Does the Elimination Chamber hurt the prestige of the Royal Rumble?

[Thriller Ant]

For most of its existence, the major prize the winner of the Royal Rumble receives is the chance to Main Event WrestleMania. Now, this year especially, the Elimination Chamber has been billed as everyone other than Edge's last chance to Main Event WrestleMania.

I know that Royal Rumble is one of the Big 4 (3 now? ) but guys in the Rumble match always talk about how they will win and go to WrestleMania. With EC a month or so later, it can easily be argued that the 1/6 chance you have in the EC is better than the 1/30 chance in the Royal Rumble and that guys should focus on that instead.

So what do you guys think?

 

[16mikeytot]

Well I see where your coming from but wwe bills the elimination chamber as a brutal structure that changes careers. So if you win the royal rumble you automatically main event wrestlemania and you dont have to go in the chamber. I definitely think it doesn't ruin the prestige of the rumble. To give an out of the box example i'll compare it to the nfl like the best two teams in the afc and nfc get a bye for the wild card round then each get a home game for the divisional round. You win the rumble you dont have to compete at elimination chamber.

 

[theirishtaker]

i was thinking this watching the rumble. definately hurts the rumble but i think i have a solution. winner of rumble still goes on to headline wrestle mania. final five left from each brand go into the chamber. this will give an opportunity to some midcarders hopefully in order to keep rumble unpredictable. thoughts?

 

[proofinlife]

For most of its existence, the major prize the winner of the Royal Rumble receives is the chance to Main Event WrestleMania. Now, this year especially, the Elimination Chamber has been billed as everyone other than Edge's last chance to Main Event WrestleMania.

I know that Royal Rumble is one of the Big 4 (3 now? ) but guys in the Rumble match always talk about how they will win and go to WrestleMania. With EC a month or so later, it can easily be argued that the 1/6 chance you have in the EC is better than the 1/30 chance in the Royal Rumble and that guys should focus on that instead.

So what do you guys think?

Well, it's no much as a stipulation as it is a logical outcome. The Elimination Chamber PPV will feature an EC for both RAW and SD. Naturally both championships are in both respective match, and because it is the last PPV before Mania, whoever wins the belt is just simply going to mania because they are the champ, unless they lose it in a TV match, in which THAT winner will be in the WM title match because he's the champion.

It's not like Royal Rumble where the winner of a large battle royale gets an automatic choice of who he wants to challenge for whatever title; the EC you're simply getting your last chance at being the champion that is in one of the two marquee belt matches.

So RR and EC are on different sides of the fence. EC you get the chance to be the champion that gets challenged at WM, RR you get the chance to be the challenger for the title at WM, so both are unique in each respect.

 

[J-Wunn]

i was thinking this watching the rumbled. definately hurts the rumble but i think i have a solution. winner of rumble still goes on to headline wrestle mania. final five left from each brand go into the chamber. this will give an opportunity to some midcarders hopefully in order to keep rumble unpredictable. thoughts?

I gotta agree with this idea to a point. Its fresh & would DEFINETLY give mid carders a chance to shine. On the other hand, it would suck out any buildup that the WWE would have to promote its EC PPV. U would already know who was in the chamber match so why would you care about any episode of Raw or Smackdown between the 2 PPVs? I do like that they give at least 1 or 2 midcarders a spot in the chamber (Kofi, Morrison, etc.) tho. Anybody agree with me tho that WWE will have Shameus drop the belt? He's too wet behind the ears to headline a WM.

 

[JayMiine]

There is absolutely noo way this hurts the Rumble's prestige. Ever since WWE has had 2 titles the Rumble winner always gets FIRST dibs on whatever title he wants, and USUALLY has the final match at Mania. But, since the two titles have been in play which ever title is not selected always has some match, be it a battle royal, triple threat or whatever to crown that titles #1 contender. This is just WWE blowing that much up to hype it up. There is absolutely no way the Chamber hurts the Rumble. Whatever title is left over always has a match to decide so being the chamber does not affect anything. I dont think you guys can be much more off on this one.

 

[hurleyworld4]

i was thinking this watching the rumbled. definately hurts the rumble but i think i have a solution. winner of rumble still goes on to headline wrestle mania. final five left from each brand go into the chamber. this will give an opportunity to some midcarders hopefully in order to keep rumble unpredictable. thoughts?

Your idea for the five challengers for the Elimination Chamber championship matches sounds compelling. I love giving midcard talent a push. I pop for the Miz, Henry, and Cody. But, with the current WWE product, a more main event talent heavy main event would make more sense. People already troll on Sheamus with his "pasty skin and lack of charisma," why give them more room to criticize?

