Friday, 27 December 2013

WWE Hell in a Cell 2013 Review

WWE Hell in a Cell took place on Sunday 27th October at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. Will we finally have a WWE Champion or, through some nerafrious means, still be held in abeyance? Let's take a look.

The Kick-Off Show match was between Damien Sandow and Kofi Kingston. Whilst I like Sandow, I'm not a really big fan of Kingston. He is a very good athlete and quite fun to watch. However, he's been doing the same shit for years and he is in danger of not ever living up to his potential. Anyway, Kofi does his usual high-flying offense however, Sandow gets the win after hitting the You're Welcome. This was a decent match. Shame it was a bit short.
Winner: Damien Sandow
Predictions: 0 for 1

The first match of the PPV is a triple threat match for the WWE Tag Team Championships with Cody Rhodes and Goldust facing The Usos and Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. I was expecting this to be a fun match to start the event and I wasn't disappointed. It was done at a nice, fast pace between all the competitors and there was a lot to like about this: the sportsmanship between the Usos and the Rhodes; and Goldust getting to his corner only to realise that Cody had been taken out by Rollins. Cody almost wins it with a moonsault, and Jimmy Uso does a blind tag to Cody and proceeds to destroy Rollins and hits a Samoan drop for a nearfall. There was an awesome bit where Cody superplexes Rollins to the outside, crashing into the rest of the competitors. The end comes when Rollins gets hit with a right hand by Goldust followed by a CrossRhodes by Cody to get the pinfall and retain the Championships. The last few PPVs have started with an enjoyable, fun match and it didn't disappoint here.
Winners: Cody Rhodes and Goldust
Predictions: 1 for 2

After a segment in which Erick Rowan and Luke Harper dismantle The Miz and Kane coming in and taking out all of them, we get an intergender tag team match between Fandango and Summer Rae and The Great Khali and Natalya. Yeah...I feel sorry for Natalya, Summer Rae and Fandango in this match. Khali, whilst he can't wrestle and has the mobility of a crippled elephant, is popular with the fans so I can see why WWE keeps using him. However, it does sadden me that it's at the expense of a lot of talented wrestlers on both the main and the development rosters. Anyway, this match doesn't last long as Summer bounces Natalya off the ropes followed by a roll up (the Divas kryptonite) to get her team the victory. The bits with the women wasn't that bad as Summer is quite a decent wrestler and Natalya made her look good. I just didn't like the ending as I'm getting annoyed with Divas matches ending with just a roll up.
Winners: Fandango and Summer Rae
Predictions: N/A

The United States Championship is on the line as Big E Langston (worst ex-bodyguard ever) challenges Dean Ambrose. This was an interesting match to watch. I forgot how quick Langston is for his size and I loved Ambrose's ring psychology. Ambrose tries a sleeper a couple of times but Langston manages to power out of them. Langston gets back the momentum and Ambrose decides to go "fuck this!" and leave. Langston gets him back in and a few moments later, spears him to the floor while he was on ring apron. Ambrose gets counted out and afterwards, Langston hits the big ending. Whilst I wasn't a big fan of the finish, I quite enjoyed the match and I can see them having more matches in the future.
Winner: Big E Langston
Predictions: N/A

We now get our first Hell in a Cell match as CM Punk faces Paul Heyman and Ryback. This match did not go the way that I thought it would. Heyman uses a crane to get to the top of the cell and stay there, making this effectively an one-on-one match. The match doesn't go long before Punk grabs a kendo stick, which turns out to be a bad idea as Ryback stops him from using it and uses it instead. The match goes back and forth and Punk tries a springboard clothesline but he's caught by Ryback and gets hit with a powerslam. Later on, Ryback gets put through a table thanks to a Macho Man elbow drop. Punk then hits Ryback with a kendo stick then the GTS to get the win. Afterwards, Punk climbs the cell to face Heyman and proceeds to fuck him up with a kendo stick then hits the GTS, leaving Punk standing tall. The match wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. I thought that Heyman's way of avoiding the match was quite ingenuious, although he should have thought of a back up plan if Ryback lost. Otherwise, I honestly glad this feud is over. I was looking forward to this feud when it started but I couldn't get past Punk's reasoning for some of what he did.
Winner: CM Punk
Predictions: 2 for 3

