Elimination Chamber wasted?

[RobertTheBruce]

Being a big fan of some of the innovative cage concepts in WCW such as the War Games set up, and of course the three-storied cage, I have always been an enormous fan of the Elimination Chamber. I would even go as far as to say that EC is my favourite single match spectacle in the entire WWE, second only to the Royal Rumble (just edging out MITB).

But over the last few years the EC concept has fallen victim to the same curse that struck down the Hell In A Cell and TLC concepts. Novelty Pay-Per-Views (sorry Paul, "special events").

Now while I can deal with this, I really do have to question the logic in placing such an iconically unpredictable event (in fact half of the excitement factor of EC is its unpredictability), between such heavyweight PPVs as Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. I mean come on, in the last three years has anyone bought that the champ leaving RR has any real threat of dropping the title just before WM?

It seems to me that placing EC in the calendar where it currently lies, takes all the venom out of the event itself. Can you image how much more exciting it would be if WWE swapped Payback for Elimination Chamber?

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

I have to agree: I'm pretty much on Gimmick Match overload after the TLC and Royal Rumble pay-per-views. Elimination Chamber also just feels like an afterthought given the unpredictability of Royal Rumble. Either the champ is going to retain and keep marching on to WrestleMania, making the match seem pointless, or he's going to lose, making the title change seem like an desperation move leading into WrestleMania.

 

[Slash-LN]

I know this has been said before but WWE needs to cut down on gimmick pay per views.

If you swap it out with Payback you have Extreme Rules right before and Money in the Bank right after.

You could switch it with Battle Ground but then you have MITB right before and SummerSlam after. SS is obviously not a gimmick pay per view but it holds more weight than most of the other pay per views.

Then you're left with 4 more gimmick pay per views. If you count Night of Champions that is.

Cut down on the gimmicks. Put MITB back on WrestleMania and put a non gimmick in it's place.

Too many gimmicks already dilute the whole point of things like Elimination Chamber.

 

[The Beast Incarnate]

The Elimination Chamber needs to go back to its original format. The first two were awesome. It should be something that is held at any kind of pay per view once a year, maybe twice. Summerslam, Survivor Series, etc. I'd mark the f**k out if it showed up, hanging above the arena on Monday Night Raw. That would be something truly special.

 

[A11oftheLights]

Elimination chamber is hurt by the unification of the two titles. As you said in the OP nobody believes the champ is going to drop a month or so before the big dance. Before the unification you could have a number one contenders match which gives a bit more unpredictability.

 

[TheICChampion]

Before the unification you could have a number one contenders match which gives a bit more unpredictability.

But then, if it's in February, what point would there be to the Royal Rumble? The Rumble winner is supposed to be the #1 contender. Maybe if they had an IC or US title EC match instead.

 

[King502]

For survivor series I would love to see the authority (hhh orton Kane Rollins Batista)vs Wyatt family reigns and Ambrose this would be awesome

 

[Mitch Henessey]

The placing of the EC pay per view never made any real sense to me. For starters, you're taking a huge risk by throwing six of your top guys into a dangerous match. Taking bumps on a hard surface with no give, the spots through plexiglass, and all of this happens before the biggest wrestling pay per view of the year?

And it's hard to ignore the Chamber matches devaluing the Rumble winner, when you put world titles and #1 contender's spots for Wrestlemania on the line.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The Elimination Chamber brand is fine where it is. The PPV brand that gets placed in between The Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania needs some type of gimmick in order to keep fans interested in it. The way things are set up now, we know that we get at least one Elimination Chamber match on the way to Wrestlemania to help determine who will join the Royal Rumble winner in the Wrestlemania world title match, and now that we only have one World Heavyweight Championship they can keep the tradition of two Elimination Chamber matches by still using the second one for one of the midcard belts. WWE's current spot for Elimination Chamber makes me look forward to an event that is right in between their #3 and #1 shows respectively. If they put Payback or Battleground then I guarantee that fan interest in the February PPV would decrease by a significantly large amount.

Even though Elimination Chamber could do well as a PPV brand in summer or fall, the bigger question is what else they could put in the February spot if they moved it. Most of the other brands already have good spots for the PPV calendar. This is a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Keep Elimination Chamber as part of the road to Wrestlemania unless a more interesting gimmick show can replace it on the road to Wrestlemania to help determine the Royal Rumble winner's opponent. Only then could Elimination Chamber move to a summer or fall month. Seriously. Name even one PPV brand that would do better on the road to Wrestlemania than Elimination Chamber and still generate decent numbers when having to be in between The Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. None come to mind here, therefore Elimination Chamber should stay right where it is.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

I like the placing of Elimination Chamber. The most important period of the WWE year is the Road to Wrestlemania, having the Royal Rumble determine the contender and the EC determine the champion makes it an epic road.

For people that complain there are too many gimmick ppvs, I agree: Hell in a Cell should be a feud-ender match type, not a specific ppv; same with TLC; Night of Champions is obsolete now they are streamlining the belts; Extreme Rules is pointless too. Revert those to normal ppvs (or scrap them altogether, but they won't do that), and have your only gimmick ppvs as RE, EC, MITB and Survivor Series (nb. I'd like to see them go back to the multi-team format of SS from the early years, but again that's something that will never happen; you'd think they'd like the idea, given their fondness for 'spontaneous' tag matches on tv main events!)

No, for me the EC works perfectly and in the perfect spot, as a match not designed to end feuds it is, along with MITB, the only gimmick ppv they have introduced recently that doesn't feel like it waters down the concept.

 

[Just Do It]

The problem with Elimination Chamber is that it can't really be booked as a grudge gimmick, unless 6 men happen to be feuding. There are a few creative ways to get around it, say, 3 feuds get intertwined, say a 6 man tag ends in utter chaos. But ideas would be few and far between.

It kind of has to be booked as a random match.

 

[WBL]

My problem with the Elimination Chamber PPV being set where it is, is by that time, we've already set the Wrestlemania card in stone, more or less. There's not going to be any shockers or surprises, it's just meant to build up whoever the Mania main eventers are gonna be. The biggest problem is that Elimination Chamber gimmick... a huge expensive gimmick on a relatively unimportant show.

Change the PPV back to what it used to be. No Way Out. Shove the Elimination Chamber later in the year, give us a PPV that can entertain us while still being predictable and helping get over that year's Mania main eventers and storylines without having the Chamber itself be a huge distraction.