WWE Hell in a Cell 2018
San Antonio, TX - September 2018
CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, the Universal Champion was Roman Reigns while AJ Styles held the WWE Championship. Seth Rollins was the Intercontinental Champion and Nakamura was the US Champ. The RAW Tag Team Champions were Ziggler and McIntyre. The SmackDown Tag Team Champions were the New Day. The RAW Women's Championship was held by Ronda Rousey and the SmackDown Women's Champion was Charlotte Flair.
COMMENTATORS: Saxton (SD), Phillips (SD), Cole (RAW), Young (RAW), Graves (both)
COMMENTATORS: Saxton (SD), Phillips (SD), Cole (RAW), Young (RAW), Graves (both)
In the opening contest, Jeff Hardy took on Randy Orton in a Hell in a Cell Match. Years ago, the big gimmick matches would happen closer to the main event, but when you've got two of them on one show, its easy to understand why the WWE would opt to put as much time as possible between them. Orton came out to a big pop, which was a bit surprising considering he's "heel"-ier now than he's been in years and he's up against a pretty beloved babyface. The build-up to this match, at least off-screen, was all about what ridiculously extreme bump Hardy would attempt in this setting. Hardy pulled out weapons early, but they were used against him just as much as he was able to use them. The first big Hardy spot came with an Air Sabu into the cell wall that got a "Delete!" chant. A minute or so later, though, Orton was back in control, hitting a superplex for 2. The pace could never be described as frenetic, but they did a nice job establishing the brutality from the very start so it didn't feel like either guy was overselling as much as it might've had they wrestled a similar bout without the cell stipulation. Hardy set up a ladder upside down on the outside and attempted to suplex Orton into it, but ended up getting front-suplexed into the supports of the ladder chest first in a nasty spot I'm not sure I've seen too many times before. Orton continued his assault with a series of chair shots to the back and then a number of belt whips. Orton then set up Hardy in the middle of the ladder and brought his neck through a rung, stomping on the ladder. Orton applied a headlock (for no apparent reason really) that allowed Hardy to rally. Jeff attempted a Twist of Fate but Orton sent him to the ropes and countered with a trademark powerslam. The next sequence was one of the most stomach-churning moments I've seen in years as Orton busted out a screwdriver, inserted it into Hardy's elongated earlobe and twisted it around. This seemed like the kind of circus trick that probably didn't hurt Hardy at all, but looked like it was the most painful thing ever. Hardy escaped with a low blow, but his comeback was brief as Orton blocked a Swanton attempt and then hit his hangman DDT. At this point, Orton's back was cut open, possibly from the cage or one of Hardy's chair shots. Orton called for the RKO, but Hardy countered with a Twist of Fate and then set up a steel chair over the Viper's body. On his third attempt, Hardy hit the Swanton on the chair, but only got 2. As Orton rolled around, the camera also showed that a sizable chunk of his leg had been sliced off too. As Orton writhed in pain, Hardy set up all sorts of ladders and placed Orton on a table. He then climbed atop a mini-ladder, realized he couldn't leapfrog over the taller ladder, and opted instead to swing from the cell's ceiling and attempt a splash through Orton. Unfortunately for Hardy, Orton had rolled off the table and Hardy fell through it himself. Though this match was designed to make Hardy the sympathetic figure, Orton's legitimate injuries here were the real story (at least until the finish). Overall, I thought this match delivered what it was supposed to and I loved the extra bit of heeling by Orton at the end, demanding the ref make the count even after it was clear Hardy needed medical attention. I wouldn't call it "must see" necessarily, but it was pretty darn close and still recommended - especially if you've got a soft spot for either of these notoriously inconsistent performers. (3.5/5)
The SmackDown Women's Championship was up for grabs next - Charlotte Flair defending the gold against Becky Lynch. As most pundits predicted, Lynch came out to a warm reception from the crowd despite her being positioned as the heel in this feud (and a noticeable reduction in her pre-match routine). Flair got a bit of a chilly response in comparison. Quality mat exchanges to start, though they did get a little tripped up at one point before getting back on the same page. Lynch took control as Flair ran shoulder-first into a turnbuckle, a very tired trope but salvaged by the fact that Becky's control stretch over the next few minutes was very solid, all of her offense wisely focused on attacking Flair's arm for her Disarmer finish. Throughout her attack the crowd remained in her corner too, loudly chanting "Let's Go Becky!" at various times. Charlotte put on a strong performance herself, though, showing off her impressive strength by escaping an armbar attempt with a massive powerbomb. This match wasn't flawless, but the crowd was fully engaged (though probably not the way Vince wanted), the chemistry was undeniable, and there were a handful of "little things" that made this one thoroughly enjoyable (including the "out of nowhere," crowd-pleasing finish). It will be interesting to see where this storyline goes. I'm hoping they use this opportunity to do a bit of a course correction and reshuffling of the characters because Charlotte is getting great natural heel heat and Lynch is everything Roman Reigns should be, a "cool" babyface that actually comes off as cool. Imperfect, but very good and maybe a sneak-in for a Top 10 WWE Match of the Year. (3.5/5)
