Elimination Chamber (2026): Difference between revisions

WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event

The 2026 Elimination Chamber, also promoted as Elimination Chamber: Chicago (known as No Escape: Chicago in Germany), is an upcoming professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It will be the 16th Elimination Chamber event and will take place on February 28, 2026, at United Center in Chicago, Illinois, held for wrestlers from the promotion’s Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event is based around the Elimination Chamber match, a type of multi-person elimination-based Steel Cage match in which championships or future opportunities at championships are at stake.

This will be the first Elimination Chamber to be held in the United States since 2021, as well as the first in the country with spectators in live attendance since the 2020 event. This will be the first Elimination Chamber event to livestream on the ESPN app in the United States. This will also be the first WWE event to be held at the United Center since the 1994 SummerSlam.

Elimination Chamber is a professional wrestling event first produced by the American promotion WWE in 2010. It has been held every year since, except in 2016, generally in February. The concept of the event is that one or two main event matches are contested inside the Elimination Chamber, which is a type of multi-person elimination-based Steel Cage match in which championships or future opportunities at championships are at stake.^[1]

On October 14, 2025, Sports Illustrated reported that the 16th Elimination Chamber event was scheduled to take place on February 28, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois.^[2] It will feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This will mark the first Elimination Chamber event to be held in Chicago and the first to be held in the United States since 2021, but the first in the country with live fans in attendance since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the 2021 event was held in a bio-secure bubble called the WWE ThunderDome, at the time hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, while the following four events were held at international locations. On November 13, 2025, the venue was revealed to be the United Center, marking the first televised WWE event of any kind at the arena since SummerSlam in 1994, as WWE have traditionally held their Chicago events at Allstate Arena.^[3]

In 2011 and since 2013, the event 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.^[4][5]

In addition to airing on traditional pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide, it will be available to livestream on ESPN‘s direct-to-consumer streaming service in the United States, Netflix in most international markets, the WWE Network in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, SuperSport in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Abema in Japan.^[6] This marks the first Elimination Chamber to livestream on ESPN in the United States, as WWE’s contract with Peacock to air main roster PPV and livestreaming events expired at the conclusion of Clash in Paris in August 2025.^[7][8]

The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines. Results will be predetermined by WWE’s writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,^[9][10] while storylines are produced on WWE’s weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.^[11]

In speaking with ESPN on January 28, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque confirmed that the winners of the men’s and women’s Elimination Chamber matches would earn a world title match at WrestleMania 42 for the respective championships that the winners of the 2026 Royal Rumble matches did not choose.^[12] As a result of the men’s Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns choosing to challenge for Raw’s World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 42, this confirmed that the men’s Elimination Chamber winner would challenge for SmackDown’s Undisputed WWE Championship at the same event. The women’s Rumble winner Liv Morgan has yet to make her choice.^[13]

On February 6, SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis announced that qualifying matches for the Elimination Chamber matches would begin on that night’s SmackDown which was contested as a triple threat match. Randy Orton earned the first spot in the men’s match by defeating Aleister Black and Solo Sikoa in a triple threat match.^[14] The qualifying matches continued on the subsequent episodes of Raw and SmackDown, also as triple threat matches. The second spot was earned by LA Knight on the February 9 episode of Raw, defeating Austin Theory and Penta.^[15] The third spot will be determined on the February 13 episode of SmackDown between Cody Rhodes, Jacob Fatu, and Sami Zayn,^[16] while the fourth spot will be determined on the Februay 16 episode of Raw between Dominik Mysterio, Gunther, and Je’Von Evans.^[17]

Qualifying matches for the women’s Elimination Chamber match also began on the February 6 episode of SmackDown, also held as triple threat matches. Tiffany Stratton earned the first spot by defeating Chelsea Green and Lash Legend.^[14] On the following week’s Raw, Rhea Ripley earned the second spot by defeating Ivy Nile and Lyra Valkyria.^[15] The third spot will be determined on the February 13 episode of SmackDown between Alexa Bliss, Giulia, and Zelina,^[16] while the fourth spot will be determined on the Februay 16 episode of Raw between Asuka, Bayley, and Nattie.^[17]

In September 2025, AJ Lee returned to WWE for the first time since 2015, aiding her husband CM Punk against Becky Lynch and her husband Seth Rollins.^[18] Lee and Punk subsequently defeated Lynch and Rollins in a mixed tag team match at Wrestlepalooza, where Lee forced Lynch to submit.^[19] Following a brief hiatus, Lee returned on the November 17, 2025, episode of Raw, distracting Lynch, costing her the WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship.^[20] At Survivor Series: WarGames, both women were part of opposite teams in the Women’s WarGames match, where Lee’s team won after she forced Lynch to submit once again.^[21] Lynch subsequently regained the title,^[22] and on the February 9 episode of Raw, Lee made her return, much to Lynch’s dismay. Lynch then asked Lee if she wanted to face her at Elimination Chamber. Lee then mentioned that since she had already beaten Lynch twice, it would make her the #1 contender for the title, which Lynch denied. Lee then teased that she would go back home if she could not fight for the title and refused the match, however, Lynch eventually agreed to defend the title against Lee at the event.^[15]

On the January 12 episode of Raw, Judgment Day member Finn Bálor was confronted by stablemate Liv Morgan after she noticed that Bálor had become complacent and had not made any moves to pursue a title. Morgan also claimed that Bálor was not serious about backing his claim of carrying the group on his back and winning a title, which Bálor previously stated as his goal for 2026. This led to Bálor interrupting World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk later that night, who recalled that Punk stated that Bálor was one of the people he wanted to face after winning the title in November. Following an exchange of words, Punk agreed to a title match on that night’s episode, however, Bálor wanted the match to happen on the following episode which would take place in his home country of Ireland, which Punk agreed.^[23] The following week, Punk retained the title and showed respect to Bálor afterwards.^[24] The following week, Bálor also showed respect to Punk, and Punk stated that Bálor should win the Royal Rumble match to earn a rematch at WrestleMania 42. However, when Bálor declared to Raw General Manager Adam Pearce that he would be entering the match, Pearce stated that all the spots were full, which infuriated Bálor. Later that night, Bálor attacked Punk during his title defense.^[25] Two weeks later on Raw, Bálor interrupted Punk’s scheduled interview with Michael Cole and called out Punk, challenging him to a title match at Elimination Chamber in Punk’s hometown of Chicago. Pearce denied Bálor’s request, not wanting to jeopardize Punk’s title defense against Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 42. Punk subsequently appeared and agreed to defend the title against Bálor at the event, and Pearce begrudgingly made the match official.^[15]