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What's the story?
WWE presented a huge gauntlet match on Monday Night Raw which pitted all seven men who would collide inside the Elimination Chamber match on Sunday. The match was announced ahead of Raw this week, but the length of the match was something that no one expected.
In case you didn't know...
A gauntlet match starts out with two competitors and every time a winner is announced, another superstar is added until all contenders have entered the ring one after the other, with the final two remaining stars having the last match. This means that the first person in the match would have to go through a number of other men in order to win but the last person only has to win one match.
The seven stars who are part of the Elimination Chamber match seemingly drew numbers ahead of Raw and it was Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins who were the first two, before John Cena, Elias, Finn Balor, The Miz and Braun Strowman later made their way to the ring, after the stars who entered before them were eliminated.
The heart of the matter
Monday Night Raw has seen a number of gauntlet matches over the past 25 years but none anywhere near as long as this week's match. The match ran for around 101 minutes, with 65 minutes of that involving Seth Rollins.
Even though a gauntlet match is more than one match, it is still technically the longest match in the history of Monday Night Raw, whilst Seth Rollins became the Ironman of Raw when he remained in the match for more than an hour, setting a new record for the longest time spent in the match in the history of Raw.
Braun Strowman, who was the final man in the match, came out on top after pinning The Miz following a running Powerslam. The Monster Among Men looked fully prepared to step inside the steel structure for the first time this weekend.
What's next?
After their lengthy display this week on Raw, it seems that all seven men now have just six days to prepare themselves for The Elimination Chamber and the chance to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 34.
Author's take
The gauntlet match definitely ate up most of Monday Night Raw this week and it seems that Seth Rollins is now being pushed into a fantastic position on the show after a few months of being left in the mid-card.
It will be interesting to see what kind of condition these stars are in on Sunday night, when they are all locked inside the steel structure.
