Elimination Chamber 2023 set new viewership and ticket sale records for the event.
In a press release that was issued on Tuesday, WWE touted that Elimination Chamber 2023 was the most-viewed and highest-grossing Elimination Chamber event in company history. The show was held at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada this past Saturday.
The press release states that Elimination Chamber had a 54 percent viewership increase over last year, which was previously the record for an Elimination Chamber event. Elimination Chamber 2022 was a Saudi Arabia show that aired live on Peacock in the afternoon.
Elimination Chamber 2023 had the largest gate in Elimination Chamber history and was also the largest gate for any WWE show ever held in Montreal. This was the fourth time a WWE pay-per-view has ever taken place in Montreal. It was the first WWE PPV to be held in the city since 2009.
“In addition, 2023 Elimination Chamber broke the all-time event merchandise record and generated the highest-grossing Priority Pass fan experience packages for any non-‘Big Five’ premium live event through WWE’s partnership with On Location. Elimination Chamber sponsorship revenue was up nearly 300 percent versus 2022,” WWE wrote.
“On social, content featuring WWE Superstars Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn generated nearly 20 million views across WWE’s social platforms.”
Hometown hero Zayn challenged Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the main event of Elimination Chamber but came up short after Reigns beat him down with a steel chair.
Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez shared their thoughts on Sami Zayn’s loss on Wrestling Observer Radio.
The start of Sunday morning’s show had Bryan and Dave detailing their thoughts on the main event of Saturday’s Elimination Chamber event. Meltzer compared it to the situation between Drew McIntyre and Reigns last fall.
“These situations are very rare. It’s sort of like what happened with Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre, but this was way bigger,” Meltzer said. “You never get another chance to do this again. You can have him win later or somewhere else. But this was the night.”
Alvarez felt that if Zayn was going to win, Saturday night had to be the night. Any other night in the future won’t match what could have happened in Montreal.
“I’m sure when he gets the big win over Roman Reigns people are going to go crazy and love it and is going to get a big reaction, but you can’t have today again,” Alvarez said.
Later, Alvarez said that there was “literally no good reason” that Zayn shouldn’t have won, with Meltzer agreeing.
“Given that Sami is the one who’s drawing the ratings, Roman wasn’t on [SmackDown] last night and it drew another big rating. That show is doing well with or without Roman. The draw is Sami. Given that evidence, if you are analyzing the data, by doing so you’re looking it and going like ‘we will probably do better with Sami’. I mean that’s the conclusion I’ve come to. Yeah, we’ve spent a year on Roman, but guess what? Somebody passed him up!”
Meltzer ended their discussion saying that six months from now, we’ll know if this was the right call by WWE and it’s something that will have to be re-evaluated.
Zayn lost in the main event of Elimination Chamber on Saturday after he inadvertently laid out Jey Uso, who had come to the ring during a ref bump and was conflicted on helping Reigns. Reigns used the opportunity to hit the spear and win the match. Jimmy Uso and Reigns continued to attack Zayn until Kevin Owens made the save.
Logan Paul has once again prevented Seth Rollins from picking up a big win.
Rollins was on the verge of winning the United States Championship at Elimination Chamber on Saturday night, but Paul interfered to cost him the match. After Paul attacked Rollins, Austin Theory hit A-Town Down on Rollins to retain the US title.
Theory, Rollins, Montez Ford, Damian Priest, Johnny Gargano, and Bronson Reed were the Elimination Chamber match participants. Ford had a strong performance in the match but was eliminated after being given a stomp onto the Chamber platform. When that happened, there was an angle where the Chamber door was opened so medical personnel could tend to Ford. That allowed Paul to enter the ring and attack Rollins. Paul gave Rollins a Buckshot Lariat and then laid him out with a stomp.
Paul also eliminated Rollins in January’s men’s Royal Rumble match. It’s expected that this is leading to Rollins vs. Paul taking place at WrestleMania 39.
