Hell In A Cell. The notorious match that changes wrestlers’ careers (and lives).
Well, this year’s PPV showing changed everyone involved — nearly. Binh’s Hot Take explains why this could be one of the more important PPVs in recent years.
The New Day(c) vs The Usos for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship inside a Hell In A Cell:
The past couple of times these two teams have faced each other they’ve managed to steal the show. And they did not disappoint this time either with a Cell match. Xavier Woods and Big E represented the New Day, leaving Kofi Kingston to have the best view of the match. We saw a more aggressive side of the New Day and I like it. They utilized kendo sticks, chains, trombones and cowbells in the match, which made for a lot of creativity for a Cell. Creativity didn’t do much, as in the end The Usos won to re-capture the Tag Titles.
Winner: The Usos
Rusev vs Randy Orton:
This feud still doesn’t make any sense to me and it probably never will. Throughout the match I kept waiting for it to end quickly, with the hopes that by the time I put my son to bed and came back out it’d be done with.
Winner: Randy Orton
Tye Dillinger vs Baron Corbin vs A.J Styles(c) for the United States Championship:
Tye Dillinger made his way into this match by asking Smackdown General Manager, Daniel Bryan, about turning it into a Triple-Threat match. A lot of back and forth in the ring was the result. With Corbin’s size he was the clear target to take down and to try to keep down. In the end it looked like Styles was going to retain the title with the Phenomenal Forearm, but Corbin managed to come back into the ring and black Styles out, becoming the NEW United States Champion.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Natalya(c) vs Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown Women’s Championship:
This was a technical match from the start, with some nice moments here and there. Natalya targeted Charlotte’s knee throughout the entire match, which was very solid overall until she decided to use a chair to end it. It could have ended better, and both women certainly deserve better than that finish.
Winner: Natalya
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Jinder Mahal(c) for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship:
If there was any match where Shinsuke would go over as the main guy on Smackdown Live, this would be it. But alas this was not the case. It was a decent match, up to the point where the Singh Brothers were tossed due to interference. And it was at that moment Nakamura hit the Kinshasa, but with the Referee outside the ring it gave Mahal time to grab the ropes to break the count. In the end Nakamura attempted one more move in the corner but missed, as Mahal moved to hit his Khallas for the win, retaining the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Winner: Jinder Mahal
Bobby Roode vs Dolph Ziggler:
So this match happened. It was very lackluster, even though I thought it would be better. Heck, it should’ve been better, but I think due to time they ran out of options for what to do with it, ending in a forgettable match.
Winner: Bobby Roode
Shane McMahon vs Kevin Owens inside Hell In A Cell:
I don’t know what to really say about this match. In the later part of the fight both men were on top of the Cell, and all you could do is just cringe and hope the cage did not break — that is a LONG fall down. Eventually Owens did decide to come down, prompting Shane to follow. After some battling, Owens was the first to fall from near the top of the cage onto the one of the announce tables. Shane then set him up on another table and at that moment we knew what was going to happen: Shane would jump from the top of the cage onto Owens. As Shane was leaping down Sami Zayn managed to pull Owens out of the way, casuing Shane to miss. As both men were laying on the ground surround by medical personal, Zayn pulled Owens over Shane for the 3 count. It was an unexpected twist, and a great way for WWE to draw everyone in to tune into Smackdown Live on Tuesday.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Final thoughts:
This was a very good PPV. I enjoyed nearly every match that was on the card, apart from one or two finishes, and it sets up the next few nights well. 8/10 would watch it again.
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