Monday Morning Quarterback: Hell in a Cell

Brock Lesnar crashes the party and attacks Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns during their Universal Title bout at Hell in a Cell. Photo courtesy of the WWE.

By Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt)

September 16, 2018

I wanted to give this shot and type out my feelings about last night before I read too many blogs, dirt sheets, and reviews. I want to give my biased opinion (yes, I said biased…since we all have biased opinions) under the filter of Matt and only Matt. I don’t want a fan filter, a WWE filter, or even a Brother of Discussion filter. I just want to tell you, before I watch the Pay-Per-View again, how this show felt for me.

Going chronologically means starting with the Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy match (and yes, I am skipping the kickoff show). This is a match (Hardy and Orton) that the Brothers of Discussion almost completely ignored in their preview show. And deservedly so. These guys were fighting to fill out a card as well as use two of the top paid talent on the roster. The match, before having started, worked because you had two veterans going at it. They weren’t going to hurt each other’s character and neither would lose fan respect.

That being said, holy crap did they use their power and abilities to their fullest. I mean, no one would accuse these guys of not being great at their craft, but every now and then their personalities and personal lives get in their own way. Sometimes that means hitting the ring with a little extra influence (some drugs!!!!) or they might come in a little bored (Randy…we’re looking at you…) but that certainly wasn’t the case last night.

Screwdrivers, belts, ladders and tables came into the mix and I’m sure some of the images won’t leave our minds for quite a while. Poor Jeff, who has those dumb, gaping holes in his ears, had them nearly ripped out of his head by the Legend Killer. Orton, who has been bloodied in numerous matches before (against Mick Foley and Brock Lesnar) donated some more blood to the ring as it poured out of his leg and back. Then, with the Viper knocked out and laying across a table (near the end of the bout), Hardy swung from the top of the cage to land on top of Orton with a splash. Only, Orton was lucid enough to roll off the table to allow Hardy to take himself out of the match.

As the ref called for paramedics, Orton demanded the ref count out a pin. Orton got the win and the WWE Universe was well on their way to one of the best Pay-Per-Views of the year. Just the storytelling in this match would have been enough. Maybe throw in some meager attempts at spots and top rope actions, but it was the choices that Hardy and Orton made to ensure we wouldn’t forget the physicality of this match is what really made this special.

Now, I’m not sitting here saying this was a 5-star match, but we didn’t need that. We needed a match to get us excited and to me…this fight was a throw away to begin with. I didn’t expect much from this match and it also pulled the curtain. For Orton and Hardy to pull off what they did and provide us with some unforgettable visuals…was… fantastic.

So, I’m one match in and I’m through the roof already. But the next match and ensuing post-match encounter was also great.

Becky Lynch finally got her title back and she did so in a squeaky clean fashion. Not that it wasn’t without Charlotte Flair’s clumsiness, but Becky didn’t need a heel tactics to take down the champ. It was a truly great Women’s Championship match and even ended with a fun counter. To the naked eye, I thought that the spear turned into a pin made absolutely no sense. Upon further review (okay! I lied! I am watching it again!), Becky turned into (while not perfect) a pretty nice head shot to Flair.

Now that the final move makes more sense (because it did confuse me initially. Seeing a spear turn into a win for Becky…), the denied rekindling of a friendship is now more intriguing than ever. I’ve been writing for the last two months about how horrible a friend Charlotte is and then complained about the forced booking of Becky being a heel. This choice, to have Becky turn down the handshake was the right decision. Charlotte doesn’t deserve Becky’s friendship…at least not yet. And now we’ll have an opportunity for an amazing grudge match, next mont, at WWE Evolution.

So, while some might think a stinker of match would be up next, the WWE decided to roll out the best match of the night. And that isn’t a slight to the rest of the night or the matches, but a recognition of amazing storytelling (yet again) and fantastic tag work. Another story arc that has caught my attention (since April) has been the creation of this hardworking, heel tag team, The Show (Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre).

I mean…these guys made the rules a part of their match when Ziggler made sure the ref missed a Rollins and Ambrose tag. And while Rollins and Ambrose still walked away looking strong, nothing was quite as fun to watch as the cocky swagger that McIntyre and Ziggler worked with at about the mid-point of the match. One of the best spots was Ziggler faking a superkick to Ambrose (who wasn’t tagged into the match) as he strolled around the ring. Could you imagine doing that at your job…just as a power move? Tell someone to get you that report in the morning and then stare them down for a few extra beats. They look up at you and WHAM! “Nah…just kidding dude. But seriously…I want that report at 9AM”.

The teamwork was expert level as ‘the Show’ was exchanging tags like they were going out of style. They kept Rollins in the ring for what felt like half of the match. And all the while, making the beat down of Rollins (one of the best in the biz right now) look like child’s play. Ziggler and McIntyre are proving to be difference makers on this roster and obvious future contenders of the Universal Title.

The final blow was a Claymore from McIntyre to Rollins, who seemed to be distracted…distracted by what? Oh, just the fact that he was in the middle of his double suplex move to put away Dolph Ziggler! The Claymore knocked out the Intercontinental Champion and poor Dolph…who was out like a light…flopped on top of Rollins for the win.

