What's happening folks! Another weekend in the books. Hopefully everyone had a great one. Chances are people were getting ready for Halloween this coming Friday and getting prepped for some outlandish costumes and special "Halloween drinks" (save a cup or two for me). This past Sunday was WWE's annual Hell In A Cell pay per view. This event spawned from the WWE producing its most sinister and violent match. To this day I question making entire pay per views of gimmick matches, especially considering only one or two of the matches on the gimmick pay per view will actually involve the gimmick match to which the event is named after. In any event, traditionally, HIAC isn't that impressive of an event. It doesn't stand anywhere near the big four (Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Summerslam, and Survivor Series) and quite frankly the value of the HIAC match itself has all but died a complete death.
Before I get into the review of the event, let's go into the history of the cell. When the cell was first introduced into the WWE in 1997, it was to put a violent end to the rivalry involving Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. We saw a monstrous cage, very similar to WCW's old Thundercage matches, in which it was a cage that surrounded the entire ringside area. This was a huge, steel enclosed fence with a roof on top. The match was vicious, violent, and for Shawn Michaels especially, a very bloody evening (he needed twenty stitches to close the wound). Deemed as Michaels' worst beating ever, we also witnessed the debut of Kane, as he was responsible for the outcome of the match, which was Michaels crawling his limp, blood stained body on top of Taker for the win. From there, came a couple of others which continued to show the awesomeness of matches in the cell. Then came June of 1998 in Pittsburgh. Taker vs. Mankind. The match that took violence and compelling storytelling to a whole new level for WWE and maybe even the sport. You already know what happened, but it's still widely considered the most memorable Cell match of all-time. Foley came out of that match with NUMEROUS injuries and it subsequently shortened his career. From that point on, the bar was set, never to be fully met to such expectations ever again. However, there had still been some incredible matches within the cell for the next few years (who can forget matches like Taker vs. Lesnar, Taker vs. Batista, HHH vs. Batista, DX vs. The McMahons and Big Show, and definitely the six man Armageddon match?). Once we entered "PG", we knew the allure of HIAC and matches like the Elimination Chamber would be grossly scaled down, and boy were we right unfortunately. Arguably the last great Cell match that kept us on our toes was Taker vs. HHH at Wrestlemania 28.
Let's now fast forward to last night's event in Dallas (go Cowboys!) I didn't have a lot of high hopes for this event to start off with except for the double main event and maybe Cesaro vs. Ziggler in their Two Out Of Three Falls Match. The first match of the night involved Mark Henry vs. Bo (don't call me Bray Wyatt's brother) Dallas. While going to the ring, he did make a great one-liner, stating that because he had a cit named after him, that night he would be called Bo Washington (ironic considering tonight's game of my Boys against the Dead, I mean Redskins). The match last damn near a minute and Henry picks up a win.
Next up, the two out of three falls match was upon us. Great back and forth match with Cesaro continuing to show why he's truly one of the most under appreciated talents in the sport today, however Ziggler showed the same thing, as he deserves the same distinction as Cesaro. Ziegler won the first fall with an inside cradle after a competitive first fall. The second fall was even better, as both men turned up the intensity, but in the end of this exciting fall, Ziggler picked up the win for the second fall, thus winning the match. This should've been a WHOLE lot better considering the talent involved, but due to the double main event, one could see why they didn't want these two to go over twenty minutes. Damn shame though, I mean really. These two are certifiable main venters. Trust me, I'll rant about this later.
Next was the "Battle Of The Bellas", as Brie faced Nikki, with the stipulation that the loser would be the winner's personal assistant for thirty days. Based upon Nikkie's affiliation with The Authority, and her very pathetic stories of how Brie was always the more popular twin growing up, one could already tell how this would turn out. Somewhere during this match the crowd started chanting for Texas native, JBL, which typically means fans are tuning out. In all fairness, these young ladies tried to put on a good contest. It wasn't a terrible match like I expected it to be going into it, but I just think the storyline is just utterly and completely played out and worn out. Brie did many moves reminiscent of her hubby Daniel Bryan (who's career may unfortunately be over if he does have this suggested surgery). Nikki ultimately won with her "Rack Attack" finisher, thus Brie has to be her "bitch" for the next thirty days or get fired. One can't help but see she'll use her sister to obtain the Divas Title from AJ, maybe starting as soon as tonight.
The Tag Team Championship was next between The Usos and Gold & Star Dust. The Dust Brothers defeated The Usos last month at Night Of Champions to win their second Tag Titles. The stage was set for a great rematch. Truthfully, they didn't disappoint. The Usos have been the real saving grace of anything that remotely has to do with the tag team division, along with Goldie and Cody (pre-Stardust). After a battling fifteen minutes, The Dust Brothers retained the belts.
