By Jason Powell
WWE Hell in a Cell Hits
Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s Championship: A strong main event with the only truly surprising finish of the night. Charlotte winning the match did not send Sasha’s hometown fans home happy, but they told a good story with the injury angle prior to the match that gave Sasha the out for losing. Charlotte winning the match keeps her pay-per-view unbeaten streak alive and gives her major credibility in terms of being a heel champion who can win without cheap finish heel tactics. It was an odd ending to the feel good story of the women headlining their first show, but I never lost interest and genuinely cared about the outcome, which is more than I can say for most matches on the show. Petty complaint: The Natural Selection finisher looks like Charlotte is bending her opponents into a gentle yoga stretch. It’s a routine mid-match move, not a finisher.
Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship: A minor Hit and it’s entirely for the hard work of Owens and Rollins. You had to know that Chris Jericho was going to get in the cage somehow. I was actually hoping the idea was going to be that he hid under the ring all day because he’s such a good friend to Owens, but we knew that wasn’t the case when they showed him in that worthless backstage segment with Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley. It’s a shame that this feud wasn’t HIAC ready from a storyline standpoint. It was more about comedy from the heels and it didn’t feel personal between Owens and Rollins until the final segment on the go-home show. We can only imagine how great this would have been if the feud had developed to a point where it felt like HIAC was the peak.
Cedric Alexander, Lince Dorado, and Sin Cara vs. Drew Gulak, Ariya Daivari, and Tony Nese: Another good match from these six (they worked a pre-Raw match last week). It’s hard to tell whether the crowd support is a sign that fans are getting into the personalities or simply excited to see the first match of the night. As much as I wish it was a good sign, the crowd’s flat reaction to the cruiserweight championship match later in the show is telling.
New Day vs. Sheamus and Cesaro: I’m in the minority when it comes to the finish. It wasn’t executed as well as it could have been, as it felt like Xavier Woods was in the Sharpshooter for an eternity, but I like the idea of going with a finish that keeps the feud alive. The DQ finish should have been a bonding moment for Sheamus and Cesaro in that they were moments away from winning the tag titles. Instead, they were bickering seconds after the match for no good reason given that Sheamus wasn’t responsible for the referee calling for the bell. I’m ready for the bickering to end and for Sheamus and Cesaro to get on the same page. I’m also ready for Cesaro to abandon the male stripper tearaway tuxedos that feel completely out of place for his character.
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. Enzo Amore and Big Cass: A minor Hit for Gallows and Anderson get a needed win. Sadly, I still can’t shake the feeling that this was just one win in a feud they will end up losing.
WWE Hell in a Cell Misses
Brian Kendrick vs. TJ Perkins for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship: The idea of Kendrick asking Perkins to drop the match for him is weak, and even worse is that Perkins is suddenly naive to Kendrick’s manipulations. This is the same TJP who saw through Kendrick’s games early in their feud. Suddenly, Perkins has to sell Kendrick’s request as if he’s conflicted. And as much as I enjoy Kendrick, WWE has been too busy telling this manipulation story to actually have him generate heat with the fans. Are the cruiserweights only allowed to talk to each other in backstage segments? How about an actual promo from Kendrick in which he tears into the fans and establishes himself firmly as a heel? On a positive note, Kendrick winning the championship makes sense given that the division has a deeper roster of solid babyfaces to challenge him, whereas the heel side would have given Perkins a mostly bland batch of contenders.
Roman Reigns vs. Rusev for the U.S. Championship: A good match that filled a lot of time while still saving plenty for the other Hell in a Cell matches. The big negative is that it was difficult to truly invest in the match. I never thought for a second that Rusev was going to beat Reigns. There was a similar sense of predictability throughout most of the card, but it was a major issue in this match. The work of Reigns and Rusev was Hit worthy, yet I just kept waiting for the match and the feud to finally end. This is a case of the wrestlers working hard, yet the feud feeling so flat that it just didn’t work for me.
Bayley vs. Dana Brooke: This would have been a forgotten match even if it had taken place on Raw. Are they trying to elevate Bayley to be Charlotte’s next challenger? They’ve lost their way with Bayley to some extent and the timing doesn’t feel right for her to become number one contender, but I’m not sure who else they would go with coming out of Survivor Series.
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