I don’t really like Logan Paul. I’ll just say it, a lot of us don’t really like Logan Paul. I don’t like Logan Paul. I don’t really need him in my locker room, in my space. Guy’s ultra-talented as far as athletic ability is concerned. Snuck up on me at the Rumble and dumped me – fine, whatever. I took my eyes off the ball, that one’s on me. But don’t go bragging about it like you did something otherworldly. It’s probably the coolest thing Logan’s ever going to do in his life is throw me out of the Rumble.
I just advise him to stay in his lane, I guess is what I would say. Because he’s had what, three [or] four matches? And again, athletic freak, no doubt about it. But at the end of the day, he’s not a wrestler. He doesn’t want to be a wrestler. He just wants to be famous. He doesn’t care about the industry. He’s not a wrestler. And so I think best for him to just stay in his lane, whatever his lane is. I don’t know, like buying counterfeit Pokemon cards – if that’s your lane, stay in that lane. But don’t come knocking on my door because I will knock you out. And you don’t have your brother for backup because he’s about to get cooked by this dude coming up in a couple weeks or whatever and he’s not going to be around. So at some point we’re going to have to come face-to-face. And I just really don’t think he wants to – I don’t think he wants none, as they say.
Montreal hosts its first WWE pay-per-view since 2009 as Elimination Chamber takes place at the Bell Centre.
Hometown hero Sami Zayn will wrestle the biggest match of his career when he challenges Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in tonight’s main event. Zayn split from The Bloodline when he struck Reigns with a steel chair at the Royal Rumble last month.
Reigns has ordered The Usos not to show up in Montreal this weekend.
Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair will find out her WrestleMania challenger tonight. Asuka, Raquel Rodriguez, Liv Morgan, Nikki Cross, Natalya, and Carmella are competing in an Elimination Chamber match for the right to challenge Belair at WrestleMania.
The United States Championship will be on the line in tonight’s other Elimination Chamber match. Austin Theory defends against Seth Rollins, Johnny Gargano, Bronson Reed, Montez Ford, and Damian Priest.
Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley will look to settle their rivalry as they face off one-on-one for the third time ever. Plus, Edge & Beth Phoenix will be out for revenge as they take on Finn Balor & Rhea Ripley.
Elimination Chamber streams live on Peacock/WWE Network starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The pre-show begins at 7 p.m.
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Show Report —
Kayla Braxton, Wade Barrett, Kevin Patrick, and Peter Rosenberg were the pre-show panelists. It was the usual assortment of video packages and talking-head segments. Ariel Helwani joined for the final few minutes to talk about Montreal.
RAW Women’s Championship #1 Contender Elimination Chamber match: Asuka defeated Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Natalya, Carmella, & Nikki Cross [19:25]
This was not good. The final four eliminations all happened within two minutes and there were, like, two high spots. Felt more like a slow-paced six-pack challenge than a brutal Elimination Chamber. Maybe Nikki was supposed to be in the final two but got injured? At least Asuka was the correct winner.
The winner faces Bianca Belair for the RAW Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 39.
Natalya and Liv Morgan were the first two competitors. Liv got the advantage early on, sending Natalya into the chamber wall, but Natalya avoided a running attack as Liv ran face-first into a pod. Raquel was next in, taking down Natalya with a clothesline. She stacked both opponents up in the corner and splashed them.
There was a spot where Raquel had both opponents caught, but Natalya maneuvered out with a sunset bomb into the fence. An inadvertent double-team facebuster on Raquel allowed Natalya to cover for two.
Next in was Nikki, and she got her customary run-wild sequence. She eventually climbed a pod and dove onto all three opponents with a crossbody. Carmella followed but immediately locked herself back in her pod. Raquel took care of that problem by busting Nikki through the plexiglass wall, then covering to eliminate Nikki.
