The Elimination Chamber is looming as we near the beginning of the Road to WrestleMania at this year's Royal Rumble. Over the last couple of years, this event has centered two Elimination Chamber matches, one from Raw, one from SmackDown. An interesting advertisement has popped up on indemand.com (you can read it here: http://indemand.com/product/view/266322). What interests me is this little tidbit:
(Emphasis mine)
If you read it the way I'm reading it, "Six WWE superstars" implies that there's only one Elimination Chamber match this year, since two matches would necessitate twelve. Could this be a sign that the WWE is only running one chamber match this year?
It would be an interesting decision, to be sure, when for years now the WWE has insisted on two chambers. Scaling it back now would seem to be a change in their philosophy toward gimmick matches - one that favored reducing their frequency, rather than increasing it, as we've seen the trend go. If this were to happen, I'd have mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, I do like the minimalistic approach to gimmick matches. On the other hand, I don't think that the Elimination Chamber is a gimmick match that's been hurt by this concept. Unlike the HIAC match or the TLC match which is trotted out routinely at the end of every year now for no good reason, the Elimination Chamber serves its purpose twice a year quite nicely, usually producing some of the best matches the WWE will put on the entire year, and the concept has never felt overplayed to me. With that in mind, I think, of all the gimmick matches the WWE has, I'd feel a little bit disappointed if they were to drop the Elimination Chamber down to only one.
Now, it's entirely possible I've read too much into this. The advertisement is utterly generic and also advertises Randy Orton, which is obviously inaccurate. It may be that the WWE just passed along some trite slogans to have written into an advertisement and this is the result. Or they may simply be referencing the individual matches, not the whole. Nevertheless, it does raise the interesting questions - will there be only one chamber match this year? Should there be?
Trapped by 11,000 feet of chain and 16 tons of cold steel, six WWE Superstars will have to endure one night of pure punishment to prove they are worthy of championship gold. Who will survive the Chamber? Don't miss John Cena, Triple H, Randy Orton, Sheamus, CM Punk, and all your favorite Superstars at WWE Elimination Chamber, Sunday, February 19, 8PM ET/5PM PT, live on Pay-Per-View.
(Emphasis mine)
If you read it the way I'm reading it, "Six WWE superstars" implies that there's only one Elimination Chamber match this year, since two matches would necessitate twelve. Could this be a sign that the WWE is only running one chamber match this year?
It would be an interesting decision, to be sure, when for years now the WWE has insisted on two chambers. Scaling it back now would seem to be a change in their philosophy toward gimmick matches - one that favored reducing their frequency, rather than increasing it, as we've seen the trend go. If this were to happen, I'd have mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, I do like the minimalistic approach to gimmick matches. On the other hand, I don't think that the Elimination Chamber is a gimmick match that's been hurt by this concept. Unlike the HIAC match or the TLC match which is trotted out routinely at the end of every year now for no good reason, the Elimination Chamber serves its purpose twice a year quite nicely, usually producing some of the best matches the WWE will put on the entire year, and the concept has never felt overplayed to me. With that in mind, I think, of all the gimmick matches the WWE has, I'd feel a little bit disappointed if they were to drop the Elimination Chamber down to only one.
Now, it's entirely possible I've read too much into this. The advertisement is utterly generic and also advertises Randy Orton, which is obviously inaccurate. It may be that the WWE just passed along some trite slogans to have written into an advertisement and this is the result. Or they may simply be referencing the individual matches, not the whole. Nevertheless, it does raise the interesting questions - will there be only one chamber match this year? Should there be?