WWE Title To Be Defended Inside Elimination Chamber

The WWE championship will be at stake on Sunday night, February 21, at the annual Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

It was announced by Adam Pearce during Monday's Raw broadcast that Drew McIntyre would defend the championship inside the namesake cage match, against challengers AJ Styles, The Miz, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton, and Sheamus.

The segment to announce the title match featured an appearance from Shane McMahon. McMahon came out to presumably make the announcement, but it was Pearce himself who gave the match announcement while McMahon was present.

McIntyre has held off Styles, Miz, and Orton in recent championship matches. Sheamus had been positioned as McIntyre's friend and tag team partner over the past several months, but attacked McIntyre on last week's Raw. He then issued a challenge for a championship match.

The last time the WWE championship was defended inside the Elimination Chamber was 2019. There, Daniel Bryan successfully retained the gold over Orton, Styles, Hardy, Samoa Joe, and Kofi Kingston. Famously, Kingston's performance that night, and the crowd support for him, led to WWE putting him over Bryan for the title at WrestleMania 35.