This Sunday, WWE will present its seventh Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event featuring the stars of SmackDown Live battling for supremacy on the road to WrestleMania 33.
Most notably, the event will be headlined by an Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship featuring John Cena, AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt and other top talents.
The Elimination Chamber match has been one of WWE's signature match types for nearly 15 years, and since 2002, 20 in total have been held, including the upcoming instalment. Some have been better than others, but there have been an elite few Elimination Chamber matches that could be called classics.
Ahead of the pending pay-per-view, let's look back at the five best bouts to take place inside Satan's Prison. And as iconic as these matches were, perhaps the best is yet to come.
#5 WWE Championship No. 1 Contender’s Elimination Chamber (2008)
Before the Elimination Chamber was given its own event in 2010, there was No Way Out, which ran from 2000 to 2009. In its final years, it featured a pair of Elimination Chamber matches, and in 2008, two Chamber matches were held to determine the No. 1 contenders to the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships.
Between the brands, Raw's Elimination Chamber match stole the show in the main event slot, and how could it not, when all of the flagship show's biggest names were involved?
Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Umaga, Jeff Hardy, JBL and Chris Jericho all had WrestleMania on their mind and were willing to do whatever it took to punch their ticket to the Show of Shows.
Also read: 5 WWE superstars with the worst Elimination Chamber records
Perhaps the best part of the match was how unpredictable the outcome was, and each individual had their time to shine. Jeff Hardy came close to clinching glory, but ultimately, it was Triple H who had his hand raised by hitting the Charismatic Enigma with a Pedigree on top of a chair.
#4 World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber (2010)
At the onset of 2010, Shawn Michaels challenged The Undertaker to a rematch at WrestleMania 26, this time for 'Taker's World Heavyweight Championship. However, The Deadman rejected his offer, and Michaels then failed to win the Royal Rumble weeks later where he would have earned another match with the Deadman.
In the meantime, Undertaker had his sights set on walking out of Elimination Chamber with his title intact, but it wasn't going to be an easy feat with the level of star power that was included.
R-Truth's involvement was virtually a waste, but John Morrison had a star-making performance, while the seeds were planted for a future feud between Rey Mysterio and CM Punk.
The biggest beneficiary in this match was Chris Jericho, who lasted until the very end and took advantage of Michaels' interference by pinning Undertaker to win the world title. It was a shocking conclusion to an overall entertaining Elimination Chamber match.
#3 WWE World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber (2014)
The road to WrestleMania 30 in 2014 was an interesting one if only because fans were not at all enthralled at the idea of Randy Orton defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Batista at the Show of Shows.
Thankfully, there was one last stop on the road to WrestleMania where WWE could change its plans: Elimination Chamber.
In the weeks that preceded the pay-per-view, Orton lost to each of his five challengers in singles matches, so the odds didn't appear to be in his favour going in. Additionally, Daniel Bryan and John Cena had been on their own quests for the championship while Christian, Cesaro and Sheamus were anxious to make an impact.
Bryan and Cesaro starting out the bout set the tone that this would be nothing short of a spectacular match, but in the end, it came down to Orton, Cena and Bryan. Despite interference from The Wyatt Family and Kane, this Chamber far exceeded the expectations that fans had for it considering the poor build it received.
#2 World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber (2011)
I still maintain to this day that 2011's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view was the strongest all-around instalment WWE has done to date, and SmackDown's Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship played a big part in that.
Of course, Edge retaining his title was never in doubt considering that the match between him and Alberto Del Rio was essentially already set in stone for WrestleMania 27, but the combatants of this contest did an exceptional job of making fans think the belt was indeed in jeopardy.
Edge and Rey Mysterio were the iron men of the matchup, lasting the entire time and Kane scored two eliminations before being ousted from the bout.
Edge and Mysterio had a long history with each other, so the fact that they delivered a fantastic final few minutes filled with suspenseful near falls and exhilarating action came as little surprise.
Christian returning afterwards to thwart Alberto Del Rio's attack on Edge was simply the icing on the cake.
#1 World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber (2002)
It is commonly said that it is hard to top the original when it comes to virtually anything, and the Elimination Chamber is no exception. The inaugural instalment of the Chamber was so innovative, exciting and incredibly compelling that nothing has come close to matching it since.
At Survivor Series 2002, Raw's six most elite athletes collided in one of the most brutal bouts WWE had introduced up to that point, and none of them held anything back. Booker T, Kane, Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam put forth excellent efforts, but the real magic happened when Triple H and Shawn Michaels began battling one-on-one.
Everyone in Madison Square Garden that night was on the edge of their seat with anticipation as Michaels fought valiantly against his greatest rival and former friend, Triple H.
After powering out of the Pedigree, he nailed The Game with a Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere to clinch his first world title in nearly five years, a storybook ending to the greatest Chamber match we have witnessed to date.
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