Hell In A Cell has come and gone, and we have entered Hell and walked out still the same. :-(
This PPV was promised and hyped as a game changer. Hell, we did have a historic women’s Hell In A Cell match. We also had good matches from New Day/Cesaro/Sheamus, Perkins and Kendrick and Rollins v KO.
However, it failed to really rise up to the level it should have.
Hell In A Cell was good overall, but ultimate fell flat in the end.
The Card
Pre-Show: Cedric Alexander, Lince Dorado and Sin Cara versus Drew Gulak, Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari
Commentary: Good match, wrong spot. This should have been on the main card, with either the Bayley or Enzo/Cass match here. Highflying, hard hitting and exciting, Cedric came away with the pin for the win.
Prediction: Gulak and crew win.
Winner: Cedric Alexander and crew
Main Card
HELL IN A CELL US Title Match: Roman Reigns (c) versus Rusev
Commentary: This may be the weakest of any Hell In A Cell Match. This was their typical RAW match with a chain thrown in. Nothing happened in this match to distinguish it from a non-cage match. It certainly shouldn’t have been in Hell In A Cell.
Rusev dominated most of the match. At the end, he had the accolade hooked in on Roman on the steel stairs, and used a chain across Reigns’ mouth. Of course Reigns slipped out, performed a Samoan drop on the stairs then speared Rusev off the stairs for the pin.
Weak finish. Weak ass cage match. If this was a regular match, it would have been okay, but in Hell in a Cell . . . Hell No.
Prediction: Reigns wins in a hard fought match. This should be the most violent match of the night.
Winner: Reigns won again with a weak ass spear. This should have been the most violent match of the night, but never even got close.
Bayley versus Dana Brooke
Commentary: Fortunately this match was short. It was about what I thought and predicted it would be: Nothing more than a RAW match, and a PPV filler. Good news is Bayley won. Bad news is the match wasn’t very good, but I didn’t expect much with Dana.
I watched the match a second time last night, and have to begrudging agree with Wrestlmentary Crew member Dave that Dana had the match of her career and stepped it up. It still wasn’t enough to make this a good match, or PPV worthy.
Prediction: Bayley wins.
Winner: Bayley wins.
Enzo & Big Cass versus The Club
Commentary: I said to Dave while watching that I hope this match is shorter then Bayley/Dana. I’m glad it was. The only thing worse than this match was Enzo’s promo – I have no idea what he was saying, and what comes out of his mouth is usually the stupidest stuff I have ever heard.
Hopefully, this puts The Club back on track in the WWE.
Prediction: The Club (Please!!!)
Winner: The Club (Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!)
HELL IN A CELL Universal Title Match: Kevin Owens (c) versus Seth Rollins
Commentary: Think about this: Two former RING OF HONOR WORLD CHAMPIONS FIGHTING FOR THE WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE!
They delivered. In the first five minute this was better and more violent than Rusev v Reigns. We had chairs, a ref taken out by KO with a fire extinguisher, KO power bombed through two table, Jericho, and Seth Rollins power bombed through two chairs.
They first half of this match was back and forth, with both guys beating on the other – more often than not KO was in charge. A turning point came when KO went to use a fire extinguisher, but set it off into the ref’s face instead.
While the ref was escorted out of the cage, Jericho ran in, locked the door and stole the key! Initially it didn’t help, Rollins held his own, but focused on beating up Jericho.
The end came when KO set up two chairs side by side and Power Bombed Rollins through them for the pin!
Afterwards, Jericho hit the Code Breaker on Rollins.
This was a cage match. Damn good match. It would have been a great match without Jericho involved, but it is Jericho.
Prediction: KO wins when Sparkle Crotch interferes.
Winner: KO wins when Sparkle Crotch interferes.
RAW CRUISERWEIGHT Title Match: TJ Perkins (c) versus Brian Kendrick
Commentary: Match of the Night.
This was really the most emotionally charged match of the night – and that is all because Kendrick. Kendrick has played the desperate card, pulled some cheap tactics, and even asked TJ to lay down for him. Kendrick needed this.
