My take on the Elimination Chambers:
1. 2002: Its the first and, IMO, still the best. It drags a little in between RVD's elimination, until it comes down to HBK-Triple H, but when it gets to HBK-Triple H it defines epic. You gotta give props to Trips for his effort in the match, turning in one of his finest performances of the year with his throat crushed. The pops at the end of this match rank as some of the loudest I've ever heard translate to DVD.
2. Raw Elimination Chamber 2008: I have a hard time not putting this one at #1, because just about everything works, IMO. I think it is simply the intangibles that put 02 over it, IMO. You start with HBK-Jericho and they give you a taste of what it to come from them. Umaga turns in the performance of his career (and, sadly, life, RIP) as the dominant moster. JBL does nothing to diminish the match. Hardy turns in his obligatory fall off a tall thing, but also turns in a quality performance as the hottest thing going in WWE at the timea, and Trips is no slouch here either, he gives Hardy a lot (he let him kick out of the f'n PEDIGREE!), making Hardy look much better than he did when he actually beat Trips at Armageddon. Its not the belt, its not for a title, otherwise it may be #1. I also really would have liked to see more HBK-Hardy in the match. That was a missed opportunity.
3. Raw Elimination Chamber 2009: Why in the hell did it take WWE so long to put Rey in an Elimination Chamber? Rey is, without a doubt in my mind, the MVP of the match and produces a highlight reel of stuff in the course of the match. This one starts with Rey-Jericho and they carry the match almost all the way to the end. Of all the guys out of place in the Chambers for this year (Knox, Kozlov, Kane and Show), Knox probably acquits himself the best, surprisingly. And when it gets down to Rey-Edge, its just perfect face-heel and Rey-Edge give the match that I've been expecting them to give but they never seemed to do.
4. Smackdown Elimination Chamber 2009: There is one glaring flaw with this match. His name is Kozlov. It starts off all good with Hardy-Edge and the surprise elimination, then Kozlov enters and the fun is over for a long while. The pieces get picked up by the end and gets especially good when it comes down to Trips and Taker, who don't always perform well against each other, but they do here.
5. 2005: This is a very solid Chamber match, overall, which it had to be because the show around it was atrocious. Coin-flip between this one and the first one for the best talent roster to appear in a Chamber (but guys like Benoit and Jericho don't really seem to benefit from the Chamber the way RVD or Rey did). It served its purpose, advancing a bunch of stories (Edge-HBK, Trips-Orton, Trips-Batista), but it lacks the standout moments and sequences of the above matches. Plus, it was all pretty perfunctory, Trips getting another Title win (Wasn't this for a vacated title), while Benoit and Jericho were largely non-factors beyond bringing workrate.
6. 2003: Your opinion on this match probably hinges upon your opinion of Bill Goldberg. I'm sure many can't get by the way Goldberg mows through Jericho, HBK and Orton. There's also the fact that Triple H ridiculously retains, despite being injured, which made it a Chamber in the first place, making everyone but Goldberg and the H non-factors. The match also largely ignores a lot of its potential. However, I find the match to be flawed but fun. This was as over as Goldberg got in WWE and, while the booking may repulse many, watching Goldberg wreck folks was a lot of fun, it played to his strengths, and the crowd dug it. It was the type of stuff that got Golberg over in the first place that WWE never seemed to understand. Triple H retaining remains a HUGE mistake, though.
7. Smackdown Elimination Chamber 2008: Gah, who's idea was it to put Khali and Big Daddy V in a Chamber match? Although, honestly, V gives a good accounting for himself. Better than poor MVP. They make a good move by building this match around Taker-Batista, as those two, inexplicably, seem to bring the best out of each other. Finlay takes some gruesome punishment, as well.
8. 2006: The most memorable part of this match isn't even part of this match, that being Edge cashing in MITB. While it may not be as bad as a match dominated by Chris Masters and Carlito sounds on paper, it is simply nowhere near as memorable as the other matches are and a Chamber should be. It is seriously forgotten two minutes later when Edge is wearing the belt (kind of like Edge's loss to a 100 year old man earlier that night).
9. "Extreme" Elimination Chamber: Ugh, I'm just better off not getting started. One of the best decisions I ever made was not going to this show.
I think that's all of them.
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