WWE Elimination Chamber

WWE Elimination Chamber
WWE Elimination Chamber logo used since 2023
Created byTriple H
Eric Bischoff
PromotionWWE
BrandsRaw (2010–2011, 2018–present)
SmackDown (2010–2011, 2017, 2019–present)
205 Live (2019)
Other nameElimination Chamber: Perth (2024)
First event2010
Signature matchElimination Chamber match

WWE Elimination Chamber is a professional wrestling event produced by WWE, a Connecticut-based professional wrestling promotion. It is available only through pay-per-view (PPV) and the livestreaming services, Peacock and the WWE Network. The event was established in 2010, replacing No Way Out as the annual February PPV. The concept of the event is that one or two main event matches are contested inside the Elimination Chamber, either with championships or future opportunities at championships at stake. The Elimination Chamber match itself had been created in 2002 and held at various other WWE pay-per-views before the establishment of the namesake event in 2010.

The 2014 event was notable as it was WWE's final event to air exclusively via traditional PPV outlets due to the launch of the WWE Network the next day, as all PPV events since have aired on both PPV and livestreamed on the WWE Network. The following year, the event's February slot was replaced by Fastlane, with the 2015 Elimination Chamber instead being held in May. That year's event also saw the first tag team Elimination Chamber match. Although the event did not occur in 2016, it returned in 2017 with a revamped Chamber design. The event also returned to the February PPV slot. While the eponymous match was originally only for male wrestlers, the 2018 event featured the first-ever women's version, as well as the first seven-man Elimination Chamber match. The 2019 event determined the inaugural holders of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. The 2020 event was notable as it was WWE's final PPV event held before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused all of WWE's shows to be held behind closed doors until mid-2021. The 2020 event was also moved to March as Super ShowDown was held in February, but the event returned to its February slot for the 2021 event, which was WWE's final PPV held before the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock that March. The 2022 event was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, thus making it the first Elimination Chamber event to take place outside of the United States and on a Saturday. Subsequent events would continue to be held outside of the US, with the 2023 event in Canada and the 2024 event in Perth, Australia.

To coincide with the brand extension, the events in 2010 and 2011 featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands before the first brand split ended in August 2011. Following the reintroduction of the brand split in mid-2016, the 2017 event was held exclusively for wrestlers from SmackDown. The 2018 event was then Raw-exclusive and was the final Raw-branded PPV of the second brand split, as following that year's WrestleMania 34, WWE discontinued brand-exclusive pay-per-views. The 2019 event in turn featured wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown brands, as well as 205 Live, while the events afterwards have just featured Raw and SmackDown.

In Germany, Elimination Chamber is known by a different name to avoid connotations of the gas chambers used during the Holocaust in World War II. In 2010, it retained the "No Way Out" (German: Kein Ausweg) name, which was also used for the event in 2012, but in 2011, it was called No Escape (German: Kein Entkommen), which became its permanent German name in 2013.[1][2]

  1. ^ "WWE No Escape". WWE (in German). Archived from the original on February 8, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  2. ^ Hoffmann, Martin (February 20, 2018). "Darum hat eine WWE-Show zwei Namen" [This is why a WWE show has two names]. Sport1 (in German). Archived from the original on February 25, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.