Geektified's WWE Hell In A Cell Review 10.31.16

Geektified's WWE Hell In A Cell Review 10.31.16

By Anton Ware

Official Results

Kickoff Match: Cedric Alexander, Lince Dorado and Sin Cara vs. Tony Nese, Drew Gulak and Ariya Daivari: Cruiserweight action to start us off. This was basically all flash with everyone getting to showcase some of their talents. Highlights included a Shooting Star Press from Dorado and a triple dive from Alexander, Dorado, and SIn Cara. It would eventually come down to Alexander and Gulak where Alexander would hit Gulak with the devastating Lumbar Check for the win.

Pre-Show Thought: When I first heard Ariya Daivari was in this match, I thought it was the Daivari from The Muhammed Hassan Days in 2005.

-Hell In A Cell is LIVE from Boston, Massachusetts.

-Michael Cole, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves are your hosts this evening.

United States Title Match: Roman Reigns © vs. Rusev: At the Clash of Champions PPV, Reigns defeated Rusev to become the United States Champion. The following night on RAW, Rusev invoked his rematch clause and competed against Reigns in a title rematch which ended in a double countout. A week later, Lana challenged Reigns on Rusev’s behalf to another match only for Reigns to be attacked by Rusev. Reigns would get the upper hand and he would not only grant Rusev another shot at the title, but make the match a Hell in a Cell contest. This was a simple big man brawl style matchup. At times, Rusev would gain the advantage by using the steel steps and a kendo stick. At one point, he tied Reigns up in the ropes and repeatedly assaulted Reigns’ midsection (Even though Reigns is wearing a vest). Finish came when Rusev locked in The Accolade submission on Reigns on the steel steps only for Reigns to power out and hit a step-assisted Spear for the win. Reigns is now 2-0 in Hell in a Cell matches.

-Announce Team offer a quick recap covering the Owens-Rollins feud.

-Tom Phillips interviews Kevin Owens. He gloats about his apron powerbomb on Rollins from this past Monday. He promises to beat Rollins to a pulp and leave Boston THE MAN.

Bayley vs. Dana Brooke: Right before the Banks vs. Charlotte RAW Women’s Title Match, Bayley attacked Dana Brooke to make the title a fair contest. Two weeks later, Dana Brooke defeated Bayley in a singles match and attacked her in an arm wrestling contest the following week. This was a standard women's match to get Bayley on the card. Brooke would take advantage of Bayley’s injury throughout the match. Bayley overcame Brooke’s attack and hit her Bayley-to-Belly finisher for the win.

-A KFC commercial appears.

-WWE 2K17 promo video appears.

-Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon put over tonight’s Hell in a Cell PPV and next month’s Survivor Series PPV as Y2J comes in to put his name in the hat for the RAW Survivor Series team. He also tells Foley to watch “IT” and puts him on The List.

Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson: This match is the result of The Club wanting to climb their way back to the tag team division #1 contendership at the expense of Enzo and Cass. Anderson and Gallows attacked the fan favorites during an episode of RAW and in retaliation, Big Cass scored a win over Karl Anderson in a singles match. A quick tag team match with the crowd solidly behind Enzo and Cass. Enzo and Cass controlled the action early with Cass throwing Enzo around like a missile. The Club got control by hitting Enzo with a clothesline to the outside. The Club hit their Magic Killer finisher for the win to get back on track in the RAW Tag Title hunt.

-A breast cancer awareness promo video appears.

-A Lesnar vs. Goldberg Survivor Series promo video appears.

Universal Title Match: Kevin Owens(c) vs. Seth Rollins: At Clash of Champions, Kevin Owens defeated Seth Rollins with help from Chris Jericho. Within weeks, Rollins was granted another chance at the Universal Title and the RAW hierarchy of Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley would make it a Hell in a Cell match to prevent outside interference. This was a great contest between the two current leaders of the RAW brand. Rollins was the resilient, wildcat hero while Owens was the cowardly villain who would do anything to win. During the match, Owens “accidentally” sprayed the ref with a fire extinguisher. While the outside referee attended to blinded referee, he leaves the door open (literally) for Chris Jericho to come in. Jericho would get involved only to receive a Pedigree for his troubles. Rollins regrouped and focused on Owens. The “OMG” moment of the night took place when Rollins gave a running powerbomb to Owens and put him through two tables on the outside. Rollins’ advantage wouldn’t last long as Y2J got involved which allowed Owens to attack Rollins mercilessly with a pair of steel chairs. Multiple chair shots, a DDT on a chair, and a powerbomb through two chairs finally put The Architect away for the win. The Kevin Owens Show continues. After the match, Jericho hit Rollins with a Codebreaker for good measure.

-Kickoff Show panel with Renee Young, Booker T, Jerry Lawler, and Lita talking about events that took place earlier tonight.

Cruiserweight Championship Match: TJ Perkins (c) vs. Brian Kendrick: At Clash of Champions, T.J. Perkins defeated Brian Kendrick to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship only for Kendrick to attack Perkins after the match. Two weeks later on RAW, Kendrick would defeat Perkins via submission in a non-title match. Due to Kendrick’s win, he was granted another shot at the Cruiserweight Title. Similar to the six-man tag on the pre-show, this had a lot of flash in a short amount of time. Perkins would use his hybrid style throughout while Kendrick would show frustration and doubts that he couldn’t beat his protégé in a big time matchup. Finish came with Kendrick faking a knee injury to sucker Perkins into the Captain's Hook submission for the win and the title.

