The WORST Elimination of Every Elimination Chamber Match
The Elimination Chamber match has produced many amazing elimination spots in its history, from MVP being chokeslammed from the top of a chamber pod to John Morrison’s ceiling dive to Shawn Michaels’s 2010 intrusion to screw The Undertaker. Yet, with a stipulation running over two decades and nearly 200 elimination spots, not all can be top tier. With 30 stipulation bouts, as of 2023, it seems appropriate to look at the worst elimination of every Elimination Chamber match.
Survivor Series 2002: Rob Van Dam
For all intents and purposes, the inauguration Chamber match in 2002 was a great start to the match stipulation, filled with high-profile stars, memorable spots, and a feel-good victory for Shawn Michaels (even if he did decide to wear the worst attire known to mankind: brown, unfinished trunks and a Keanu Reeves-esque hairstyle).
One of the more disappointing aspects was the elimination of Rob Van Dam. In his recommendable piece on the best Elimination Chamber matches, Richard Staple writes: “Van Dam’s elimination was also kind of anti-climatic, as all that was needed to eliminate him in a chamber match was a top rope flying dropkick.”
The former WWE and ECW champion went down to a rather wispy missile dropkick from Booker T, a move that by 2002 was certainly not a convincing match finisher. You could also argue that Booker’s pinning of RVD was booked rather illogically with the master of the Spineroonie surely more incentivised to pin world champion Triple H rather than RVD, especially since The Game had just been hit with an elevated Five-Star Frog Splash.
SummerSlam 2003: Goldberg
We all know what happened in the 2002 Chamber; Goldberg comes in, kills everyone, pinned easily by Triple H.
There are a few reasons for the hatred towards Goldberg’s elimination from the 2003 Chamber, firstly become all it took was a simple sledgehammer shot. Now, a sledgehammer to the face could be fatal but it was just insulting for a match-ender after nearly no offence was dished out on Goldberg.
Secondly, it would make far more sense for Goldberg to go over Triple H, who was working through a groin injury at the time. Despite his injury, he retained the title whilst the company also cooled off one of the biggest stars they had in a time when the company really needed to make new stars.
WWE quickly came to their senses and regretted their decision, having Goldberg subsequently win the world title at the next PPV.
New Year’s Revolution 2005: Edge
Nobody really talks about the 2005 Elimination Chamber much and it is quite hard to say why. Maybe it was because it was another Triple H or it was held overseas or its featuring of Chris Benoit but it just never gets brought up.
Anyhow, no overtly stupid eliminations in this one, the point of which was to put Batista over strong whilst hinting at a trace of Evolution descension. That said, Edge was probably the weakest elimination of the match, eliminated by guest referee Shawn Michaels.
Luckily, Shawn Michaels would never do any crooked officiating ever again, except for WrestleMania XXVIII, Hell In A Cell 2013, May 1st 2005 Raw, Judgement Day 2000, the first ever SmackDown main event, SummerSlam 1997…
New Year’s Revolution 2006: Carlito
The 2006 Chamber was an odd one in terms of eliminations with only Kurt Angle eliminated by a recognisable finishing manoeuvre.
Whilst Kane and Shawn Michaels were eliminated by non-finishers, it made sense considering the two-on-one beatdown they found themselves facing against the gang of Carlito and Chris Masters. The finish was less great.
Unexplainably, incomprehensively, although Carlito and Masters were going to eliminate champion John Cena, Carlito portrayed The Masterpiece to hit him with a low blow and roll-up.
Cena then immediately rolled up Carlito; with all tension gone and unpredictability out of the window, the match quickly rapidly, making the end feel anti-climactic, a bit rushed, and just a general wet fart end to the match.
I know that fans were turning on the overpowered, so-called ‘Super Cena’ by 2006 but surely he can get a decisive pinfall victory over Carlito rather than a meek roll-up, which contrasts wildly with the image of a career-ending stipulation match.
December To Dismember 2006: CM Punk
The 2006 ECW Chamber at the disastrous December To Dismember was nothing short of a slow-walking plunge into the depths of ruination for the once beloved organisation of ECW.
An unproven and unpopular Cena-prototype, Bobby Lashley, against the wishes of many fans won the top prize in ECW despite being about as extreme as the man he won it from: Big Show. The end was unwanted – Big Show was leaving and Lashley was what WWE saw as the future – but inevitable, ending without even using the table in Big Show’s pod.
There are a few options for the worst elimination, including Bob Holly’s botched elimination but it says something that even that is not the worst.