The RAW Tag Team Championships were on the line next with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre defending against Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. I'm not sure this was as technically good as some of the matches Rollins and Ambrose had against The Bar last year, but it felt more heated and Dean Ambrose, in particular, seemed considerably more over with the crowd last night than he did during his run as SmackDown's top babyface a few years back. I liked seeing Ziggler and McIntyre actually use some cheap heel tactics to maintain an advantage and build to an Ambrose hot tag, but Rollins has a tendency to re-insert himself into the match too soon after, which kind of hurts the story for me. There were some very good sequences here, but I still see these teams as two pairs of singles guys - which was once "the norm" but now, with the rise of really unified teams like The New Day, Usos, and, before them, Cesaro and Kidd and The Revival in NXT, I'm just not as invested in their pursuit of the Tag Team Championships. This felt like a grudge match between two teams rather than a title match, which is what they seemed to be going for and what they delivered. It was good, maybe even great, but not "must see" and certainly doesn't make me any more interested in the impending 6-man match they have against The Shield at the Australian Super Show coming up. (3/5)
AJ Styles defended the WWE World Championship next against his nemesis, Samoa Joe. I really, really dug their SummerSlam match but was apprehensive about what they would do to top it. Here, Styles went all out from the jump and was absolutely merciless with his stiff knees and forearms. Joe seemed inspired to dish it as good as he took it, delivering a number of jaw-dropping kicks of his own. Their SummerSlam match was criticized for not feeling too much like a "wrestling match" instead of a legit fight, but I didn't mind that aspect. This one made up for it, both guys showing relentless effort and an utter disdain for each other. The crowd was significantly hotter for this too, appreciating this match more than the burnt out Brooklyn crowd seemed to in August. Unfortunately, it seemed like all the extra hard-hitting spots were almost designed to make up for the finish - an ugly, unnecessary "double finish" that saw Samoa Joe get cleanly and clearly pinned but complain, post-match, that AJ Styles tapped (which, based on a camera view, he did). Not only has this sort of finish been done before (and better), but it once again seemed to oddly "off" in a rivalry that has been so incredibly personal. To make matters worse, it will put AJ in the not-so-great position of having to admit that he did, in fact, tap out to Joe. That's not a great position to be in if you're supposed to be the top babyface of your brand and you're the World Champion. Still, shave off the last 3 seconds of this match, and you have a very good bout that proved Styles and Joe have plenty left to give. (3.5/5)
A mixed tag match pitting real-life couple Miz and Maryse against real-life couple Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella followed. I really enjoyed the Miz/Bryan match from SummerSlam and while this one was not as good, Miz and Bryan's chemistry is so undeniable that they were able to carry this solidly into "good" territory. When it finally came time for Brie and Maryse to get involved, they were (wisely) used sparingly and Miz and Bryan even stayed on the periphery engaging each other to make sure the action never really lulled. The finish was a bit sloppy and not nearly as surprising as some other reviewers have made it out to be. Miz stole a victory at SummerSlam and now he and his wife have gripped another one. I expect Daniel Bryan to get his big moment when the stakes are even higher. (2.5/5)
Ronda Rousey defended her RAW Women's Championship against Alexa Bliss in the next contest. Rousey's appearances may not have the same "big fight feel" that, say, Lesnar has, but its not too far from removed from it. There was a portion of the crowd clearly cheering for Bliss, but Bliss is one of the stronger booked characters in the company - not unlike The Miz, a guy who has managed to garner good favor with an audience that spent the better part of a decade loathing the guy. The story of the match was Alexa Bliss going after Rousey's kayfabe injured ribs, hitting her with a bunch of kicks and applying an abdominal stretch multiple times. Rousey hit a number of big power moves, some of which looked a little sloppy, but lack of complete finesse only adds to the danger and realism to me. Unlike a Charlotte Flair or Becky Lynch, Rousey is a rookie in the world of pro-wrestling, a piece of coal that shouldn't be moving or executing like a diamond just yet. What she lacks in finesse, though, she makes up for with grit, determination, and an arsenal of maneuvers she's carried over from her run as the baddest woman on the planet for UFC. I liked the involvement of Mickie James and Alicia Fox on behalf of Bliss (and continue to contend that James would've been the best first choice for Rousey to feud with) and predict that Natalya coming to her defense is all leading to a turn. A good-not-great match with Rousey even seeming to win over the crowd with her continued efforts and inspired offense. (3/5)
