What’s All The Hubbub: Satan’s Prison – The Anthology of the Elimination Chamber, Disc 1

Other than Ultimate X, I view the Elimination Chamber as the best gimmick match of the last decade. I love the look of the structure, I like the format of the match, and I feel it provides unique entertainment. WWE has been fairly proud of this concept, and they should be. It is one of their better creations. This anthology covers every Elimination Chamber match to date, and for me, it was a must buy. Let’s take a look at this, shall we?

Todd Grisham is our host, but he doesn’t really say anything worthwhile.

World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match
Survivor Series, November 17, 2002
Triple H © vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Chris Jericho vs. Booker T vs. Kane vs. Shawn Michaels
These guys have the unfortunate task of trying to work with something that is very new. The one thing they have going for them is that the Chamber is visually very impressive, and the structure of the match allows a fresh man to come in and hit his signature offense and keep the crowd interested. Sadly, that means that almost all of them simply wrestle their usual match, just with more targets. The chamber actually gets over used in this, because most of them do not have the creativity to do anything with it other than the usual cage match spots. By the time this is over, you will be sick of people slamming people into the steel mesh, and you will be sick of the multiple catapults into the structure.

The notable exception to this is Rob Van Dam, who absolutely thrives in the environment. He is creative and puts the entertainment of the fans above his own safety. Spots like the Rolling Thunder over the rope to Triple H on the steel floor of the Chamber (which remains the Chamber’s most unique feature) and the famous “Spider-Man” spot where he jumps from the top rope to the chains before hitting a crossbody are great spots. This is why RVD was over; he was so different from everyone else in WWE at the time. Unfortunately, his last big spot goes awry as Triple H is too close when he tries his Frog Splash from the top of the pod, resulting in an awkward looking splash, and worse yet, a trachea injury for The Game as RVD’s knee crushes his throat. Booker T eliminates Van Dam with his missile dropkick immediately after this, and with the one creative wrestler gone and the champion almost dying the match never fully recovers.

There are good things in the match; Chris Jericho is such an arrogant jerk that he can’t NOT be entertaining, and eliminates both Booker T and Kane before Shawn Michaels takes him out with a superkick. Kane is motivated and has lots of bodies to dismantle, which really suits his monster character. The best spots with him is when he throws Jericho through the plexiglass, which is a great visual that the crowd really responds too, and the finishing stretch where HBK hits a superkick, Triple H hits a Pedigree, and Jericho adds a Lionsault to put Kane away. This type of multi-finishers became a staple of Elimination Chamber matches, but it is both crowd pleasing and keeps Kane credible.

Once the match reaches the final stretch, where Jericho and Triple H beat Michaels down before he can make his heroic comeback, the match starts dragging on. When Jericho and Triple H finally turn on each other, it doesn’t last nearly long enough. The final showdown with Shawn and Hunter is really quite a letdown, as it lacks hatred and they are largely repeating spots that have already been done in the match. Shawn winning does pop the crowd big time, and I give Triple H credit for working through a serious injury that could have ruined the match. Instead, it simply hindered it. This isn’t a great match, but it is a great moment and was an admirable first effort for the gimmick’s debut.
Match Result: Shawn Michaels wins the World Championship, last pinning Triple H.
Match Rating: ***1/2

World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match
Summer Slam, August 24, 2003
Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Nash vs. Triple H © vs. Goldberg
They fixed some of the problems with the first Elimination Chamber. This one is about half the length of the first Chamber, so it just breezes right by. They also don’t rely on the cage so match, which keeps it from being over-saturated and thus boring. However, they go too much in the opposite direction and it largely feels like a traditional multi-man match with an attractive packaging around the action. The only big spot of note is Goldberg spearing Jericho through the plexiglass, which is awesome, but we were expecting more. They were still experimenting with how to do this right, and they hadn’t quite gotten there yet.

There’s also the major problem that only Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels can actually do any wrestling of any sort. Triple H is talented, but is carrying a groin injury that keeps him almost entirely out of the match. Orton is talented, but he is still very green and not ready to be in this situation yet. Goldberg has always been a limited performer, and Kevin Nash is even more limited. So they really deserve credit for making this match as exciting as it is considering what they have to work with. They manage to work Triple H’s injury into a story, as Michaels superkicks him right as his pod door opens in a fantastic crowd-pleasing spot, and he stays in the chamber for all but the last minute and a half of the match. Nash has a great moment where he throws a tantrum over being eliminated and powerbombs Orton and Jericho before leaving.