We get another tag team match with Los Matadores take on The Real Americans. The Real Americans work on Diego for most of the match, including Cesaro doing the giant swing on him for almost 40 seconds. Eventually, Fernando gets tagged in and beats up Swagger. Swagger applies the anklelock but it's not enough as Los Matadores hit a move where one does a reverse STO while the other grabs the back of the head and drives it into the mat at the same time to get the pinfall over Swagger. Afterwards, El Torito hits a hurracarrana on Cesaro, headbutts Colter then a crossbody on Swagger. The match wasn't anything special except for, like the last PPV, the giant swing by Cesaro.
Winners: Los Matadores
Predictions: 3 for 4

The World Heavyweight Championship is on the line as Alberto Del Rio is challenged by a returning John Cena. Del Rio, understandably, goes for the tricep that was injured and keeps Cena down for most of the early going of the match. Cena does his comeback which is ended by Del Rio reversing an AA into a backstabber. Both guys go for their finishers which are stopped, but Del Rio applies the cross armbreaker but Cena rolls out of it and applies the STF. Del Rio does get to the ropes and does properly apply the cross armbreaker. However, Cena gets out of it by reversing into a powerbomb. Cena does hit the AA to get the win and become the new World Heavyweight Championship.

Even though it was obvious that Cena would win this, I quite enjoyed the match. I would say that this would give the chance for Cena to feud with some of the guys who are hovering round the Championship. However, I watched this a couple of weeks after it happened and I know that that turns out to be a momentual crock of shit. The next night, Damien Sandow practically destroys Cena's arm, cashes in his MITB briefcase and then proceeds to lose. Whilst I thought that it might be lead to a feud between the two, that was shat on the next week as Cena beats him in a tag match then goes to have a rematch with Del Rio. This is the biggest beef that I have with John Cena. I'm getting sick and tired of Cena always being the underdog and overcoming the odds at the first attempt. Sandow stops short of tearing Cena's arm off and Cena just brushes it off and wins without too much of a problem. This has been happening for years and it's getting to a point where it's getting ridiculous.
Winner: John Cena
Predictions: 4 for 5

The penultimate match is for the Divas Championship as AJ Lee once again faces Brie Bella. I was quite interested to see how this would turn out as Brie has been improving over the last few months. It was technical to begin with and AJ wears Brie down with a headlock/leg scissors combo. Brie sends AJ into the turnbuckle and makes a comeback. Brie applies a half Boston crab and Tamina Snuka goes up on the ring apron to distract the referee. Nikki Bella stops that by pulling Tamina's leg, sending her crashing to the floor and they fight on the outside. Brie accidentally knees Nikki and this gives AJ the opportunity to apply the black widow to get the win. Whilst it was short, I enjoyed the match. I generally enjoy Divas matches but WWE seem to give them decent matches one week then shits over the good stuff they created the next week.
Winner: AJ Lee
Predictions: 4 for 6

The main event is a Hell in a Cell match for the abeyant WWE Championship between Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. Both guys use their cell to thier advantage, crashing their opponent into the cell and the steel steps. Michaels kept on asking if one of them wanted to quit when they get hit with a big move, which was a bit weird. The match is back and forth throughout. Bryan applies the LeBell Yes No lock and Orton manages to get out of it. Later on, Bryan decides to throw a shit load of chairs into the ring and that backfires as Orton stops Bryan from using one and proceeds to use them himself, including superplexing Bryan onto them. Triple H then comes out and argues with Michaels. This prevents him from counting a pin attempt by Orton and it leads to all three of them arguing. Orton tries for the RKO but Bryan pushes him into Michaels, knocking him down. Triple H then enters into the cell while Bryan runs the running knee to Orton. Bryan tries to get Michaels back up and Triple H and tosses him away. Bryan responds by hitting Triple H with the running knee. Michaels doesn't take that well and hits Bryan with the sweet chin music. Orton, after getting tips from Edge's manual "How to be the Ultimate Opportunist", covers Bryan. Michaels reluctantly does the count and Randy Orton is the new WWE Champion. It was a fun match to watch and, while it's hard to believe that Michaels would go down after a minor collision, the ending made sense as it makes Bryan look strong and cements the Authority's position. I suspect that Bryan will not be in the title picture til at least the Royal Rumble, so it will interesting to see what they do with him in that time.
Winner: Randy Orton
Predictions: 4 for 7


I thought that Hell in a Cell was quite an enjoyable event to watch. I just don't like 2 WWE Pay-Per-Views in one month. With Bound for Glory happening as well, there were 3 Pay-Per-Views in October and, like last year, I suffered a little burnout and decided to watch them in my own time. Sorry for the delay and next stop, Survivor Series.

No comments:

Post a Comment