The 2021 Elimination Chamber (known as No Escape in Germany) was the 11th Elimination Chamber professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on February 21, 2021, from the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was WWE's final pay-per-view to be available to livestream on the standalone version of the American WWE Network before the launch of Peacock's WWE Network channel in the United States on March 18; the standalone version of the American WWE Network itself shut down on April 4.
Seven matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In an impromptu main event, The Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated Drew McIntyre to win the WWE Championship after McIntyre had retained the title in Raw's Elimination Chamber match. In the opening bout, Daniel Bryan won SmackDown's Elimination Chamber match to earn an immediate Universal Championship match against Roman Reigns, who retained the title against Bryan. In another prominent match, Riddle defeated John Morrison and defending champion Bobby Lashley to win the United States Championship. This was the first Elimination Chamber to not feature a women's Elimination Chamber match since its debut in 2018.
Production
Background
Elimination Chamber is a gimmick event first produced by WWE in 2010. It has been held every year since, except in 2016, generally in February. The concept of the show is that one or two main event matches are contested inside the Elimination Chamber, either with championships or future opportunities at championships at stake. Announced on January 17, 2021, the 2021 event was the 11th Elimination Chamber and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. After the 2020 event was held in March, the 2021 event returned Elimination Chamber to its regular February slot and it was held on February 21, 2021. The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was livestreamed on the WWE Network.
In 2011 and since 2013, the show has been promoted as "No Escape" in Germany in order to avoid a potential brand blunder, as it was feared that the name "Elimination Chamber" may remind people of the gas chambers used during the Holocaust.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that began affecting the industry in mid-March 2020, WWE had to present the majority of its programming from a behind closed doors set. Initially, Raw and SmackDown's television shows and PPVs were done at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. A limited number of Performance Center trainees and friends and family members of the wrestlers were later utilized to serve as the live audience. In late August, these programs were moved to a bio-secure bubble called the WWE ThunderDome. The select live audience was no longer utilized as the bubble allowed fans to attend the events virtually for free and be seen on the nearly 1,000 LED boards within the arena. Additionally, the ThunderDome utilized various special effects to further enhance wrestlers' entrances, and arena audio was mixed with that of the chants from the virtual fans. After being hosted at Orlando's Amway Center, the ThunderDome was relocated to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida in December.
Storylines
The event comprised seven matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.