All Elimination Chamber-related header images must contain Stephanie McMahon (for some reason).
Last night on Raw, WWE announced as a casual aside that Elimination Chamber was returning May 31 as a WWE Network exclusive pay-per-view. If the big reveal felt somewhat last second, that’s because it was.
Word from PWInsider is that the decision to do the show was made as little as 48 hours before Raw, and a good portion of the locker room were as surprised as the audience when it was announced. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, the purpose of the show is retaining new subscribers who signed up for free in May. The last of the month is usually when free subscribers cancel their subscriptions, but if there’s a big show that evening, they may be more apt to let their subscriptions roll over. Another reason for the snap decision is that the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi is one of the few decent-sized arenas in North America that can still accommodate the Elimination Chamber. One of the chief reasons the Chamber was mothballed was that most arenas have added new digital screens that make rigging the Chamber impossible.
Okay, so now that the Elimination Chamber is back, what matches will “Satan’s twisted hell structure” be housing? Well, WWE surprisingly won’t be doing anything World Heavyweight title-related with the Chamber. Instead, matches for the Intercontinental and Tag Team titles will be held inside the chains. The U.S. title and World Heavyweight title will also be defended on the show, but not in Chamber matches.
You know what? This show is obviously a half-assed, slapped-together whim, but I have a feeling it might be pretty damn good. Even great. Guys like Ziggler, Sheamus and Neville should absolutely tear things up in the IC title match, and a tag-team Elimination Chamber match is the closest WWE has ever come to doing WarGames. Consider me more excited for Elimination Chamber than Payback. What about you? Looking forward to the show, or is two WWE PPVs in the span of two weeks your breaking point?
