Professional wrestling legend and two times WWE Hall of Famer Booker T who is a former five times WCW World Heavyweight Champion and a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion recently talked about the first ever Elimination Chamber match and claimed that the structure of the cell was not safe.
The idea of the Elimination Chamber match was pitched back in 2002. The first brand extension took place just a number of months ago. Both brands were trying to create something new for themselves. In the meantime, Monday night RAW came out with the idea of the Elimination Chamber where the World Heavyweight Champion Triple H was booked to defend his title against five of the biggest man of Monday Night RAW back in the time; Shawn Michaels, Kane, Chris Jericho, Booker T and Rob Van Dam.
Booker T Reveals How Unsafe The Original Elimination Chamber Structure Was
The concept of the match was quite new in that time and it was something that fans really loved. Two of the six men would start the match, rest of participants will be locked inside small cells inside the chamber. Every five minute, one individual will come out of his particular cell and it would continue until everyone is out of their cells. The participant that would get pinned or forth to submit would be eliminated from the match. The Last Man Standing would be declared as the winner. The concept was quite revolutionary back in the time.
Triple H was already done with having feuds with four of the five men who were involved in the match. He had feud with Chris Jericho which went on to Wrestlemania X-8, after that he had a feud with Shawn Michaels followed by Rob Van Dam and Kane. Booker T was one of the most hottest happening wrestlers back in the time and he got involved in A Feud with Triple H at Wrestlemania XIX as well. So the whole match was excellently booked. The match itself was quite good as well.
However, Booker T who is a former five times WCW World Heavyweight Champion and a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion recently spoke on his Hall of Fame podcast where he claimed that the structure of the cell was not safe. He said;
“I did not want to be in that match. I knew somebody was going to get hurt. You can slip down, brace yourself and literally hit your elbow and be out for six months. That’s how much steel was around that grate. It was nuts. It was like a monstrosity. There was no way you could go in that thing and not get hurt.
“People don’t really realize how serious that match was that night as there was no way around going out there and not being a stuntman. You’re just going to take it. You’re going to be hurting the next morning. It was scary. That’s why you never saw me in a whole lot of those matches because I never really lobbied to be in those kinds of matches. Of course, these guys today thought they could go out and do those same moves in the Elimination Chamber. No way. You saw my face. My face was scared like I don’t want to do this.
“Today it’s a really nice chamber. You’re still going to go out there and it’s not going to be a cake walk, but I don’t think there’s anywhere near as many ways to get hurt.”
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription