WWE Hell in a Cell 2021

WWE Hell in a Cell 2021

The Thunderdome, Orlando, FL - June 2021

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Roman Reigns was the Universal Champion, Bobby Lashley was the WWE Champion, Apollo Crews was the Intercontinental Champion, and the United States Champion was Sheamus. The RAW Women's Champion was Rhea Ripley, the SmackDown Women's Champion was Bianca Belair, and the Women's Tag Titles were held by Tamina Snuka and Natalya. Finally, the RAW Tag Team Champions were AJ Styles and Omos, while the Mysterios - Rey and his son Dominik - held the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. 

The opening contest was Bianca Belair defending her SmackDown Women's Championship against Bayley in a Hell in a Cell match. This was my first time hearing Pat McAfee on commentary with Cole too. I enjoyed their match at last month's Backlash show quite a bit so this was probably the match I was looking forward to the most aside from Reigns/Mysterio, which was inexplicably moved to Friday night's show. Before the match began, Cole also mentioned that this would be final "PPV" in the Thunderdome and I hope he's right. Anyway...Bayley went after Belair's shoulder and arm at the start of the match, but that aspect of the story kinda got lost as more and more of the bout became about how Bayley would use Belair's braid against her. That allowed for some good innovation and some absolutely striking moments of violence...but it also feels a bit like a crutch that has come to be used all too often in Belair's biggest matches. Highlights included an insane sunset flip powerbomb from Bayley to Belair that sent her crashing into the cell wall, some well-executed chair cut-offs by Belair, a nasty face-first drop into the corner from Bayley that looked like it may have knocked a tooth loose, and a fitting end to the match with Belair hitting the KOD onto a ladder. In front of a live crowd, I think this would've felt even "bigger" and, like many Hell in a Cell matches of the past decade now, its really a shame that the athletes aren't allowed to get real "color," which would've elevated this match to a level of must-watch and maybe even a WWE Match of the Year contender. As it was, this was a well above-average match bordering on "must see." (3.5/5)

Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins followed and, as expected, these two pulled out all the stops to try to deliver a dizzying, workrate-heavy modern classic. I'm personally burnt out on this style of wrestling, much more impressed these days with matches that put more thought into clever storytelling and character building (see Roman Reigns' recent work or just about anything Daniel Bryan has done in the past 7 years), so I wasn't as engaged and enthralled by this match as others likely were. Not much to say about this match beyond the fact that, as well executed as everything was, I didn't bite on any of the near falls despite the match not ending with either guy hitting their finishing move. Its just too unbelievable at this point to expect someone to secure a victory with a powerslam. Unlike the opener, I don't think a live setting would've helped this match either as it probably just would've led to corny "Fight Forever" chants and knee-jerk "This is Awesome" chants for any back-and-forth match that goes longer than 9 minutes. I'm not as down on Rollins as I once was, but he remains a guy that I think lacks a true character, which means that I'm rarely invested in any of his matches. I also think the wrong guy one. Cesaro has had big victories before - against Rollins at Mania, against Sheamus on multiple shows in the past, the Andre Battle Royal - but they rarely mean anything because he just ends up back in the midcard/upper-midcard after a few weeks of being on a "hot streak." Cesaro, coming off a series of victories against Rollins, is a much more interesting and intriguing position for him than Cesaro splitting wins with Rollins. Hamster wheel booking here. (3/5)

Shayna Baszler vs. Alexa Bliss followed in a match built around Alexa Bliss's creepy doll Lilly. As I don't watch Raw regularly, I haven't seen all the various plot points of this storyline but from what I saw, in heavily edited form, it was the right kind of silly for me. I'm also an unabashed fan of both Bliss and Baszler so as crazy and zany and stupid as the storyline is, my tolerance - and the fact that I wasn't watching this play out in real-time - is going to be higher than the folks who actually devote hours of their week to watching this sort of stuff. Anyway, as much as I wanted to enjoy the cartoonishness, this still felt undercooked at times. Was Bliss enjoying the pain being inflicted? If so, that aspect of her character seemed inconsistent at times. Again, its a tough position to be in to have to work like you're the original Undertaker or a Road Warrior when you also look like Alexa Bliss (and are also sort of doing a split personality gimmick between Evil Incarnate and Psychotic Schoolgirl). The big moment that everyone is talking about happened when Alexa Bliss used mind control to inhabit the body of Nia Jax (yes, seriously) and slap Reginald. Its unclear why Bliss, with the power to control the people who stare into her eyes - a gimmick straight out of Ghostbusters II - wouldn't use this power to have Jax destroy Baszler, but I guess we're still also meant to believe that Bliss actually cares about winning and losing, which doesn't seem like it should be part of her gimmick but is. Anyway, I'm sure many fans shit on this match but I at least found it somewhat refreshing in the "at least they tried something different" way. (2/5)

