WWE: How did last night’s Hell in a Cell matches compare to the rest?
WWE Hell in a Cell was a rollercoaster of an event, but how did last night’s HIAC matches compare to the lineage that came before them?
WWE Hell in a Cell was a pay-per-view of wildly mixed reactions, depending on which part of the show you’re talking about. Things started strong, but certainly got lost along the way and came to a terrible crashing end.
In the build to Hell in a Cell, I took upon myself the task of watching every single HIAC match of all time, in chronological order, to rank them from worst to best. It was quite the journey, and yielded a list that went from Big Boss Man vs. The Undertaker in last place all the way to Cactus Jack vs. Triple H in first place.
We saw two more installments last night, bringing the grand total of Hell in a Cell matches in WWE history to 42, but how did they compare to those that came before? We’ll start with the good news that got the night going.
Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks went to war with one another. They put on one of the best Hell in a Cell matches in years and definitely outperformed the one other women’s HIAC match.
Lynch and Banks had the advantage of a hot crowd, which in hindsight was absolutely perfect considering where the night went later. From creative spots with chairs and kendo sticks to perfectly broken tables, this match had it all. There were direct callbacks to the HIAC between Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks, as well as callbacks to past Hell in a Cell matches while still creating truly unique never-before-seen moments.
Overall, I’d insert this match into my list at the number eight spot. It goes in just behind the unforgettable clash between The Usos and The New Day, but just ahead of the Bad Blood 2004 epic that pitted Triple H against Shawn Michaels.
Unfortunately, now that I’ve said that, there isn’t much more I have to say that will be good. There’s no sugar-coating it. The main event match in which Seth Rollins defended his Universal Championship against “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt was absolutely terrible.
It wasn’t terrible in an “oh wow, what he did was terrible, how interesting” kind of way. No, it was a much simpler “oh wow, this is terrible writing and how did anyone think this was a good idea” kind of way.
Things were off to a bad start, as WWE chose keep red lighting on during the match itself. The lighting was an odd call at first, and became progressively more annoying as the match went on.
My own roommate, who isn’t a wrestling fan, was initially creeped out by the combination of red lighting and the terrifying look of The Fiend. That’s a good reaction to get from a viewer, but nothing that happened in the match was able to capitalize on that potential.
What followed was one of the most poorly booked HIAC matches of all time. The early back and forth between Rollins and The Feind was somewhat compelling, with The Fiend kicking out of a single Stomp and Rollins kicking out after feeling Sister Abigail into the cell on the outside and a second time in the ring.
More from WWE
- Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
- Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline
- WWE and AEW will put on a full court press for Kazuchika Okada in 2024
- The Judgment Day is the top faction story in WWE
- Liv Morgan vs Rhea Ripley is perfect for WWE Royal Rumble 2024
There were also some fun weapons spots and a cartoonishly large (but devastatingly heavy) mallet was used by Wyatt. The only issue during this part of the match was the lighting, and it had a strong start otherwise.
The complexion of the match began to change about ten minutes in, as Seth Rollins managed to drive The Fiend into his own mallet with a Stomp outside the ring. That’s the second Stomp for The Fiend, which is important.
Rollins gets Wyatt inside the ring and proceeds to hit four more Stomps, bringing the total to six at that point. He also nails a Pedigree before the sixth Stomp, but The Fiend kicks out of all of that at a count of one.
By comparison, Brock Lesnar was defeated with only three Stomps (and some other offense) at both WrestleMania and SummerSlam of this year. At this point, The Fiend looks more than twice as powerful as Lesnar, but we’re not even done.
The crowd began to turn on Rollins during this sequence, seeing what looked like a potential burial of the extremely popular character The Fiend. The booing increased when Rollins went on to five more Stomps, bringing the collective total to 11 in a single match.
After all of the other offense in the match and 11 Stomps by Seth Rollins, the champion went for another pin but The Fiend yet again kicked out at a count of one. The match had long passed the point of comprehension or logic at this point.
Rollins escalates things more, using a ladder, chairs, and a toolbox as weapons to beat on The Fiend. He then retrieves a sledgehammer from beneath the ring, calling back to his connection with Triple H.
Seth Rollins stacked a pile of weapons on top of The Fiend and brought the sledgehammer crashing down on them, causing the referee to call for the bell. Of course, there was no logical reason for the referee to call for the bell.
No pinfall had been made. No one submitted. No one passed out or was rendered unconscious. It looked like a disqualification ending in a match that normally has no disqualifications, but WWE later clarified on their own recap there was a “match stoppage” made by the referee when they believed Rollins had gone too far.
Yes, he went too far inside Hell in a Cell. He went too far in the structure that’s nearly killed Mick Foley on more than one occasion. And thus, for the second year in a row, WWE’s annual Hell in a Cell pay-per-view ended with a HIAC match having a non-finish.
After the match, medical personnel came to attend to The Fiend. Rollins interrupted the aid and approached The Fiend again, only to be caught with the Mandible Claw from a suddenly still going Bray Wyatt. The Fiend followed it up with Sister Abigail on the outside, showing his dominance despite not winning the championship.
Having seen and processed this absolute trainwreck, I can confidently rank the Hell in Cell between Seth Rollins and The Fiend at 41st out of 42 total matches. Only the horrendous WrestleMania 15 match between The Undertaker and Big Boss Man was worse, and that was entirely because of what happened immediately following the match.
WWE Hell in a Cell started with an easy top ten Hell in a Cell contest but ended with one of the worst ones we’ve ever seen. Someone hit Mick Foley’s music because this event crashed and burned.