Hmmmm...Hell in A Cell....probably the
most derided of all the gimmick PPV's that WWE brought in way back in
2009 (Has it really been four years?) and not without good reason.
Whether it was a disappointing encounter between CM Punk and The
Undertaker back at the inaugural event, or the drab, confusing and
thrown together match between Punk and Ryback at last years event,
Hell in a Cell has, more often than not, struggled to capture the
magic that made the original Hell in a Cell match some of the most
fondly remembered contests in WWE history. So with a hit and miss
build up, in the three weeks between the last PPV Battleground, and
two successively flat PPV offerings, how would WWE handle this years
edition of Hell in a Cell? Let's find out shall we.
As expected the show opens with one of
WWE's fantastically produced video packages, detailing the history of
the Hell in a Cell match, with nice little snippets of interviews
with Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley and Edge, before the obligatory
commentary from Jim Ross (who will surely be back in WWE at some
point in the future) and then moving onto a few of the matches that
will take place on the show, Alberto Del Rio defending his World
Heavyweight Championship against a returning John Cena, CM Punk's
Handicap Hell in a Cell match with Paul Heyman and Ryback, and Daniel
Bryan and Randy Orton going at for the vacant WWE Championship inside
Hell in a Cell. A quick bit of promo for the PPV's sponsor WWE 2K14
and we are ready for action.
Tag Team Championship
Triple Threat Match
Goldust & Cody
Rhodes ©
Vs.
The Usos
Vs.
The Shield
(Rollins/Reigns)
This
match was far and away the best of the night. There was a lot about
this match to like, with strong storytelling built upon a base of
solid wrestling from all six men in the match. After The Usos and
Rhodes Family had gotten the crowd warmed up nicely, the bout found
it's groove with The Shield working over Goldust for some, with Roman
Reigns looking particularly impressive when in control of the bizarre
one. But as soon as Goldust had managed to fight to a position to
gain a tag, Rhodes was unable to make the tag after being taken out
by Seth Rollins, with The Usos doing a great job of rallying the
crowd, it looked like Goldust might make a tag to Jimmy or Jey, only
for The Shield to pull both Usos off the apron in a really well timed
spot. Of course, Goldust eventually got the tag to Rhodes, with
Rhodes errupting out of his corner for a series of well worked near
falls, including a beautiful looking diving moonsault. The match was
soon breaking down with all six men involved in a series of near
falls for all three teams, with the crowd red hot throughout, and
ridiculous spot that saw Rhodes superplex Rollins to the outside onto
the other four men, there really was a lot to like about this bout.
The finish kept up the pace of the previous thirteen minutes or so,
with a number of signature moves from all the competitors, before
Rhodes attempted a Disaster Kick on Rollins, but got caught in a
Powerbomb position, only to slip free, allowing Goldust to hit his
signature uppercut and Rhodes to finish Rollins off with Cross Rhodes
to pick up the pinfall victory and retain the Tag Team Championships.
I'd say this win would have to see The Shield out of title contention
as they lost fairly cleanly here to the Tag Team Champions, so it
will be interesting to see what direction WWE is moving with that
group, whilst The Usos seem in prime position to finally get that Tag
Title run they've deserved for sometime, this storyline and this
match in particular has helped to get them over with the majority of
WWE's audience and the belts wouldn't seem out of place on Rikishi's
twin sons.
Winner and STILL Tag Team
Champions: GOLDUST & CODY RHODES (14 Minutes, 38 Seconds)
WWE
Chief Opperating Officer Triple H and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michael
were shown sharing a joke backstage. Obviously, this was being done
to fuel speculation about how Michael's might be involved in the main
event later on in the evening, and to remind viewers of the
relationships between the main players in that match. Personally, I'd
have prefered to see the focus on Bryan and Orton, but this worked
well enough.
There
was an advert for the “John Cena's Fast Lane” mobile app, which
I'm sure had people rushing away from the PPV they had forked out a
fair amount of money on, to download and play.
There were
more segments on the way, with The Miz coming out to the ring.
