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WWE Hell in a Cell: Hits, misses, and why Vince McMahon needs a new team of writers

It's been 20 years since Hell in a Cell became famous

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Hell in a Cell isn’t for the weak at heart. Rewind back to 1998 and a pure wrestling fan can only visualize The Undertaker tossing Mankind from atop of a 20 foot cage – not once, but twice.  

Twenty years since that infamous incident, WWE’s Pay Per View – with the same name – had some incredible matches, some disappointing moments, some moments that made fans cringe at PG television.

Let’s start with the downs

Foley fail

Mick Foley as the referee: For the sake of nostalgia, WWE decided to make Mick Foley the special guest referee in the main event between Universal Champion Roman Reigns and the Monster Among Men Braun Strowman. After all, Foley in his Mankind avatar, gave us the most extreme moment in WWE history 20 years ago. However, this Foley looked old, and out of sorts. It was evident even last Monday on Raw when he announced to the WWE Universe that he would be officiating that match. Fans didn’t seem to care, and it looks like the Hardcore Legend won’t have anything to do with WWE programming unless it’s an anniversary special.

Bella in the ring

Let’s face it: The women’s division is the best thing in the WWE today, and it will excel if the Bella twins aren’t a part of it. The Bellas – Nikki and Brie – are better adding value to WWE by staying on their reality show. Total Bellas has its fan base, which may or may not transcend to the squared circle. The Bella twins are hard workers, I’ll give them that, but they aren’t professional wrestlers. They have the ability to make a potentially good match look average, and that’s what they did in the mixed tag match between Brie Bella/Daniel Bryan and Maryse/ The Miz

The Men’s main events ending the way they did

So when WWE books a main event, we expect something electric. The AJ Styles and Samoa Joe match could have made for a classic, but a controversial decision at the end has just extended the feud. Joe should have won, and cemented his place as the Number 1 heel on the Smackdown roaster, but the WWE management decided to let AJ Styles continue his ‘Phenomenal’  run as WWE champion. Maybe if they did what Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin did at Wrestlemania (One entering heel and the other face, and the roles reversing at the end of the match), it would be some great storytelling.

When it comes to the Braun Strowman versus Roman Reigns match, the less said the better. Both these athletes have had some incredible bouts, but this one was terrible, ending in a no contest thanks to the interference of Brock Lesnar. Lesnar, who made his return for the first time he lost the Universal Title to Roman Reigns not only made Reigns and Strowman look weak, but ensured that the match did not continue. A total and epic fail of a main event, if you ask me.

AND NOW FOR THE HITS

An Irish Lass is in town

Ever since Becky Lynch decided to go heel, the crowd loved her. It reminded a cousin and me (both of us are big fans of pro wrestling) of the Austin 3:16 era where the anti-hero emerges as the star.

I won’t take anything away from Charlotte Flair either. The woman is an excellent competitor, but it was time Becky got her due. And she did.

 Ronda Rousey

Ronda’s transition from the octagon to professional wrestling has been a seamless journey. She’s got the mic skills, plays the loose cannon to perfection, and at the same time, appears pretty chilled out. At Hell in the Cell, she walked into the ring wearing a kilt as a tribute to the legendary Rowdy Roddy Piper. And Alicia Bliss – another legend in her own right – played the perfect heel to her Ronda’s character. The match was only made more interesting thanks to outside support of Micky James (in Bliss’ corner) and Natalya Neidhart (in Rousey’s corner).

Shades of the Attitude Era

While it would have been more fun to see Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton compete in a ladder match, but there was one moment in the Hell in a Cell match that stood out and made fans squirm. Randy Orton took a screwdriver and shoved it into Hardy’s earlobe and tortured him. It was sadistic and a brilliant piece of writing in an otherwise ordinary match.

Some great tag team moments

Rusev deserves to be a WWE champion. And sadly he never will be. So he does the next best thing: gives you a great match without winning a title. And he did that in the opening match of the night, against the New Day - another great set of competitors in their own right.

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