WWE: Do the Elimination Chamber Title Matches Cheapen the Royal Rumble?

The Elimination Chamber has become a huge obstacle on the Road to WrestleMania for a few years now. It is one of most brutal matches the WWE has to offer, and it makes for an interesting stop before the grandest stage of them all.

Unfortunately, its annual placement just does not make sense, and it should only be used to wrap up storylines with multiple wrestlers vying for the title.

The Elimination Chamber has inadvertently devalued the Royal Rumble match winner, and even though the 30-man event can be one of the most exciting of the year, it has lost its luster in the past couple of events.

Let us take a look at the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber participants. Why, after falling short in the Rumble match (or in Ziggler's case, his last title opportunity) do these five men get another opportunity? What have they done to earn it?

Even though Sheamus won the Rumble match, nine superstars get to compete in Elimination Chamber matches in just 10 days for a chance to hold the gold. Since when does the WWE, or any sport for that matter, reward guys for their losing effort?

The counterpoint here is that Sheamus gets the glory of competing in the main event of WrestleMania. But let's face facts. Last year, Alberto Del Rio won the Rumble match and went on to the opening contest of the show. That does not sound like the main event of the year.

What about this year? Sheamus is a good performer and worked hard for that spot, but his probable World Heavyweight Championship match has no shot of being the main event come April 1st. Or the second main event. Or even the third. At best, Sheamus has the fourth most important match at WrestleMania.

Since when did the Royal Rumble match mean so little?

By the way, since the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship, the person who has finished second in the Rumble match has gone on to a title match at WrestleMania anyway 67 percent of the time. Once again, the trend of losers being rewarded continues.

But I digress. The Elimination Chamber title matches do not help at all either. Too many people who were unsuccessful at the previous pay-per-view are getting chances to win major titles. Of course, only a slim few have a realistic shot of actually winning, but the principle of it makes no sense.

In order to solve this problem, the WWE should do one of two things:

1. Drop the Elimination Chamber from the show, rename it No Way Out again and have straight wrestling matches. Save the Chamber for the end of serious feuds.
2. If the Rumble competitor makes his decision early, use the Chamber for a No. 1 contender's match for the other title.

By throwing 12 men into the title mix, it gets the Rumble winner caught in the shuffle and almost put on the back burner for a few weeks. Sure, Sheamus is on television for both Raw and SmackDown every week, but beating David Otunga is not exactly how I would spend my Monday night as the Rumble winner. I would go after the champions.

Hopefully, the WWE will start to make the winner of the Royal Rumble match a bit more glorious next year, and the removal of the Elimination Chamber title matches in mid-February could go a long way to helping that idea.

Check out my take on the 25 best pay-per-views in the last 25 years at this link.

Follow @RobMani25