WWE Hell in a Cell 2019 Review

WWE Hell in a Cell took place on Sunday 6th October at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. With only 4 matches announced beforehand, I was interested to see how the show goes. So, let's take a look.

The match on the Kick Off Show is Lacey Evans taking on Natalya. Lacey wears Natalya down, focusing on the shoulder. Later on, Lacey goes to apply the Sharpshooter but Natalya slaps her to stop it. In the end, Lacey misses a moonsault and this gives her the chance to get Lacey to submit to the Sharpshooter and get the win. This was a decent match.
Winner: Natalya (N/A)

The event starts with our first Hell in a Cell match as Sasha Banks  challenges "The Man" Becky Lynch for the RAW Women's Championship. Banks starts attacking Lynch as the Cell is being lowered. Lynch recovers and attacks Banks with a chain when the bell rings. They spend most of the match using chairs against each other and throwing each other into the cell. Banks focuses on the arm but Lynch comes close to winning after sending Banks' face onto the chair. After Banks hits a double knee sending Lynch through a table, she uses a kendo stick to strangle her. In the end, Lynch hits a Bex-ploder suplex from the top rope onto a pile of steel chairs then gets Banks to submit to the Dis-Arm Her to get the win. I quite enjoyed this match between the two.
Winner: Becky Lynch (1 for 4)

The next match is a Tornado Tag Team Match with Erick Rowan and Luke Harper  taking on "The New" Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns. Reigns and Bryan work well together at first before Harper and Rowan start to dominate. When Harper and Rowan try to powerbomb Bryan through an aouunce table, Bryan counters with a hurracarrana on Harper and Reigns spears Rowan through the German announce table. In the end, Harper then hits with a Superman Punch, a running knee and a spear and Reigns and Bryan get the win. Whilst I was slightly surprised that Bryan didn't betray Reigns, I thought this was a really fun match.
Winners: Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan  (1 for 2)

Next, we get Randy Orton taking on Ali. After both guys exchange Flair chops, Orton pulls Ali off the top rope to the floor to get the advantage. Ali does make a comeback however, he misses a 450 splash. Despite Ali avoiding a RKO in an unique way, he can't avoid a second one and Orton gets the win. This was a decent match between the two and I liked the ending.
Winner: Randy Orton (N/A)

The next match is for the Women's Tag Team Champions as Asuka and Kairi Sane  challenge Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. Sane and Asuka were extremely aggressive at the beginning, keeping Cross down while keeping Bliss off the apron. Sane and Asuka go on to be dominant for most of the match, focusing their attack on Bliss. Bliss manages to tag in Cross and she hits a hanging neckbreaker but Asuka breaks up the pin. In the end, Asuka gets inspiration from Tajiri and sprays green mist into Cross' face, which is legal apparently, then kicks her in the head to get the win. It was a little weird seeing Asuka and Sane be heels but it was an enjoyable match.
Winners: Asuka and Kairi Sane (N/A)

Next we get The O.C. taking on the team of The Viking Raiders and Braun Strowman.  AJ Styles hits a cheap shot on Erik to get his team the advantage. Erik sends Styles flying with a back body drop, giving him the chance to tag in Strowman. Strowman tries to hit a running powerslam on Styles but Karl Andersaon and Luke Gallows stop it and start beating up Strowman. This is enough for the referee to disqualify them (what, really?), giving The Viking Raiders and Strowman the win. I thought the match was pretty good but it was ruined by the ending.
Winners: The Viking Raiders and Braun Strowman (N/A)

The next is King Baron Corbin taking on Chad Gable.  Corbin starts by doing shitty jokes about Gable's height. Gable doesn't take that well and puts Corbin in an ankle lock early on. Crobin gets the advantage by sliding Gable into the ring post. Gable makes a comeback and hits a moonsault followed by applying an ankle lock. Corbin then decides to cheat and tries to hit Gable with his specter. When the referee grabs it, Gable rolls up Corbin and gets the win.  I thought this was a fun match to watch.
Winner: Chad Gable (N/A)

The penultimate match is for the Smackdown Women's Champion as Charlotte Flair  challenges Bayley. Flair tries early on to get Bayley to submit by putting her in a Boston crab. Bayley takes control of the match after poking Flair in the eye. Bayley then focuses on the leg but Charlotte starts to do the same to her. Bayley tries to use the ropes for leverage when pinning Charlotte but the referee catches it. This gives Charlotte the chance to hit a big boot then get Bayley to submit to the Figure Eight. Bayley doesn't take well and spits the dummy while Charlotte celebrates. This was a good match and I was surprised that Charlotte won. However, it did lead to Bayley going full heel with this "fuck this hugging shit" and regaining the title on the following Smackdown so I'm interested to see where that will go.
Winner: Charlotte Flair (1 for 3)

The main event is "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt challenging Seth Rollins  in a Hell in a Cell match for the Universal Championship. It doesn't start well as the whole match took place under  red light. Wyatt gets the advantage early on, forcing Rollins to use a kendo stick which doesn't affect Wyatt. Wyatt continues to be dominant despite Rollins hitting him with a Curb Stomp 12 times and a Pedigree. Rollins hits him in the head with a steel chair but Wyatt kicks out. Rollins started using every weapon he can find to beat up Wyatt. After using a toolbox to slam a ladder into Wyatt's head, Rollins grabs a sledgehammer and, despite the referee's pleas, hits Wyatt with it. This is apparently too far and the referee calls for the bell...wait, what?! When the medics tend to Wyatt, Wyatt suddenly recovers and beats the fuck out of Rollins ending with him hitting a Sister Abigail onto the exposed floor and applying a Mandible Claw.