Random Thought: Line of the night goes to a fan shouting at Kendrick: “Get a f****** haircut hippie!” WWE’s seven second delay didn’t catch that one.

-WWE network promo video appears.

Commentary promotes NXT Takeover (Headlined by Joe vs. Nakamura II) and Survivor Series which takes place next month.

-Backstage with Sheamus and Cesaro where they first get along then start bickering about who will lead the team for their title match.

RAW Tag Team Title Match: The New Day © vs. Cesaro and Sheamus: At Clash of Champions, the conclusion of Sheamus and Cesaro’s Best of 7 Series ended in a double countout. Since there was no clear winner, RAW General Manager Mick Foley felt that the competitors deserved some sort of reward for their performances throughout the series. Therefore, he granted them a shot at the RAW Tag Team Titles…Only if they joined forces. In the weeks that followed, they would have difficulty getting on the same page, but would eventually do so with a win over the tag champions on the October 24th edition of RAW. Decent match between the two teams. Xavier and Big E represented The New Day in this contest. Cesaro and Sheamus would take control of Xavier throughout and when Xavier finally makes the hot tag, Big E comes in for some Belly-to Belly Suplex action. Things started to break down which led to Sheamus accidently hitting Cesaro with a Brogue Kick. You’d think that would cause a rift between the Swiss-Irish Connection, but they managed to stay in the match. The ending saw Kofi Kingston hit Sheamus with Trouble in Paradise (In retaliation of Sheamus hitting a dive on The New Day and for assaulting Big E with Francesca #2) BEFORE Xavier Woods tapped out to Cesaro’s Sharpshooter in the ring. The ref only saw Kofi’s wrongdoing and DQ’d The New Day. Cesaro and Sheamus win the match, but The New Day are still the champions.

-Goldberg returns to RAW THIS MONDAY!

-Banks vs. Charlotte hype video appears.

RAW Women’s Title Match: Sasha Banks(c) vs. Charlotte: On the October 3rd edition of RAW, Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte to win her second RAW Women’s Title. A week later, Charlotte challenged Banks to a rematch only for Banks to accept and raise the stakes to make it a Hell in a Cell match. This is the first time in WWE history that the women are competing in a Hell in a Cell match AND main eventing a main roster PPV. This is kind of a big deal. Super entrances and main event announcing for the ladies tonight. Right before the cell fully came down, Charlotte attacked Banks and they ended up outside near the announce tables and eventually into the crowd. They make their way back to ringside and teased climbing up to the top of the cell only for Charlotte to powerbomb Banks through an announce table. Banks (With her history of back problems) gets hurt and receives medical attention from WWE staff. She gets carried out on a stretcher and just when the referee is about to award Charlotte the title due to forfeit, Banks willed herself off of the stretcher to officially start the match. The story throughout was Banks overcoming her back injury while Charlotte was trying to inflict more damage. She would do so by throwing Banks over the ropes and onto the apron back first, monkey flipping her into the cell, and sidewalk slamming Banks onto a chair. Banks overcame Charlotte’s offense with moments such as a Charlotte-assisted spider jump onto the cell into the double knees, the Three Amigo Suplexes, and a Frogsplash to pay homage to her idol Eddie Guerrero. The ending saw Sasha going for a running powerbomb into a table only for her back to give out. Charlotte would take advantage by throwing her into the table twice followed by Natural Selection for the 3 and the title. Charlotte continues her PPV winning streak. The fans are not happy. End Scene.

PPV Thoughts: I thought this was another fine outing by the RAW brand. Not as strong as Clash of Champions, but still an enjoyable show. Basically, the viewer received three Hell in a Cell matches which carried the bulk of the show. Outside of those matches and Kendrick winning the Cruiserweight Title, there was nothing else that stood out on the PPV. As for the cell matches, each match had a different story to tell which was necessary and appreciated. Reigns vs. Rusev was the Battle of The Brutes, Rollins vs. Owens was Rollins trying to overcome the odds due to Jericho’s interference, and Banks vs. Charlotte was Banks (The hometown girl) attempting to overcome a reinjured back to defeat her longtime nemesis. Even though three cell matches can be a bit much, WWE handled it the best way possible and it’ll be interesting to see what transpires from this event in the coming weeks.

Personal Enjoyment: The RAW Women’s Title Match. The match itself was fine. It was the historical aspect of the moment that made the contest so intriguing to watch. It’s amazing to see how far women’s wrestling has changed over the last three years on WWE programming. This can be attributed to the success of NXT which allowed the women to be presented as equals to the men. No one could have imagined that two women would be chosen over the RAW World Title to close out a PPV, but here we are and what a moment it was. WWE should be commended for taking a chance and trying something different (which is rare in the current landscape of the company). Sasha Banks and Charlotte should also be applauded for their effort as well. The match wasn’t a five star effort by any means, but the ladies brought a main event feel to the match and kept you intrigued throughout. They kept a nice pace and put together a match that blended right in with their male counterparts from earlier tonight. The big question is, How does WWE feel about this match? Do they believe it was enough of a success to do another women’s PPV main event or should they let the boys have the final spot on the card from now on? That remains to be seen, but we should be thankful that we saw something historic that can potentially change the direction of not only WWE, but professional wrestling in general. What a year this has been and we still have two more months to go!

-So what did you guys think about the show? Hit or miss? Thumbs up or thumbs down? Let me know in the comment section. Thanks for reading!

-Anton