Booker T was one of the first six Superstars to compete inside the Elimination Chamber, a match that the Hall of Famer was not looking forward to. Speaking on WWE’s YouTube channel, Booker recalled his reaction to seeing the Chamber for the first time.
“I was sitting there with Hunter. I’m looking at the structure, and the first thing I say is, somebody’s gonna get f***** up tonight, really bad… I was looking at the structure and I was frightened. I was scared.”
Booker was “timid” throughout the match’s debut at Survivor Series 2002, as he was afraid to fall on the steel grating surrounding the ring. Booker was wisely wary that the Chamber could prove to be just as dangerous as the five other Superstars in the match.
“If you hit an elbow, it’s split open. You drop a knee on it [the steel floor.] you’re going to be busted open. You’re going to be cut up.”
Despite the combined decades of in-ring experience between Booker and his opponents, Kane, Rob Van Dam, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, and Triple H, nothing could prepare the six for the first Elimination Chamber. In Booker’s words “We’re all pretty much flying by the seat of our pants on this thing.”
Booker’s days in the Elimination Chamber are long behind him, but his protege Roxanne Perez will take her first steps inside the structure at WWE Elimination Chamber 2025 from Toronto this Saturday, March 1.
With WrestleMania 41 and a promise Perez made to her younger self looming, the NXT star will hope to do what her mentor couldn’t and win an Elimination Chamber match.