Apparently, The Miz wasn't medically cleared to wrestle Bray Wyatt,
but he wasn't there to wrestle, he was there to fight. Seriously? Is
anyone buying this new Miz hard-man gimmick? The Miz doesn't look
like he's had a fight in his life! Let alone with someone like Bray
Wyatt! I'm supposed to care about The Miz, and quite frankly I want
to see him get punched in the face everytime I see him on screen.
Wyatt then appeared on screen, cutting on of his usually creepy
promos, before the lights came back on to reveal the rest of The
Wyatt Family, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, who beat the crap out of
The Miz and made everyone happy. That wasn't the end of it though, as
Kane made his return to the WWE after a ten week absence, and after
an awkward scuffle with Harper where it appeared that Kane couldn't
lift the big man, Kane vanquished the Wyatt Family. Luckily, Kane
wasn't there to save The Miz giving Miz a vicious chokeslam to end
the segment. A nice little segment and a good way of re-introducing
Kane, but could have easily have happened the next night on Raw. At
least we might see some direction for The Wyatt Family once again now
Kane is back on the scence.
More
WWE 2K14 promotion was on the way, this time looking at the Thirty
Years of Wrestlemania mode. We'll have a full review of the game as
soon as we get our copy, keep your eyes posted on the blog.
Mixed Tag Team Match
Fandango & Summer
Rae
Versus
The Great Khali &
Natalya
with
Hornswoggle
Those
that had bought this PPV for the talking were more than getting their
money's worth tonight, as Fandango had a few words to say before this
match. We were then treated to an impromtu “salsa” from Fandango
and Summer Rae, before we were “saved” by The Great Khali and
Natalya, with Hornswoggle in tow. I think I would have rather seen
more dancing if I'm honest, as I pretty much switched off for the
entire of this “bonus” match. To be fair, Natalya and Rae did do
some decent stuff in the ring, and it was a good decision to give
them the majority of this match up. At times this match looked like
having some potential, like Natalya attempting to lock in a
Sharpshooter on Fandango, but that quickly disappear when Rae
“flirted” with Khali, which in terms of the match made absolutely
no sense. The finish saw Natalya in control of Rae, attempting to
lock in the Sharpshooter, only for some Rae to get to the ropes and
steal a roll up victory over the veteran of the women's division.
This match was probably better than I expected it to be, but that
isn't saying a lot.
Winners: FANDANGO & SUMMER RAE (4
Minutes, 48 Seconds)
It
was then up to the Hell in a Cell Kick Off panel, lead by Josh
Matthews and including Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth and Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn
spoke first and was a nice addition to the panel, bringing some good
focus to WWE's Women's Division, talking up Summer Rae's victory in
the last tag match, as well as the upcoming Diva's Championship match
between AJ Lee and Brie Bella. R-Truth was up next putting over the
tag title match competently. With Dolph Ziggler finishing off the
panel by putting over The Miz, as well as Kane's return. Personally,
I thought this was one of the better panels they've had, as it was
clear each panellist was up to date with the current product and had
been watching the show, which hasn't always been the case with these
panels.
United
States Championship Match
Dean
Ambrose ©
Versus
Big E
Langston
This
match was made on the Kick Off show, after Langston got into an
verbal altercation with Ambrose, giving Langston a replacement for
his advertised Intercontinental Championship match with Curtis Axel.
When this bout was announced, I was actually pretty excited, thinking
that these two would be able to string to together a solid bout that
would at the very least be entertaining. I ended up very disappointed
by what they put on. The main problem here was that the match was
just too long for what they wanted to do, it was clear to every that
this simply filling time and treading water and neither Ambrose nor
Langston did anything to make anyone think otherwise. Langston
dominated most of the match, with Ambrose attempting to run away
about five times, before eventually being successful and the match
ended up in a countout victory for Langston, meaning Ambrose retained
his title. This match either needed to be five minutes shorter, have
a load of consectutive pin attempts or not even happen at all. After
the match, Langston caught Ambrose and hit the Big Ending to keep
Langston looking strong for his Intercontinental Championship bout
with Curtis Axel later down the line.