Liv hit a sunset bomb off the top of a pod (out of nowhere) and Carmella covered for a good near fall. Asuka was the final entrant and she went right after Carmella before facing off with Raquel. She locked Raquel in an octopus hold, but Liv flew in with a missile dropkick for two.
Carmella stopped Liv from hitting Oblivion on Natalya, allowing the latter to lock on the Sharpshooter. She wouldn’t tap, so Asuka barred Liv’s arm and she passed out for the elimination. Natalya went for the Sharpshooter on Raquel, but Carmella cut her off with a superkick for the three count. A series of kicks allowed both Asuka and Carmella to eliminate Raquel — three eliminations in about a minute.
Asuka and Carmella were the final two and they traded cradles before Asuka applied an arm submission for the win.
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Bobby Lashley defeated Brock Lesnar via disqualification [4:38]
This was awesome until the laughably bad finish.
Lesnar immediately drove Lashley into the corner and tossed him with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Lashley fired back with two Spears and went for the Hurt Lock, which Brock blocked and turned into an F5 for a close near fall. A second F5 got two more. Lashley escaped a third F5 attempt and Speared Lesnar a third time.
Lashley applied the Hurt Lock. The crowd was completely behind Lesnar as he fought to escape. Lesnar then just kicked his foot back for the low blow disqualification.
– After the match, Lesnar hit the official with an F5 and smashed Lashley with another one. He put a stamp on things by F5ing Lashley through the announcer’s table. He then put the referee through the carnage with a final F5.
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Ariel Helwani and Georges St-Pierre were shown in the crowd. Michael Cole referred to Helwani as “unbiased.”
I enjoyed this a lot. Both acts are hot, and Edge is a pro at sports entertainment drama-style matches. Beth was really good considering it’s been over a decade since she’s been a regular active wrestler.
This was typical mixed-tag rules — men vs. men, women vs. women. Beth had some sweet Bull Nakano makeup on. Edge out-maneuvered Bálor at the start. Beth and Rhea tagged in and had a nice power battle. Out on the floor, Beth whipped Rhea into the steel steps. Interference from Dominik allowed Rhea to trip Beth up on the top turnbuckle. Edge chased Dominik up the ramp but he quickly returned.
Beth started a comeback with a DDT, but just as she was about to make a tag, Bálor pulled Edge off the apron and hit a Final Cut on the floor. Beth came back with a superplex and finally reached Edge for the tag. Edge ran wild on Bálor, locking on an Edgecator as Beth did the same on Rhea. Dominik tossed Rhea brass knuckles and she subsequently struck Edge. Bálor covered, and Beth was supposed to break up the pin, but she came in a little late for an awkward near fall.
Bálor climbed the ropes, but Beth tossed Dominik into the ropes, knocking Bálor down. Both women got involved, powerbombing their male opponents. After a double clothesline, everyone was down. Rhea set Beth up for another con-chair-to, referencing their match last year, but Beth escaped and hit the Glam Slam. Back in the ring, Edge hit Edgecution and took out Dominik with a suicide dive. Bálor countered a Spear attempt into a sling blade.
Edge fired up with a Spear, then a Shatter Machine gave Edge and Beth the win.
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Roman Reigns was backstage with Paul Heyman drinking some C4 energy. Heyman put him over before the main event, encouraging him not to worry about the Montreal crowd.
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WWE United States Championship Elimination Chamber match: Austin Theory (c) defeated Seth “FREAKIN” Rollins, Johnny Gargano, Damian Priest, Bronson Reed, & Montez Ford [31:59]
Great chamber. Tons of hard-hitting action and violent spots — and everyone got to shine. The added bonus of Logan Paul, who’s just a natural at pro wrestling, made this really memorable too.
