Elimination Chamber (2021)

The 2021 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 11th Elimination Chamber event and took place on February 21, 2021, from the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. It was WWE's final pay-per-view to be available to livestream on the standalone version of the American WWE Network before the launch of Peacock's WWE Network channel in the United States on March 18; the standalone version of the American WWE Network itself shut down on April 4. This was the last Elimination Chamber to be held in the United States until the 2026 event.

Seven matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In an impromptu main event, The Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated Drew McIntyre to win the WWE Championship after McIntyre had retained the title in Raw's Elimination Chamber match. In the opening bout, Daniel Bryan won SmackDown's Elimination Chamber match to earn an immediate Universal Championship match against Roman Reigns, who retained the title against Bryan. In another prominent match, Riddle defeated John Morrison and defending champion Bobby Lashley to win the United States Championship. This was the first Elimination Chamber to not feature a women's Elimination Chamber match since its debut in 2018.

Production

Background

Elimination Chamber is a gimmick 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. Announced on January 17, 2021, the 2021 event was the 11th Elimination Chamber and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. After the 2020 event was held in March, the 2021 event returned Elimination Chamber to its regular February slot and it was held on February 21, 2021. 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.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that began affecting the industry in mid-March 2020, WWE had to present the majority of its programming from a behind closed doors set. Initially, Raw and SmackDown's television shows and PPVs were done at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. A limited number of Performance Center trainees and friends and family members of the wrestlers were later utilized to serve as the live audience. In late August, these programs were moved to a bio-secure bubble called the WWE ThunderDome. The select live audience was no longer utilized as the bubble allowed fans to attend the events virtually for free and be seen on the nearly 1,000 LED boards within the arena. Additionally, the ThunderDome utilized various special effects to further enhance wrestlers' entrances, and arena audio was mixed with that of the chants from the virtual fans. After being hosted at Orlando's Amway Center, the ThunderDome was relocated to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida in December.

Storylines

The event comprised seven matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

After Sheamus was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2020 WWE Draft, he re-established his old friendship with WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. However, on the February 1, 2021, episode of Raw, Sheamus turned on McIntyre, declaring that he was not his friend and wanted the WWE Championship. Later, McIntyre accepted Sheamus' challenge for a one-on-one match. The following week, however, WWE officials Adam Pearce and Shane McMahon announced that McIntyre would defend the WWE Championship against five former WWE Champions in an Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber, which included Sheamus, as well as Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, and Mr. Money in the Bank The Miz. After a heated confrontation with McIntyre during a "Miz TV" segment the following week, Miz removed himself from Raw's Elimination Chamber match. Backstage, The New Day's Kofi Kingston confronted Pearce about the vacant spot due to being a former WWE Champion. Miz also confronted Pearce, wanting to give his vacant spot to his tag team partner John Morrison, who despite not being a former WWE Champion, Miz reminded Pearce and Kingston that Morrison was a former ECW World Champion. Pearce then scheduled a match between Kingston and Miz where if Miz won, Morrison would take his place, but if Kingston won, he would be in the match. Kingston won the ensuing match. Later that night, a gauntlet match was held between the six Elimination Chamber match participants to determine who would enter the chamber last. Sheamus won by last eliminating McIntyre.

In December 2020, Riddle began a feud with United States Champion Bobby Lashley. On the January 4 episode of Raw, Riddle defeated Lashley in a non-title match to earn a title match the following week, however, Riddle lost to Lashley. On the January 25 episode, Riddle earned another title opportunity against Lashley by defeating Lashley's fellow Hurt Business stablemates in a gauntlet match. Riddle received his title match the following week on Raw where Riddle would defeat Lashley by disqualification, but did not win the championship. The following week, Riddle confronted Keith Lee, where he stated that he needed to win the United States Championship. Lee, however, took issue with Riddle losing his title matches and then stated that it was time for someone else to step up to Lashley. Lee then stated that he would defeat Lashley and he could also beat Riddle. Later that night, Lee defeated Riddle. Following the match, Lashley attacked Lee and Riddle. Lashley was subsequently scheduled to defend the United States Championship against Lee and Riddle at Elimination Chamber. The day of the event, however, Lee was pulled from the match due to a reported injury. A fatal four-way match was then scheduled for the Kickoff pre-show between Ricochet, Elias, John Morrison, and Mustafa Ali to fill Lee's vacated spot in the triple threat match for the U.S. title.

On the February 12 episode of SmackDown, WWE official Adam Pearce scheduled Universal Champion Roman Reigns to defend his title in an Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber. However, Reigns' special counsel, Paul Heyman, pointed out that Reigns' contract only stated that Reigns had to defend the championship at the event, but not necessarily inside of the eponymous structure. To Pearce's displeasure, it was then decided that the winner of SmackDown's Elimination Chamber match at the event would get an immediate championship match against Reigns that same night. Pearce named Reigns' cousin, Jey Uso, and Kevin Owens, who Reigns defeated at the Royal Rumble in a Last Man Standing match, as the first two participants for the match, with the other four spots determined by qualification matches that same episode. Baron Corbin and Sami Zayn then qualified by defeating Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio in a tag team match, and later, Cesaro and Daniel Bryan defeated SmackDown Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode in a non-title tag team match to fill the final two spots.

On the February 12 episode of SmackDown, while women's Royal Rumble match winner Bianca Belair and SmackDown Women's Champion Sasha Banks were discussing who Belair should pick as her WrestleMania opponent, they were interrupted by WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler. The two teams brawled, with Banks and Belair standing tall. The following week, Banks and Belair teamed with Reginald to defeat Jax, Baszler, and Bayley when Reginald pinned Jax. Later that night, Jax and Baszler were scheduled to defend the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against Banks and Belair at Elimination Chamber.