Winner:
BIG E LANGSTON (8 Minutes, 43 Seconds)
STILL
United States Champion: DEAN AMBROSE
Handicap
Hell in a Cell Match
CM Punk
Versus
Ryback &
Paul Heyman
Before
this match got going, Paul Heyman used a Scissor Lift to climb to the
top of the cell, which might have been more effective, if the scissor
lift hadn't actually managed to make Randy Orton's walk to the ring
look sprightly. On his way up to the roof, Heyman cut another top
notch promo, detailing himself as Satan, with all the pomposity that
we've come to expect from Heyman over the last few months.
Unfortunately,
the bout itself couldn't live up to Heyman's promo and the build that
had gone before, with very little that made me sit up and take
notice. The fact that we'd already see Punk beat Ryback at
Battleground, meant that everyone knew how this one was going, and
they never really deviate from that path. There were some interesting
spots, like Ryback repeatedly suplexed Punk into the cage, but it was
the story that strung the spots together that didn't really hold up
for this one. The fact of the matter is, no one was interested in
seeing Punk vs Ryback, so the match was deflated from the first bell,
all anyone wanted to see was Punk get his hands on Heyman and beat
him up, and it showed in the reactions from the crowd throughout the
bout. With Punk making a comeback, there was way too much actual
wrestling and bouncing off the ropes, when this bout needed to
deliver a brutal fight, and that showed in the reaction of the crowd
when they saw Punk pull out the table, it was as if he'd just pulled
out a bag of thumbtacks or something. The finish saw Punk hit a low
blow on Ryback, before an Elbow Drop through the table and a GTS
picked up the victory for the Second City Saint. A decent finish that
looked good visually, but it wasn't enough to make the rest of the
bout feel worthwhile.
Winner:
CM PUNK (13 Minutes, 50 Seconds)
All
anyone wanted to see in this one was Punk finally get his hands on
Heyman and that we did. The visual of Punk climbing the Cell with a
Singapore Cane and going on to beat the hell into Heyman before
nailing him with a GTS was a great way to end this rivalry. Putting
Ryback in this rivalry was probably a poor choice, as it was too
technical a story for the big man to pull off, especially when tasked
to do so in the ring as we've seen at Battleground and now here at
Hell in a Cell. Where Punk goes from here, with this storyline
clearly done with, I don't really know.
An
emotional video package was aired featuring Lilian Garcia, Titus
O'Neil and Layla talking about how Breast Cancer has affected their
lives, as WWE continues to promote Susan G. Kommen throughout Breast
Cancer Awareness month. Can't really complain about this, as WWE
continues it's good work in promoting worthy causes.
The
lovely Renee Young (Yes, I can say lovely) had some interview time
with Daniel Bryan, who cut a very basic promo outlining his match
with Randy Orton later on. It was littered with cliches “I'm
finally going to go one on one with Orton” before once again
reminding the audience of the importance of Shawn Michaels as Special
Guest Referee, they are really sign posting this one tonight! To
finish up Bryan attempted to rally the crowd, by reminding them that
it was this arena that originated the “YES” chant, even if it had
been going around the indy scene for months. It wasn't the best promo
we've seen Bryan deliver over the last few months, with Bryan looking
pretty uncomfortable as he obviously just delivered his lines and the
main event probably didn't need this added build up.
Tag Team
Match
Los
Matadores
with
El Torito
Versus
The Real
Americans (Cesaro/Swagger)
with
Zeb Colter
This
was a fun little tag team match, that was worked well by all of the
competitors. Plenty of comedy with Los Matadores and El Torito, but
helped out with a basis of strong wrestling and decent tag team
psycology that made for an entertaining five minutes or so. I
particularly enjoyed the closing stages with some good worked based
around Swagger's Patriot Lock on one of Los Matadores, that saw
Swagger crash into Cesaro, allowing Los Matadores to pick up a
pinfall victory with a new double team finisher. It wasn't a five
star classic, but for what it was and for the time it had, this was a
decent tag team contest, and I'm really beginning to warm to Los
Matadores.
