WWE Hell In A Cell 2017: Power Ranking The Matches

Source: WWE.com

5. Bobby Roode vs Dolph Ziggler

Before we get into the disappointment that was the Roode/Ziggler HIAC match, can we just give “The ShowOff” a little credit here? If you go all the way back to May of 2015, he put over a newly promoted Tyler Breeze at that years Survivor Series. He did the same for Baron Corbin in June of last year at Money In The Bank. Then at last May’s Backlash, he did the job for another new main roster face, Shinsuke Nakamura. So Sunday night he seemed all but written that Ziggler would do the same for Roode, the most recent addition to the SmackDown Live roster, and that he did.

However, as good of a soldier as Ziggler has been, that did not translate into a very exciting match with Roode. The two seemed to really lack chemistry and for a guy who’s known to be very exciting in the ring, Ziggler’s use of repeated sleeper holds was pretty boring. Roode didn’t bring a ton to the table either. The former NXT and TNA world champ had his first chance to shine on pay per view under the WWE banner and the result was decent at best. This one is really tough because there was nothing inherently wrong with this match, but on the other hand there was nothing to cheer about either. And the ending with Roode, the baby face, using the tights for the victory was a head-scratcher to say the least.

Potentially the most entertaining part of the contest was right after the bell rang as Ziggler nailed Roode with a Zig-Zag. That signifies that this program will most likely move forward. Time will tell if that’s a good or bad thing but one thing that is certain is that these two men together are capable of so much more. Perhaps they’ll get the chance to prove that sometime on another stage.