WWE Hell in a Cell 2017 Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades

Follow along with our live review of WWE Hell in a Cell 2017.

Twenty years ago this month, WWE gave us the first ever Hell in a Cell match. Shawn Michaels took on The Undertaker at Badd Blood in 1997. The match also featured the debut of Kane, whose interference helped Michaels earn a victory over the Deadman.

Since that first appearance of the giant, roofed cage, there have been 36 Hell in a Cell matches in WWE history. The structure eventually spawned its own pay per view event in 2009. And it’s been an annual event on the pay per view calendar ever since. After being a Raw branded event last year, this time it’s SmackDown Live hosting the proceedings.

In the main event this year, Shane McMahon will battle Kevin Owens. The SmackDown Commissioner has had his problems with KO going back several months. Since the Superstar Shakeup brought Owens to Tuesday nights, it’s been a rocky relationship to say the least. Over the past several weeks, things have reached a fever pitch. The only way to settle this match, per Vince McMahon? Inside the Hell in a Cell structure.

There will be a second match inside the eponymous cage this year. In a first, the SmackDown Tag Team Championships will be up for grabs inside the cell. Current champions The New Day are set to defend against longtime rivals The Usos. There’s no love lost on either side of this one. Once the competitors get locked in the cage, it’s sure to be a wild one.

In other action, several championships will be on the line. Jinder Mahal will once again defend the WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. AJ Styles will lace them up in a US Championship match, where he’ll face challenger Baron Corbin. And Charlotte Flair looks to  claim the SmackDown Women’s Championship from current champ Natalya. Waiting in the wings, though, is Carmella, Ms. Money in the Bank.

Other matches on the card include Randy Orton vs. Rusev, in the rubber match of their series of short contests. Hey, maybe this one will go longer than 15 seconds! Bobby Roode makes his pay per view debut against Dolph Ziggler. And on the kickoff show, Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin face the Hype Bros. Oh, we can’t forget the return of everyone’s favorite show since Fuji Vice – the return of Fashion Files is coming at Hell in a Cell, too.

Related Story: WWE Hell in a Cell 2017: Preview and Predictions

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Source: WWE.com

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Hell in a Cell Match

The New Day (C) vs. The Usos

Result: The Usos defeated The New Day to become the new SmackDown Tag Team Champions

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Lots of tag team action to start the show tonight. The sole match on the Kickoff Show gave us Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin defeating The Hype Bros. It’s a little strange to start the main show with a Hell in a Cell match, but I get wanting to spread them out a bit. Big E was especially fired up for the match, forgoing his usual comedy stylings to close the pre match promo.

I loved that all four participants immediately went under the ring for weapons. Even better, that there was a rainbow kendo stick and a chain in the mix. The New Day’s double team casadora punch with the chain wrapped around the fist was a thing of beauty.

As is the case with Hell in a Cell matches, things were pure chaos. Jimmy Uso launched himself with a tope into the cell – probably too much adrenaline. Big E did his always ill-advised spear through the ropes, possibly concussing himself when he hit the cage with his head. Xavier Woods must have raided Sam Ash, because he had about 76 Trombones to use as weapons. Don’t forget the cow bell and the gong.

The Usos took over, though, because there was no way this match was ending after less than ten minutes. Woods took a chain wrapped running leg to the face against the cage wall, which ow. New Day came back with an absolutely ugly looking double team backbreaker that couldn’t have been good for anyone involved.

In a somewhat unique spot, New Day turned the Uso Penitentiary into a literal jail. Woods grabbed about a half dozen kendo sticks and strung them through the cage to trap Jey Uso in the corner. He escaped in time to save Jimmy from a big splash on the steps, and chaos returned.

The Usos risked life and limb to try and put Big E down, putting the big man on Jey’s shoulders on the floor while Jimmy dove through the ropes and drove E into the cage wall. A double Uso splash on E in the ring only got a two count, so the Usos brought out the handcuffs and kendo sticks on Woods.

Big E took over for New Day, with suplexes and vicious tackles into the cage wall. He ended up falling victim to a double splash, though, but Woods broke up the pin before taking a beating. The Usos would put Woods away with a double splash with a steel chair on his chest, making them 5-time champions.

There’s no way this match is not best of the night, I don’t care what happens the rest of the way. It was tremendous, and factoring in everything that got us to this point it was pretty much perfect. And both teams should get like two weeks off, because this was brutal beyond belief.

Source: WWE.com

Rusev vs. Randy Orton

Result: Randy Orton defeated Rusev via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Boy, if we ever needed a match that lasted less than 30 seconds on a pay per view, this was it. The crowd was so hot after that insane tag title match, and then out comes Randy Bore-ton to sleepwalk his way through a match. With the commentary team pointing out that Orton can drop an RKO at any time, you kind of knew how this one would end.

The match wasn’t really that terrible, but it suffers from a bunch of problems. First, card placement. It would have been an uphill battle for anyone to follow New Day/Usos. Second, the feud is kind of lame. Orton and Rusev each won a match very quickly – so now they get to slug it out for what felt like forever?

But most importantly, no one seemed to care about this at all. That’s not all coming from a great match to start the show. If people had any interest whatsoever in Orton vs. Rusev, they’d still show it. This was a crowd that wanted nothing to do with this whatsoever.

Things almost got interesting at the end, when Rusev caught Orton mid-taunt and almost trapped him in the Accolade. But haha, nope – Orton needs to win his pay per view matches, so he hits an RKO outta somewhere to pick up the victory.

Hopefully this will end this feud, and both guys can go on to something different. Like Rusev challenging for some kind of championship, and Orton going on a vacation.

Source: WWE.com

WWE United States Championship Triple Threat Match

Tye Dillinger vs. Baron Corbin vs. AJ Styles (c)

Result: Baron Corbin pinned Tye Dillinger to become the new WWE United States Champion

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

On the Kickoff Show, Tye Dillinger successfully politicked his way into the match between Styles and Corbin, making this a triple threat match. It adds an extra wrinkle, but most felt that the only reason Tye was there was to take a pin from Corbin. Uh, spoiler alert for later on the page?

Solid strategy by Styles and Dillinger at the onset, orchestrating a double team on Corbin to keep him at bay. It didn’t last super long, and most of the middle of the match was Corbin just slowly beating down his opponents one at a time. Say what you want about Baron, but he’s crazy strong (and Styles is a bumping guru, so it makes everything look that much more impactful).

By the time Styles started to get back in control, things had slowed down to a crawl. It took getting Corbin out to the floor again and Dillinger going up against Styles to pick the pace back up. And super scary AJ bump aside, it was pretty darn good.

Great spot that goes under the radar for a lot of people: When Dillinger was trying to escape the Calf Crusher, Corbin pulled him out of the ring. It’s brilliant – there’s no rope break because there’s no DQs, so Corbin has to prevent the submission at all costs. The transition into that Calf Crusher by Styles was gorgeous, too – as was the reversal into a Styles Clash attempt.

Between this match and the New Day/Usos, apparently no one on the SmackDown roster wants to have a healthy back. The chokebreaker Corbin hit on Styles was terrifying to watch, that’s how nasty it looked.

For a WWE triple threat match – where it’s most often a singles match with the third guy on the floor – this one was actually pretty exciting for most of it. Even if the finish was the exact one everybody predicted the second Dillinger was added to the match, it was still a big step up after Rusev/Orton.

Source: WWE.com

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match

Natalya (c) vs. Charlotte Flair

Result: Charlotte defeated Natalya via disqualification; Natalya retains SmackDown Women’s Championship

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Brilliant use of limb targeting in this one. It’s one of the simplest things to do to tie together the story of a match, but it always seems to be underused. The only issue – that Nattie’s Sharpshooter targets the back, not the legs – was explained away by Corey Graves, world’s greatest broadcaster. Graves points out that besides the Sharpshooter, Nattie’s trying to make it harder for Charlotte to apply the Figure Four/Figure Eight with a bum leg.

Either way, it’s a great way to build heat within a match. “How is Charlotte going to come back from this? Oh, she just got hit with a dragon screw. That’s gotta hurt.” It makes you pay attention more closely to see how she survives.

And survive she did, for the most part. Charlotte really sold the leg injury throughout the match. Whenever she got some offense in, the knee/leg really slowed her down and weakened her. But she never backed down, even climbing to the top rope for a moonsault several times. After escaping the Sharphooter, Charlotte finally hit that moonsault on the outside.