Winners:
LOS MATADORES (5 Minutes, 30 Seconds)
World
Heavyweight Championship Match
Alberto
Del Rio ©
Versus
John Cena
This
match had a lot of potential, with an easy to follow storyline that
suited both characters down to the ground. Luckily, they went for the
obvious storyline, of Del Rio working Cena's injured arm,
unfortunately the bout was missing one vital ingredient to really
push it on. That vital ingredient is something that has been many
people's main criticism of John Cena and that is his selling. There
was only one time in the match where Cena really went for selling the
arm, and it looked great, but for the rest of the match he simply
forgot to do so, meaning that the work that Del Rio was doing working
over the arm and telling the story was going to waste because Cena
was forgetting that his arm should be in agony the whole time! Cena
went on to break out of the Cross Armbreaker, by lifting Del Rio up
into the air, which looked visually impressive but would have meant a
whole lot more if Cena's arm had given way, meaning more time in the
hold, only for Cena to either get to the ropes or reverse into an
STF. Unfortunately, this was not to be and Cena went on to pick up
the victory following an Attitude Adjustment and become the new World
Heavyweight Champion. I'm glad Cena is holding the title, as it gives
a lot more focus onto that belt, raising it's profile and meaning
that whoever holds it after Cena will be in a much better position
for holding a belt recently held by Cena. If only Cena hold sold the
arm!
Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion: JOHN CENA (15
minutes, 5 Seconds)
They
debuted the Survivor Series promo, which features Bray Wyatt and The
Wyatt Family. I would say expect big things from The Wyatt Family
next month, but the Hell in a Cell promo featured R-Truth so you
never know.
It
was back to the Kick-Off panel again, as Josh Matthews asked the
questions once more. There were some interested presented here, with
clearly frustrated Dolph Ziggler saying he wanted to be next in line
for a shot at John Cena's World Heavyweight Championship.
Unfortunately, that's probably not very likely. R-Truth put over the
main evented again, saying that Daniel Bryan was still his favourite
to win the match. Before Kaitlyn gave more insight to WWE's women's
division, talking about the Diva's Championship match between AJ Lee
and Brie Bella. Kaitlyn was certainly a good addition to the panel,
and it makes sense for them to have a woman as part of the panel, to
give some spotlight on the women's matches, which too often get
forgotten about, which is partly the reason that we see a lot of
apathy towards the women in WWE from the fans.
Diva's
Championship Match
AJ Lee ©
With
Tamina Snuka
Versus
Brie Bella
with Nikki
Bella
Whilst
Brie Bella continues to be mis-cast as a face, this bout was actually
alright. There was clearly a lot of thought gone into the match, with
a followable story, that was basic but effective, even more so if
Brie could get over as a face, that saw AJ work over Brie with some
solid wrestling holds, before Brie mounted a nice comeback including
a missile dropkick. The finish of the bout was strong also, with both
Tamina and Nikki getting involved, as AJ ducked running knee from
Brie that sent Brie into Nikki, allowing AJ to lock in the Black
Widow submission hold and pick up a submission victory to retain her
Diva's Championship. This bout was probably the surprise of the night
for me, Brie has improved a lot in the ring recently, if only she was
still working as a heel. She just isn't going to get over as a face,
opposite the much more popular AJ Lee.
Winner and STILL
Diva's Champion: AJ LEE (5 Minutes, 35 Seconds)
Backstage,
it was time for a little more promotion for WWE 2K14, with The Prime
Time Players busy playing the game. They were quickly joined by WWE
Hall of Famer, Bob Backlund with Backlund being the batshit crazy guy
we've come to expect, in a truly bizarre segment. It made me laugh,
and didn't run for too long, so this one get's a thumbs up from me.
More
ominous backstage footage of Triple H talking to Shawn Michaels is
shown. STOP SIGNPOSTING IT WWE!