That would be CM Punk, the best pick for victory, who was the first eliminated. A popular and upcoming babyface, Punk could have become a star, organically backed by the fans. Original plans had even seen Punk quickly submit Big Show to really cement the straight-edge superstar, which just compounds the sadness of when fan favourite Punk was ousted first.
RVD’s elimination via a Test pod dive onto a chair over Dam’s face was mint though.
No Way Out 2008 (World Heavyweight #1 Contendership): Big Daddy V
The 2008 Chamber featured two camps: potential winners Batista and Undertaker and the others, as Finlay, MVP, The Great Khali, and Big Daddy V stood near to no chance at winning.
The worst of the bunch was the first, with Big Daddy V – the third entrant – eliminated before the next entry cycle. A limited performer who was unlikely to be hit with a Batista Bomb or Tombstone, the ex-World’s Largest Love Machine was instead eliminated by an Undertaker DDT onto the exterior steel.
Out in quick fashion to a non-finish, V’s elimination was the worst of the bout.
No Way Out 2008 (WWE Championship): JBL
Nothing technically wrong with the elimination of JBL in 2008 to a Chris Jericho Codebreaker but it did precede one of my most hate Chamber spot: when an eliminated wrestler attacks all remaining in-ring participants, a played-out spot that happens frequency to save face for eliminated wrestlers.
After only a short stint in-ring, JBL was eliminated and came back out to attack all with a chair. Meh.
No Way Out 2009 (WWE Championship): Vladimir Kozlov
The 2009 Elimination Chamber for the WWE championship had perhaps the best opening stint of any Chamber as then-titleholder Edge was ousted within minutes after a shock roll-up.
About 20 minutes later, the next elimination occurred as the still-undefeated Vladimir Kozlov – still unproven and not really worthy of a spot – was taken out by The Undertaker. Not a Tombstone but a Last Ride did it. Although the move would never win a regular match outside of ‘Taker’s American Badass phase, it was enough to put down the faux Russian for his first pinfall loss.
No Way Out 2009 (World Heavyweight Championship): Mike Knox
The following Raw Chamber saw Edge sneakily re-enter, going on to eke out an eventual win.
One of the most celebrated Chamber matches, arguably the worst elimination of the bout was probably Mike Knox, ousted from the match after a few minutes by a Codebreaker, not even able to see the entry of the next entrant.
It would be remiss to not mention the brilliant and quick elimination of champion John Cena, rapidly hit with a Codebreaker, 619, and Spear to knock out the reigning champion in dramatic and shocking fashion.
Elimination Chamber 2010 (WWE Championship): Randy Orton
Once the biggest stable in WWE, Legacy’s dissolution ended with a squeak far more than they did with a bang.
In the first elimination in the 2010 WWE championship Chamber featuring Legacy members Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes interfered to gift Ted Jr. a pipe. Ted accidentally hit teammate Orton then Cena. Incomprehensively, Ted covered his own partner, putting himself at a disadvantage by eliminating his loyalist ally in the match. Why not pin the champion instead of the man who would help him along in a match that he was inexperienced in?
It is also a bugbear that DiBiase and Rhodes turned heel when this angle positioned the leader of the DiBiase Posse as a prime babyface. Instead WWE stuck with the boring status quo as Orton was face and won the feud when others may have more greatly benefitted from the angle had small alterations been made to the storyline.
Elimination Chamber 2010 (World Heavyweight Championship): R-Truth
R-Truth had no chance of winning the 2010 Chamber and entered within the first two, alongside Straight Edge Society leader, cult-era CM Punk.
A Go To Sleep eliminated R-Truth is just over three and a half minutes.
Just like at the Royal Rumble the previous month, Punk’s early entry and quick clearing of the ring allowed him some promo time, which is a positive for the audience but no recompense for Truth.
The best elimination Chamber elimination of the match was one of the greatest of all time. Shawn Michaels invaded the Chamber to eliminate The Undertaker with a Sweet Chin Music, Michaels willingly letting old rival Chris Jericho win just to get a measure of anger out of ‘Taker to force The Dead Man’s hand in gifting HBK another chance to try and beat him at WrestleMania.
Elimination Chamber 2011 (World Heavyweight Championship): Wade Barrett
The elimination of Barrett in 2011 was not a great look by any means.
