Elimination Chamber (WWE 2K22)

**Elimination Chamber** was the first annual Elimination Chamber pay-per-view and the twenty-ninth episode of **WWE 2K22 Universe Mode**. The pay-per-view, split into three parts, was released on October 20th, 21st and 22nd, 2023. It was the final pay-per-view to be produced in WWE 2K22 and featured two Elimination Chamber matches. One of which was the main event match which saw Drew McIntyre retain the WWE Championship against Seth Rollins, Rey Mysterio, Edge, Chad Gable and Randy Orton. The other, which was the opening match, saw Bianca Belair win the RAW Women's Championship number #1 contendership, defeating Doudrop, Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Tamina and Mia Yim.

## Elimination Chamber

Poster for the event, featuring the participants in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match.

#### Production

The pay-per-view was announced by Drew McIntyre on the first episode of RAW following the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, alongside the announcement of McIntyre's WWE Championship being on the line in the titular match. Production began in July 2023, and concluded about two weeks later. The event's release was delayed due to issues with the preceding episode, NXT Takeover: Vengeance Day, eventually releasing in October 2023. Commentary for the event was done by fellow Universe Mode creator, **Dylan Toolan**.

#### Storylines

On the first episode of RAW following the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Drew McIntyre announced that he would defend his WWE Championship in an Elimination Chamber match at the eponymous event. Later that same night, Chad Gable defeated Riddle in the very first qualifying match after attacking him during his entrance. The following week, Riddle's tag team partner, Randy Orton avenged his partner by defeating Gable's partner, Otis, in the second qualifier. Alongside that, Rey Mysterio would defeat Dolph Ziggler in the third qualifying match, and in the main event, Seth Rollins would defeat Bobby Lashley in the fourth qualifying match. The following week saw the fifth and final qualifying match as Kevin Owens would defeat Montez Ford. After the match, Edge would challenge Owens to a match at WrestleMania, to which Owens declined, saying that he was focused on the WWE Championship and that after winning it in the Elimination Chamber, he wanted to defend it against "somebody who earned it" at WrestleMania. On the go-home episode, the six competitors competed in a gauntlet match which lasted the entire episode, won by Rollins.

Meanwhile, after Bayley announced that she would be facing Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania, a women's Elimination Chamber was announced with the winner facing Becky Lynch for the RAW Women's Championship at WrestleMania. Bianca Belair was inserted into the match as she was the final competitor from RAW in the Royal Rumble, making it to the final two. The first qualifying match took place that following week, as Doudrop defeated Dana Brooke and Tamina defeated Nikki A.S.H. due to interference from The IIconics. The following episode saw the final three qualifying matches as Asuka defeated Liv Morgan, Mia Yim defeated Mandy Rose and Alexa Bliss defeated Nia Jax.

At the Royal Rumble, Bayley returned from a torn ACL injury to win the Women's Royal Rumble, and would announce the following night on RAW that she was going to challenge Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania, looking to win the championship that she never lost. On that week's edition of SmackDown, Bayley would confront Charlotte, ending with Charlotte attacking Bayley, and putting her in the Figure Eight submission, looking to injure her leg all over again. Bayley would be "saved" by Sasha Banks, who had lost a SmackDown Women's Championship match to Flair at the Royal Rumble. However, Banks would then betray Bayley, putting her in the Banks Statement and making her tap out before exiting the ring. The following week, Banks accused Bayley of trying to take her spot from her and said that she wouldn't step aside for anybody, before challenging Bayley to put her championship opportunity on the line at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Bayley would run down and attack Banks, but would be knocked out by one of Banks' signature "BOSS TIME" brass knuckles. The following week, Bayley would accept Banks' challenge in a vignette.

At the Royal Rumble, Finn Bálor cost AJ Styles a WWE Championship match after he lost the opportunity to Styles on two episodes of RAW in the weeks prior to the Rumble pay-per-view, one of which in a number #1 contendership gauntlet match and the other in a singles match the following week. The following night, Bálor, in a vignette, would justify his actions by accusing the WWE of replacing him with Styles upon his injury that forced him to give up the Universal Championship in 2016, and said that he could not let that happen again. He would then further blame himself for caring so much about what the fans thought of him, before promising that everyone's "Judgment Day" would come, starting with Styles. The following week, Bálor made his way down to the ring to address the live audience, only to be attacked by Styles, who challenged Bálor to a falls count anywhere match with him as he did not want any rules and wanted to beat up Bálor wherever he wanted. The following week, Styles, in a promo, would himself accuse Bálor of being jealous of him and brought up how he did things in his career that Bálor did not and saying that he wanted Bálor to remember that he forced his hand in this matter when Styles beats him within an inch of his life.

The week after retiring Jeff Hardy on SmackDown, Roman Reigns cut a promo but was interrupted by Kofi Kingston, who challenged him to a match for the Universal Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, saying that Reigns had put his "family" through so much hell, and that he needed to get his revenge. Furthermore, Kingston would take hombrage with how he has had to work for every opportunity that he ever got, while someone like Reigns had been gifted every opportunity that he ever received. Reigns would accept the challenge, making the match official for Elimination Chamber.

At the Royal Rumble, John Morrison made his televised return in the eponymous match type and went after his former tag team partner, The Miz and would eliminate him from the match. Their brawl continued through the crowd after Morrison's elimination immediately afterward. They would have a one-on-one match on the following episode of RAW, which was converted into a United States Championship number #1 contendership match immediately beforehand by Triple H. Morrison would defeat Miz, but would then be attacked by both the champion, Austin Theory and Miz. In a backstage segment, Theory convinced Triple H, his mentor, to convert the match into a triple threat as, due to the rivalry between Morrison and The Miz, he suspected that he could easily retain by allowing them to tear each other apart.

On the final episode of RAW before the Royal Rumble, The IIconics defeated Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. for the Women's Tag Team Championship after defeating them in a non-title match the prior week. In the eponymous match at the Royal Rumble, the two teams would mostly brawl across the arena; with Ripley later eliminating both members of The IIconics, before being eliminated herself by Nikki A.S.H., who explained her actions as the match being every woman for herself. This would cause some tension between the two teammates, however, this would be temporary as Ripley would agree to accompany Nikki to her Elimination Chamber qualifying match against Tamina, which Nikki would lose after Peyton Royce would attack Ripley at ringside, distracting Nikki long enough for Tamina to take advantage and get the win. The following week, Nikki and Ripley would challenge The IIconics to a Tag Team Championship rematch, which they would accept.

The rivalry between Sami Zayn and King Nakamura began in the lead-up to the Royal Rumble pay-per-view when Zayn promised to win Nakamura's Intercontinental Championship, win the Royal Rumble match and then go onto WrestleMania to win the Universal Championship. On the final episode of SmackDown before the Royal Rumble, Nakamura would defeat Zayn in a championship match. At the Rumble, Zayn would be eliminated by Nakamura, before he and his ally, Happy Corbin would attack Nakamura and eliminate him from the match. The following week on SmackDown, Zayn would challenge Nakamura to a rematch at the Elimination Chamber, which Nakamura would accept before attacking Zayn. On the go-home episode of SmackDown, a six-man tag team match took place with The Usos and Zayn defeating Nakamura and The Viking Raiders, with Zayn scoring the pinfall over Nakamura.

On the first episode of SmackDown following the Royal Rumble, the main event saw a triple threat tag team number #1 contendership match between Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of the The New Day, Los Lotharios and The Viking Raiders with the winners facing The Usos for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. Kingston was about to win the match for his team, only for Jey Uso to attack him, costing him the math as The Viking Raiders took advantage, winning the match and earning the championship opportunity.