And he got this. Kendrick played his role perfectly. Not a heel, but a man desperate for redemption, desperate for one last shot, willing to do anything. Kendrick doesn’t have to do it, but wants to. The mind games worked.
He and Perkins put on the match of the night – with Kendrick winning by submission and gaining the title. His road to the title and last shot is complete, question now is: where does he go from here?
Prediction: This could steal the show. Let’s rev this feud into high gear. Kendrick wins the title, but cheats to do so.
Winner: Brian Kendrick NEW CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPION. He didn’t quiet cheat, but did use underhanded tactics and a hook.
RAW Tag Team Title Match: The New Day (c) versus Cesaro/Sheamus
This was a highly entertaining and damn good tag match, and what a great finish.
Cesaro and Sheamus’ antics are like Laurel and Hardy, but they actually showed good teamwork in this match, at one point isolating Woods in their corner and beating him down with multiple tags. Of course, they were just trying to one up another.
Later in the match it seemed like a cinch that Cesaro and Sheamus would win, then Sheamus missed a Brogue kick on Big E and hit Cesaro. The turn was coming and New Day would win, right? No. Sheamus took control of the match, saved Cesaro and took out New Day with a dive from the top rope! (You read that correctly.)
Cesaro clasped Woods into the Sharp Shooter. Outside the ring, Sheamus took out Big E with Francesca II. Kofi hit Trouble in Paradise on Sheamus. Ref turned around just in time to see that but didn’t see Woods tap out.
Cesaro and Sheamus celebrated, but it turned soured when the announcement is a DQ victory!
Great finished. Loved it.
Prediction: I love all these guys, but I’m going with The New Day. I want to see the Day they eclipse Demolition’s record.
Winner: Well, I was half right. New Day are still the champs, but Cesaro/Sheamus won by DQ.
HELL IN A CELL RAW Woman’s Title Match: Sasha Bank (c) versus Charlotte
I wrote in my Preview Commentary “This needs to be Flair versus Steamboat. Anything less is a failure.” I stick to that. However, I probably should have wrote Flair versus Funk.
The beginning of this match was awesome, the sneak attack by Charlotte – but not the cage nearly crushing Sasha when she fell underneath it as it was coming down. Before the match officially started, Charlotte destroyed Sasha, beating the hell out of her and putting her through an announcers table.
This beating was so harsh that Sasha was being taken off on a stretcher, as the ref raises Charlotte’s hand, and she was announced as the winner by forfeit.
I think it would have been great to end this right there. Let Charlotte win like this, keep Sasha out for a couple weeks, and have her come back for vengeance . . .
But wait Sasha rolled off the stretcher, refused attention and climbed into the cage.
Match On. And what a match it turn out to be. It went everywhere, in the ring, out of the cage, on the cage . . . tables, chairs. They pulled out all the stops and went all out. Charlotte finally outlast Sasha and regained the title by pin.
Sasha was game and courageous, but in the end Charlotte was just able to take more punishment and keep going.
History was made: They were the first two woman to be in the Hell In A Cell match, and the first two women to headline a WWE PPV.
I just wish the match had ultimately been better, it fell a little flat at the end. I said they need to put on the match of both their careers – they almost did. I still think Summerslam was better. Here’s the thing though – this deserved to be in Hell In A Cell and was better than both other Cell matches.
Prediction: Flair’s bleed. We will find out in this match if Charlotte is truly worth of the name Flair. Charlotte, by hook or crook.
Winner: Charlotte has arrived and earned the name Flair. Sasha has arrived as well. This is a turning point in their careers and maybe the WWE.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Two really good Hell In A Cell matches, one Lame One. A good Tag Title Match. A great Cruiserweight title match. Two terrible filler matches. Yep, RAW Brand SHOW.
“Sasha and Charlotte for the Main Event – anything else is Unacceptable.” It was the Main Event, for that alone Hell In A Cell deserves praise.
Overall Hell In The Cell was an acceptable RAW Brand PPV.
It wasn’t a complete waste of three hours like RAW normal has been.
RATING:
Four top of the line matches, one average match and two fillers: 6.5
