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It was gimmick match overload time again as WWE presented their latest pay-per-view Hell In A Cell, shown live on Sky Box Office in the early hours of this past Monday morning on Sky Box Office here in Britain.
The show began with Daniel Bryan defending the United States title against John Morrison and the Miz in a submissions count anywhere match.
This one took a while to get going and didn’t really pick up any pace until they began brawling around the arena.
The big spot came when Morrison dived off the top of the entrance-way set onto his opponents. From there we had an appearance from Alex Riley before the Miz tapped out to Bryan’s cross-face variation on the ramp.
Well, it took a while, but the match grew on me in the end.
The first Cell match followed as Randy Orton defended the WWE title against Sheamus.
While the PG-era Cell matches have been toned down a little since the Attitude days this match certainly ranked with the best of the past few years.
It was a hard hitting affair, with both men making good use of the cell, although they actually made more use of the ring steps that the Irishman brought into the ring.
The Champion came out on top here, countering Sheamus’ Celtic cross attempt, eventually taking his man out with an RKO on the ring steps to get the winning pin. Orton then climbed to the top of the Cell to celebrate his victory.
After an overlong segment involving Alberto Del Rio, Edge and Jack Swagger the mystery Raw general manager announced an impromptu match between Edge and Swagger.
I have to admit it was nice to see Swagger back on the big stage, especially as he doesn’t seem to have had much luck since he lost the World title.
As for the match it was an entertaining affair, although the crowd were kind of dead for most of it.
Edge got the pin here, getting out of Swagger’s ankle lock so he could take down his man with the spear.
By the way - since when has the Raw general manager had jurisdiction over Smackdown stars?
The big grudge match was next, with Wade Barrett facing John Cena. Two big stipulations here. If Barrett won Cena would have to join Nexus. If Cena won Nexus would have to disband.
This was certainly a very dramatic encounter. Barrett’s Nexus buddies came down to ringside early on, and it looked as if they were about to interfere until Barrett reminded them of the stipulations.
But as the two protagonists matched each other blow for blow the Nexus boys moved down to the ring, only for a combined Raw/Smackdown force to send them running after a ringside brawl, leaving Cena and Barrett to battle it out alone.
Several near falls followed each man kicked out of the other’s finisher. Then, just when it looked as it Barrett was about to tap out to the STF a fan jumped the barrier, and while the referee stopped him from getting into the ring and second fan appeared and clobbered Cena. As the referee turned his attention back to the match the next thing he saw was Barrett covering Cena, and a three count later Nexus had a new sixth member.
It was time for the filler material next as Michelle McCool defended the Unified Divas Knockouts Women’s whatever the hell it’s called title against Natalya.
Once again I can’t fault the Divas for their performances. It was as solid as always, with McCool in particular looking good, although it still felt like filler material.
McCool kept the title, but she didn’t get the win as Layla threw he shoe into the ring, hitting Natalya in the head and giving Mr. Neidhart’s baby girl the disqualification win.
The final match saw Kane defending the World title against the Undertaker in the second Cell match.
As with their match at Night of Champions two weeks ago this was nothing more than one big fight, with the addition of Paul Bearer at ringside.
This time though things were a little more even. Kane was nowhere near as dominant as before, and that made this more enjoyable than their previous encounter.
Once again they pulled out all their big moves, but this time the Dead Man kicked out of the pin after Kane’s tombstone. Enraged, Kane clobbered the referee, and as the cage door was opened to let the medics in Bearer sneaked in unnoticed, only to be threatened by Kane before the Undertaker recovered and saved his manager.
Then came the double-cross. As lightning filled the arena the Undertaker was about to take Kane out with his tombstone, only for Bearer to removed the lid from the urn and shine it into the Undertaker’s eyes.
Seconds later Bearer gave the urn to Kane, who used it to clobber his foe before taking him out with a choke slam for the match ending win, with the champion and his father leaving the cage together before they celebrated on the stage.
In conclusion - this year’s Hell In A Cell certainly threw up a couple of unexpected surprises.
While everyone was expecting an Orton victory nobody expected Barrett to go over Cena, and I must say it looked as if my fellow Englishman really belonged in the ring with someone on the level of WWE’s poster boy.
As for the final match, while the events were perfectly executed I can’t help but wonder just what’s left for the on-again, off-again 13 year feud between the Brothers of Destruction. What is there they can do that we haven’t seen before?