I will readily admit that I did not have high expectations for the next match - Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens. I've been loving the Sami Zayn we've had the pleasure to watch over the past year and, while I'm not a huge Owens fan, I'll give credit where its due and say that Owens is one of the most consistently good-to-great performers on the roster, a guy that, even when I'm not totally engrossed in his storylines, delivers the goods more often than not when the bell rings. Obviously Zayn and Owens have tremendous chemistry...but they've also had lots of matches against each other over the years and I was unsure if they'd come up with anything new to set this match apart. Boy was I wrong. If I do a Top 10 WWE Network Matches of 2021, this will make the list and maybe even be in the top 3. This match started perfectly with Owens just whipping Zayn around the ring and Sami taking some awesome bumps off the ropes. From there, when Zayn took over, he made his own offense count, eventually hitting a front flip splash onto the floor and causing Owens damage to his wrist that Owens would sell throughout the rest of the match. When you add in the fact that, from beginning to end, Owens was also selling the damage caused by the two Nigerian Nails (thumb jabs to the throat) that Owens suffered at the hands of Commander Azeez on SmackDown, you really had a masterclass in how to effectively get over longterm damage without ever really "dying" or making your actual opponent look like they're just taking advantage. I loved the intensity of Sami and Owens' strike exchange too. At this point, if you're going to bust out that sort of sequence, it has to look like you're legit punching each other in the face and that's what they did. An extra half-point for the unexpected blood out of Zayn's mouth too. It wasn't gratuitous, but it was enough to get over the physicality of the match and how, even as he was clearly less than 100%, Owens was not going to go down without getting his own shots in. Throw in a clean finish that actually does seem like it could lead to bigger things for Zayn? I liked this one a ton. (4/5)

The RAW Women's Champion Rhea Ripley defended her title against Charlotte Flair next. Flair is one of my favorites, though I know she's not everyone's cup of tea. I think her resume speaks for itself, though, as she is easily one of the most consistent performers on the roster (male or female) and, against the right opponent, with the right stakes, brings a "big fight feel" to her matches that very few can (especially now that Sasha and Becky are out of the picture). Ripley I'm less high on. To me, she just hasn't lived up to any of the hype - though the booking of her character after her first strong NXT run is maybe the biggest reason for that as her initial call-up was blunted by a loss to Charlotte at WrestleMania XXXVI and then, by going back to NXT, it felt like a demotion. Anyway...I liked Charlotte's performance here, essentially showing Ripley how to be a heel because, well, that's what "The Queen" does best. It was a nice storyline to give the match rather than forcing Ripley into full-on babyface mode. It also further established that Charlotte is the crafty veteran, still basically the top talent on Raw even if Ripley is technically the champion. That positioning is sure to ruffle some fans' feathers but, hey, its true. Some really hard-hitting spots, as expected, included a very, very stiff back-headbutt to Ripley's face that looked maybe a bit too legit. Charlotte has been criticized over the past few years for some of her errant strikes and, famously, basically heaving Kairi Sane around like a ragdoll when she was clearly concussed - but I'm not going to go too hard on her for it when, for years, this sort of recklessness was applauded by the men. That's what makes Charlotte a breath of fresh air in the WWE and I still view some of her stiff work as accidental and coming from being "lost in the moment" rather than going into business for herself or unprofessional conduct. Its the difference between Vader, legendary for his stiff work, and Scott Steiner in the early 90s, carelessly treating job guys like garbage and risking paralyzing many of them, or even Goldberg or Warrior, who were relatively "green" and considered unsafe in the ring by many of their peers. Anyway...the finish of this was really lackluster but I guess it furthered the storyline as Ripley essentially got too frustrated to continue, tore off the top of the announce table, and sent it into Charlotte's face. Why was that a DQ, though? People go through tables in championship matches all the time and isn't that essentially the same thing? Just not a strong enough act to get DQ'd for, if you ask me. Slightly above-average and maybe the best Ripley match I've seen in a few months, but not something I'd seek out. (3/5)

