10 Shocking WWE Superstars You Forgot Competed Inside Elimination Chamber

This Saturday, 12 men and women will compete inside the unfriendly confines of the Elimination Chamber. On the men’s side, the WWE United States title is up for grabs as Superstars like Seth Rollins and Johnny Gargano attempt to dethrone current champion Austin Theory. Over in the women’s match, Liv Morgan and Asuka lead the field as the most likely female to emerge victorious — earning a date with Bianca Belair at WrestleMania for the coveted Raw Women’s Championship.

Here’s a neat bit of trivia: For the first time ever, none of the top world championships in WWE will be decided inside the Elimination Chamber. Historically, the Elimination Chamber has hosted many of the most memorable WWE championship matches in the modern era — but that doesn’t make this weekend’s event any less interesting. Anything can — and will — happen on the Road to WrestleMania, and the landscape of WWE can absolutely change in an instant once the dust settles on Saturday!

When the WWE Universe thinks of Elimination Chamber, we’re sure legendary Superstars come to mind — wrestlers such as Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Triple H, Randy Orton, and The Undertaker all played huge parts in putting this match type on the wrestling map.

But with six participants in every iteration of the match, invariably the match started having participants that weren’t necessarily Hall of Fame-level. (That’s not a knock on any Superstar, past or present — we’re just telling it like it is!) In fact, there are a handful of Superstars who we completely forgot competed in Elimination Chamber matches — and we’re pretty sure the WWE Universe has forgotten about them too.

For many of these Superstars, competing in the Elimination Chamber was the closest they ever came to capturing a world championship. Today, we’re honoring those wrestlers as we list 10 Superstars you forgot were in an Elimination Chamber match.

As one of the largest Superstars to ever compete in WWE, Big Daddy V competed in a 2008 Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Although this wasn’t a world title opportunity (don’t worry, the big man famously battled Diesel in the mid-'90s for the WWE Championship), he was a formidable opponent in the match, especially because he was capable of taking men like The Undertaker to the limit.

What’s cooler than being cool, you say? Well, how about competing in the Elimination Chamber in 2006! In fact, Carlito’s opponents in the match read like a who’s who of top-level talent: Shawn Michaels, Kane, Kurt Angle, and eventual winner John Cena rounded out the list of Superstars who valiantly fought over the WWE Championship that fateful night in Albany, New York.

When it comes to Hardcore Holly, the WWE Universe most likely remembers him challenging Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2004 for the WWE Championship.

But Hardcore Holly also had another crack at a world title — the ECW World title, to be exact — back in 2006. Although he came up short, the Elimination Chamber match was one of the lone bright spots from an admittedly dismal December to Dismember pay-per-view meant to showcase ECW’s best and brightest stars.

Poor Mike Knox. Although he competed in the Elimination Chamber back in 2009, he had the distinct notoriety of being the last wrestler on the planet to walk away the winner — he was going up against Edge, John Cena, Chris Jericho, Kane, and Rey Mysterio. 

But at least he didn’t suffer the indignity of what happened to him back at Survivor Series 2006 when Shawn Michaels unceremoniously eliminated him before asking his teammates, “Who was that?"

(OK, we have to admit, that’s hilarious. Sorry, Mike.)

Even the heart and soul of The Hurt Business has an Elimination Chamber on his resume! MVP competed in the same match that Big Daddy V did in 2008, which saw The Undertaker destroy the competition en route to a World Heavyweight Championship match at that year’s WrestleMania.

The most decorated 24/7 Champion in history actually competed in three separate Elimination Chamber matches many years before he started providing the WWE Universe with hilarious moments on an almost weekly basis — once in 2010 for the World Heavyweight Championship, again in 2011 for the WWE title, and once more in 2015 for the vacant Intercontinental title. 

Although (much like R-Truth) Santino gave the WWE Universe countless hilarious memories over the years, arguably his most famous moment did not involve any funny business at all — quite the opposite, in fact:

At Elimination Chamber 2012, he took Daniel Bryan to the limit and nearly captured the World Heavyweight Championship in the process. In what now seems like a fever dream, the WWE Universe was captivated during the final moments of the match which saw Santino fight toe-to-toe with Daniel Bryan. By the end of the match, every fan in the arena was on the edge of their seats as Santino put his comedy stylings aside and showed the world the kind of talent he had — unfortunately, he came up short. 

The master of the Cobra will forever live on in our hearts, and we’ll also look back on that Elimination Chamber fondly. (And actually, we’re pretty sure he’s still making an impact somewhere these days…)

When he wasn’t starring in the sequel to John Cena’s "The Marine," the son of The Million Dollar Man nearly reached the pinnacle of the wrestling business in 2010 when he competed in the Elimination Chamber. Like so many other Superstars who’ve appeared on our list, the sheer talent and star power in his match made him a longshot to bring home the WWE Championship that evening.

Forget about being the name of a Superstar we forgot competed inside Elimination Chamber — this is a Superstar we’re sure many fans forgot competed in WWE, period! Nevertheless, Kozlov had the honor of participating in the 2009 match for the WWE Championship taking place in Seattle, Washington. And we don’t want to get all spoiler-y, but here’s a shocker: The big man did leave Seattle with the title that night.

Before Barrett became the voice of NXT on Tuesday evenings, he stepped inside the Chamber in 2011 in a contest for the World Heavyweight Championship. Quite frankly, even one year after the Nexus’ destruction of Monday Night RAW, we expected a better showing from the Brit — that’s how talented he was in the ring. Unfortunately, in the end, he became just a footnote in the storied history of the Elimination Chamber.

So how’s that for some WWE trivia?

Luckily, most Chamber matches are filled with top Superstars — and this weekend’s slate of matches is no different. It should be an event for the ages, and we here at USA Network can’t wait to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show on Saturday night! And as we inch forward to WrestleMania, we’re looking forward to seeing just who will step up this weekend to take their rightful place on the Grandest Stage of Them All!

Watch WWE's Elimination Chamber LIVE on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. ET, streaming only on Peacock.