Main event time - Roman Reigns defending the Universal Championship against Braun Strowman in a Hell in a Cell match. Mick Foley served as the guest referee for this match, a nod to the 20th Anniversary of his classic Hell in a Cell bout with the Undertaker. Romans got a mixed response while Strowman got straight-up cheered. No surprise there. I enjoyed the matches these guys had in the past and this one measured up - though I do think the stipulation worked against them here as we seen an abundant amount of cage matches this year (including one at SummerSlam where Kevin Owens took a HUGE bump off the roof of one by Strowman's hands) and there's really no chance of a match like this ending until a ridiculous spot is performed. At one point, Foley basically made a 3-count and I'm not sure if it was intentional or not as Strowman got in his face about it (which led to a comeback from Reigns and the introduction of a table). Strowman regained control with the aid of the steel steps, but eventually got speared through the table for 2. Again, these would probably all register as big spots in any other match, but in a Hell in a Cell, with guys getting tossed off the top of them annually, it felt like lazy foreplay. At this point, Ziggler and McIntyre showed up - though it wasn't 100% clear to do what - which triggered the arrival of Reigns' Shield buddies. Up to the top of the cage they went to duke it out and the crowd began chanting "This is Awesome," a sentiment I couldn't agree with less. Ziggler and Rollins ended up on the side of the cage, bashing each other into the cage before both falling through the announce tables in a spot that I swear Ambrose and Rollins did years ago. All the while Reigns and Strowman were "passed out" despite the fact that the spot that put them in that condition only got a 2 count. Whatever. Thankfully, Brock Lesnar showed up to wrap this mess up, beating down both Reigns and Strowman with shards of the table and then hitting them with the F5 as the crowd chanted "Suplex City." A No Contest finish for a Hell in a Cell match? The guy the WWE just spent months painting as a dude who couldn't care less about the WWE coming in and destroying the top two RAW monsters? Um..okay...why not? I was less bothered by that then by the way the match devolved once Ambrose, Ziggler, etc. showed up. There were some good spots in the first half and I was surprised by Lesnar's return, but this was not a match I'd ever revisit - which is a shame because we know that Reigns and Strowman can deliver when their matches aren't overbooked to death. Also, having Lesnar leave the ring in such a dominant fashion was a questionable booking move considering how much credibility Strowman and Reigns have lost over the past year. (2.5/5)
Hell in a Cell 2018 started out fairly strong with a better-than-I-expected Cell match between Orton and Hardy, followed it up with a crowd-pleasing Becky Lynch/Charlotte match, and then continued to deliver nothing below "good" with the RAW Tag Titles match, WWE Title match, and Rousey's defense. Where things fell apart was in the main event, a match that could've capped off the show perfectly just by having Reigns and Strowman lay waste to each other until one guy just couldn't kick out. Instead, we saw two pairs of teams run in and take the spotlight from them, all building to a "been there-done that" table bump that will be forgotten by the end of the week (and also helped erase any memory of Kevin Owens' bump from August). With a Kwang Score of 3.07-out-of-5, on the whole this show delivered, but where it could have possibly been an all-time great WWE PPV, the overbooked main event kept it from reaching that upper echelon.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
AJ Styles defended the WWE World Championship next against his nemesis, Samoa Joe. I really, really dug their SummerSlam match but was apprehensive about what they would do to top it. Here, Styles went all out from the jump and was absolutely merciless with his stiff knees and forearms. Joe seemed inspired to dish it as good as he took it, delivering a number of jaw-dropping kicks of his own. Their SummerSlam match was criticized for not feeling too much like a "wrestling match" instead of a legit fight, but I didn't mind that aspect. This one made up for it, both guys showing relentless effort and an utter disdain for each other. The crowd was significantly hotter for this too, appreciating this match more than the burnt out Brooklyn crowd seemed to in August. Unfortunately, it seemed like all the extra hard-hitting spots were almost designed to make up for the finish - an ugly, unnecessary "double finish" that saw Samoa Joe get cleanly and clearly pinned but complain, post-match, that AJ Styles tapped (which, based on a camera view, he did). Not only has this sort of finish been done before (and better), but it once again seemed to oddly "off" in a rivalry that has been so incredibly personal. To make matters worse, it will put AJ in the not-so-great position of having to admit that he did, in fact, tap out to Joe. That's not a great position to be in if you're supposed to be the top babyface of your brand and you're the World Champion. Still, shave off the last 3 seconds of this match, and you have a very good bout that proved Styles and Joe have plenty left to give. (3.5/5)
A mixed tag match pitting real-life couple Miz and Maryse against real-life couple Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella followed. I really enjoyed the Miz/Bryan match from SummerSlam and while this one was not as good, Miz and Bryan's chemistry is so undeniable that they were able to carry this solidly into "good" territory. When it finally came time for Brie and Maryse to get involved, they were (wisely) used sparingly and Miz and Bryan even stayed on the periphery engaging each other to make sure the action never really lulled. The finish was a bit sloppy and not nearly as surprising as some other reviewers have made it out to be. Miz stole a victory at SummerSlam and now he and his wife have gripped another one. I expect Daniel Bryan to get his big moment when the stakes are even higher. (2.5/5)
