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Let’s reset the clock. The fall of 2002 to be exact.
While the Monday Night War had been put to bed by over a year at this point, Eric Bischoff had another war to fight.
This time, as General Manager of RAW, he had to combat the voluptuous Stephanie McMahon of SMACKDOWN.
On the blue brand, Stephanie put Brock Lesnar, WWE Champion, inside Hell in the Cell with The Undertaker. What resulted was an instant classic, full of brutal savagery that was the pinnacle of the feud at hand.
Bischoff knew he had to do something in order to counter-act this.
Enter the Elimination Chamber.
Announced on RAW shortly after No Mercy where the Hell in the Cell match took place, Bischoff announced five men to be in the match, with the sixth (Shawn Michaels) answering his invitation later.
This device of disaster was hidden from public view until the big day. When Survivor Series 2002 hit, no one realized what it’s full potential could be.
16 feet tall and 36 feet wide, this pentagonal-shaped structure of pain was designed to let men inflict severe damage upon one another.
There are three other notes to keep in mind when talking about the Chamber:
1. The “cage”, or what we know as the outer portion, is held together by chains. Not steel mesh, or blue bars, but chains like you’d see on tires in the winter time. There is about two tons of the material inside the chamber. When the PG rules went into effect, it was really hard not to imagine blood there because these chains really do inflict damage.
2. Connecting said cage to the ring, steel grates were built-in. Imagine if you were body-slammed onto your barbeque grill. That’s the concept in a nutshell. Now imagine superstars being hurled like cord-wood over the top and onto the floor! YEE-OUCH!
3. There are PODS in the damn thing. One pod for each corner of the ring, they are topped in chain, with plexiglass concealing it’s inhabitant from the outside action. This glass apparently can stop bullets, but not WWE superstars!
In the first Chamber environment, it was a contest with the World Heavyweight Championship on the line.
To read more about the event and the match itself, please click on this review conjured up here.
If you didn’t click, long story short: it was a wonderfully done match, despite the pratfalls and botches that nearly conspired to ruin the thing. Triple H getting his throat crushed on a five-star from Rob Van Dam is one example, while certain superstars missing cues to do things is another.
Over the next decade, the Chamber laid waste to many superstars. With or without titles on the line, everyone who stepped foot into the Chamber walked out a changed person than what they were before.
Let’s take a look at the records of the men who have competed inside the Chamber:
| Superstar | Record |
| Triple H |
|
| Shawn Michaels |
|
| Chris Jericho |
|
| Rob Van Dam | 0-2 |
| Booker T | 0-1 |
| Kane | 0-5 |
| Goldberg | 0-1 |
| Randy Orton | 0-3 |
| Kevin Nash | 0-1 |
| Edge |
|
| Chris Benoit | 0-1 |
| Batista | 0-2 |
| John Cena |
|
| Carlito | 0-1 |
| Chris Masters | 0-1 |
| Kurt Angle | 0-1 |
| Big Show |
|
| Hardcore Holly | 0-1 |
| CM Punk | 0-3 |
| Test | 0-1 |
| Bobby Lashley |
|
| Finlay | 0-1 |
| MVP | 0-1 |
| The Great Khali | 0-1 |
| Big Daddy V | 0-1 |
| JBL | 0-1 |
| Umaga | 0-1 |
| Jeff Hardy | 0-2 |
| Vladimir Kozlov | 0-1 |
| Rey Mysterio | 0-3 |
| Mike Knox | 0-1 |
| Kofi Kingston | 0-1 |
| John Morrison | 0-2 |
| R-Truth | 0-2 |
| Drew McIntyre | 0-1 |
| Wade Barrett | 0-1 |
| Sheamus |
|
| Undertaker |
|
| Ted DiBiase (Jr.) | 0-1 |
| John Morrison | 0-2 |
Now before you start scratching your head at some of these, there are some statistics to go over.
- Triple H went coast-to-coast in 2002 (as in he started the match and was also there at the end).
- Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho started a Chamber match twice (2003 and 2008 RAW).
- Edge is the only man to compete in two EC’s in one night. After losing the WWE Championship within the first five minutes of the SMACKDOWN match, Edge took Kofi Kingston out of the RAW match and went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
- Summerslam 2003 featured the shortest amount of time in-between combatants. In that match, it was three minutes.
- As noted above, Kane has lost the most amount of Chamber matches without winning one. Chris Jericho’s saving grace was the WHC victory in 2010 SMACKDOWN.
- Undertaker has been amongst the final two in all three matches he has been in. He defeated Batista in 2008 on a wicked Tombstone reversal. In 2009 he was pinned clean by Triple H. In 2010, he was taken out by Shawn Michaels, then pinned by Chris Jericho to lose the World Heavyweight Championship. Between Triple H/Shawn Michaels/Batista, they account for five of ‘Taker’s matches at Wrestlemania.
- Triple H has been amongst the final two in all six matches he has been in. After losing the 2002 Survivor Series match, Triple H didn’t lose a Chamber match until 2010 when he lost to John Cena via a submission.
- Speaking of John Cena, he has one stat unique to him. He has lost the WWE Championship twice right after an Elimination Chamber match. At 2006’s New Year’s Revolution, he lost to Edge, who had Money in the Bank cashed in. In 2010, he lost to Batista, who had title match granted to him. Both announcements were made by Vince McMahon.
- Shawn Michaels is the only man to compete, referee. and interfere in EC matches.
- Undertaker was nearly fried extra crispy in 2010. During his entrance, the fire pyro went up at the wrong place and time, and thus the Phenom more than felt it. He is the only man to be injured during a Chamber match for something other than the match itself.
- Since 2008 when the EC was relegated to the February PPV, the last men standing who were CHAMPIONS have compiled a record of 4-1 at Wrestlemania. The only loser was Edge in 2009 when he lost the WHC to John Cena in a Triple Threat match. For anyone wondering, John Cena did indeed win the WWE Championship in the 2010 RAW Chamber match, and although he lost it mere minutes later, he would re-win the title at Wrestlemania, so the statistic still stands.
-Since 2008 when the EC was relegated to the February PPV, the last men standing who were #1 Contenders have compiled a record of 1-2 at Wrestlemania. The only winner was when Undertaker defeated Batista in the SMACKDOWN 2008 match, then defeated Edge for the WHC at Wrestlemania. Triple H lost at that year’s ‘Mania to Randy Orton, who actually pinned John Cena in that Triple Threat contest. Also, John Cena won his #1 contender RAW match from 2011, but lost at Wrestlemania to The Miz.
- Dolph Ziggler was “fired” from SMACKDOWN in 2011 (for a short time), and therefore his spot in that EC was opened up. Big Show filled the slot.
To wrap this up, this should be the hype-up page for the Chamber coming up February 19th. It’s amongst the most brutal matches in wrestling history, and there hasn’t been a totally bad match of the bunch. Should be a good PPV with two really good Chamber matches, everyone should enjoy this one!