That’s where the match went off the rails. While outside the ring, Nattie grabbed a chair and just started wailing away on Charlotte’s injured leg. It was kind of a weird, abrupt ending. You would think that Charlotte could take losing while injured to build to a rematch down the road, but I guess not. So Nattie retains, Charlotte looks tough but lost, and Carmella is still in the back clutching her briefcase.

Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Fashion Files is Back

It’s good to have these guys back on the case. The whole “It’s The Ascension” thing is getting a little out of hand, but the comedic stylings of Breeze and Fandango are second to none.

To recap: The Fashion Police are celebrating closing the “2B” case. While reminiscing, they get a special delivery from two very familiar looking delivery men. It’s a tube, so Breeze thinks maybe they put the wrong guy away for the 2B case. Dango says no way, but the case is reopened.

Breeze opens the tube, and there’s a poster in it. It’s The Ascension, and they’ve written on it “We Want ‘2B’ Your Friends.” Aw, how adorable. But Breezde and Dango are not impressed and they say it can’t be The Ascension – they’re dumb, and they smell, blah blah blah.

But wait! Turns out the delivery men were The Ascension all along. Dagnabit, why is it always The Ascension? Anyway, Konnor and Viktor are upset, and leave dejectedly. There’s a knock on the door right after they leave, but it wasn’t them – it’s a briefcase on the floor.

The Fashion Police open the briefcase inside their office, and it’s obvious what’s inside. It’s Marcellus Wallace’s soul. Like Dango said, it’s a new case, and we get confirmation of “Pulp Fashion” starting this Tuesday on SmackDown Live.

If this gives us Breeze doing the Uma Thurman dance, and Dango asking what they call Chanel No. 5 in France, it’ll be the greatest programming in wrestling history.

Source: WWE.com

WWE Championship Match

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jinder Mahal (c) (w/ The Singh Brothers)

Result: Jinder Mahal defeated Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I didn’t hate this one. I didn’t love it. But I have this sneaking suspicion that I’ve seen it before. Oh, right, it was almost the same thing we got at SummerSlam. It seems that Jinder only really has the one match he can put together.

In fact, the entire feud between Mahal and Nakamura has followed the same pattern as the feud between Mahal and Randy Orton. After Orton lost the title to Mahal, he got two rematches. He lost the first due to interference by the Singhs. And the second had the Singhs getting tossed from ringside, but Mahal finding a way to win. Sound familiar?

Parts of the match weren’t terrible, in all honesty. Nakamura can carry almost anyone to a pretty good match. And Jinder isn’t really that bad in the ring, when you think about it. The biggest issue I have with it is that it took the second match with Nakamura for Jinder to finally win a title defense cleanly.

I’m not really sure what happens from here. Does Nakamura get yet another match for the title? Or does he get shuffled down the card a bit? If he’s out of the title picture, who steps up to lose to Jinder next? AJ Styles just lost the US Title, but I figure he’d get a rematch or two before moving on.

Time will tell, but it looks like the Jinder Experiment will roll on for now.

Source: WWE.com

Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler

Result: Bobby Roode defeated Dolph Ziggler via pinfall

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

I’m not the only one sick and tired of Dolph Ziggler, am I? It was just one short year ago that Ziggler was in the middle of a fantastic feud for the Intercontinental Championship. Now, he’s doing a stupid entrance-based gimmick that makes me sad. Tonight, Dolph came out to silence (bet he didn’t expect crowd silence, too) with no lights, and it was strange.

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I also think it’s the height of irony that Ziggler used a sleeper hold to try and put Roode away. For someone who calls himself The Show-Off, and a guy who is (usually) super exciting to watch, a sleeper hold is the polar opposite of what he should be doing.

After the sleeper was broken, things were kind of back and forth. A couple of dueling DDT attempts was won by Ziggler, and he got a close near fall off it. Of course, he went right back to the sleeper hold until Roode fought out.

Ziggler went to the next step in his slow evolution into Shawn Michaels 2.0 by tuning up the band in the corner. Roode countered with a big spinebuster to create some separation, and then the match went off the rails. A series of pin attempts and reversals with each competitor holding the tights throughout went on for way too long, until Roode got the win in his pay per view debut.

