In the WWE, championships have been defended in many dangerous gimmick matches like the TLC match or inside a Hell In A Cell, but no match is as brutal and dangerous as compared to the Elimination Chamber match. Only a select few have been fortunate enough to defend their championship inside the chamber.
Throughout the years, World Titles, tag team championships, women's titles and even the Intercontinental Title have been put on the line. On some occasions, the championship has been retained but on some, the title changed hands, sometimes, controversially too.
10 Defended: Summerslam 2003, Triple H
Summerslam 2003 featured one of the most interesting Elimination Chamber matches of all time with the champion Triple H defending his World Heavyweight Championship against the legends of professional wrestling in Nash, Michaels, Orton, Jericho and Goldberg.
While Goldberg was cleaning house eliminating everyone except Nash, including that famous Chris Jericho spot, the fans were almost certain that they were going to get a new champion. However, Ric Flair handed The Game a sledgehammer which he used to attack Goldberg with while the latter was going for a spear. That shot proved to be the final nail in the coffin as Triple H retained his championship after that.
9 Changed Hands: Survivor Series 2002, Shawn Michaels
From one of the most exciting matches to the very first elimination chamber match. Survivor Series 2002 saw Triple H (again) putting his World Heavyweight Championship on the line in a hellacious battle against the likes of Michaels, RVD, Jericho and Kane.
Bloodied faces, broken chamber glasses, lionsaults, pedigrees and sweet chin musics later, Shawn Michaels pinned Triple H to a monster pop and became the new World Heavyweight Champion. Despite losing, Triple H still holds the record for lasting the longest in an elimination chamber match at almost 39 minutes and 19 seconds.
8 Defended: New Year's Revolution 2006, John Cena
New Year's Revolution 2006 is one of the most talked-about PPVs even today because of what happened after the main event. However, the match before was solid pitting the then-champion John Cena against 5 other incredibly talented superstars.
While John Cena was busted open during the match, he was able to finish the match and retain his championship. Just then, Vince McMahon stood on top of the ramp and announced that Edge was cashing in his Money In The Bank contract on that very night. Edge went on to spear Cena twice to become the new WWE Champion in one of the most shocking moments in WWE history. Although Edge was the new champ, Cena was able to retain his championship, technically, inside the chamber.
7 Changed Hands: Elimination Chamber 2010, Chris Jericho
The chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship was off to a fiery start even before the match had officially begun. The defending champion, The Undertaker, was involved in a pyro accident during his entrance where he was engulfed in flames temporarily. After examination by the ringside doctor, he was cleared to compete.
The match boiled down to Chris Jericho and The Undertaker. After delivering The Last Ride, Undertaker was setting up Y2J for The Tombstone Piledriver when out of nowhere, Shawn Michaels appears from underneath the chamber floor and superkicks The Phenom. Jericho capitalized on it and pinned him to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. Jericho also holds the record for the longest cumulative time spent inside the chamber.
6 Defended: Elimination Chamber 2011, Edge
The Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011 was one of those matches when the starting 2 participants ended up being the final 2 as well. Edge and Rey Mysterio began the match and both of them have outlasted some big names in The Big Show and Kane.
The storytelling was amazing between the 2 wrestlers. Mysterio kicking out of the spear and Edge kicking out of Rey's 619/Splash combo left the crowd wondering who would walk away as the champion. Ultimately, a mid-air spear by Edge sealed the deal as Edge successfully retained his championship.
5 Changed Hands: No Way Out 2009, Edge
Consider this; Edge entered this PPV as WWE Champion and walked out as World Heavyweight Champion. Edge was eliminated very early in the WWE Championship match by Jeff Hardy only for him to attack Kofi Kingston during his entrance and perform a con-chair-to on the steel steps before locking himself in one of the pods and take Kofi's place in the chamber match.
The champ John Cena was eliminated mid-way after taking a Codebreaker-619-Spear combo. The final two participants, Edge and Rey Mysterio gave it their all but in the end, a spear from Edge gave him the victory and made him the new champion.
4 Defended: Elimination Chamber 2018, Alexa Bliss
The 2018 Elimination Chamber PPV kicked off with the first-ever women's Elimination Chamber match with Alexa Bliss defending her Raw Women's Championship against Bayley, Sasha, Mandy, Sonya and veteran Mickie James.
All the 6 women gave it their best with amazing storytelling especially between Sasha Banks and Bayley. The match came down to Bliss and Banks and although most of the fans expected Sasha to dethrone Bliss, the latter found a way to nail Sasha with a DDT from the top turnbuckle and retain her championship.
3 Changed Hands: No Way Out 2009, Triple H
This is that same match where Edge was eliminated very early on. After Edge was eliminated, a new champion was guaranteed. Triple H, The Undertaker, Jeff Hardy, Vladamir Kozlov and The Big Show all had their eyes on the prize.
After hitting Big Show with a Swanton Bomb from the top of one of the pods, Jeff was eliminated by Undertaker. Undertaker and Triple H went at it before finally, Triple H delivered a second pedigree for the victory. Triple H holds the second most number of culiminative eliminations inside the chamber match. No Way Out 2009 was one of those PPVs where both the major titles changed hands.
2 Defended: Elimination Chamber 2014, Randy Orton
2014 was definitely a wild year in professional wrestling as the WWE Universe witnessed one of the best underdog stories of all time in Daniel Bryan. His historic win at Wrestlemania 30 was the icing on the cake. Before the show of shows, Bryan was involved in an Elimination Chamber match where Randy Orton defended his WWE World Heavyweight Championship in what was Randy's best chamber match.
Thanks to interference from The Wyatt Family, Cena was eliminated. Kane, who had assisted with removing The Wyatts from the match ended up giving Bryan a chokeslam and screwing Bryan out of the championship again. Orton capitalized and retained his title after an RKO.
1 Changed Hands: Elimination Chamber 2017, Bray Wyatt
The road to Wrestlemania 33 had some amazing storytelling between that year's Royal Rumble winner, Randy Orton and the leader of his faction, Bray Wyatt. Before their match at the grandest stage, Bray Wyatt was involved in an elimination chamber match for the WWE championship.
After delivering a match of the year at the Royal Rumble, Cena and Styles opened up the match. Late into the match, Wyatt eliminated Cena and a new champion was set to be crowned. Wyatt countered the Phenomenal Forearm and hit Styles with a Sister Abigail to win his first WWE Championship.