WWE Hell in a Cell 2018: Results, Highlights and Grades

Photo Source: WWE.com

Raw Women’s Championship Match

Ronda Rousey (w/ Natalya) (c) vs. Alexa Bliss (w/ Mickie James & Alicia Fox)

Result: Ronda Rousey defeated Alexa Bliss via submission

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

The big story heading into this one was a valiant effort from WWE to make Rousey seem less dominant. A storyline rib injury limited the champ’s strength, and also made her more susceptible to damage during the match. And if you thought Alexa Bliss wasn’t the type of superstar to exploit such an injury, you are sadly mistaken.

At a few points, it seemed like everything was too heavy-handed. There was too much effort on making Rousey seem “human,” which made her inevitable comeback all the more predictable, and all the more ridiculous at the same time.

However, there’s little to no denying that Rousey, while very clearly still pretty raw as a WWE superstar, has a better grip on selling an injury consistently than most of the rest of the roster. Selling on offense, like I’ve said before, is a surefire way to get into my good graces, and Rousey pulled it off in a sensible way. Yes, she did a few moves that should have been nearly impossible to do with injured ribs — but she immediately went back to the injury. Adrenaline works that way, so it makes sense.

Regardless of what you think of either Rousey or Bliss in general, I think you’d have to agree that both are masters at non-verbal communication, too. The look in Alexa’s eyes when Rousey flipped the switch for her big comeback, the way Rousey went to her ribs at any lull — she, and Alexa, know this is entertainment, and it needs to be convincing.

Getting a “real” match this time around makes this feel like a finished feud, too. Bliss can now prepare for Trish Stratus at Evolution, and Ronda can find a new challenger.

Samoa Joe Gets His Wish

While Paige rightfully refused to reverse the referee’s decision, Joe did get some good news: he gets another match against AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at Super Show-Down, and there’s probably not going to be any rules. We here at Daily DDT would like to offer our deepest condolences to the family of AJ Styles, as he will likely not survive this encounter.