Hell in a Cell 2021: Three things that WWE got right

Another edition of WWE Hell in a Cell has come and gone and like many main roster WWE shows, this event featured its share of highs and lows.

As usual, the wrestlers more or less held up their end of the deal in the squared circle, but did the vision laid out by Vince McMahon and his creative team match the high-quality action put forth by the talent.

Well, in some cases, they did, and those moments are what we’re here to talk about today.

These are three things that WWE got right at Hell in a Cell 2021

Bianca Belair beats Bayley inside Hell in a Cell

Given the stipulation and the scarcity of credible challengers to the SmackDown Women’s Championship, it would’ve surprised no one to see Bayley win this match and stretch this program with Bianca Belair another month. However, WWE did the right thing here and used this opening bout to show that they are fully behind Belair as the brand’s top distaff babyface.

It helped that champion and challenger brought it in what was the match of the night for many fans. To no one’s surprise, Bayley and Belair came up with plenty of creative, brutal spots that reaffirmed the animus they shared for one another.

The spots where the number one contender tied “The EST’s” hair to the bottom rope and a steel chair were well done, too, and, as should be the case for all heels, it foreshadowed the comeuppance that awaited Bayley toward the end of the match. It was also smart of them to not mirror what Belair and Sasha Banks did at WrestleMania 36, with Belair this time tying her braid to Bayley’s wrist and using it as a ripcord.

Given how heavy this show went with heel (and whatever Alexa Bliss is supposed to be) wins, Belair retaining in such a definitive manner was a welcome sight.

Seth Rollins and Cesaro

Interestingly enough, this felt like the match where adding the Hell in a Cell stipulation would’ve fit best, based on what we’ve seen the last few weeks on SmackDown. However, the absence of the cage gimmick didn’t keep Seth Rollins and Cesaro from nearly matching their WrestleMania 37 effort.

Both men played their roles well here: Cesaro thrived as the “never say die” babyface and Rollins complimented him as the cocky heel who grew frustrated with his opponent’s resilience. The finish — a surprise cradle pinfall win for Rollins — worked within the context of the match; Cesaro, who was trying to apply the Sharpshooter, became too fixated on applying the hold, and Rollins, the great wrestler that he is, caught him with a tight cradle. It wasn’t a lazy “surprise rollup” (though this show would provide your fix for that later in the show).

Rollins winning probably means we’ll see a rematch at Money in the Bank — assuming both aren’t in the ladder match.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

You know, for as tired as the latest stanza in the Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens epic has become, these two have a knack for making forget about the drab builds to their matches once the bell rings (of course, that doesn’t excuse the lackadaisical storytelling).

Owens and Zayn received a bit more time than they did at WrestleMania and they used that extra time to, well, tack on more of the usual cool stuff they always do to one another when they face off.

Much like the Rollins vs. Cesaro match, this was a spot where WWE decided that the heel needed to win to keep the feud going (or write Owens off of TV for a bit), but in this case, they went with a more definitive finish, as Zayn won clean after hitting the Helluva Kick. Given how heel-centric SmackDown is right now, it likely won’t lead to anything, but it was nice to see Zayn get a win that wasn’t presented as fluky.