WWE needs to revisit Elimination Chamber's place on the calendar
It was announced on last night’s episode of WWE RAW that Drew McIntyre will defend the WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber later this month. All five challengers are former WWE Champions. While the match looks good on paper, it also highlights the main issue with the Elimination Chamber concept itself: That it has become watered down and predictable.
With the exceptions of 2009’s No Way Out pay-per-view — where Edge entered as WWE Champion, was eliminated early, and later entered and won the World Heavyweight Championship Match — and the 2013 Elimination Chamber event where Jack Swagger shocked the WWE Universe by winning the match and challenging Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 29, every iteration of the event has been predictable. Going into the match, it's almost always clear who is going to win, with maybe one or two guys having an outside chance to pull off the upset.
The reason why the Elimination Chamber has become so predictable is simple. It has the unfortunate position of being the pay-per-view directly after the Royal Rumble, and sometimes the pay-per-view right before WrestleMania. At this point in the WWE schedule, WrestleMania plans are all but set in stone. We usually know who is challenging for one of the top championships via their Royal Rumble victory. That leaves one title where either someone is already being built up for the WrestleMania match, or a champion that will most likely be retaining his title inside the Chamber.
The Elimination Chamber is falling into the same category as Hell in a Cell and Money in the Bank as a match concept that took place at random times during the year and felt exciting when it was announced. Now they are confined to their own pay-per-views, which waters down the event and concept of the match since we already know when and where it will happen.
There are some solutions to fix the problem with the Elimination Chamber event. One easy solution would be to move the Chamber event to December replacing TLC. The winning team from Survivor Series the month before gets the Chamber match and the winner gets a title shot at the Royal Rumble in January.
With this solution, Survivor Series feels more important as there are actual stakes on the line in the match. It also makes the Chamber match feel important and unpredictable again since a winner won’t be as obvious as it is now during the Road to WrestleMania.