Elimination Chamber (2015)

Elimination Chamber is a gimmick pay-per-view first produced by WWE in 2010. It had been held every year in February; 2015 was the first of two times in which the event occurred outside of that month and was held in May (the second was the 2020 event held in March that year). 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.[8] 2015 was the sixth event under the Elimination Chamber chronology and featured the first-ever tag team Elimination Chamber match. It was also the last Elimination Chamber to be held until the 2017 event, subsequently also being the last before the reintroduction of the brand extension in July 2016, which again split the roster between the Raw and SmackDown brands.[3]

The 2015 event was originally scheduled to be a house show, a wrestling show that is not televised, but it was announced during the May 11 episode of Raw that Elimination Chamber would return to pay-per-view. The annual Elimination Chamber event was initially replaced in February by Fastlane because many arenas were not able to physically support the Elimination Chamber structure, thus making it easier to book the February pay-per-view event without the structure. WWE's other originally scheduled live event for May 31 in Greenville, South Carolina was canceled in order to bring the entire WWE roster to Corpus Christi, Texas, replaced by an upcoming episode of Raw in Greenville for November 16.[9]

Since 2011, 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.[10][11]

The card consisted of eight 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, with results predetermined by WWE's writers.[12][13] Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.

On May 17, an Elimination Chamber match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship was scheduled for the event.[14] On the May 18 episode of Raw, R-Truth, Sheamus, King Barrett, Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, and Rusev were added to the match.[15] On May 31, Rusev was declared unable to compete because of an injury sustained three nights prior on SmackDown.[16][17] Rusev was replaced by Mark Henry.[18]

At Payback, The New Day defeated Tyson Kidd and Cesaro to retain the Tag Team Championship in a 2-out-of-3 falls Tag team match. Later in the event, The New Day were scheduled to defend the titles in a Tag team Elimination Chamber match at the event.[14] On the May 18 episode of Raw, Kidd and Cesaro, Los Matadores, The Ascension, The Lucha Dragons, and The Prime Time Players were revealed as challengers.[15]

Kevin Owens defeated John Cena in his debut match at this event.

On the May 18 episode of Raw, NXT Champion Kevin Owens answered United States Champion John Cena's weekly United States Championship Open Challenge. However, instead of fighting Cena, Owens attacked him, saying they would fight on his "own terms". Later in the night, Owens was granted a match to face Cena at the event.[15]

On the May 18 episode of Raw, Dean Ambrose challenged WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins to a title match but Rollins refused. Later in the night, Ambrose attacked Rollins until The Authority granted Ambrose a title match against Rollins at Elimination Chamber. On the last Raw before the event, The Authority tried to avoid the match by having Ambrose taken away from the arena in a police van before the official contract signing. However, Ambrose drove the van back into the arena and signed the contract for the match.[15]

At Payback, Naomi and Tamina defeated The Bella Twins.[14] After Nikki defeated Naomi by disqualification in a Divas Championship match on the May 18 episode of Raw, Paige returned from injury and attacked both contestants.[15] On the May 21 episode of SmackDown, Naomi and Tamina attacked Paige before Nikki attacked Naomi, Tamina, and Paige. Nikki was then scheduled to defend the title against Paige and Naomi in a triple threat match at the event with Tamina banned from ringside.[19]

On the May 18 episode of Raw, Bo Dallas confronted Neville during an interview and later, after Neville had lost a match to King Barrett, attacked Neville.[15] On the May 25 episode of Raw, after Neville defeated Stardust, Dallas attacked Neville again. A match between the two was scheduled for the event.[20]

On the May 25 episode of Raw, a special broadcast of "Miz TV" with Daniel Bryan as the special guest was set for the Kickoff pre-show.[20]

During the Elimination Chamber Kickoff pre-show, Stardust faced Zack Ryder. Stardust pinned Ryder after "The Queen's Crossbow" to win the match.

The Miz hosted an edition of "Miz TV", with Daniel Bryan as his guest. The Miz began to take credit for Bryan's accomplishments, which led to Bryan calling out The Meta Powers (Curtis Axel and Macho Mandow). The Meta Powers attacked The Miz to end the segment.

The actual pay-per-view opened with the Elimination Chamber tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) entered at #1 whilst The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) entered at #2. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro entered at #3 and Los Matadores (Primo and Epico) entered at #4, along with their mascot El Torito. Los Matadores were eliminated by The Acension when Diego was pinned by Konnor after the "Fall of Man". The Lucha Dragons were eliminated by The Ascension when Kalisto was pinned by Konnor after the "Fall of Man". The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil) entered at #5 and eliminated The Ascension when Young pinned Viktor after a "Gut Check". The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) entered at #6. Cesaro and Kidd were eliminated by The Prime Time Players when Young pinned Cesaro with a schoolboy. The Prime Time Players were eliminated when O'Neil was pinned by Kingston after a "Trouble in Paradise", resulting in The New Day retaining the WWE Tag Team Championship.

Next, Nikki Bella defended the WWE Divas Championship against Paige and Naomi. Near the end of the match, Naomi performed an inverted frankensteiner on Paige for a near-fall and then attempted an enzuigiri on Nikki. Nikki countered into a "Rack Attack" to retain the title.

After that, NXT Champion Kevin Owens faced WWE United States Champion John Cena. Owens executed a pop-up powerbomb on Cena for a near-fall. Cena performed an "Attitude Adjustment" on Owens for a near-fall. Owens taunted and mocked Cena’s “you can’t see me” gesture, but Cena applied the STF, only for Owens to escape. Owens executed an "Attitude Adjustment" on Cena for a near-fall. Cena performed a clothesline on Owens and attempted another one, but Owens executed a second pop-up powerbomb on Cena to win the match.

In the fourth match, Neville faced Bo Dallas. At the end of the match, as Dallas attempted a "Bo-Dog", Neville countered into an enzuigiri on Dallas. Neville executed a "Red Arrow" on Dallas to win the match.

Next was the Elimination Chamber match for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship. King Barrett and Dolph Ziggler began the match as the first two participants. R-Truth entered at #3, and Mark Henry entered the match early at #4 after Barrett tackled Ziggler into Henry's Pod, breaking the Pod. Ryback entered at #5. Barrett was eliminated by R-Truth following a superkick from Ziggler, Snake eyes from Ryback and a "Lie Detector" from R-Truth. Sheamus entered at #6. R-Truth was eliminated by Ryback following "Shell Shocked". Henry was eliminated by Sheamus following a "Brogue Kick". Ziggler was eliminated by Sheamus following a "Brogue Kick". Ryback pinned Sheamus following "Shell Shocked", thus winning his first Intercontinental Championship and his first title in WWE overall.

In the main event, Seth Rollins defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Dean Ambrose. At the end of the match, Ambrose attempted a diving elbow drop, but Rollins pulled the referee in front of him who was knocked down. Rollins attempted a Phoenix splash, but Ambrose avoided it and pinned Rollins after a "Dirty Deeds", giving Ambrose the championship. However, the decision was changed to being Rollins being disqualified due to using the referee as a guard, so the championship didn't change hands. After the match, Rollins, Kane, Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury attacked Ambrose. Roman Reigns then appeared, attacking Rollins with a superman punch and threw the title belt to Ambrose. Reigns then fought off Kane with a spear and Noble and Mercury with superman punches. The event ended with Ambrose and Reigns leaving through the crowd with the championship.