The demonic structure known as “The Devil’s Playground” returns to WWE as they present Hell in a Cell, live from inside the Thunderdome at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. In the main event, a fued will finally be put to rest as the WWE Champion, Drew McIntyre, faces Randy Orton one last time inside the dangerous construct, while on the SmackDown side of the card, the Universal Championship will also be defended, as Roman Reigns once again faces his cousin, Jey Uso, also inside the Cell. Reigns versus Uso, however, will be contested under I Quit rules, where the only way to defeat your opponent will be to utter those words. Also on the card, Sasha Banks will finally get her hands on the SmackDown Women’s Champion, Bayley, as the two meet inside only the third ever Hell in a Cell match between two women. All three of these Cell matches, and two grudge matches, as Jeff Hardy faces Elias, and Otis defends his Money in the Bank briefcase and contract against The Miz.
+ Bayley (c) vs Sasha Banks (Hell In A Cell Match for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship): this was great. These two have great chemistry, and more to the point obviously trust each other to do some crazy things. There was a lot of really unique weapon spots, including lots to do with kendo sticks that really impressed me, and the match built up until a great ending that tied into the story. This was easily the match of the night
+ The Miz (w/ John Morrison) vs Otis (w/ Tucker) (current holder) (Money in the Bank contract): frankly I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. Miz and Morrison are the best goofy bad guys, but they can be serious jerks when they want to be. Otis has all the charisma in the world, and I can’t wait for him to be world champion. And Tucker is there, too, I guess. Also note: Otis had new music, and Morrison shaved his facial hair which was good and bad, respectively
+ Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs Jey Uso (I Quit Match inside the Hell in a Cell for the Universal Championship): overall, I enjoyed this match, but it was clear they were trying to emulate the success of their first meeting. I don’t know why this was inside the Cell, as the I Quit stipulation was more than enough for the story. Either way this was fine with an interesting ending and aftermath, though I question the idea to put this match on first
– Drew McIntyre (c) vs Randy Orton (Hell In A Cell match for WWE World Championship): this was really hard to get into, as there was no reason at all that Orton deserved a third match against McIntyre, especially as he lost the last two matches clean (don’t @ me about that Ambulance match, there are no DQs in that type of match, so the interference was clean). Orton’s methodical pace did not do anybody any favours after the boring Lashley/Slapjack match, and this was a real slog to get through. They tried their best, and did all the big moments and moves you’d expect, but overall it was just hard to care
– Bobby Lashley (c) vs Slapjack (United States Championship): god almighty, who could possibly care about this. Slapjack is a joke, Lashley was facing the smallest member of Retribution, and it was nothing we haven’t seen a million times before. Please, please disband retribution, and just let Mustafa Ali, Donovan Dijak and DI Madden just wrestle as themselves
– Jeff Hardy vs Elias: this was a boring Raw match with a boring Raw finish. Jeff Hardy should be a massive star in this company, and yet he’s running around in a story with Elias that literally only exists because Elias refuses to watch the TV show he is on
– R-Truth (c) vs Drew Gulak (24/7 Championship): imagine being Drew Gulak, one of the best technical wrestlers in the biggest wrestling company on the planet… and doing this. Imagine being R-Truth, a genuinely great character wrestler, seemingly ageless, and able to be a comedy guy or a series competitor… and doing this.
> for the last month, every single time someone has mentioned the theme song for the event, “Welcome to My Hell” by Holy Wars, they have incorrectly called it “Welcome to Hell”. Literally every single time. It’s not a big deal, but it’s just so amateur
Should you watch this event: Last year’s show was one of the worst shows of the year from any promotion, if not one of the worst wrestling shows of all time, so I am glad to say this was significantly better. Sasha/Bayley was very easily the best match of the show, but Reigns/Uso may deserve a watch as well.
MoshFish Reviews 