Ranking the 7 Best Elimination Chamber Matches in WWE History | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

The Elimination Chamber for the WWE Championship in 2019 served as the official introduction to the KofiMania movement that would result in one of the greatest, most emotional moments in company history.

After a resilient, inspirational performance in a long gauntlet match on the SmackDown before the pay-per-view, Kingston entered the Elimination Chamber riding a wave of momentum, the elusive top prize in the company within reach.

To attain it, all he would have to do is defeat defending titleholder Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, Randy Orton, and AJ Styles.

With a crop of contenders such as those, one can imagine the quality of the bout was already high. It was not until Styles, Orton, Joe, and Hardy were all vanquished that the match earned its place on this list, though.

Kingston and Bryan proceeded to have a one-on-one showdown that engrossed the fans and had them hanging on every submission attempt by the champion and every dramatic near-fall by his challenger.

Late, Kingston sent Bryan off the top of one of the pods and attempted a crossbody. He crashed and the heel ended his night in disappointing fashion with the Busaiku Knee for the win.

As important to the story of the match as anything that happened between bells was the aftermath, with New Day's Big E and Xavier Woods consoling their best friend while chants of "thank you, Kofi" rained down from the stands.

It was proof of the unbreakable bond the dynamic underdog had formed with fans over the course of his career and, more importantly, evidence that there was a desire to see the career-long midcard and tag team specialist achieve the one goal he had yet to see through.

The chemistry between him and Bryan helped elevate the quality of the match exponentially. Kingston was great as the defiant babyface while the champion was in the midst of his "Planet's Champion" heel run that saw Bryan do some of the best character work of his celebrated career.

This built on the formula introduced in the 2009 chamber match by Undertaker and Triple H and reaffirmed the idea that, beyond the bells and whistles and multiple Superstars, the eventual quality can (and will) be determined by what those last two competitors deliver.