Having been the leader of a main event faction last year, it had been a fast and deadly fall from grace for Barrett by early 2011. Having lost at SummerSlam, failed in his WWE title quest, and being buried by John Cena, a potential proving ground was laid in 2011’s Elimination Chamber. A win for the Brit may have been a good idea in hindsight considering the injury causing Edge to retire within a matter of weeks of the Chamber match.
The elimination spot saw Barrett plead with and try to escape Big Show before getting caught and thrown through a pod. Trying to climb away, he was given multiple chops, and given the WMD – itself always a lame finisher – which scored the three count.
An elimination that did little to put Barrett over, if anything hindering Barrett’s image, Barrett was made to look weak and incompetent despite his potential.
Elimination Chamber 2011 (WWE Championship): Randy Orton
One particular angle in the 2011 WWE championship Elimination Chamber made no sense: the Punk/Orton saga.
Early in the match, the heel CM Punk’s pod did not function, failing to open properly when the face Randy Orton – acting like a total heel – jumped Punk and unfairly eliminated the face. At this point, the decision was overturned by everyone’s favourite authority figure: the Anonymous Raw General Manager.
Putting aside the point there are no DQs and no rules in a Chamber, the WWE completely botched the face-heel dynamic so when Punk eliminated Orton, it was played off as Punk ‘stealing’ an elimination even though it was just giving Orton a dose of his own medicine.
Elimination Chamber 2012 (WWE Championship): Chris Jericho
2012’s Elimination Chamber aimed to book Chris Jericho out in a way that would make him look strong whilst also delaying an encounter with current champion CM Punk.
At an opportune time, Punk delivered a roundhouse kick which flung Jericho out of the cage and he was thus ruled out, seen as unable to compete after the move, not re-entering. This made the result fairly obvious, considering the Chamber is seen largely as world champion Punk versus a number of midcarders.
In whetting the fans appetite for a Jericho/Punk bout, they halted any prior exchange inside the cage, which served as a worse of both worlds. Punk’s situation was a Catch-22; he seemed unchallenged by his lower-card opposition whilst not facing his biggest challenger whilst Jericho’s “I’ve fallen and can’t get up” incident and subsequent medical ruling that he could not continue really did not make Y2J look all too powerful for someone soon to challenge for the WWE title at WrestleMania.
Elimination Chamber 2012 (World Heavyweight Championship): Big Show
The adage goes “the bigger they are, the harder they fall,” so generally when a large and immobile wrestler goes down, it can be a match-ender.
What you don’t expect is for Big Show to be eliminated in 2012, a few months after being crowned world champion and the same year he would go on the run of his career, to a combination of basic moves.
The 2012 Chamber for the World Heavyweight belt saw Daniel Bryan’s title reign in jeopardy during a time when his reign was held onto only by the skin of his teeth. Perhaps the only true threat was Show, from whom The Goat had won the world title from in the first place.
Yet, after mowing down The Great Khali, he was eliminated rather easily after some rebound kicks, a Cody Rhodes DDT, and Wade Barrett ‘Bret’s Rope’ elbow; two transitional moves that neither were using as a finisher at the time.
Khali’s elimination was also a bit naff, lasting about 30 seconds before a Spear by Big Show knocked him out but maybe that was a blessing.
Elimination Chamber 2013 (World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contendership): Randy Orton
Chances are that you forgot the 2013 winner, which was Jack Swagger amidst his controversial run as what The National Post described as a “racist, anti-immigration Tea Partier.”
To cement the revival of Swagger and set up a world title match at WrestleMania – naturally for the American nationalist Swagger – against Mexican Alberto Del Rio, Swagger won the Elimination Chamber match.
This entry is not necessarily on here as Swagger was undeserving of the win but also how, despite this being his come-out party, his only elimination was a fluke, shock roll-up over Randy Orton. This failed to put over Swagger’s character but rather added to his reputation as a midcarder, resorting to sneaky wins rather than decisive victories.
He lost at WrestleMania, after being found with marijuana in his car – which proved the label further.
Elimination Chamber 2014 (WWE World Heavyweight Championship): John Cena
I earlier praised Shawn Michaels’s interference in the 2010 Elimination Chamber but John Cena’s 2014 Chamber elimination was less great.
Although it was a cool use of getting Bray Wyatt’s feud with John Cena embedded into the match but it would set a really bloody annoying precedent in which The Wyatt Family went on to interfere in many great matches, often ruining them.
For this angle it worked, but its legacy has been responsible for some negativity in the wrestling world. All the eliminations in this bout were decent to great so it is being a bit picky to choose this to be honest.
