WWE is down under for Elimination Chamber in Perth, and while it’s a happy homecoming for Aussie stars like Rhea Ripley and Grayson Waller, it was a bit of a nightmare for one member of the WWE Universe: The physical Elimination Chamber.
The chamber itself, a multi-ton cage with pods for individuals wrestlers was dismantled in the United States to be shipped to Australia for the event. WWE announcer Michael Cole dropped an interesting tidbit about its journey: That it was almost seized by pirates in the Suez Canal, forcing the company to take an alternate shipping route.
This is part of the ongoing crisis in the Red Sea, which has seen revenue from the canal plummet by 40-50 percent, according to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. It comes as attacks from Iran-backed Houthi rebels, many of whom are based in Yemen, target western ships trying to use the canal as a shipping route.
Attacks have been occurring in the region since November, with Houthis claiming their involvement is retaliation for Israel’s military action again Palestine.
This is not the venue to dive into the myriad problems in the region or the complex geopolitics of the middle east. Instead the feared-hijacking of the Elimination Chamber is a small, bizarre footnote that could have derailed a wrestling event.