So in all another enjoyable outing for the WWE crew, even though it feels as if it’s a little too much to have three pay-per-views in the space of a month.
The show began with Daniel Bryan defending the United States title against John Morrison and the Miz in a submissions count anywhere match.
This one took a while to get going and didn’t really pick up any pace until they began brawling around the arena.
The big spot came when Morrison dived off the top of the entrance-way set onto his opponents. From there we had an appearance from Alex Riley before the Miz tapped out to Bryan’s cross-face variation on the ramp.
Well, it took a while, but the match grew on me in the end.
The first Cell match followed as Randy Orton defended the WWE title against Sheamus.
While the PG-era Cell matches have been toned down a little since the Attitude days this match certainly ranked with the best of the past few years.
It was a hard hitting affair, with both men making good use of the cell, although they actually made more use of the ring steps that the Irishman brought into the ring.
The Champion came out on top here, countering Sheamus’ Celtic cross attempt, eventually taking his man out with an RKO on the ring steps to get the winning pin. Orton then climbed to the top of the Cell to celebrate his victory.
After an overlong segment involving Alberto Del Rio, Edge and Jack Swagger the mystery Raw general manager announced an impromptu match between Edge and Swagger.
I have to admit it was nice to see Swagger back on the big stage, especially as he doesn’t seem to have had much luck since he lost the World title.
As for the match it was an entertaining affair, although the crowd were kind of dead for most of it.
Edge got the pin here, getting out of Swagger’s ankle lock so he could take down his man with the spear.
By the way - since when has the Raw general manager had jurisdiction over Smackdown stars?
The big grudge match was next, with Wade Barrett facing John Cena. Two big stipulations here. If Barrett won Cena would have to join Nexus. If Cena won Nexus would have to disband.
This was certainly a very dramatic encounter. Barrett’s Nexus buddies came down to ringside early on, and it looked as if they were about to interfere until Barrett reminded them of the stipulations.
But as the two protagonists matched each other blow for blow the Nexus boys moved down to the ring, only for a combined Raw/Smackdown force to send them running after a ringside brawl, leaving Cena and Barrett to battle it out alone.
Several near falls followed each man kicked out of the other’s finisher. Then, just when it looked as it Barrett was about to tap out to the STF a fan jumped the barrier, and while the referee stopped him from getting into the ring and second fan appeared and clobbered Cena. As the referee turned his attention back to the match the next thing he saw was Barrett covering Cena, and a three count later Nexus had a new sixth member.
It was time for the filler material next as Michelle McCool defended the Unified Divas Knockouts Women’s whatever the hell it’s called title against Natalya.
Once again I can’t fault the Divas for their performances. It was as solid as always, with McCool in particular looking good, although it still felt like filler material.
McCool kept the title, but she didn’t get the win as Layla threw he shoe into the ring, hitting Natalya in the head and giving Mr. Neidhart’s baby girl the disqualification win.
The final match saw Kane defending the World title against the Undertaker in the second Cell match.
As with their match at Night of Champions two weeks ago this was nothing more than one big fight, with the addition of Paul Bearer at ringside.
This time though things were a little more even. Kane was nowhere near as dominant as before, and that made this more enjoyable than their previous encounter.
Once again they pulled out all their big moves, but this time the Dead Man kicked out of the pin after Kane’s tombstone. Enraged, Kane clobbered the referee, and as the cage door was opened to let the medics in Bearer sneaked in unnoticed, only to be threatened by Kane before the Undertaker recovered and saved his manager.
Then came the double-cross. As lightning filled the arena the Undertaker was about to take Kane out with his tombstone, only for Bearer to removed the lid from the urn and shine it into the Undertaker’s eyes.
Seconds later Bearer gave the urn to Kane, who used it to clobber his foe before taking him out with a choke slam for the match ending win, with the champion and his father leaving the cage together before they celebrated on the stage.
In conclusion - this year’s Hell In A Cell certainly threw up a couple of unexpected surprises.
While everyone was expecting an Orton victory nobody expected Barrett to go over Cena, and I must say it looked as if my fellow Englishman really belonged in the ring with someone on the level of WWE’s poster boy.
As for the final match, while the events were perfectly executed I can’t help but wonder just what’s left for the on-again, off-again 13 year feud between the Brothers of Destruction. What is there they can do that we haven’t seen before?
So in all another enjoyable outing for the WWE crew, even though it feels as if it’s a little too much to have three pay-per-views in the space of a month.
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