Has the Elimination Chamber lost its rep?

[kenvin100]

I remember when Bischoff first introduced this structure to the world and I was really interested to seeing the first ever match. I remember the blood, and gore and true excitement of these matches. Now WWE is making such a huge deal about having 2 EC matches in one night, and Im wondering now is this chamber just an annual thing, but not as symbolic as WM, or the Rumble, or Suvivor Series. It kinda hard to explain but I believe the EC has lost its "spunk." We're seeing more mid-carders in these matches compared to the people that fought in them years ago. Im just curious if anyone here agrees with me or has a different image of the Elimination Chamber...

Edit: How do I edit the title of my thread?? :S

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I think just like cage matches over the years the Elimination Chamber has lost it's unique appeal but it's still something special and countinues to create great matches. Of course the mystique of the chamber is gone but that's to be expected. I think the WWE does a good job at still hyping the chambers and the fans still love them,

But if the last two chambers are any indication, I think the elimination chambers should stick around for a while. Both of thoes matches were very good and produced quality entertainment. As long as they are once a year things I think people are still going to care and get excited for them. People use to say the same things about ladder matches. The first few had so much hype and excitment because they were new. And while some of the hype passed there is no denying fans still look forward to them and the same thing can be said about the chambers.

 

[klunderbunker]

I think what's hurting it is the two in one night. When you see it once a year, you remember how insanely awesome that it was. When you see it two hours ago, it makes the other one look bad. We build our minds up for the brutality and spectacle of it, but when you see it in practice, it's not as good the second time. Look at NWO this Sunday for instance. The first match was better than the second. Now was that due to the wrestling inside or due to the fact that it was a year since the first and two hours since the second? I'd say both.

 

[psychedelicgranny]

I believe the chamber is used because gimmick matches aren't as common as they used to be. It also seems like an alternative gimmick match that's still exciting without use of weapons other than the chamber itself. Its used as a distraction from the lack of violence.
Also its mainly used nowadays to set up storylines. It had to be done this year twice in order to pull off the Edge/Triple H situation. Its more of a convenience for the WWE than anything.

 

[seven3too]

yes it has...it needs to be more brutal and bloody like the war games matches were, fall need to count anywhere ANYWHERE and no holds bared otherwise whats the point of it being surrounded by steel and chains. whats the point of it now? i'ld rather see a guantlet match.

 

[kenvin100]

yes it has...it needs to be more brutal and bloody like the war games matches were, fall need to count anywhere ANYWHERE and no holds bared otherwise whats the point of it being surrounded by steel and chains. whats the point of it now? i'ld rather see a guantlet match.

Well I never had an issue of fighting in the chamber. That part is fine. Its just that EC matches lost it "barbabic touch." Of course the main reason for this is WWE's strict PG ratings its trying to get.

I also strongly agree with the above poster, 2 chambers is too much! I dont get why WWE is hyping that they host 2 EC matches. I would support the top 2 from each show (2 Raw, 2 SD and 2 ECW) to brawl for #1 contendership at WM instead of having separate EC matches. (Ok that idea sucks even more now that I think about it but anything but 2 EC matches is fine by me)

 

[The Todd]

There needs to be one per year for it to work. The way I would do it is have the winner of the Royal Rumble obviously gets his shot at his choice of a title, then the other main title (we will forget ECW) then has an EC to determine that challenger. Then the two challengers at Mania have to go through one of two gruelling matches.

Imagine the kind of push someone could get without winning either? E.g. MVP enters Rumble at number three, takes punishment put gets to the end, but is eliminated last. Then he wins a qualifying match for EC, enters first/second and eliminates a couple of people, takes loads of punishment again, kicks out of his final opponents finisher but eventually loses. He misses out on Mania but is now a main event player.

 

[Blade]

If it stayed as a big chamber of blood and gore and pain, people would eventually get a little bored of it.

Now it's more of a 6 man match, where the WWE are trying out new things. New angles, new ways of solving feuds, new endings to chamber matches etc. to make the road to wrestlemania more interesting. They stil have great matches inside the cell, but no it's just not as much about causing pain as it used to be.

I think that's quite a good thing though, I think brutal matches should be left for one on one feuds that have gotten out of control. I don't think they should be for multi man matches, with the 6 man hell in a cell being an exeption just cause of how awesome that was...

 

[HBK-aholic]

Easily. 2 Elimination Chambers on one show should never happen. I can't see WWE having 2 Hell in a Cell matches at a big PPV, so I fail to see why the EC gets that treatment. When it was first introduced, the winner of that match was seen in a great light. Now it's just..blah. The matches were good, don;t get me wrong. But the anticipation and excitement isn't the same.

 

[Scorpio8975]

I kinda agree with points on both arguements. For one thing I HATE the PG crap WWE is doing with the brutal matches like this. I mean the two most barbaric and brutal matches you can have are the Elimination Chamber and Hell in a Cell. Now don't get me wrong Hell in a Cell last year with Edge and Taker was amazing, probably the best HIAC match I have seen in a long time. However in my opinion don't forsake the nature of the match....I mean after the second Hell in a Cell we thought it was never going to happen again after Foley damn near killed himself in it. I think that was part of the reason as to why the match never went to the top of the Cell after HHH/Jericho. Now they took the blood out of Hell in a Cell?!?!?!? I mean come on, it's supposed to be a brutal, bloody, barbaric match EVERY time otherwise it's not believeable at all.