The Cell is finally lowered. It had been speculated that Cena vs. Orton would main event the show due to the stipulation attached with it. The winner would be number one contender for Lesnar and the title. However, this would NOT be the main event as Orton's music started to play. Then Cena came out. Yes, we've seen everything these two can give us. Yes, most of us are completely and utterly spent of Cena and Orton. On the other hand, from a business perspective, this is a draw with two guaranteed big money drawers for an event such as this. Also, anytime they get together, nine times out of ten, you're going to get a very compelling match. This was no exception, in fact I would put this up there with their best matches like their sixty minute Ironman match and their I Quit match. Many great near fall attempts here, including a couple of insane RKOs form Orton. In the end, Cena came out with the win and stared a hole through Paul Heyman, who was sitting with the HIAC panel, along with Renee (future Mrs. Jonathan "Dean Ambrose" Good perhaps) Young, Booker T, and A-Ri. One can expect Lesnar vs. Cena at Royal Rumble, as Lesnar isn't scheduled to appear on WWE TV for the remainder of the year.
The United States Championship match is next as the challenger Miz, along with his "understudy" Damien San/Mizdow in his corner as always, faces Sheamus. Not an impressive match, but what made it bearable, and at times very damn comedic, was the actions of San/Mizdow. He literally mimicked every single action of Miz in and out of the ring. This man has really showed himself to be the true "awesome" one of the two, just based upon entertainment alone. Otherwise, not much to say here, as Sheamus retained the title. The fun part happened after the match. Miz, laid out from the Brogue Kick, was mimicked by San/Mizdow by appearing laid out as well. Seamus was messing around with a prone Miz just to see if San/Mizdow would mimic the actions, or lack thereof, of Miz, including hoisting Miz up having Miz do the Y-M-C-A arm gestures, just to see if San/Mizdow would imitate them, and he did. Sheamus delivered Brogue Kick number two to Miz, and of course San/Mizdow had to mimic Miz falling to the mat and selling the kick. In short, San/Mizdow is incredible, and DESERVES more than this. Here's to a WAY overdue push to get away from Miz and become more than what he's been throughout this year.
The next match was Big Show vs. the undefeated Rusev. The build up to this match was good, and definitely better than what we've seen lately involving rivalries with Rusev. Show took the fight completely to the young Bulgarian. Out comes Mark Henry to cheer on his friend and teammate Show. However, Rusev, before too long, took control and took out Henry, gained control over Show, and put him in the Accolade (Camel Clutch anyone?) Show eventually tapped, thus extending the undefeated streak of Rusev. What's next for Rusev? One has to think either a U.S. Title shot, or a rivalry with Cena.
The Divas Title match is next as Paige once again challenges AJ Lee for the title. Paige has her "new bestie" Alicia Foxx at ringside with her (no coincidence that these two are put together just as the announcement is made that these two are the newest cast members of Total Divas next season right?) Simply put, the match was almost all Paige. Let me go left for a second. This has to be one of the most disappointing rivalries I have seen all year, and it was supposed to be a monster. I should've been one. It could've been one. Once again, booking/creative and Vince have dropped the ball on a gold mine. They had salad and turned it into shit. Paige is one of the most celebrated women wrestlers in the world and AJ has proved her worth for over three years now. This should've been our new Trish vs. Lita, or at least Taryn Terell vs. Gail Kim in TNA. Nothing! Do booking/creative care? Likely not. Does Vince care? Completely not. Again, more on my rant shortly. Now back to the regularly scheduled program. Paige was in top form here until they went to the outside. Paige stood on the security wall but AJ reversed Paige and it resulted in a very nasty head bump against the wall for Paige. Right now, there aren't any concussion concerns, but after looking at that bump, I wouldn't have been surprised. Foxx sends Paige back into the ring, and into the Black Widow submission and it was a fairly quick tap out. Afterwards Paige turned on Foxx, and thus we've seen the end of a once very promising rivalry.