Elimination Chamber 2015 (WWE Tag Team Championship): The Lucha Dragons
A tag team Elimination Chamber was a good premise, yet the first match of this type rather proved to be a disappointment.
Outside of heydays in the late 1980s and the late 1990s, the tag division in WWE had always been about as lively as a sloth hit up with heroin. Plus, for some unknown reasons, The New Day were allowed all three members inside the Chamber, which – alongside The New Day’s recent title win preempted the result for many fans.
Even the biggest spot of the match was underwhelming when Kalisto dropped from the top of the Chamber but fall seemed to miss many of those waiting underneath.
The Lucha Dragons had the worst elimination when dispatched by The Ascension, a team that were less than a joke on the main roster. For one of the biggest NXT tag teams, to be eliminated by a team that had last month been trounced by aged tag teams from WWE’s past (although admittedly The Ascension had once been a much-hyped NXT prospect), was not a good look at all.
Elimination Chamber 2015 (Intercontinental Championship): King Barrett
The tag Chamber may not have been an instant classic, it was made to look like a Da Vinci masterpiece or a Kubrick-directed cinematic classic compared to the title for the vacant Intercontinental Chamber match after an injury – eventually ending his career – to Daniel Bryan.
The first blunder of the midcard encounter was when Mark Henry’s pod was broken when still waiting inside, forcing him to make an impromptu entrance, subsequently hesitantly standing still in the ring like a broken NPC and breaking up pins for no logical reason.
King Barrett – who had been crowned shortly beforehand – was eliminated by R-Truth, being the first out. This was not the start the King of the Ring winner would have wanted, with the man who had parodied Barrett now eliminated a strong midcard contender, to which end I ask: why did you put the crown on him in the first place if he was not going to be pushed? Losing to R-Truth, that’s no king of mine!
Elimination Chamber 2017 (WWE Championship): Baron Corbin
Not much to say here beyond the fact it is the same most hated spot I referred to earlier when an eliminated wrestler comes back to cause another elimination when Baron Corbin, rolled up by Dean Ambrose, then threw Dean through a pod and hit the End of Days before The Lunatic Fringe was pinned by The Miz.
It did set up an IC title feud between Corbin and Ambrose but utilised of an already overused Chamber angle.
Other than that, it was one of the best Chambers in years by 2017, even if the WWE decided to debut the ‘bouncy castle’ Chamber that year.
Elimination Chamber 2018 (Raw Women’s Championship): Mickie James
There were no real bad eliminations here so we’ll prop for Mickie James, pinned after a Bayley-To-Bayley. This entry is more of a dunk on Bayley’s finisher which was never a convincing match finisher.
Elimination Chamber 2018 (Universal Championship #1 Contendership): Finn Balor
The 2018 Chamber started off well, giving a huge push to Braun Strowman, who eventually set a record-breaking amount of eliminations, scoring six in the only ever seven-man Chamber.
By 2018, the WWE already had dropped the ball on Strowman but, now over, fans had hopes he would be treated correctly this time. Typically however, the WWE blundered it.
As Adam Blampied put it: “Braun…wrecked everyone…once was fun, twice was also fun, three was concerning, four made the fans start to resent the fact that one of the best main event scenes in the world was being munched like a chocolate cake in the path of Bruce Bogtrotter, and five was just taking the piss.”
After his sheer domination, this monster WWE had built up was immediately destroyed by Roman Reigns.
Of the eliminations, Balor was probably the worst. The fourth out, his elimination got barely any reaction as fans were unable to stomach such a dismissal of the main event roster by Braun.
Elimination Chamber 2019 (Women’s Tag Team Championships): Nia Jax & Tamina
The 2019 women’s tag Elimination Chamber was good for what it was, with the most memorable spot being a hilariously botched one. Nia Jax, aiming at Bayley, ran through a pod when Bayley – positioned in front of the pod – moved. Yet Bayley was not lined up exactly so Jax had to change direction to run through the pod, as if on purpose.
Anyhow, Tamina was eliminated via a diving elbow drop from Bayley and multi-woman cover. Firstly, it’s Tamina, whose credibility was never exactly sky-high so why are we suddenly putting her over so hard and also the Nia/Tamina team had ruined the match by eliminating more deserving teams early such as The IIconics and The Riott Squad.
Elimination Chamber 2019 (WWE Championship): Samoa Joe
The 2019 men’s Chamber match was another brilliant match, filled with star power. Mostly built around Kofimania after The New Day member was a late substitute for an injured Mustafa Ali, the match featured an exciting blend of characters and workers.