And when I’ve talked about fantastic uses of visuals for all of these matches (prematch, during, and post match), the sight of McIntyre carrying Ziggler and the tag titles with him after winning was pure genius. I know I talk about this tag team winning main event gold, but the superstar to eventually come out of this team as a “top of the company” main event champion, is Drew.

So we’re done…right? That’s just way too many good matches.

NOPE!

Next up was AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. Now…to no one’s surprise, this match was incredible. It was slow at times, but it looked like Joe got whacked in the head early on and either he’s an amazing actor or he was struggling to remember what was next. Either way, for our sakes (sorry Joe) it added to the story of the match. Joe fought through that head shot and made it to the end of this match with his wits in tact.

It was the end of this match that will help it stand out for the test of time. Near completion of the match, Samoa Joe locked AJ Styles in his Coquina Clutch and rolled to his back to get more leverage. In doing so, Styles rolled right on top of Joe to get the win. And just as the previous three matched did, the visuals and storytelling stood out. AJ Styles, while unknowingly pinning Joe, tapped to the Coquina Clutch. Unfortunately for Joe, the ref was busy counting to three because of Joe’s flat shoulders and didn’t see the left hand of Styles tap out.

I’ll say this too: Joe’s immediate victory celebration and look of disbelief really helped sell this booking. Joe’s face was shocked…because he won the WWE Championship! His elation at getting the supposed victory was amazing. It was an outburst of emotion that you would expect to see from anyone who just won their first WWE Championship. Even better than that was his walk up the ramp and ensuing conversation with Paige for a rematch. Joe is a really talented actor. Honestly. His in-ring ability mixed with his world-class wrestling talent should make this guy a future WWE Champion, but for now…I’m just thankful I get to watch him in this feud now.

So…four great…not good…great matches started this card. The only stinker on the card was the mixed tag match, but those are really hard to book (especially with all of the dumb rules), but we did get the victory out of the Miz that we all should’ve been hoping for. This feud, between Daniel Bryan and the Miz, deserves way more than a mixed tag match. I really do hope they find a way to get this feud to WrestleMania and possibly have a title involved. It might be asking too much, but we all know that would be amazing.

Miz wins…lets move on.

The next match on the card was Rowdy Ronda Rousey and Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Title. I don’t write enough articles about Rousey on this page, but she definitely deserves praise after last night. We all know that she can fight and that she’s athletic, but at Hell in a cell she proved to us that she can sell pain. Selling pain is key to any good in-ring story and it was definitely key in ensuring the tiny little Bliss was a formidable opponent.

When you talk about legitimacy in the WWE and in pro wrestling, part of that coming to fruition is having superstars like Alexa Bliss get trounced by Ronda Rousey. Ronda isn’t an actor turned pro wrestler. She’s a fighter. A former UFC Women’s Champ. She should beat the crap out of Bliss. And Bliss, her job is to make her size work for her. She does that quickness and smarts. So, while some might complain that Rousey is going to destroy the whole roster, don’t forget who she is fighting. Bliss can always find a way to get back into the title picture. Her character is too smart not to.

Obviously, the better Women’s Title match was Becky and Charlotte, but we saw great athleticism and story from the RAW Women’s title match. I still can’t find a reason to complain about this night…until the main event…

First of all…what the fuck was that? Brock Lesnar ruined the chance of the WWE Universe getting a clean (somewhat) ending in the main event, allowing the Universal Title to ascend to glory. Now, I’m sure I’ll love this ending as time goes on. Especially when it plays out into a huge triple threat in a couple months, but right now it feels like we had a good match taken away from us.

And that match was fun! I wasn’t entirely expecting too much from the interference of Ambrose, Rollins, Ziggler and McIntyre, but damn was that entertaining. Those beautiful fools put their bodies on the line to make sure we loved the main event (that didn’t include any of them, according to the match card).

And the accidental in-ring story between Mick Foley and Braun Strowman was great. Every time Strowman kicked up the pain another notch, you could write-off the non-pinfall to Foley and his lack of experience as a ref. It was fun to think about and a wonderful use of organic, in-ring, mishaps by the announce team.

But…then Brock ruined it…

And I get it! Brock was actually saving the day. He was making sure this feud would continue, Braun didn’t eat a pin, and Roman didn’t lose his title. We all know that. And Brock gets to be the bad guy again, so if we hate him more, the story works even better. But…ugh…I WANTED A CLEAN FINISH!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

I’m not going to let this one match ruin the night…like I know some of you will…

Does anyone really look at these match cards and get all hot and bothered at the thought of a Roman Reigns match? God…I hope not. The real wrestling bouts were occurred in the first half of the card and we all knew those would be the best matches. SO QUIT YOUR BELLY ACHING AND APPRECIATE THIS SHOW FOR WHAT IT WAS! A DAMN GOOD PAY-PER-VIEW FROM A SHOW (HELL IN A CELL) THAT USUALLY SUCKS!

Listen, Subscribe and Review the Podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes! Thank you!