Finally, in the closing moments of the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view on Sunday, The Miz took advantage of Drew McIntyre enduring a Chamber match and a brutal blindside attack from Bobby Lashley by successfully cashing in that briefcase and the Money in the Bank contract to become a two-time WWE champion.

Before Miz made history, there was the matter of the Chamber match itself.

Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton have plenty of history, including some particularly memorable brutality with pliers and ear gauges, and they carried on that story to kick off the WWE championship Elimination Chamber match.

The longtime friends -- McIntyre and Sheamus -- came to blows in the middle of the ring and battered each other senselessly until others tried to get involved.

Hardy got back into the heart of the match with a trio of twists of fate on all of his opponents, and then landed a supersized Whisper in the Wind from the top of the pod to the outside onto Sheamus and McIntyre.

Hardy landed a Swanton Bomb on Styles, but the moment he popped up McIntyre was there with a Claymore, which landed flush.

The winner of the Elimination Chamber match to determine Roman Reigns' Universal title challenger was always going to be about a diminished winner facing an impossible task.

After fighting through a bum knee that was tweaked early in the Chamber match, Bryan did the unlikely by scoring his only elimination of the match on Jey Uso to win the opportunity.

The Universal championship match followed immediately, with Bryan struggling to do so much as stand.

Cesaro and Bryan started the match, renewing their recent tensions that have cycled from brutal competition and hard-earned respect.

And while this clash between two of the all-time technical greats might not seem to be the right fit for a car crash-like match such as the Elimination Chamber, any opportunity to watch these two wrestle should not be taken for granted.

When Bryan knocked Corbin silly, Cesaro walked up to the open end of the pod and started battering Zayn inside that enclosed space.

Everyone was wiped out from a sequence that fed from a toss-up uppercut from Cesaro to Zayn, a running knee from Bryan to Cesaro and a pop-up powerbomb from Owens to Bryan.

Cesaro and Bryan ate stunners on the outside, and after Zayn missed a helluva kick, Owens landed another stunner on him inside the ring and pinned Zayn, eliminating him.

Cesaro modified his swing to smash Uso back and forth into the side of the cage -- and then flashed incredible strength to ragdoll Bryan back into the ring.

Bryan kicked Cesaro in the chest as he flew off the top rope, and the first two participants in the match clashed once more.

But as Cesaro spun Bryan by his bad leg, Uso charged back into the match, landed a superkick and a splash and pinned Cesaro, eliminating him.

A running knee allowed Bryan to pin Uso and earn himself a shot at Reigns' Universal championship.

Morrison and Riddle tried multiple times to team up to slow Lashley down, and it worked very briefly until Lashley hit a one-handed Spinebuster on Morrison and a Dominator to Riddle.

The pair continued to try to gain the edge as Riddle head-scissored Lashley out of the ring and Morrison leapt over the top rope to take Lashley out of action.

But that's as far as the alliance went as Morrison took advantage of Riddle being distracted to smash him into the ringpost.

Upon his reentry, however, Riddle landed a Final Flash Ripcord knee to and a floating Bro Flip off the top rope on Lashley.

Morrison interrupted the pinfall attempt by kicking Riddle and landed Starship Pain, only for Lashley to kick out at 2.

But as Lashley appeared to be seconds away from victory, Riddle picked up the crutch and smashed Lashley multiple times, sending him out of the ring.

A still stunned Morrison was prone, and Riddle hit Morrison with Bro Derek to earn the pinfall and his first singles title in WWE.

What's next: Morrison takes Keith Lee's spot in the United States championship match against Riddle and Bobby Lashley