For kicks, I took the last 10 participants of the Rumble, excluding Edge, and constructed Elimination Chamber matches. For Raw, Sheamus vs John Cena vs Shawn Michaels vs Kofi Kingston vs Jack Swagger vs The Big Show. For SmackDown, Taker vs Batista vs Chris Jericho vs R-Truth vs Drew McIntyre vs John Morrison. Compared to the current lineup, the Raw match is void of Triple H and Ted DiBiase. The SmackDown match is void of CM Punk. Orton and Mysterio were not involved in the Rumble, so they would be left out of the Chamber matches, too. IMO, that would be a mistake. Superstars of the caliber of Triple H, CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton should be included in such a high profile match.

The Rumble would have to be booked in a way to accommodate the developing storylines while leaving the ten challengers as the last participants, save the Rumble winner. This would take away from the unpredictability of the Rumble. This trait is one I feel the Rumble still possesses. While reading the updates on WZ, my wife was on the edge of her seat, refreshing like a mad wifey, anticipating the next events. Booking the Rumble where ten of the last eleven people would headline the Chamber would insult even the casual fan.

While perusing wikipedia.org searching for the Rumble elimination order, I had to skip over Yoshi Tatsu and Shelton Benjamin as possible Chamber participants, "cuz der on ECW." Two charismatic superstars with a decent amount of poppage would have an argument to enter the Chamber. Heck, they outlasted four former World Champions.

 

[theirishtaker]

I gotta agree with this idea to a point. Its fresh & would DEFINETLY give mid carders a chance to shine. On the other hand, it would suck out any buildup that the WWE would have to promote its EC PPV. U would already know who was in the chamber match so why would you care about any episode of Raw or Smackdown between the 2 PPVs? I do like that they give at least 1 or 2 midcarders a spot in the chamber (Kofi, Morrison, etc.) tho. Anybody agree with me tho that WWE will have Shameus drop the belt? He's too wet behind the ears to headline a WM.

lets face it there is only 3 shows between rr and ec so sorting out line up on rr nite gives more time to build some nice fueds and even the odd injury angle and arguement bout who fills vacant spot. for example jericho is in final ten in rr but is injured. hbk was 11th man left in rr so is next in line but as he is not a SD star the 12th man,rey for example,claims the spot leading to a great tv match before the EC and builds the prestige of it

 

[supersrc]

I would have to agree it does hurt the rumble a little, it really takes away time that could be spent building the rumble winner vs champion match, edge really cant start his fued untill after the chamber is done, hes missed out on a few weeks of build up.

I also really think the chamber has become a big enough event to be held on its own, durring a quieter part of the calender that would be in need of a big event like the elimination chamber

 

[HBK619]

No it doesnt hurt the rumble.The rumble is designed so up and coming stars can prove their worth by winning the rumble and headlining wm.EC doesnt realy do anything to harm that.

You have to wonder though if a ECW star won the match(doesnt count anymore since ecw is going)would he go for the ECW title?Cm Punk doesnt cout cause he was on RAW(i think)when he won it.

 

[mrrrrrrrrr. kennedy!!!!!!]

To supersrc's point i think it is a good idea to move the chamber ppv. Im thinking switch this and tlc around to have the chamber before the rumble again like it used to be. This way you could have the ones who didnt win the title in the chamber be in the rumble as their last chance to go to wresltemania cuz really the way it is now the rumble is not the last chance to go to wrestlemania.

 

[angry_panda]

I really don’t see how the EC hurts the prestige of the rumble at all.

You have Two ways too guarantee headlining WM, either be a champion, or win the rumble. If you flip your question upside-down, what your really asking is "Does someone winning the championship at the Elimination Chamber take away from the prestige of the Royal Rumble" as this is the only way they will main event mania. When it’s put it like that, how can it?

Some people are suggesting the move the EC PPV and swap it for something else, but you will still have title matches in the new PPV, so do you move the rumble to the PPV before mania, do you keep the PPV but not have a title match on it. Personally I cant see any of these as valid options.

Sure maybe WWE should be billing the EC as a "championship matches" and not "path to main event wrestlemania". I would imagine though that all (or at least most) WWE wrestlers have 2 goals, win a world title and headline wrestlemania. Win the EC and bam both goals done, can’t blame WWE for pointing this out. Sure its amazing to be the champ….but to be the champ at mania………..