Ziggler didn’t take too kindly to this, and hit the Zig Zag after the bell. Apparently, this one isn’t over, so we get to relive it over and over, I guess.

Source: WWE.com

Falls Count Anywhere Hell in a Cell Match

Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon

Result: Kevin Owens defeated Shane McMahon via pinfall

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Immediately, we see why the Falls Count Anywhere stipulation was added – the first five minutes of the match took place outside the cell. Shane never let KO in, and you have to think that would foreshadow something later on.

Once the two got into the cage, it was pretty violent. I think the Usos and New Day were more violent, but Owens did his best to punish the commissioner. One thing I noticed throughout the night is that there was a lot more contact with the cage than in previous Hell in a Cell matches. Everyone always complains about the lack of blood in HIAC matches, but here’s some news: hitting a chain link fence doesn’t automatically make you bleed.

When Shane started his comeback, it was with a bum knee because 1) Shane got the knees up to block KO’s swanton bomb, and 2) Shane is nearly 48 years old and not a full time wrestler. Can’t really blame this on the leg, but Shane’s jabs and uppercuts looked worse than normal afterwards.  KO took back over with a bullfrog splash after Shane missed a shooting star splash.

Shane countered the pop up powerbomb with a triangle choke – almost. Both Corey Graves and Tom Philips pointed out that it wasn’t complete (where were you  on that one, Byron?), which is probably why Owens was able to escape.

Owens went hardcore on the outside – powerbomb on the steps for a nearfall, then pulled out a table to try and punish Shane. KO went for a cannonball from the apron onto Shane against a table, but Shane moved and Owens went through the table himself. The opening was enough for Shane to catch his wind put himself in position for a comeback.

Of course, Shane would grab a garbage can from under the ring and set up his coast to coast flying dropkick. Owens got his foot on the ropes even though there’s no rope breaks in HIAC matches, which prompted Shane to grab bolt cutters to cut the chain and leave the cell. Uh, what?

I gotta tell you, watching Shane grab literally every part of his body after almost every move is depressing. YOU’RE NOT A WRESTLER, BUDDY, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS STUFF. Eventually, Shane gets hit with a headbutt and ends up on the Spanish announce table, which conveniently looks like it’s padded. Hmmmm….

Owens climbs to the top of the cell to end Shane, using the conveniently placed foot holes cut into the cage. At the top, KO has second and third thoughts about jumping down, which gives Shane time to regroup and climb to the top as well. They brawl up top, and it’s terrifying for a few reasons. I’ll let you guess why; you were probably thinking the same thing I was. (Namely: Please, don’t die.)

https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/917228717881069568

Owens hit a pop up powerbomb on top of the cell. Thankfully, the panel held and didn’t give way. Chain link isn’t all that strong, so I had about a dozen mini panic attacks watching everything on top of the cell. Mercifully, both competitors started to climb down (whew!), and Shane forced KO off and into the Spanish announce table.

Rather than just pin Owens, Shane picked him up and dragged him to the English announce table. Then Shane climbed to the top of the cell again. Oh, dear. In a scene straight out of WrestleMania 32, Shane went for the diving elbow, but hit nothing but table.

Why? BECAUSE SAMI ZAYN CAME OUT AND SAVED HIS FORMER AND POSSIBLY ONCE AGAIN BEST FRIEND FROM SERIOUS INJURY. Zayn pulled KO off the table, so Shane missed his target. KO somehow crawled on top of Shane to get the pinfall victory, and Sami just looked like he couldn’t believe what he did or saw. Shane was carted out on a stretcher, and Owens needed to be helped to the back.

It was a pretty slow start to this one, but in the end it picked up. It was absolutely horrifying to watch, which is probably more an indication of me getting old than anything else. I just want my wrestlers to do crazy lucha flippy stuff and be relatively safe, you know? Stop trying to kill yourselves for a largely ungrateful audience.

Next: 25 Greatest WWE Entrance Themes of All Time

That does it for WWE Hell in a Cell 2017. A pair of really good HIAC matches, plus a hot triple threat match for the US Title were among the highlights. What did you think of the show?