WWE Elimination Chamber 2017 PPV Announced For February
Does this spell Royal Rumble victory for a Smackdown Superstar?
Earlier this week, the official Twitter account of the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, announced that the venue would play host to the return of the Elimination Chamber Pay-Per-View in 2017. Now, The Wrestling Observer is reporting that the show will take place on Sunday, February 12, and will be a Raw-exclusive Pay-Per-View.
The Elimination Chamber match - a staggered-elimination bout which features six men fighting in a circular enclosure until only one hasn't been pinned or submitted - was first introduced in 2002, then received an eponymous PPV in 2010. There was no set pattern as to what would be on the line in the show's Elimination Chamber contest (or contests) - some years, one or both of the World Championships would be up for grabs, while in others, a number one contender for the brand that didn't win the Royal Rumble would be decided. In 2015, the show featured Elimination Chamber matches for the Intercontinental and Tag Team Championships. In 2016, there was no iteration of the event.
The fact that this year's Elimination Chamber is a Raw-only affair may indicate that a Smackdown superstar will win the Royal Rumble, and then Raw will have to resort to different tactics to find a Universal Title contender for WrestleMania.