Elimination Chamber

The Elimination Chamber is a match type in professional wrestling (seen in World Wrestling Entertainment). It is a variation of the steel cage and Hell in a Cell matches, in that the ring is surrounded by a steel structure of chain and girders, but instead of a standard steel cage, the Elimination Chamber is circular, allowing for four inner chambers (or 'pods') to be placed on the apron with platforms keeping the wrestlers from the floor. The metal is black and the chambers are made of 'bulletproof' glass. The chamber is 36 feet in diameter and is composed of 10 tons of steel and 2 miles of chain.

Rules
The match is contested by six wrestlers, two beginning the match in the ring and the other four in the glass chambers. After a predetermined amount of time (three, four or five minutes) a chamber opens at random and a wrestler is added to the two already competing, and this continues until all men are released. Wrestlers are eliminated by pinfall or submission, often leading to some being eliminated before every wrestler is released into the match. The winner is the final man left after all others have been eliminated.

So far, there is no provision as to what may happen if a competitor escapes the Chamber without being eliminated, although noncompetitors and recently eliminated competitors have interfered on behalf of one of the remaining competitors.

Because of the logistics of the Chamber's design, no other enclosure-based match is typically scheduled on the same card as the Elimination Chamber, and the Elimination Chamber itself has not been used for any match other than the one prescribed above.

Former RAW general manager Eric Bischoff was given on-screen credit for creating the match in the fall of 2002, stating it combines elements of WWE's Royal Rumble, Survivor Series and WCW's War Games matches, in that the countdown timer comes from the Rumble and War Games, the enclosed cage format from War Games, and the elimination process from the Rumble and Series.

To date only five Chamber matches have been held, the first two having moments where the bulletproof chamber glass was shattered during an attack, and the order of entry to the ring matches the random release of the wrestlers into the match in those first two as well. Triple H entered both of the first two Elimination Chamber matches as reigning World Heavyweight Champion and was involved in the final pinfall of the first three, losing the first and winning the second and third. The fourth match on January 8, 2006 was the first to be held with the WWE Championship on the line. The fifth match on December 3, 2006 was the first to be held with the ECW World Championship on the line.

The fifth match, held at the ECW pay-per-view December to Dismember, was a slight variation called the 'Extreme Elimination Chamber'. In this variation of the match, each 'pod' in the Chamber would have one of four weapons for the competitors locked inside to hold on to. When each competitor's chamber opened, their weapon entered the match along with them. The four weapons used in the match were a crowbar, a table, a steel chair, and a barbed wire baseball bat.

Elimination Chamber I
The first Elimination Chamber match took place on November 17, 2002 at the Survivor Series 2002 event in New York City. The match was Triple H (champion) vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Booker T vs. Kane for the World Heavyweight Championship. Michaels last pinned Triple H to win the championship.

Elimination Chamber II
The second Elimination Chamber match took place on August 24, 2003 at the SummerSlam 2003 event in Phoenix, Arizona. The match was Triple H (champion) vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Nash vs. Randy Orton vs. Goldberg for the World Heavyweight Championship. Triple H last pinned Goldberg to retain the championship. This was also the shortest Elimination Chamber in WWE history thus far.

Elimination Chamber III
The third Elimination Chamber match took place on January 9, 2005 at the New Year's Revolution 2005 event in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The match was Triple H vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista vs. Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit vs. Edge for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. Shawn Michaels was the special guest referee (making it the first match of its kind to feature a Special Referee). Triple H last pinned Orton to win the championship.

Elimination Chamber IV
The fourth Elimination Chamber match took place on January 8, 2006 at the New Year's Revolution 2006 event in Albany, New York. The match was John Cena (champion) vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Kane vs. Chris Masters vs. Carlito vs. Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship. John Cena last pinned Carlito to retain the championship, but would lose the title to Edge mere minutes later.

Elimination Chamber V
The fifth Elimination Chamber match, dubbed the first-ever "Extreme Elimination Chamber" match, took place on December 3, 2006 at December to Dismember 2006 in Augusta, Georgia. This is the first Elimination Chamber match not hosted by the RAW brand (the first two Elimination Chamber matches were held at joint production pay-per-view events, Survivor Series 2002 and SummerSlam 2003 respectively, but were held only for RAW wrestlers to compete in; the other two Elimination Chamber matches were both held at WWE New Year's Revolution, a RAW-exclusive pay-per-view). The match was The Big Show (c) vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Hardcore Holly vs. CM Punk vs. Test vs. Bobby Lashley for the ECW World Championship. Sabu was promoted as a participant prior to the match, but was found unconscious in the back (kayfabe) during the event and replaced by Holly. Each wrestler (excluding the starting two) wielded a weapon that was locked inside the Chamber's "pod" with them. Lashley last pinned Big Show to win the championship.

Trivia

 * Shawn Michaels' title win in the first Elimination Chamber match made him the first man in WWE history to win a World title in a steel cage match of any type.
 * All three of WWE's World titles (WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Championship and ECW World Championship) have been defended in Elimination Chamber matches but only the World Heavyweight Championship and ECW World Championship matches have crowned new champions in the Elimination Chamber.
 * Chris Jericho has the most eliminations of any single wrestler (4), while Bill Goldberg and Carlito hold the record for the most eliminations in a single match (3), although Shawn Michaels has used his finisher most times to eliminate, or help eliminate most times (6).
 * Currently, SmackDown! is the only brand to have not held an Elimination Chamber match.