Rollins and Gargano kicked things off with a technical exchange. Rollins teased an early Pedigree, but Gargano escaped and landed a spear through the ropes. Theory was the next man in, and he used the chamber to beat down both opponents. Rollins and Gargano recovered and ping-ponged Theory back and forth with strikes. Theory tried to rekindle an alliance with his former compatriot in The Way, but Gargano wasn’t having it. Theory tried to lock himself in his pod, but Rollins and Gargano trapped him inside and beat him up.
Priest came in next, running wild on everyone. A raised flatliner on Gargano got two, then a Killswitch on Rollins got two more. Priest hit his step-up “dive” on Theory, which looked like it really hurt, then kicks on all opponents concluded a nice run of offense. Rollins cut Priest off with a superplex into a falcon arrow for two.
Reed entered the match and of course took out everyone. He hit a double Samoan Drop on both Rollins and Gargano, then bounced Priest off the pod — it looked like it was supposed to break. Reed then landed a diving shoulder tackle on Theory. The last man in was Ford, who stopped Reed’s run of offense and planted Theory with a spinebuster. He went for a People’s Elbow, but Reed leveled him with a lariat.
There was a crazy spot where Gargano was on Reed’s shoulders. Rollins landed a diving clothesline, which turned Gargano into a reverse hurricanrana on Reed, to which Ford covered for two. Ford climbed the wall to escape Priest, then continued to climb until he was hanging upside down until falling onto the rest of the competitors — quite similar to what Lince Dorado did a few years ago.
Ford, Rollins, and Gargano all hit their finishers on Reed to pin him for the first elimination. Rollins countered a slingshot by climbing the chamber, and he and Gargano ended up on top of a pod together. Rollins beat Gargano down, then put him in powerbomb position, leading to a wild moment where Gargano countered into a hurricanrana, sending Rollins flying off the pod into the pile.
Gargano landed superkicks on everyone, then hit a One Final Beat on Theory on the outside. Priest cut him off and hit the Razor’s Edge for the elimination. Rollins and Ford cut Priest off with a doomsday blockbuster (just like the Street Profits would hit) for another elimination.
Rollins and Ford traded strikes in the center of the ring. Ford wiped out both opponents with dives. He went for the frog splash, but Theory got his knees up, Rollins hit the stomp, and Theory covered to eliminate Ford.
They called officials in to check on Ford after the stomp. He was helped out of the chamber, but it was a work — Rollins hit Theory with the Pedigree, but the opening allowed Logan Paul to run in and hit Rollins with a Buckshot lariat and a stomp. Theory hit A-Town Down for the win.
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WWE Undisputed World Championship: Roman Reigns (w/ Paul Heyman) defeated Sami Zayn [32:10]
Positives: Incredible environment and atmosphere. Everyone played their parts perfectly for what they were going for. Post-match was great too. Negatives: The match just wasn’t that good. It was every Roman match you’ve seen over the past three years, with the exact same ending we’ve come to expect. Until they do something different and interesting, nothing will change. We’ll see at WrestleMania.
Crowd was absolutely electric for the entrances and ring introductions. After about four minutes, they finally locked up. Roman got the better of a couple early exchanges before Sami baited Roman to the floor and landed a tope con giro. Sami rained down strikes in the corner and landed a diving elbow, but he only got one. Roman cut Sami off with a right hand.
Roman dominated for a long heat segment. He jawed with Sami’s family at ringside. Eventually, 14 minutes in, Sami avoided a clothesline and hit one of his own. He took the fight to Roman on the outside. Back in, Sami climbed the ropes, but Roman popped up and cut him off. Sami fought back and hit a sunset bomb for two.
Sami went for the Blue Thunder Bomb, but Roman blocked it and hit a Rock Bottom for two. Sami countered a Superman Punch into an exploder into the corner. He went for the Helluva Kick, but Roman popped up into a Superman Punch for a good near fall.
Roman went for the Spear, but Sami cradled for two and hit another corner exploder. Sami cocked the fist and hit a Superman Punch followed by the Helluva Kick for an awesome near fall. Roman ducked out of the ring to avoid another Helluva Kick. On the outside, Roman stopped a Sami dive with a punch.