The Elimination Chmber, I have NO problem what so ever with the two Chambers in one night, it's always interesting to see which match can take the top position and in my opinion it was RAW's that was slightly over Smackdown's. It had a great card supporting it as well, the only reason the Chamber may have lost it's rep is the same reason Hell in a Cell may never be the same....and that's this damn PG rating BS that WWE has taken on. I mean come on at least loosen the reigns with the two most brutal matches. you got. It makes me worry what kind of gayness they are going to do with this "Extreme Rules" PPV in June.

Has the Chamber lost a little bit of it's rep? Yeah, but not because of having it twice in one night....but because it's lost the brutality and bloodshed that has been associated with it until this year.

 

[ad21k]

Easily. 2 Elimination Chambers on one show should never happen. I can't see WWE having 2 Hell in a Cell matches at a big PPV, so I fail to see why the EC gets that treatment.

Because no-one used to give a fuck about no way out after the brand split, NWO 04-07 were poor PPV's with weak cards and ridicolously low buyrates. People would wait and just purchase wrestlemania because No Way Out was a 'B' PPV. Last year saw a huge increase in buyrates, and will likely increase this year too with BOTH titles been on the line. The elimination chambers very much fit in with the theme of the PPV, which makes them perfect.

When it was first introduced, the winner of that match was seen in a great light. Now it's just..blah. The matches were good, don;t get me wrong. But the anticipation and excitement isn't the same.

I don't see it as a huge issue, if the elimination chamber matches only happen once a year what is the problem? The Royal Rumble happens once a year and doesn't lose any excitement. Sure two elimination chambers in the same night makes the PPV gimmick heavy, but people wouldn't buy it otherwise. You can't really argue about the anticipation/excitement when buyrates are so good, if they are even better this year then it will prove that WWE is onto a winner, and it will become a regular thing at NWO. Besides past elimination chambers never really lived up to the hype, but with two elimination chambers in one night you know something big is going to happen and a title will likely change hands, so fans anticipate the event more.

 

[Slyfox696]

No, whenever one match concept is being used to sell an entire PPV right before the biggest show of the year, it's hardly considered to have "lost its rep".

 

[Tastycles]

While I don't think that it is terminal, the elimintion chamber suffers from not lending itself to a lof of spots. You can jump off a pod, ddt onto the floor and throw people into a pod that is it. Something like a hell in a cell is more relenting because you can use the cell, and get outside it for weapons etc., but the chamber does not allow for this.

That being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed both of last nights matches and didn't think that the second one was worse at all. At last year's NWO the second one was emphatically better.

The midcarder argument is daft in my opinion, because a 6 man title match has to have people who are not likely to win in it. Booker T and Rob Van Dam were never going to win the first chamber. Carlito made the final two and only lost by a roll up one time. Rikishi was never going to win the Armageddon Hell in a Cell. That just goes to show that lower card people have a spot in this sort of match.

The lck of blood has nothing to do with PG. There was very little blood for a time in the late 90s. This meant that when you did see blood it was shit-your-pantsworthy excitement. I imagine after a couple of years of JBL bleeding after an STFU, the WWE have decided to make the blood special again.

 

[AgeOfOrton]

In my opinion the elimination chamber has definitely lost its rep like cmon back a few years ago you would have goldberg smashing people through the chambers and you would see blood all over the place but the matches at No Way Out were just boring compared to past matches.

arent the WWE always on about topping matches from years past but recent elimination chambers have been not as brutal as when the match first emerged back in 2002

 

[Starchild]

I think if there's any problem with it, it's like people said..having 2 on one show. But even then, that's what the ppv is built around so it must be an important match, not to mention we only see it at 1 ppv a year.
And did you watch the two from No Way Out this past Sunday? I think those are arguably the two best chamber matches there have been. Sure the first was better, but the second wasn't at all bad either. Very exciting with Edge taking out Kofi, Cena going out within 5 minutes, and with the show Rey put on in it. If anything those two chamber matches made me more excited for next year's to see if they can actually top them.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

Um.


I was so freaking amped about No Way Out that I nearly pooed my pants like 6 times during the pre-show. Why?


ELIMINATION CHAMBAH x 2


I mean, this match just rules up and down no matter where you slice it. It gives guys who suffer on the midcard an opportunity to get some main-event exposure. And no matter what, if you have a guy beating ANY 5 other guys, it's going to make him look pretty freaking good.

People have been praising NWO as one of the best PPVs they've seen in a very long time, and you think that the EC has lost it's reputation as being an awesome gimmick match? No no no no.

 

[just2Cme]

EC matches would be better if they were held during the middle of the year. If a story was to accompany the matches that would enhance the enjoyment of it. Right now the EC seems to be a thrown together PPV. I don't mind the lack of blood seeing that I never figured why someone would bleed after being thrown into a chain. However, we do need to see some blood in specialty matches and not just ones featuring a McMahon.