Now we've finally come to our thrilling main event of Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins. This was a good choice to headline the event because of the hellacious match quality these two do. After the excellent promo Mick Foley gave to both of them last Monday, the anticipation built that much more. Dean comes out first to quite a loud ovation, and has some goodies that came to the ring with, notably a kendo stick. After bringing weapons into the cell, he then had visions of Foley, as he climbed the cell, all twenty plus feet, and was on top of the cell, as he wanted to start the match on top. Incredible sight. Seth comes out with perhaps our new generation's "Stooges", Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble. He tells them to go up and bring Dean down, however as they climb up, so does he so it's three-on-one on top of the cell. He does get the better of the exchange and then proceeds to scale down the cell along with Seth as both are fighting on the side of the cell with the announcers tables. As predicted, both men go through the tables. Truthfully, I didn't understand why BOTH men went through. Here's why: Dean delivered a head-butt to Seth, but as soon as he did, they both took the bump through the tables. It would've made more sense if they had both head-butted each other, thus both men going through, but not one delivering to the other and both going through. Anyways, stretchers are brought out to attend to both men, but Dean gets off and attacks Seth who's still on it. Dean sends Seth back to the ring and implores officials to lock the cell door so now the match begins. This match was hard, heavy, and all kinds of physical. Ambrose fought back from being on top of the cell fighting off Mercury and Noble, as well as a fire extinguisher attack from Kane who appeared at ringside. However, as Ambrose was getting the cinder blocks from underneath the ring and would attempt to perform Rollins' Curbstomp move on him, the lights went off and there was murmuring going on, almost demonic-like chanting. Before too long, a light comes on and a lantern is in the middle of the ring. Then smoke appears from the lantern with an image being formed from the smoke. AWESOME STUFF! Out of nowhere come BRAY WYATT!!!! The returning "Eater of Worlds" struck Ambrose, then the lights go back out. Lights come back on and we see Ambrose prone and Wyatt in that creepy exorcist stance of his. He then slams Ambrose and kneels next to him while Rollins pins him for the win. Afterwards he does Sister Abigail on Ambrose and the show ends with a new Wyatt signature. Crazy to see Wyatt back!
Now for my much anticipated rant. While an okay event, nowhere near a classic, but a pretty tolerable event, HIAC delivered an overall very predictable event as it always does. We're beyond tired of Cena and Orton. The AJ vs. Paige rivalry was almost pointless and was quite disappointing to say the least. Let's look at the current stuff going on. It was correct to use Rollins and Ambrose in the main event, and I completely agree with the decision. However, this should've been a thirty-forty minute classic much like Shawn vs. HHH in a HIAC match in 2002 that lasted nearly fifty minutes. These two should've had a match of the year candidate. Did they have a great match? Yes, but it could've been three times better. Furthermore, what are they going to do with Orton and Rollins? Rollins Curbstomped Orton last week, and they're both a part of The Authority. Orton should've RKO'd Rollins as soon as he left the ring to set up this rivalry properly. Meanwhile, as much as I'm really looking forward to crazy vs. crazy as this new Ambrose vs. Wyatt feud picks up, booking/creative and Vince have had moments where they could've had golden moments but they turned them into crap (Jericho vs. Wyatt, AJ vs. Paige, Cena vs. Wyatt, etc.) so what's going to give us the assurance that they won't repeat history? As much as I wanna go in on booking and creative, ultimately, everything filters through Vince, and he ultimately the biggest problem of his promotion. The greatest were the ones that had the nerve to challenge Vince and his decision making. Stone Cold, The Rock, Hogan, Taker, Foley and even Punk told Vince that his ideas sucked, and eventually he saw their vision. The problem is that we don't have anyone willing to tell Vince that his ways aren't working. He's playing way too safe. Cena's career will soon be dwindling down. Bryan may never return. Punk doesn't want anything to do with you ever again. SO who does that leave? Roman Reigns, and simply put, he's not ready to be in the main event, I don't care how good he looks. Give him another year and I'll say go for it, but if you risk putting him in that spotlight and shoving him down peoples throats, you know what will happen, ask Cena. What we as pure wrestling marks and fans have to realize is that Vince doesn't give a damn about us marks and fans, he cares about the kids, women, and family entertainment and branding so that he can obtain more revenue. As I've said, this will continue unless more people like Jeff Jarrett start their own brands and start making more options for people to watch. I don't know the future of TNA, ROH still has production woes, and Lucha Underground is only for people who have satellite and digital cable. Mark my words, Vince will start to get it when you actually appear on his radar. This, like many pay per views they've had lately, could've been awesome with engaging writing and exciting performances, but Vince likes to screw things up and shake things right before it's go time. To me, what's the use of a writing team if you're just going to veto what they write. How much longer are you going to ignore complaints from the likes of Russo, Jim Ross, Mick Foley, and Edge about how suck-ass your product has been, not to mention fans? Mark my words, Vince, you'll regret this. That's all for now folks! See you next week God willing.
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