Booker T Recalls What First Elimination Chamber Match Was Like

Booker T has given an insider’s perspective into an historical wrestling match.

The first Elimination Chamber took place at Survivor Series 2002. Six men competed for the recently-introduced World Heavyweight Championship. Those six men were: Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam, Chris Jericho, Kane, Booker T, and then-WHC Triple H.

At the time, the Elimination Chamber was unlike anything either WWE’s fans or its wrestlers had ever seen. In fact, Booker T was so out of his comfort zone that, according to comments he made on his Hall of Fame podcast, he considered competing in that match as “working in Hell”.

“I felt like I was out of my comfort zone. A lot of things I couldn’t control as far as whether I was going to get hurt or not. Bouncing off a cage is very, very unforgiving. For me, Elimination Chamber match, the first one in WWE of that era, it was like working in hell.

There’s no way you cannot get hurt. Those types of matches are for guys like pain freaks [that have] something to prove to the world, to themselves, you know, and looking to leave a mark.”

Interestingly, that first-ever Elimination Chamber match was Booker T’s first and also his last.

h/t 411Mania for the transcription