Pirates Prevented WWE Elimination Chamber From Being Shipped to Australia

February 23, 2024 @ 7:08 PM

The Elimination Chamber for this year’s WWE event in Australia took a roundabout way to get to the country after pirates disrupted the usual shipping channels.

WWE announcers Michael Cole and Corey Graves mentioned the unusual situation at a press event at the Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia on Thursday.

“This is a structure which took over a month to get here,” Cole said, indicating the steel chain construction behind him.

He explained, “Originally, it was supposed to ship through the Suez Canal, but pirates made sure that didn’t happen. So it was sent to Miami. It was then shipped by truck to Los Angeles, put on a ship to Sydney, sent on a train over here to Perth. And now the Elimination Chamber is being constructed as we speak, right behind us in the stadium here in Perth.”

Graves quipped, “We had to endure actual piracy to get here to Perth.”

It was the first time since 2018 that promotional activities were held in Australia.Two of the matches that decide who gets to be in the main event at WrestleMania will take place in the large Elimination Chamber structure.

The men’s match will feature Logan Paul, LA Knight, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley, and Drew McIntyre and the women’s segment will include Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Tiffany Stratton, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, and Naomi.

WWE Elimination Chamber 2024 will kick off at 5 am ET/2 am PT on Saturday, February 24 and be live streamed on Peacock. The event was formerly pay per view.

The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and former WWE star Dwayne Johnson are not expected to be in attendance. 

The wrestling competition was created by Triple H and introduced by Eric Bischoff in November 2002. Vincent McMahon, who co-founded the modern WWE, resigned earlier this year after being named in a sexual assault suit.