-elimination attack from Corbin that sent him through a pod. It’s a fun, brutal match that never feels slow and sluggish like these matches sometimes can, but the kicker for me is that this is the match where Bray Wyatt wins his first, and so far only, WWE Championship. I’ve been a fan of Wyatt for a long time, and I’ve always wanted to see him reigning at the top, so the 2017 Chamber match was one of the best surprises this wrestling fan could ask for.
You can watch every Elimination Chamber match on the WWE Network.