After five years, the WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view is no more as, according to WWE.com’s updated Events page, the February pay-per-view is now listed as WWE Fast Lane, which will take the place of the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view starting in 2015 with the inaugural event emanating from the FedExForum in Memphis, TN. The scrapping of the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view may also mean the end of the Elimination Chamber Match, which has been a yearly staple of WWE since its inception in 2002. There is also the possibility that WWE may bring back the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view and just put it at a different location on the calendar or they may just go back to the original formula of only bringing back the Elimination Chamber on rare occasions (from 2002 to 2006, the Elimination Chamber Match was sporadically featured on several different pay-per-views from Survivor Series to SummerSlam to New Year’s Revolution before the Elimination Chamber Match became exclusive to the No Way Out event, which eventually became known as WWE Elimination Chamber in 2010).
The unifying of the WWE and World Heavyweight Titles last year may have also impacted WWE’s decision to scrap the event as, in the past, the pay-per-view would feature two Elimination Chamber Matches with one Chamber Match either deciding the WWE or World Heavyweight Champion or deciding the respective #1 Contenders for the two titles at WrestleMania. Whatever the reason, it looks like the new Fast Lane event will not be a themed event like its predecessor and the name of the pay-per-view will likely be used as a reference to the event being on the “Road to WrestleMania” (which WWE uses to describe the time between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania). Here is what the current pay-per-view calendar looks like for 2015:
- WWE Royal Rumble (28th Annual)- LIVE on January 25 from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA
- WWE Fast Lane (Inaugural Edition)- LIVE on February 22 from the FedExForum in Memphis, TN
- WWE WrestleMania 31- LIVE on March 29 from Levi’s Stadium in Silicon Valley, CA
- WWE Extreme Rules (9th Annual)- LIVE on April 26 from [To Be Announced]
- WWE Payback (3rd Annual)- LIVE on May 17 from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD
- WWE Money-in-the-Bank (6th Annual)- LIVE on June 28 from [To Be Announced]
- WWE Battleground (3rd Annual)- LIVE on July 19 from [To Be Announced]
- WWE SummerSlam (28th Annual)- LIVE on August 16 from the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ
- WWE Night of Champions (8th Annual)- LIVE on September 20 from [To Be Announced]
- WWE Hell in a Cell (7th Annual)- LIVE on October 25 from [To Be Announced]
- WWE Survivor Series (29th Annual)- LIVE on November 22 from [To Be Announced]
- WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs (7th Annual)- LIVE on December 13 from [To Be Announced]
What is your favorite Elimination Chamber Match? Post your comments in the box below.
