IWE Elimination Chamber (2018)

From Iwe

Elimination Chamber (2018) (known as No Escape (2018) in Germany) is an upcoming professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and IWE Network event produced by IWE for the Raw brand. It will take place on February 25, 2018, at T-Mobile Arena in the Las Vegas Valley, in Paradise, Nevada. It will be the eighth event under the Elimination Chamber chronology and the final Raw-exclusive pay-per-view under the second brand split as following WrestleMania 34, all IWE pay-per-views will be dual-branded, featuring wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown brands. The 2018 event will also be the first to feature a seven-man Elimination Chamber match, and the first event to include a women's Elimination Chamber match.

Background

The card will include matches resulting from scripted storylines and have results predetermined by IWE on the Raw brand, one of IWE's brand divisions. Storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television show Raw.

At the Royal Rumble, Shinsuke Nakamura won the men's Royal Rumble match and decided to stay on SmackDown to challenge for the IWE Championship at WrestleMania 34. This left Rob Lesnar, who at the same event retained his Universal Championship in a triple threat match against Braun Strowman and Kane, without an opponent at WrestleMania. In response, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle scheduled an Elimination Chamber match to determine the number one contender for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania. Six qualification matches were scheduled. The first three were contested on the January 29 episode of Raw. In the first, Strowman defeated Kane in a last man standing match to qualify. Kane was taken to a local medical center after the match. Elias then qualified by defeating "Woken" Matt Hooper after a distraction from Bray Wyatt, and free agent Dustin Simpson defeated Finn Bálor. to qualify. The following week, Elias defeated Cena and Strowman in a triple threat match to determine who would get to enter the chamber last. That same episode, Roman Reigns and Intercontinental Champion The Miz qualified by defeating Wyatt and Apollo Crews, respectively. On the next episode, Cena defeated The Miz in a match where the loser would enter the chamber first. Later, the final qualification match took place in what was originally a second chance fatal four-way match between Bálor, Wyatt, Hardy, and Crews. However, Angle added Seth Rollins, thus making it a fatal five-way. Rollins and Bálor both simultaneously pinned Wyatt. It was decided that both would be a part of the Elimination Chamber match, marking the first chamber match to feature seven participants.

On the January 29 episode of Raw, Commissioner Kaila Matteson convinced Asuka, who won the inaugural women's Royal Rumble match the previous night at the Royal Rumble, to wait until after Elimination Chamber to pick which championship to challenge for at WrestleMania 34, as Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss was scheduled to defend her title in the first-ever women's Elimination Chamber match. The following week, General Manager Kurt Angle announced that Bayley, Mandy Rose, Mickie James, Sasha Banks, and Sonya Deville would be the other competitors in the Elimination Chamber match. Bliss came out and questioned Angle as to why she had to defend her title in the Elimination Chamber match while Universal Champion Rob Lesnar did not and accused Angle of sexism. Angle retorted that Lesnar retained his title at the Royal Rumble, but Bliss had not defended her title since TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in October. The following week, Bayley defeated Banks, and Rose and Deville defeated Bliss and James.

On the January 15 episode of Raw, Asuka defeated Nia Jax after the referee stopped the match, who deemed Jax unable to continue. Both then competed in the inaugural women's Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble, which Asuka won for the right to challenge for either the Raw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 34. On the February 5 episode of Raw, General Manager Kurt Angle announced that Nia Jax would face Asuka at Elimination Chamber and if she were to defeat Asuka, who would still receive her championship opportunity at WrestleMania, Jax would also be inserted into the Raw Women's Championship match at the event. The following week, after a match between Bayley and Banks, Jax attacked both women post-match to send a message to Asuka. Whilst walking up the ramp, she proclaimed that she would be the one to end Asuka's undefeated streak.

Following Asuka's Royal Rumble match victory at the Royal Rumble, former UFC star Ronda Rousey made an appearance and interrupted Asuka, Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, and SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair. Rousey's appearance confirmed that she had signed full-time with IWE. On the February 12 episode of Raw, it was announced that Rousey would sign her Raw contract at Elimination Chamber.

Event

Pre-show

Preliminary matches

Main event

Results

Women Elimination Chamber match

Notes

References

External links