Hell In A Cell 9.16

[DNA 2.0]

Brock's actions to Strowman and Reigns definately represent the way I've been feeling for this whole feud and WWE as of late.

[Jack-Hammer]

The kickoff show match featured New Day vs. Rusev Day for the SD Tag Team Championship and it was a really fun, 3.25 star, 9 minute match that had a lot of action and a few believable, dramatic near falls. Rusev Day came up short but, again, in my opinion, showed that they can be a true threat of a team and not just a comedy act that Vince is gonna break up despite how over they are with fans.

I gave Hardy vs. Orton inside HIAC 4 stars. A lot of great physicality as they beat the piss out of each other. Also, Orton's stuff with the ear and the screwdriver made a great visual.

I thought Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch was really good, a strong 3.5 star bout with a lot of good back and forth action. I like that even though Vince cast Becky as a heel, she isn't watered down in the ring. For a lot of WWE wrestlers, it seems like they lose half their in-ring ability when they go heel and I'm glad Becky's keeping the chip on her shoulder. Of course, the problem now is that it's highly likely Charlotte regains the title either at Super Show-Down or Evolution.

The Raw Tag Team Championship match was a helluva lot of fun, a very strong 4.25, maybe even 4.5, star bout. Both teams showed great chemistry together, they worked their asses off and I thought the match had the right outcome. Ambrose & Rollins are each former WWE, Intercontinental, United States and Raw Tag Team Champions, but Drew & Dolph needed the win here to help cement them as true threats. They retained the titles and I'd personally be more than fine if they held them for a good long while. I'd prefer to see McIntyre go out on his own but since that's not in the cards right now, nothing wrong with keeping him a winner.

AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe was another really strong bout from these two, another 4 star effort. It's not surprising, given how many times they wrestled in TNA, ROH and the indy circuit as a whole. I liked the ending because it gives an actual reason for the feud to continue beyond Joe just wanting the title since Styles did tap out, only the ref didn't see it as he was busy counting Joe's shoulders. I look for things to finish up between them at Super Show-Down before Styles moves on, possibly entering into a feud with the Miz.

The mixed tag team match between Daniel Bryan & Brie Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse was a fun 3 star match that was better than I expected. They wisely had Bryan & Miz carry much of the match inside the ring while Maryse was great acting like a total shit during the match, something Miz did quite well also. The whole story was for Miz & Maryse to due their condescending schtick to the babyfaces, and the fans, getting them some good heat. Brie and Maryse, as far as their in-ring stuff, need to go back to raising kids. Sorry if it sounds sexist, but they both were pretty damn lousy. Maryse never was much in the first place and what little ability she did have is now gone and Brie, while also never exactly great, is extremely rusty. Still, at least she didn't embarrass herself here as she did on Raw with those two botched suicide dives. I suspected that Brie would be the one to cost them the match and, all told, I think it was the best way to end the match as it just puts all that much more heat on Miz. Now, Miz & Bryan move forward to Super Show-Down in a WWE Championship #1 contenders match that, again, will probably see Miz get the better of Bryan with the ultimate payoff being a WrestleMania bout for the WWE Championship.

Ronda Rousey vs. Alexa Bliss was a lot better than I expected. They made an actual match out of things and it was a pretty good 3 star affair. They went with Rousey having sore ribs, which is okay but I think they could've gone the route of having her ribs taped up to sell things a bit more. Again, Rousey did a really nice job of selling here, she does it really well and while things never really got as far as me feeling she was in danger of losing, it was nice to see her be in some trouble and not be all invulnerable. Rousey retained the title a bit past the 12 minute mark and this shows that Rousey has the potential to work really long matches. She's still green, but she's really picking things up at a lightning fast pace. If she does have a bout with Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania next year, it could be an epic showing if they give them the titme needed to really pull off something special.

Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman for the Universal Championship was the low point of the night, I gave it 2.25 stars. In my opinion, they should've just had Strowman & Reigns go all out, get a little blood going, just really go at it from the opening bell. Sometimes, you can just "feel" when matches truly have Vince's fingerprints all over them and this was one of those matches. Vince didn't want either guy to lose so he overbooked the shit out of it with all the shenanigans with the tag teams while Lesnar was just the icing on the cake. As far as stopping the match after Lesnar delivered a few F5s, it MIGHT have worked had Reigns and Strowman just beaten each other nearly to death but they hadn't come anywhere near to doing enough to each other to make anyone "believe" that they were incapable of doing anything more than just lying in the ring half comatose for a good 10 minutes. Details like that can sometimes make or break something and too often Vince doesn't pay enough attention to them. I mean... Hardy and Orton beat the crap out of each other. Orton had bloody welts and bruises all over him, including a bit of a gash in his leg that he probably got from the steel chair when it broke, Hardy had bruises and welts all over him and fell almost 20 feet through a table. If all these shenanigans are what it takes to get a lively crowd into a Roman Reigns title defense, then Vince made an even bigger mistake putting the title on him than we thought. The spot of Ziggler & Rollins going through the table felt unnecessary and the big Cell spot has really become more of a cliché than anything as it's what's expected every time.

Still, when everything is totaled up, the good very much outweighed the bad. As with SummerSlam, this was well paced show that ultimately used its time wisely. Before the main event, the show was hovering right around A- territory for me but the main event was pretty underwhelming so it brought the show down to a solid B for me. Still, all the issues with the main event aside, there was some good to excellent wrestling going on and some newsworthy happenings.

[smarkmouth]

LIFEHACK: If you are squeamish, do not click articles about Randy Orton's leg.

[Spidey]

Lesnar's gimmick is he hates title defenses, isn't it?

[nightmare]

While the extra run in idea ended up crapping on the entire match, Brock kicking the door in, hopping over the ropes off the door & Foley getting sprayed in the face was pretty cool.

What sucked was the rest. You know, the part where Roman & Braun just had a nice nap in the ring and apparently were too sleepy to defend themselves? What good are Brauns feats of strength if that is the type of thing Vince books working against him?

Solid show otherwise. Orton and a screwdriver should be tag team champions. Im just saying.

[DNA 2.0]

Lol they have killed Braun Strowman's entire credibility after Summerslam and Roman gets worse as time goes by. This is one of the worst booked feuds I have seen in a long long time.

[klunderbunker]

Hell in a Cell 2018
Date: September 16, 2018
Location: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Renee Young, Corey Graves, Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton

Welcome to the first show of the three that WWE is currently building. In this case we have the show designed around carnage and that could mean a few things. The show hasn’t exactly blown me away on paper but maybe they’ll surprise me here. There are two matches inside the big red cage tonight so let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

The Calendar Waits For No Man (Or Company)