One of WWE's biggest and most daunting match types, the Elimination Chamber, has featured some memorable moments over the years.
This Sunday's event will be the 11th edition under the Elimination Chamber PPV, with the two World Championship matches that night being the 27th and 28th ones in its history. That is a lot in numbers, but not all editions of the match were successes.
There have been several botches inside the Elimination Chamber, mostly relating to the nature of the dreaded structure. Some of them may not have been noticed by the fans at the time, while others were much more obvious. Either way, these moments served to hinder their respective matches.
Some of the matches on this list recovered well from these mishaps, while one or two of them fell apart. We will get to that. There was also a major botch that did not happen inside the Elimination Chamber Match but just before it.
Is AJ Styles angry? A former WWE legend thinks so.
Anyway, here are the five biggest botches in Elimination Chamber history.
#5 The wrong pod opens in the first Elimination Chamber Match
The first-ever Elimination Chamber match at Survivor Series 2002 ended up being a rousing success. However, while it was going on, the match unraveled for those in it. It was a disaster for the six RAW Superstars involved - Triple H, Booker T, Kane, Rob Van Dam, Shawn Michaels, and Chris Jericho.
A couple of massive botches happened during this Elimination Chamber Match, with the second one regarding the order in which the participants entered. Shawn Michaels was booked to enter second-to-last, while Kane was supposed to be the final Superstar out of his pod.
But after the clock counted down, Kane's door was opened first. Jericho, who was expecting Michaels, got attacked by the Big Red Machine instead. He said the following in a 2017 interview with ESPN:
"They open the wrong door. They open the door for Kane to come out rather than Shawn Michaels, so all of the stuff that we had come up with in the back, and all this effort and time we'd basically wasted ... thrown out the window. We had to call it all on the fly."
The stars in the ring had to change the match up on the fly due to the production mishap. This happened also came moments after a much bigger botch. While it seemed like the worst scenario possible inside the Elimination Chamber, the match still holds up as one of the very best.
#4 Kalisto gets stuck during the 2015 Tag Team Elimination Chamber Match
The Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber Match in 2015 had a lot of potential, with The New Day defending their recently won titles against five other teams. This remains the most crowded Elimination Chamber match in history, thanks to the Freebird rule in effect for New Day.
However, the match lacked in execution. With 13 Superstars being a part of the bout, it was bound to be a mess. Several timing and logic issues further marred the contest. One of the messiest parts of the match featured Kalisto, who was touted to have a star-making performance inside the Elimination Chamber.
He tried to climb to the ceiling of the structure a couple of times, with the first time resulting in his foot getting stuck between the chains on top of The New Day's pod. The trio reacted quickly, and it looked like they had caused Kalisto to lose his balance. The masked Superstar laid on top of the pod for a very long time.
In the end, after spending a lot of time to get to that position, Kalisto only managed to drop onto a sea of bodies tamely. Fortunately, WWE nailed the Tag Team Elimination Chamber match in future years. The 2019 (Women's) and 2020 editions were much better than this.
#3 Rob Van Dam crushes Triple H's throat in the first Elimination Chamber Match
Back to the first-ever Elimination Chamber Match, the biggest botch in this contest came slightly before the previously mentioned one. With Kane and Shawn Michaels yet to be released from their pods, Rob Van Dam was set for a spectacular with a massive Five-Star Frog Splash.
He hopped on top of a pod but was unable to stand up on it. There was barely any space between the chain and the pods, meaning RVD had to deliver the death-defying dive onto Triple H from an awkward crouched position. He did so, with his shin connecting with The Game's throat.
Triple H kicked his legs around in extreme pain, and it wasn't long before referee Earl Hebner realized something had gone wrong and put up the 'X' sign to signal a real injury. He was unable to breathe and couldn't speak for the rest of the Elimination Chamber Match, which he was tasked with finishing.
The Game ended up powering through until the end of the match, which saw Shawn Michaels pin him to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Triple H's incredible toughness rescued the first-ever Elimination Chamber Match, as it went from being a disaster to a fantastic match.
#2 Mark Henry's pod is destroyed in the IC Title Elimination Chamber Match
The Tag Team Title match wasn't the only mess at Elimination Chamber 2015, with the titular contest for the Intercontinental Championship being even worse. It wasn't exactly the most exciting Elimination Chamber Match in the world before things went very wrong.
King Barrett slammed Dolph Ziggler into Mark Henry's pod, with the intention being that he would rebound off. However, Barrett inadvertently broke the pod, and the 'World's Strongest Man' was forced to enter the match earlier than planned. This led to a very awkward stand-off, very unlike the Elimination Chamber concept.
This was worse than the botch in the first-ever Elimination Chamber Match, as the match was still in its early stages. The match unraveled, and Ziggler was visibly shouting instructions during the match with every Superstar at a stand-still. It did not look good at all.
Things barely got better, with a couple of sloppy moments occurring later into the match. The IC Title Elimination Chamber Match was a complete and utter flop -- a rare instance of this stipulation failing.
#1 The Undertaker gets burned during his entrance at Elimination Chamber 2010
Perhaps, the biggest and most dangerous botch in Elimination Chamber history came before the match itself. The main event of the first Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in 2010 saw The Undertaker defend the World Heavyweight Championship against five other Superstars inside the dreaded structure.
As the Deadman was making his iconic entrance to the ring, a pyrotechnics mishap caused his coat to catch fire. Undertaker was visibly affected by this and ended up rushing into the Elimination Chamber, contrary to his usual entrance. He was pouring water on himself while inside the pod to cool his injuries.
The Phenom spoke about this incident on Stone Cold's Broken Skull Sessions, where he mentioned how furious he was with the WWE crew member responsible for pyro that night.
The Deadman wrestled inside the Elimination Chamber, losing his world title to Chris Jericho after interference from Shawn Michaels. The pyro in-charge was gone from WWE almost immediately, thus showing the effect The Undertaker had on the company's backstage happenings.