Elimination Chamber(2017)

Elimination Chamber(2017) was a pay-per-view that took place on February 12th, 2017, live from Phoenix, Arizona. The event featured both the Raw and SmackDown brands, and the main event was an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Title.

## Background

This was the first pay-per-view of the series to bear the Elimination Chamber name, and the first to feature an Elimination Chamber match. This was the second event on the Road to WrestleMania.

After Goldberg won the World Heavyweight Title for a second time at Royal Rumble, Shane McMahon announced that he would defend it inside the Elimination Chamber. Former champion Brock Lesnar was announced for the match, while Seth Rollins, Mark Henry, Bray Wyatt and Kevin Owens all earned their spots, defeating Roman Reigns, Austin Aries, Rusev and John Cena respectively. AJ Styles did not defend his WWE Title inside the Chamber, as Daniel Bryan instead booked a title match against The Rock. The two men would engage in a war of words before facing off in a handicap match the next week, as AJ teamed up with Braun Strowman. The Great One got the better of the champion, pinning Styles with a Rock Bottom.

SmackDown's Elimination Chamber match would crown the number one contender for the WWE Title, with former champion Tyler Breeze quickly added to the match. The afore-mentioned Strowman, Tyson Kidd, Kane, Apollo Crews and Shawn Michaels would all qualify for the match. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, The Club, made their Raw debut on January 30th, defeating the Lucha Dragons. They targeted the World Tag Team Champions, Hideo Itami and Finn Balor, who responded by challenging them to a match at the show. Paige defended the SmackDown Women's Title on January 31st against Alexa Bliss, losing by count-out. The undefeated Charlotte had a pre-match confrontation with Bliss, and Daniel Bryan announced a triple threat match for the event.

TJ Perkins won the first Cruiserweight Classic and became the first Cruiserweight Champion by defeating Kota Ibushi. After the match, he was attacked by Neville. The Man That Gravity Forgot began calling himself the King of the Cruiserweights, agreeing to take on Perkins in a non-title match. After Chris Jericho won the United States Title with help from Kevin Owens, he began holding a weekly open challenge. He defeated Zack Ryder in the first of these challenges, before declaring that he would host another one at this event.

## Event

Sami Zayn answered the open challenge to start the show, but was defeated by Chris Jericho after a Codebreaker. Neville defeated the Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins with a Red Arrow, before Alexa Bliss won the SmackDown Women's Title, pinning Paige with Twisted Bliss after a Match of the Night performance. Shawn Michaels completed his return from retirement, last pinning Tyson Kidd to become the number one contender.

Hideo Itami and Finn Balor picked up a win over The Club, but that was not the only appearance of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. They returned to help AJ Styles defeat The Rock to retain the WWE Title. Goldberg would do the same in the main event, pinning Bray Wyatt to retain his title inside the Chamber.