Within the chamber are four inner enclosures outside each ring corner. While similar in profile and nature to WWE's original large scale steel-structured match Hell in a Cell , the Elimination Chamber match is a multiple participant match wherein two participants begin the match in the ring as the remaining four are held within each inner enclosure and are released into the match at five-minute intervals in the event of a seven-person Chamber match, three participants begin, and in the event of a tag team Chamber match, two teams begin for a total of four participants starting.
The objective is to eliminate each opponent from the match via pinfall or submission. The winner is the last remaining participant or team after all others have been eliminated. As in the Hell in a Cell match, disqualifications do not apply. The original structure was 16 ft 4.
Every Elimination chamber match has had a stipulation that the winner would win a championship or a future match for a championship usually at WrestleMania , though one time the championship match occurred immediately after the elimination chamber match. Before the introduction of the Elimination Chamber match, WWE only promoted two matches in a caged environment, namely the steel cage and Hell in a Cell matches.
The steel cage was the first type of cage-based match in professional wrestling and consisted of four fenced walls of steel surrounding the ring apron while the Hell in a Cell was a taller roofed version that surrounded the ring and ringside area on the ground rather than the apron. From to , the match had been featured in February events only.
In late , it was announced that Elimination Chamber would return as a SmackDown -exclusive event in February , [ 13 ] but it switched to being Raw -exclusive in February , which was the last brand-exclusive Elimination Chamber event, as following WrestleMania 34 that year, brand-exclusive pay-per-views were discontinued. Triple H suffered an injury during the Survivor Series match with swelling on the inside of his throat which put pressure on his esophagus and trachea.
