Elimination Chamber (2019)

The 2019 Elimination Chamber (known as No Escape in Germany) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the ninth Elimination Chamber and took place on February 17, 2019, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions.

Seven matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Daniel Bryan defeated AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, and Jeff Hardy in an Elimination Chamber match to retain SmackDown's WWE Championship. In other prominent matches, Finn Bálor defeated defending champion Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush in a 2-on-1 handicap match to win Raw's Intercontinental Championship, Ronda Rousey defeated Ruby Riott to retain the Raw Women's Championship, and in the opening bout, The Boss 'n' Hug Connection (Bayley and Sasha Banks) defeated Carmella and Naomi, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, Nia Jax and Tamina, The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce), and The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan) in a women's tag team Elimination Chamber match to become the inaugural holders of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship.

Production

Background

Elimination Chamber is a professional wrestling event first produced by WWE in 2010. It has been held every year since, except in 2016, generally in February. The concept of the show is that one or two main event matches are contested inside the Elimination Chamber, either with championships or future opportunities at championships at stake. While the 2018 event was held exclusively for the Raw brand division, the 2019 event featured wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live, as following WrestleMania 34 in April 2018, WWE discontinued brand-exclusive pay-per-views. The 2019 event was the ninth Elimination Chamber and took place on February 17, 2019, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was livestreamed on the WWE Network.

In 2011 and since 2013, the show has been promoted as "No Escape" in Germany as it was feared that the name "Elimination Chamber" may remind people of the gas chambers used during the Holocaust.

Storylines

The event comprised seven matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, and the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live.

On the December 24, 2018, episode of Raw, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that a new WWE Women's Tag Team Championship would be introduced in 2019. On the January 14, 2019, episode of Raw, on her segment "A Moment of Bliss", Alexa Bliss unveiled the championship belts and revealed that the inaugural champions would be determined at Elimination Chamber in a tag team Elimination Chamber match, featuring three teams from Raw and SmackDown each, making the championship non-exclusive to either brand. Qualification matches to determine the three teams from Raw took place on the January 28 and February 4 episodes of Raw: the teams of Nia Jax and Tamina, The Riott Squad (represented by Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan), and The Boss 'n' Hug Connection (Bayley and Sasha Banks) each qualified by defeating the teams of Bliss and Mickie James, Natalya and Dana Brooke, and Alicia Fox and Nikki Cross, respectively. Due to its smaller roster, no qualification matches were held for SmackDown and instead, the teams of Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose, The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce), and Naomi and Carmella all announced their participation. On the February 11 and February 12 episodes of Raw and SmackDown, triple threat tag team matches occurred between each brand's three respective tag teams to determine which two teams would start the Elimination Chamber match. Bayley and Rose were pinned in their respective matches, making Banks and Bayley, and Deville and Rose the first entrants in the chamber.

At the Royal Rumble, The Miz and Shane McMahon defeated The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. On the following episode of SmackDown, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated The Bar, The New Day (represented by Big E and Kofi Kingston), and Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight) in a fatal four-way tag team elimination match to earn a championship match at Elimination Chamber.

At the Royal Rumble, Daniel Bryan defeated AJ Styles to retain the WWE Championship with help from the returning Rowan. On the following episode of SmackDown, Bryan, along with Rowan, disposed the standard leather-bound title belt with metal plates in a garbage can and introduced a new custom belt made from hemp and wood. Styles then confronted Bryan and Rowan, followed by Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, and Mustafa Ali. After an ensuing brawl, WWE Chief Operating Officer Triple H scheduled Bryan to defend the championship against the five in an Elimination Chamber match at the pay-per-view. A gauntlet match between the six was scheduled for the February 12 episode to determine who would enter the chamber last. Due to a legitimate injury, however, Ali was pulled from the match and replaced with The New Day's Kofi Kingston. Orton won the ensuing gauntlet match, making him the last entrant in the chamber.

On the February 4 episode of Raw, Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey issued an open challenge for the title. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan) came out and Morgan accepted the challenge, but was defeated. Immediately after, Logan stepped up, but was also defeated. Riott did not attempt to challenge Rousey and instead retreated with her Squad. In a backstage interview, Riott stated that she was ensuring that her teammates were okay and claimed that she could defeat Rousey at any time. Later, it was revealed that Rousey would defend her championship against Riott at Elimination Chamber.

On the January 28 episode of Raw, while Finn Bálor was addressing his loss to Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble, he was interrupted by Intercontinental Champion Bobby Lashley and his manager Lio Rush. Lashley claimed that he was better than Lesnar and then attacked Bálor. The following week, Bálor was scheduled to face Lashley, but Lashley instead had Bálor face Rush. Lashley stated that depending on Bálor's performance, he would consider giving him a title shot, but before the match could begin, Lashley attacked Bálor. Despite this, Bálor defeated Rush. Bálor was then scheduled to face both Lashley and Rush in a handicap match at Elimination Chamber with Lashley's Intercontinental Championship on the line.

During the second half of 2018, Baron Corbin served as the Acting Raw General Manager. During this time, Braun Strowman was on the receiving end of his authority, including Corbin costing Strowman the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Strowman defeated Corbin in the titular match, thus stripping Corbin of his authoritative power and earning another Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble. However, Corbin also caused Strowman to lose this title opportunity. After a confrontation between the two on the January 14 episode of Raw, Strowman chased Corbin to the backstage area where Corbin hid in what was later revealed to be Vince McMahon's limousine. Strowman destroyed the limo, resulting in Mr. McMahon fining him $100,000 and cancelling his championship match. Strowman and Corbin continued going at each other over the next couple of weeks and a no disqualification match between the two was scheduled for Elimination Chamber.

On the Royal Rumble Kickoff pre-show, Buddy Murphy defeated Kalisto, Akira Tozawa, and Hideo Itami in a fatal four-way match to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. On the February 5, 2019, episode of 205 Live, Tozawa defeated Cedric Alexander, Lio Rush, and Humberto Carrillo in a fatal four-way elimination match to earn another championship match against Murphy on the Elimination Chamber Kickoff pre-show.

Event

Pre-show

During the Elimination Chamber Kickoff pre-show, Buddy Murphy defended the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Akira Tozawa. In the climax, Murphy performed "Murphy's Law" on Tozawa to retain the title.