Erm...what to say about this match. I get the story that they were trying to tell. However, it was very poorly executed. All the majority of us wanted was for Wyatt to win. Instead, we got a long drawn out match with Rollins getting more and more violent, getting effectively disqualified for it; then Wyatt doing a Undertaker style recovery way after the match ended to attack Rollins. WWE have gone on to say the match ended due to referee stoppage but that doesn't make it any better and for the second year in a row, a Hell in a Cell match has ended in a no contest. A match that is designed to not end that way. Who the actual fuck thought this was a good idea because, in case you hadn't realised it yet, it wasn't.
Winner: Nobody including the fans (1 for 4)

Hell in a Cell was a mixed bag. It started well enough and it had some matches that I enjoyed. However, the main event ruined it for me and I feel sorry Bray Wyatt. He has been involved in some of the worst matches I have ever seen and had his last gimmick ruined piece by piece since coming up to the main roster. His new gimmick is really good and got over with the fans. However, in his 1st big match, it became a clusterfuck. Hopefully, they will sort it out quickly.

WWE Hell in a Cell 2019 Preview

WWE Hell in a Cell 2019 will be taking place this evening at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento,California. With WWE focusing on the debut of Smackdown on FOX and their upcoming propaganda trip to Saudi Arabia, there have been only 4 matches announced for the card. Well, at least this will be a short article. Let's take a look at the card.

Bayley vs Charlotte Flair
Smackdown Women's Championship
A tough one to call as there seems to be a lot of focus on Charlotte at the minute. I think that Bayley will find a way to retain.
Predicted Winner: Bayley

Erick Rowan and Luke Harper vs Roman Reigns and "The New" Daniel Bryan
If Bryan doesn't fuck Reigns over, I will be very surprised. Harper and Rowan to win.
Predicted Winners: Erick Rowan and Luke Harper

"The Man" Becky Lynch vs Sasha Banks
Hell in a Cell Match for the RAW Women's Championship
I'm loving Sasha's work at the minute but I think that Becky will win.
Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch

Seth Rollins vs Bray Wyatt
Hell in a Cell Match for the Universal Championship
Bray Wyatt has to win this otherwise it will be the beginning of the end of his new gimmick.
Predicted Winner: Bray Wyatt

I will watch this over the next few days. I hope you all enjoy the show.

Kofi Deserved Better

At Wrestlemania, Kofi Kingston became the first African-American to become WWE Champion by defeating Daniel Bryan. Whilst it only started due to Kofi replacing an injured Ali at the Elimination Chamber match, it led to an enjoyable storyline and a feel good moment. Kofi's reign since then has been relatively good but we all knew that it would eventually come to an end. My main worry was that he would lose it to someone like Randy Orton. What we got was far worse than that.

When Brock Lesnar made his first appearance on Smackdown in over 15 years and hit Kofi with a F-5, we all knew that Lesnar would win the WWE Championship at the next Pay-Per-View. Instead, we got their match on Smackdown this week. With the show making its premiere on FOX that day, I was wondering where the match would go. With it being 2 days before Hell in a Cell as well, I thought that it might lead to a no contest with the rematch happening on Sunday.

Instead, we got this:

I mean, what the fuck was that?! I'm not the biggest fan of 5-10 second squash matches (unless it's happening to Shane McMahon); especially for Championship matches. However, this was complete bullshit. I find it insane that with the show now on a major TV network in the US, that WWE would give the WWE Championship to a part timer. Then, former UFC fighter Cain Valasquez turns up in support of Rey Mysterio and beats up Lesnar. So, WWE decides to make their WWE Championship between two former UFC fighters: one a part timer and one who only started wrestling about a year ago. 

I feel sorry for Kofi as I think he's done pretty well since being Champion. Hopefully, he will get another Championship reign in the near future. For me, this whole thing is indicative of the problems I have with WWE. They pander too much to nostalgia and are happy for part timers to be their main Champions. Also, fans of shows like NXT are getting pretty annoyed of wrestlers getting called up and then getting treated pretty badly. I think out of all the NXT call ups in the last couple of years, I think that maybe Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura have been relatively successful. Hopefully, this rivalry with Lesnar and Valasquez won't last long and Lesnar doesn't have a long title reign. However, I think that WWE will do the complete opposite.