Samoa Joe’s elimination was, cinematographically brilliant. AJ Styles sprang from out of camera shot to hit Joe with a Phenomenal Forearm, as if flying in from out of the sky.
Contextually, the elimination is more of an issue. Samoa Joe through fault not of his own, or even WWE’s really, never quite achieved his potential on the main roster and this was a good illustrator of this. Joe was out fairly fast and after little offense had been done to him. As we know, in the modern day, it is wrongfully presumed it should take multiple finishers to leave a main event-level star staring at the lights for the three and this one finisher subverted fans expectations in a way unfairly making Joe seem weak.
Elimination Chamber 2020 (SmackDown Tag Team Championships): The New Day
By 2020, Kofi Kingston had sadly fallen back into the midcard again, his world title reign becoming cut out from underneath him in a swift and brutal fashion.
Back in The New Day, his elimination from the 2020 SmackDown tag title encounter proved rather flat. Diving off a pod, Kofi missed a move and while supposed to crash to the mat, instead landed on his feet before falling forward, noticeably softening the impact. This was enough to put down the ex-WWE champion apparently.
Of course I want wrestlers to be safe and not hurt themselves but this did hamper the elimination spot.
Elimination Chamber 2020 (Raw Women’s Championship #1 Contendership): Liv Morgan
You really have to respect the guts on WWE for their women’s Chamber booking in 2020. Rarely do WWE do any booking as ballsy as 2020 but unfortunately it was rather half-baked in practice.
With Shayna Baszler the obvious winner, fans had to wait until the fourth entry for The Queen of Spades to come in and wreck shop, which she promptly did, waiting awkwardly for the next entrant as she had submitted her opponents in such short order.
Liv Morgan was easily devoured by Baszler after the wait, then prompting another long wait until Asuka would come in as Baszler ran out of shtick, not having the poise to engage the crowd in the same way CM Punk would in 2009, for example.
Just an underdeveloped booking idea, a rigged entry time by WWE or some actually development of character rather than life-sapping nothingness would have really aided the match.
Elimination Chamber 2021 (Universal Championship #1 Contendership): Baron Corbin
The 2022 SmackDown Chamber was another great mens exhibition, driven by storylines for the majority of the participants. Cesaro was the underutilized performer who had never had a major world title challenge, Daniel Bryan was the determined babyface wanting another shot years later to prove he could, Jey Uso was there to ensure an easy night for his cousin, Kevin Owens had mounted previous challenges to Reigns and wanted another, and Sami Zayn could continue his character work whilst revisiting old ground with Owens.
The match itself was great, featuring one particularly creative elimination in which Jey trapped KO’s arm in the Chamber door, hitting repeatedly super kicks to a prone Owens.
Then there was Corbin. An afterthought in the match, Corbin went out first after a Cesaro Giant Swing and Sharpshooter.
Elimination Chamber 2021 (WWE Championship): Randy Orton
I am in two minds about the roll-up elimination of Randy Orton in 2021.
It was a sloppy roll-up elimination by Kofi Kingston, with a deal of jostling and scrambling, of which I can appreciate the realism. Yet Orton’s shoulders did come off the mat and a botch is a botch, not easy to overlook in this case.
He then attacked everyone despite being eliminated, like the little scoundrel that he is, what an Apex Predator that little scamp is!
Elimination Chamber 2022 (Raw Women’s Championship #1 Contendership): Doudrop
Held in the always troublesome Saudi Arabia, the women’s Chamber match naturally saw the women dressed in all-body clothing because the nation clearly has not really got its sh*t together.
Nonetheless, the match was perfectly serviceable with the worst eliminator probably that of Doudrop, hit with a sunset flip powerbomb, a move unlikely to work in a normal match but somehow deadly in the Chamber.
Elimination Chamber 2022 (WWE Championship): Bobby Lashley
It must really stuck to lose a world title by not being able to defend it but that’s exactly what happened to Bobby Lashley in 2022.
Seth Rollins powerbombed Theory through a pod then-champion Lashley, already odd as most titleholders have to defend for entry number one, was in. Despite not connecting with Lashley at all, Bobby was taken out injured, allowing him to automatically lose the belt over a botched spot in which Lashley sold too late, highlighting how unaffected he was by the blunder.
It should also be pointed out that although the finishing spot of the F5 off the top of a pod looked cool and was no doubt extremely dangerous, Theory does land in his feet, after which he is pinned from a move with a stilted impact.
Do you agree? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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