Of course, at the end of the day, this is all about Bill Goldberg. Orton, Jericho, and even Shawn Michaels are simply sacrificial lambs for Goldberg to slaughter en route to his face off with the despised champion. If you dig Goldberg’s character, it is pretty fun to watch, but it’s largely spear, spear, jackhammer, spear, spear, jackhammer. Not to mention how much it buries three men who’ve proven much more valuable to the WWE in the long run, but Goldberg was the hot thing back then. Triple H watches Goldberg’s carnage and tries to hide in his pod, but Goldberg breaks the glass in a cheesy moment and beat the Game down for a bit. In a finish that the crowd absolutely hates, Triple H grabs a sledgehammer and clocks Goldberg with it when he tries a spear, and retains his title in horribly cheap fashion. Ric Flair and Randy Orton join Helmsley for a Horsemen style beat down.

This is an example of a good idea in the wrong place and time. If they had this match at Bad Blood or Armageddon, it would have been great and they could have paid it off by having Goldberg get revenge at a big show and win the title. Instead, they had him get his revenge and the title at Unforgiven, which nobody watches. The match is entertaining enough, but it is very, very flawed.
Match Result: Triple H retains the World Championship, last pinning Goldberg.
Match Rating: ***

Grisham has an interview with Dave Batista here, and Dave talks about how he was just coming into his own around the time of this chamber, rather than saying “oh, it’s scary, it hurts, yack, yack.” Good stuff from the Animal.

World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match
New Year’s Revolution, January 9, 2005
Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit vs. Triple H vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista
Special Guest Referee: Shawn Michaels
This would be the first non-anthology DVD inclusion of Chris Benoit since the Benoit tragedy. You will notice several gaps in the commentary until Benoit’s elimination. Basically, unless they are simply calling the action or stating facts like “Benoit, and everyone else, wants to win this match”, they are silent. They don’t call him a great technical wrestler or a former world champion. Some Benoit apologists might take offense to that, but I think it’s actually a very tactful of handling the situation. Besides, Benoit’s wrestling ability speaks for itself, and any knowledgeable, objective observer will see that for themselves. He and Jericho start the match, which means the first five minutes alone are better than everything else on this disc. This early technical exchange was similar to the exchange between Jericho and Shawn in the last one, and really lets the match evolve and progress from a traditional wrestling match into a special attraction worthy of the two tons of steel.

As far as in-ring performances go, everyone is motivated here, and it is actually scary how much faster and how much more intense the work is from today’s product. It is hard to top Benoit’s performance, as he was still a wrestling machine at this point, and he definitely has the most high-risk, memorable spot of the match with his diving headbutt of the pod. But beyond the wrestling, the match has some fantastic storytelling that makes it quite epic. Edge ends up accidently spearing Shawn Michaels and costing himself a pin on Randy Orton. Then he gets physical with Michaels for not being there to count, and HBK superkicks him and Jericho puts him away with a Lionsault. This feud would probably be remembered more if they carried it to Wrestlemania, but it did give us a terrific street fight on RAW.

Most of the intrigue comes from the Evolution stablemates, which is good because the other three are the real wrestlers. Orton plays the role of fiery babyface quite well, but people were more interested in whether Batista was going to support Triple H or be his own man. Batista comes out and gets the Bill Goldberg push, with Jericho and Benoit putting him over, but at least they get treated with more respect than Goldberg gave his jobbers in the last elimination chamber. There is also a great Hollywood moment where Orton hits a low blow and an RKO on Batista and pins him. In the background you can see Triple H rise up to save Batista, but then he thinks about what may happen if it comes down to him and the Animal, and allows Orton to pin him. Triple H eventually puts Orton away, which was the right call although it kind of rendered the whole vacated title business moot.

This was easily the best Elimination Chamber match to date; for once there were six healthy people, four of which were good to great workers, and the other two were great characters that gave the match a story. They had finally found the balance of action, drama, and brutality that really made the Chamber work. The historical value of Triple H’s tenth world title is there. Not an all-time great match, but it recognizes what it is there for; to have an entertaining, unique match that people will talk about. It also serves as a great look into how excellent RAW was circa 2004-2005.
Match Result: Triple H wins the World Championship, last pinning Randy Orton.
Match Rating: ****

The 411: The Elimination Chamber had a bit of a rough start. Similar to the Ladder Match DVD, this first disc shows the evolution of the Chamber from being a glorified cage match to becoming something that really stood out and had a place in sports entertainment. This also has the novelty of featuring several wrestlers that WWE isn't likely to advertise any time soon, and Shawn Michaels' last World Title victory. Your enjoyment will vary based on how much you like the gimmick.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]