Sami avoided a Spear, sending Roman through the barricade. He then hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for another close near fall. Roman drove Sami into the official, so when Sami came back and nailed another Helluva Kick, the referee couldn’t count.
Jimmy Uso ran out and hit Sami with repeated superkicks plus an Uso splash. A second official ran out and counted a pin, but Sami kicked out at the last second. Sami took out Jimmy, but Roman landed a Spear for yet another great near fall.
Roman talked down to Sami, baiting him into a hard slap. Sami avoided a Superman Punch which hit an official for a second ref bump. Heyman handed Roman a chair, but Jey Uso appeared and stood in between Roman and Sami. Roman demanded that Jey use the chair on Sami, but he wouldn’t do it. Sami popped up and went for a Spear, but Roman moved out of the way and Sami inadvertently Speared Jey. Roman repeatedly whacked Sami with the chair and Speared him for the win.
– After the match, Kevin Owens ran out and attacked the Bloodline. He Pop-up Powerbombed Jimmy through the announce table and grabbed a chair. Owens moved toward Roman, but Heyman annoyed him with punches, so Owens sent him packing with a Stunner. Sami hit a Helluva Kick on Roman.
Bray Wyatt has issued a challenge to the winner of Saturday’s Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley bout.
Appearing on Friday’s SmackDown, Wyatt and Uncle Howdy cleared the ring of Hit Row. Wyatt then took the microphone and said that now that he is in control of himself and of Howdy, that the winner of Lesnar vs. Lashley “should run.”
Wyatt last wrestled on WWE television at the Royal Rumble on January 28, defeating LA Knight in a Mountain Dew Pitch Black match. That bout remains Wyatt’s only televised match since returning to WWE on October 8, 2022 after being released on July 31, 2021.
Since the Rumble, Wyatt has also defeated Knight twice in dark matches at SmackDown tapings, and also in two Pitch Black matches at house shows.
Lesnar and Lashley’s contest on Saturday is their rubber match, as each has one victory in their two prior singles meetings.
WWE has started to reveal its plans for February’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.
It was announced today that a United States Championship match will take place inside of the Elimination Chamber at the Chamber PPV, which is being held in Montreal on Saturday, February 18. Austin Theory is the current United States Champion.
Qualifying matches for the Elimination Chamber bout will begin on Raw tonight. Seth Rollins vs. Chad Gable and Baron Corbin vs. Johnny Gargano are the qualifiers that are taking place on tonight’s show. The winners will become the first confirmed participants to join Theory in the US title Elimination Chamber match.
Theory won the United States title at Survivor Series last November, defeating Rollins and Bobby Lashley in a triple threat match.
This is the first match that’s been made official for the Elimination Chamber PPV. There’s also expected to be a women’s Elimination Chamber bout.
In Sunday’s Daily Update, Dave Meltzer reported that Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn is “now as confirmed as it can be” for the Elimination Chamber PPV. Reigns retained his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Kevin Owens at the Royal Rumble. Following the match, there was a significant angle where Zayn split from The Bloodline.
WWE is bringing the Elimination Chamber to Montreal in 2023.
It was announced today that next year’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view will take place at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on Saturday, February 18, 2023. The Bell Centre will also host SmackDown the night before the PPV.
Combo tickets for Elimination Chamber and SmackDown will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, November 18. Individual tickets are set to go on sale on Friday, December 2 at 10 a.m. Eastern.
This will be the first WWE PPV to be held in Montreal since Breaking Point 2009. It’s the first PPV to take place in Canada since SummerSlam 2019, which was held in Toronto.
Elimination Chamber 2022 also took place outside of the United States. That PPV was held in Jeddah as one of WWE’s two Saudi Arabia events for this year.
As has become an annual tradition, Elimination Chamber will help set the stage for WrestleMania 39.