 

[Dale B]

I don't think so. My Buddy and I were watching NWO on Sunday. As we were watching, I mentioned that I thought that The Money In The Bank Match should be in The Elimination Chamber. He thought I was Crazy but I told him that I thought it would be Cool.

 

[GameOver]

The idea was good and should have been a Surivors Series specific match but the matches are generally boring. its just an elimination match with some extra metal around the ring and some semblence of the Royal Rumble which happened the month b4, but most of the action still takes place in the centre of the ring anyway.

Now i've never seen one live so can't comment on how it looks in person, but surely with all that black metal everywhere noone in the crowd except those at ringside can see anything, Least HIAC and Cage Matches have lighter coloured metal that woudn't distrace the eyes as much and block view.

IMO get rid of it.

As for PG rating, they have to if they want to get the widest audience possible.

 

[Sparky]

No it hasn't. Its still one of the best matches the WWE have. It hasn't lost any speacial treatment either. Two in one night isn't over kill. they had two scramble matches remember? If its going to cost that much to build the thing why not use it twice?. And its not like it was on two PPV's in a row, just in the same night.

Everything loses its rep a bit after the first one, because almost all the time nothing can top it. But the EC is still the best Gimmick match avaliable.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

How anyone can say it's lost a step, or it's losing credibility isn't working with a full-deck. Why would anyone assume it's lost a step? Because they Super-sized the pleasure of the entire event by adding 2 of them? NO.

It's not like it's the same exact thing. Because it's all about who's involved, and you have a total of 12 different names, styles, and overall individuals making sure that neither Chamber match is the same.

No Way Out used to be a complete skip Pay per view, and suddenly now it's a top spot before WrestleMania. The concept of having 2 Chamber matches before Mania is adding an element of the unknown on what could happen to set up Mania matches, and the prime example of that, would be this year's No Way Out. I'm almost sure NOONE could've called what happened to happen.

People can argue "Well, they aren't hosting two Royal Rumble's in one night" Well, no shit. Because the Royal Rumble is only designed for ONE purpose. Whereas the Elimination Chamber can host not one, not two, but three possible purposes. Championship matches, Contender matches, and overall Grudge matches. It's definately worth having 2 per show.

And finally, unlike Hell in a Cell, unlike Ladder matches. The Chamber match isn't getting sold-out on just any Pay per view, or more than once a year.. it's become solid for now being at No Way Out, and it's only ONCE a year.

So in the end, the Elimination Chamber hasn't lost any credibility.. if anything, it's GAINED more by becoming an even more impressive and dangerous match concept, to host and sell so close to the biggest show of all time, WrestleMania.

 

[BigBadBob]

I gotta disagree with BigWill above me, i think that 'The Chamber match isn't getting sold-out on just any Pay per view, or more than once a year.. it's become solid for now being at No Way Out' isnt going to be true anymore, i think next year they wil have the elimination chamber on a different payperview after having 4 at the last two No Way Outs.
i think the chamber lost its repwith the awful 'Goldberg' chamber at Summerslam. also the one, sorry i havent looked this up, i think was at New Years Revolution were it came down to Cena Carlito and Masters. (sure Edge and MITB saved that night, infact made it great, but th match still sucked). around that period they were just awful. either just crappy wrestling, or the lack of brutality which sold the 1st one or two chambers and made th hype of 'satans structure' or watever believable.
and importantly as some people have said before, two chambers in one night just devalues the whole thing. infact, sometimes WWE should wait MORE than a year to put one on, it just makes it that much more special.

 

[Khalifa]

I don't think it has lost any at all. Infact it maybe could of gained some "spunk". I mean you think about it. Having them face for the title is big correct? But wouldn't it be bigger if you were challenging for the title at the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania? I mean it might be hurting it having 2 but seriously in 2008 it was epic because They were actually fighting for a spot at WrestleMania for the title. While that might not much for us but it does for the WWE superstars. It's hard to explain but I think it hasn't lost anything at all. Espicially what Edge did this year.

 

[mont3818]

I think the EC lost its rep a long time ago. I think the one that happen in January 2006 was when I realized this. Nothing special happen in it, nothing too unique, a couple falls on the steel maybe. And people were booing at the end of it. It was so bad Edge had to come out and save the ppv by cashing in his MITB to beat Cena.

They could do much more with that chamber than they are currently doing.

 

[2012isbs]

Ends no one but what gimmick match has. Shorten Hell Yeah 'Taker Chokeslamming MVP off the top of a pod probably shortened his career and hardy Pedigreed on to a steel chair, I only saw the 08 NWO Chamber matches.

How has the EC lost it's specialness it's only once a year it can make a PPV memorable and spectacular. Blood is becoming reserved for mono on mono feuds and other things that are personal not six men who before the EC match had very little to do with each other, therefore would only put as much effort as neeed unlike the Shane-O-Mac vs. Orton match which going by the play by play results and clips was very bloody and brutal.