Created by Vince McMahon Last event No Way Out (2012) Promotion WWE | Signature match types Elimination Chamber match First event No Way Out 1998 | |
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Brand(s) Raw (2003; 2008–2009); SmackDown (2003–2009); ECW (2008–2009) Instances No Way Out (2012), No Way Out (2009), No Way Out (2008), No Way Out (2007), No Way Out (2006) | ||
No Way Out is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 1998 as an In Your House event in February of that year and in 2000 was made an annual pay-per-view event for WWE. After the brand extension, the event was made exclusive to the SmackDown brand in 2004, being produced every February. In April 2007, following WrestleMania 23, brand-exclusive pay-per-view events ceased being held, with the last of which being the SmackDown-exclusive No Way Out 2007. After the event included two Elimination Chamber matches in 2008 and 2009, No Way Out was replaced by WWE Elimination Chamber the following year. The name was revived for the June 2012 pay-per-view event.
History
No Way Out was a pay-per-view event consisting of a main event and undercard. The event began on February 15, 1998 as an In Your House event, subtitled No Way Out of Texas after its venue in Houston, Texas. In 1999, the In Your House name was dropped and many of the former In Your House events, such as No Way Out, Backlash, and Judgment Day among others, were rebranded as annual pay-per-view events.
In 2002, the World Wrestling Federation was court ordered to change its name, which it did, to "WWE". Earlier that year, the WWF held a draft that split its roster into two distinctive brands, Raw and SmackDown, and ECW in 2006. Before the draft, matches included wrestlers from the roster without any limitations; after the draft, matches only consisted of wrestlers from their distinctive brands. The first No Way Out event to be produced under the WWE banner and with roster limitations was No Way Out (2003), which took place on February 23, 2003. Later that year, WWE announced that pay-per-view events, excluding WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble, would be made exclusive to each brand; No Way Out was made exclusive to the SmackDown brand. After three years of being produced as a brand exclusive event, No Way Out (2007) was the final No Way Out event (and the final pay-per-view overall) that was brand exclusive, as WWE announced that PPV events from then on would include all three brands of WWE.
The tenth No Way Out event in 2008 included two Elimination Chamber matches, a specialty professional wrestling match type promoted on rare occasions in WWE. The following year saw No Way Out again host two more Elimination Chamber matches. Furthering the new Elimination Chamber concept of the event, a survey indicating a possible renaming for No Way Out took place in September 2009. Voted by fans via WWE's official website, Elimination Chamber became the name of the February 2010 pay-per-view event, winning against Heavy Metal, Battle Chamber, Chamber of Conflict and the original No Way Out name. Despite the poll, it was later announced by WWE that Elimination Chamber would not be considered a part of the No Way Out chronology. Despite this, the event is still promoted in Germany as No Way Out because of concerns an "elimination chamber" would bring back the imagery of gas chambers that were used in extermination camps in World War II. In 2012 WWE announced they were bringing back WWE No Way Out. It took place June 17, 2012 at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In Germany, No Way Out was billed as No Escape.
To date, each event has been held in an indoor arena, with eleven events taking place in the United States and one event taking place in Canada. Five events took place on the United States west coast, four on the east coast, one in the midwest, one in the southern United States and one in Southern Canada.