WWE
Championship Hell in a Cell Special Guest Referee MatchDaniel
BryanVersusRandy
Orton(Special
Guest Referee: Shawn Michaels)
There
were a number of glaring problem in this match for me. Firstly, it
didn't really need to be a Hell in a Cell match. There was very
little interaction with the actual Cell structure, apart from a good
looking spot that saw Orton moves out of the way of a Suicide Dive
from Bryan, with most of the offense coming in the form of Steel
Steps, meaning this could have taken place in any other environment,
if they'd have played up the fact that say The Shield couldn't get
into the Cell to help out Orton, then it would have been a much more
effective use of the Cell, which seemed more of a hindrance to this
match, than it actually helped it. Whilst it would be difficult to
fault to the wrestling here, even if the logic of Orton's backbreaker
on the outside was flawed, this wasn't the environment for chain
wrestling and rope running, for example it would have been nice to
see Bryan bring some variation to his comeback routine, with maybe
some added weaponary to really sell how heated this rivalry had
become and the depths that Bryan was willing to go to to win back the
WWE Championship. Whilst we saw a glimpse of that later on, with
Bryan throwing a hilarious amount of chairs into the ring, the
pay-off was lost, when Orton's Superplex completely missed the
chairs, with Michael Cole deciding to sell it anyway, when the whole
arena knew that it was no way near, a case of a nice idea, but poorly
executed.
Of course, the finish here was the most intriguing
part of the match and what everyone was really interested in seeing
and with Triple H coming down to ringside it was time to head for
that finish. In yet another case of a decent idea being poorly
executed, we saw Orton going for an RKO on Bryan, with Bryan
reversing sending Orton crashing into Shawn Michaels. Fair enough, if
this was a regular referee, but no matter how good Michaels selling
would've been here, no one was going to buy that he had been knocked
out by the flimsy collision. Maybe, if they'd have had Bryan
accidentally hit Michaels with the Busaiku Knee things would have
been a little bit different. Of course, this was all a way of getting
Triple H into the Cell, with the Hell in a Cell concept continuing to
get in the way of the story they were trying to tell. With Triple H
checking on Michaels, and Orton down from a Busaiku Knee, Bryan took
the oppurtunity to gain an element of revenge on his boss taking down
Triple H with another Busaiku Knee, I was perfectly fine with this,
it made sense and was a good way of having Bryan get some revenge on
his boss and the crowd loved it. With Michaels recovering to deliver
a Superkick to Bryan, Orton was able to slither into the pin to win
the vacant WWE Championship. For me this just wasn't worked quick
enough, it should have finished pacy with each move causing the other
within almost seconds, but it was dragged out and became too clear
what was happening too quickly. Michaels superkick looked awful and
the fact that a retired performer basically got the win here didn't
sit well with me at all. If Bryan had kicked out of the Sweet Chin
Music, only for Orton to hit an RKO, I would have been a lot happier
with this finish.
I have very little problem with the actual
result of the match, Bryan will get his chance with the title
eventually, and should hopefully get a rematch sooner rather than
later, whilst Orton has been revived by this storyline. It was the
best they could do with the booking cul-de-sac they had given
themselves, it was just horribly executed and not thought through to
a high enough level.
Overall,
Hell in a Cell was a very “Meh” Pay-Per-View with the Hell in a
Cell concept still not working with WWE's current environment and not
being helped by having to appear every year at the same time. The tag
team title match stole the show, whilst the Diva's Championship was
the surprise of the night, but the main feeling coming out of Hell in
a Cell for me was a night of missed opportunities, with both World
title matches suffering from poor errors of judgment and a dull
encounter between CM Punk and Ryback. The three matches that this
show were sold on, failed to deliver the goods.
Quick Results
1. Tag Team Championship Match: Goldust & Cody Rhodes (C) def. The Shield (Reigns/Rollins) & The Usos via Pinfall
2. Mixed Tag Team Match: Fandango & Summer Rae def. The Great Khali & Natalya via pinfall
3. United States Championship Match: Big E Langston def. Dean Ambrose (C) via Countout
4. Handicap Hell in a Cell Match: CM Punk def. Ryback & Paul Heyman via Pinfall
5. Tag Team Match: Los Matadores def. The Real Americans (Cesaro/Swagger) via Pinfall
6. World Heavyweight Championship Match: John Cena def. Alberto Del Rio (C) via Pinfall
7. Diva's Championship Match: AJ Lee (C) def. Brie Bella via Submission
8. WWE Championship Hell in a Cell Match: Randy Orton def. Daniel Bryan via Pinfall