 

[Dragonslayer]

I don't think the EC hurts the Rumble, since both matches have their own particular "feel" to it - most of us love the Rumble because we get to see almost everyone on the roster involved in the same match, which often results in wrestlers fighting each other that we wouldn't normally see on TV (e.g. midcard/undercard guys facing off with top main eventers), which gives them a chance to shine. Plus, the Rumble is usually entertaining because of it's slightly "clusterf***" pacing, whereas the Chamber is a much more "strategic" type of match. So I don't think that the EC takes anything away from the Rumble.

However, I do feel that the Elimination Chamber has meanwhile become quite a big event in and of itself, since it's basically an evolution of the "Armageddon Hell In A Cell" match, and I somehow feel that it is not really well placed right in between two of the biggest events of the year in the Rumble and of course Wrestlemania. I'd personally feel it might be better to have the Rumble as the "big kickoff" to the Road to Wrestlemania, then use the following PPV to further the feuds leading into WM (which of course can also be achieved by a title match like the EC, with more participants involved, I won't take that away, but a "supercard" would suffice for that purpose as well), and have the EC event sometime later in the year, maybe have it replace the Survivor Series now that Vince apparently doesn't want it anymore, and make the EC with it's "trademark" match type (that we NEVER get to see at any other event throughout the year, which is not that case with any other matchtype, as we might get the occasional steel cage, HIAC, ladder, tlc etc... matches also at other events).

I think it's less the Rumble that gets depreciated by the EC, but more the EC that loses in the current constellation, as outcomes of the EC become a little more predictable heading into Wrestlemania, as people would naturally expect the WWE to put/keep the title on top names in order to provide for maximum drawing capacity at the biggest event of the year. I think if WWE did just a more "regular" PPV that doesn't necessarily involve another high-profile match such as the Elimination Chamber, it wouldn't take away much from the buildup to Wrestlemania, but it could help to give the Elimination Chamber event a more "unpredictable" edge. As said, personally I'd have the EC replace Survivor Series now; it's not as big as Summerslam, and I think the Elimination Chamber would fit a bit better at that time of the year. Also, considering the EC is also an elimination type of match much like the original Survivor Series, it would also somehow uphold the "legacy" of Survivor Series without having to rely on the obviously outdated concept of the 4 vs 4 team matches that seemed all too randomly put together in the past installments of the Series.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The Royal Rumble is more prestigious than the Elimination Chamber for two reasons. It has been around much longer, and the winner gets to choose which world champion he faces at Wrestlemania. The winners of Elimination Chamber are only going for a championship to try to retain, and in most of their cases (other than situations like Edge last year) are going for the championship of the brand they are on. The winner of the Raw Elimination Chamber gets the WWE Championship.... the winner of the Smackdown Elimination Chamber gets the World Championship.... but Edge's Rumble win is more prestigious because he can choose which of the two champions he wishes to face. That decision makes the Royal Rumble more prestigious as it feels more important to win it, plus it has so much more history too. That's why Elimination Chamber doesn't hurt the prestige of the Rumble.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I could see why someone might think the Elimination Chamber might hurt the prestige of the Rumble, especially after what's been going on for the past couple of years. At No Way Out 2008 you had two Chamber matches that were for #1 contenders spots for the WWE and World Heavyweight championships. John Cena, who won the Rumble, lost in the triple threat match at Wrestlemania. On the other hand, The Undertaker, the man who won the Smackdown Elimination Chamber, was in the main event, and won the WHC from Edge.

At NWO 2009, Triple H won the WWE championship, and that played a crucial part in the heated rivalry going into Mania 25. Orton won the Rumble, but that shortly became an after thought as he began his mission to destroy the entire McMahon family. Edge won the WHC in the Raw Elimination Chamber, and was in the co-main event at Mania 25.

This year's No Way Out was full of more shake ups. After a shocking ending to the Raw elimination chamber, Batista was crowned the new WWE champion. In the SD Chamber, HBK cost Taker the WHC. Sure Jericho won the title, and it's almost a lock that this will set up a match between him and Edge(this year's Royal Rumble winner), but the focus to the end of that Chamber match was more so on how HBK screwed Taker. Go to to WWE.com's home page, and you'll see they have a story on how HBK will explain why he screwed Taker on Raw tonight, and by the way, it's the FIRST story you see when you go there.

In the end, the Rumble winner is more prestigious. While the Chamber ppvs are usually filled with shockers, I think the Chamber is just meant to shake things up, and make storylines a little more interesting heading into the big show. Winning the Rumble is more prestigious because it makes the journey to Wrestlemania and a potential title win more glorious. Remember the road to Mania starts at the Rumble. If Edge goes on to defeat Jericho at Wrestlemania it will be an awesome moment. He will have come back from injury, won the Rumble, and the World Heavyweight Championship. It will make the journey even more sweet.