Ronda Rousey defended her RAW Women's Championship against Alexa Bliss in the next contest. Rousey's appearances may not have the same "big fight feel" that, say, Lesnar has, but its not too far from removed from it. There was a portion of the crowd clearly cheering for Bliss, but Bliss is one of the stronger booked characters in the company - not unlike The Miz, a guy who has managed to garner good favor with an audience that spent the better part of a decade loathing the guy. The story of the match was Alexa Bliss going after Rousey's kayfabe injured ribs, hitting her with a bunch of kicks and applying an abdominal stretch multiple times. Rousey hit a number of big power moves, some of which looked a little sloppy, but lack of complete finesse only adds to the danger and realism to me. Unlike a Charlotte Flair or Becky Lynch, Rousey is a rookie in the world of pro-wrestling, a piece of coal that shouldn't be moving or executing like a diamond just yet. What she lacks in finesse, though, she makes up for with grit, determination, and an arsenal of maneuvers she's carried over from her run as the baddest woman on the planet for UFC. I liked the involvement of Mickie James and Alicia Fox on behalf of Bliss (and continue to contend that James would've been the best first choice for Rousey to feud with) and predict that Natalya coming to her defense is all leading to a turn. A good-not-great match with Rousey even seeming to win over the crowd with her continued efforts and inspired offense. (3/5)
Main event time - Roman Reigns defending the Universal Championship against Braun Strowman in a Hell in a Cell match. Mick Foley served as the guest referee for this match, a nod to the 20th Anniversary of his classic Hell in a Cell bout with the Undertaker. Romans got a mixed response while Strowman got straight-up cheered. No surprise there. I enjoyed the matches these guys had in the past and this one measured up - though I do think the stipulation worked against them here as we seen an abundant amount of cage matches this year (including one at SummerSlam where Kevin Owens took a HUGE bump off the roof of one by Strowman's hands) and there's really no chance of a match like this ending until a ridiculous spot is performed. At one point, Foley basically made a 3-count and I'm not sure if it was intentional or not as Strowman got in his face about it (which led to a comeback from Reigns and the introduction of a table). Strowman regained control with the aid of the steel steps, but eventually got speared through the table for 2. Again, these would probably all register as big spots in any other match, but in a Hell in a Cell, with guys getting tossed off the top of them annually, it felt like lazy foreplay. At this point, Ziggler and McIntyre showed up - though it wasn't 100% clear to do what - which triggered the arrival of Reigns' Shield buddies. Up to the top of the cage they went to duke it out and the crowd began chanting "This is Awesome," a sentiment I couldn't agree with less. Ziggler and Rollins ended up on the side of the cage, bashing each other into the cage before both falling through the announce tables in a spot that I swear Ambrose and Rollins did years ago. All the while Reigns and Strowman were "passed out" despite the fact that the spot that put them in that condition only got a 2 count. Whatever. Thankfully, Brock Lesnar showed up to wrap this mess up, beating down both Reigns and Strowman with shards of the table and then hitting them with the F5 as the crowd chanted "Suplex City." A No Contest finish for a Hell in a Cell match? The guy the WWE just spent months painting as a dude who couldn't care less about the WWE coming in and destroying the top two RAW monsters? Um..okay...why not? I was less bothered by that then by the way the match devolved once Ambrose, Ziggler, etc. showed up. There were some good spots in the first half and I was surprised by Lesnar's return, but this was not a match I'd ever revisit - which is a shame because we know that Reigns and Strowman can deliver when their matches aren't overbooked to death. Also, having Lesnar leave the ring in such a dominant fashion was a questionable booking move considering how much credibility Strowman and Reigns have lost over the past year. (2.5/5)
Hell in a Cell 2018 started out fairly strong with a better-than-I-expected Cell match between Orton and Hardy, followed it up with a crowd-pleasing Becky Lynch/Charlotte match, and then continued to deliver nothing below "good" with the RAW Tag Titles match, WWE Title match, and Rousey's defense. Where things fell apart was in the main event, a match that could've capped off the show perfectly just by having Reigns and Strowman lay waste to each other until one guy just couldn't kick out. Instead, we saw two pairs of teams run in and take the spotlight from them, all building to a "been there-done that" table bump that will be forgotten by the end of the week (and also helped erase any memory of Kevin Owens' bump from August). With a Kwang Score of 3.07-out-of-5, on the whole this show delivered, but where it could have possibly been an all-time great WWE PPV, the overbooked main event kept it from reaching that upper echelon.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
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