Main event time - Bobby Lashley defending the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre in a Hell in a Cell match. From the build-up package and the commentators' gushing over Lashley, the finish of this one seemed fairly foregone to me. I've written this elsewhere but McIntyre, after dropping the title at WrestleMania XXXVII, really needed to be shuffled somewhere else - into a program with (gulp) The Fiend or maybe partnered up with an unexpected ally against AJ and Omos or even into some short-term rivalry with an NXT call-up. Instead, McIntyre quality 2020 seems like it will just be a footnote to Lashley's legitimately dominant 2021 run (that is unless Lashley ends up doing the job for Lesnar at SummerSlam as is currently rumored). The bell rang and Lashley immediately went for a weapon, but McIntyre was right on him, sending him face-first into the cage (and then followed it up by driving him back-first into it as well). McIntyre grabbed the steps and tried to heave them at Lashley, but Bobby cut him off. Lashley went for a suplex but Drew countered it, suplexing McIntyre into the cell wall. Drew then connected with the steps shot he was going for initially before they made their way back into the ring. Some good exchanges inside, Drew launching Lashley with an overhead suplex that sent Lashley to the outside. Drew found himself a kendo stick and went to work on the champ but seemingly got bored of it and set up a table. Meanwhile, MVP slipped his cane to Lashley through the cell, allowing the champion to regain some control. Lashley used his strength to McIntyre into the apron and then into the wall before getting hit with a devastating White Noise on the stairs. McIntyre set up another table but before he put it into play he opted to shove Lashley's head into the cell wall repeatedly. In under 10 minutes, these two might have used the cell wall more than any other Hell in a Cell match in history, which is quite a feat considering that this has to be the 30th or so one of these by now. Lashley whipped Drew into the wall but he came back with a clothesline. Drew then grabbed a trio of chairs, tossing them into the ring and setting one up in the corner. Lashley stopped Drew from whipping him into the corner, but Drew ended up catching him with an elbow and then hit him with the reverse wheelbarrow slam onto a chair for 2. Drew nailed the champion with a steel chair to the back and then went to the top rope, looking to bust him from above, but Lashley caught him and nearly applied the Hurt Lock. Drew escaped, though, and not only hit a spinebuster for 2, but also a big powerbomb for another nearfall. Back outside the ring they went, where Lashley caught Drew with the steps, ramming into the cell wall and then following it up with a series of big right hands. Lashley, with MVP's help, used the kendo stick to lock Drew up against the wall and then hit him with even more strikes, this time a series of stiff body shots. McIntyre escaped but Lashley maintained control, bringing him back into the ring to drop him with a face drop onto the chair twice-in-a-row (though Drew did seem to block the first one). Lashley struck Drew with a number of kendo stick shots, but they only seemed to revitalize the challenger, who then grabbed a chair. A ref bump happened just as Drew sent Lashley into the chair-in-the-corner and then hit the FutureShock DDT for the visual pin. As a second referee scrambled to get back in the ring, Drew continued his assault, hitting a Claymore for yet another nearfall - only this time it was MVP who kept the ref from making the count! Great false finish there. At this point, though, MVP was now locked in the cell and Drew hit him with a Claymore that knocked him out of the ring. As McIntyre looked to inflict even more punishment on MVP, Lashley applied the Hurt Lock on the outside. Drew escaped by dropping back into a table that had been propped up a good 10-12 minutes earlier! Good spot there even if we've kinda seen it before. McIntyre's back was shredded at this point, showing a whole bunch of nasty welts and scratches from all the bumps into the wall. Back in the ring, McIntyre grabbed a chair and brought it down on the champion's back again, but Lashley wouldn't quit either! Drew slammed the chair repeatedly and then set up for another Claymore, but Lashley dropped to the mat and dodged it! Lashley then caught Drew on the apron and hit him with a ridiculous chokeslam through a table on the outside! Lashley dragged McIntyre back into the ring and went for a spear, but Drew dodged it! Drew went for the backslide but only got 2. He hit the Glasgow Kiss and then a FutureShock DDT but didn't go for the pin, instead calling for a final Claymore. This time, though, MVP pulled him into the corner, allowing Bobby Lashley to come from behind and schoolboy him for a 1-2-3! Lashley had the tights too (though because it is a No DQ match, I'm not sure that would mean anything either). Kind of a crumby finish, at least for Drew, as he once again lost in cheap fashion and was basically outsmarted by the Hurt Business. (3.5/5)

With a Kwang Score of 3.17-out-of-5, Hell in a Cell 2021 was an enjoyable watch featuring some solid-to-great performances in both Cell matches plus a very, very good Owens/Zayn bout. The low-point of the event was the Baszler/Bliss nonsense, but even that was at least interesting? Rhipley/Flair wasn't as good as I'd hoped it could be or would be, but that has more to do with Rhipley's undefined character than it does the actual action (which was hard-hitting and mostly well-executed). This was a show that would be please fans of the current WWE product but if you're sick of Seth Rollins or Charlotte Flair or burnt out on watching McIntyre strike out in title matches, their matches won't change your mind. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand