Kind of late, but due to maintenance issues with the website yesterday, I was unable to upload the article and I had to re-do this all over again. So let’s just get started.
The Usos def. The New Day (C) – Smackdown Tag Team Championship (Tag Team Hell In A Cell Match)
I mean, what more is there to say with this? These two teams are just freaking incredible. How much more could you have asked from these two teams after the incredible series of matches these two teams have had. First off, I loved the fact that they set the tone early by just bypassing all the basic ring stuff and immediately just got to the weapons part, and they absolutely laid it on each other in a huge way. I think they did an incredible job of playing up the visceral hatred that these teams had towards each other. However, the most impressive part about this match isn’t the fact that they were brutal toward each other, but more so that this was probably the most creative Hell In A Cell match in the history of the stipulation. There have been a plethora of singles matches, but few tag team matches inside the Cell, and never before have I seen individuals in the cell use it in such a creative fashion.
Xavier Woods being used as a battering ram was incredible, and it actually made me feel sort of bad for him because I couldn’t imagine the suffering he was going through with those stiff kendo stick shots. Him trying to fight back towards the end but still being jumped sealed that for me. The New Day pinning one of the Usos up against the cell wall like he was about to get incinerated or sacrificed was also just so awesome. They also played up spots from some of their previous matches and kept the match going even past that. Combine all the heart-stopping near falls, the consistent pace of the match, the storytelling, pretty much everything was delivered to a tee, and what we got was probably the best match of the year, and one of the greatest Hell In A Cell matches ever. The Usos winning and backing up their Uso Penitentiary gimmick gives them much-needed credibility. Whoever was given the task to follow this surely peed their pants in the gorilla position. Realistically speaking, the two teams should spend some time away from each other because of the sheer frequency they’ve faced off with each other since the summer, and they probably will, but hey, if they produce matches like this, I’ll have no beef with it whatsoever. I have no reason to not give this the full monty. *****
Randy Orton def. Rusev
I’m beyond caring about what happens to Rusev at this point because it’s clear WWE is beyond caring about the former Bulgarian Brute too. Now, I’m a huge Orton fan, so of course, I didn’t mind Orton winning, but this begs a rhetorical question. Does Orton, a veteran of over 15 years, need to win over Rusev? I just hate the fact that Rusev is being buried yet again, but the reasoning behind it is even more frustrating. There’s literally no reason given to not give Rusev a PPV victory over Orton, or even Cena. Rusev has yet to win on PPV this year, and he seems to be going nowhere rather fast. I don’t know why WWE even bothered hyping up Rusev’s return to Smackdown if they had literally no plans for him whatsoever. The actual match was fine. I thought that there weren’t any dead spots in the match, they kept things going and both men were able to hit some of their signature moves. I thought they were going for something with that finish, and it would have been cooler had Rusev caught Orton prepping for the RKO and winning then and there. But of course, with Rusev, he’s not allowed to do anything special these days. So whatever. Decent match. Poor booking. **1/2
Baron Corbin def. AJ Styles (C) and Tye Dillinger
Tye Dillinger’s insertion into the match probably led to the surprising victory given to Corbin. I actually had expectations a little elevated for this match, but sadly, they were too high. I didn’t think the match was bad, but the problem is that there was far too much fluff to begin the match. The first 5-10 minutes were just all of them playing around and hitting moves without any purpose. There really wasn’t any story being told and they were sort of just playing around. I did liek the sequences that involved Styles and Dillinger going at it, but whenever Corbin got in the ring, the match slowed down frequently. Corbin’s issue is his inability to get heat on his character, and that’s because he’s not interesting enough to make anyone care about him or what he does. Therefore, that also affects him whenever he hits his moves. Styles did his very best to make both men look like a million bucks, and I do commend him for that. However, if you haven’t noticed already, the quality of Styles’ matches have simmered down significantly from last year, and there’s no doubt a huge part of that is him working the majority of this year as a face and not being WWE Champion.
Now, I’m inclined to believe WWE is trolling us, because Enzo Amore and Baron Corbin both won the titles within three weeks of each other, and those names have only been associated with backstage heat, so either WWE was playing this up all along and taking us to the woodshed or a title is their way of freshening up their characters. For Corbin, putting the title on him won’t fix what’s wrong with him, but I do believe there’s nothing wrong in experimenting and see what works. As for the match, it did get going towards the end and there were some lovely sequences, but it took far too long to get to the point, and to top it off, Corbin botched the finish. Not a way you want to win your first title. Again, decent, but did not need 20 minutes. ***
Charlotte Flair def. Natayla (C) by DQ – Smackdown Women’s Championship
Well, technically I wasn’t wrong in my prediction of Charlotte winning, but I do suppose it would have been premature to take the title off Natayla already. Problem with this feud is that it wasn’t centered around them, so much as it was centered around Ric Flair and how Natayla wanted to be the center of attention. I would have loved to see these two women bring up their NXT history and give the match some real stakes beyond the title, and maybe you could mention Ric as something extra, but we just had two women go out there, and they had about as basic of a match as you could get. There was the basic psychology in Natayla working over Charlotte’s legs and Charlotte trying to fight through it. I’m not a fan of the cheap DQ finish, but I do understand wanting to keep the title on Nattie and I also understand wanting to put some heat on this feud, because Lord knows that’s what this feud needs right now. Otherwise, this was Smackdown LIVE quality. Nothing of pure importance was missed here. **1/4
Jinder Mahal (C) def. Shinsuke Nakamura – WWE Championship
You know, Jinder’s reign has gotten so cringeworthy to the point where everyone knew that this match was not going to be your main event. Jinder’s matches have involved the same formula, just in different, subtle ways. I think this match, in particular, was a bit more structured than their Summerlsam match which was just a bad sprint. There was more psychology and more basic in-ring stuff going on, but again, there was nothing in this match that got me excited as well. Nakamura’s matches have been highly underwhelming for the most part since coming over to Smackdown LIVE, and he’s very punch, kick, punch, kick with his match. He’s still a world-class talent, but when you’re working with Jinder Mahal, it’s sort of a lot to ask to get a WWE Championship-esque match out of him. Shinsuke losing wasn’t surprising, seeing as how it appears that WWE is going full throttle with a Jinder push that should last up to WrestleMania next year. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not ready for a JBL-esque, WWE Title Smackdown push lasting for 10 months. I wanted to give Jinder a chance when he first got the title because it was a good surprise, but now, I’m anemic towards him. He’s literally doing the same thing week after week and I wanted to see improvement, but unfortunately, it seems to be too much to ask from him. Nakamura losing while the Singh brothers also weren’t there also sets him back a big deal, and I don’t know where he goes from here.
I don’t know who Mahal’s next challenger will be if he’s moving on from Nakamura, because there isn’t a lot of top-tier faces on the roster behind Styles, and he’s already feuded with Orton. The match was okay, but I’m never watching it again because there’s no reason to. **1/4
Bobby Roode def. Dolph Ziggler
What is the deal with the overly long matches? I’ve never heard of a 12-minute match that’s a precursor to the main event. These two men tried their hardest out there to make something out of being put in the death slot, but it didn’t work for me. Dolph Ziggler’s facial expressions and mannerisms in the ring these days really makes me wonder when his time in WWE is coming to an end because it visibly looks like the passion in his eyes have dwindled to a great degree. The crowd was stone cold for this with the exceptions of certain parts of the match, and they did have a good little reversal sequence down the stretch. However, this was just another Smackdown match and nothing more. And if I know Smackdown LIVE well, this match is probably getting rebooted tonight. **
Kevin Owens def. Shane McMahon – Hell In A Cell Match
There is literally no reason why this had to go 40 minutes. NONE. Okay, let’s set that aside. This was almost everything I expected it to be. Shane was a human stunt-man, taking crazy bumps all across the arena and almost killing himself about 8 times throughout the match and Kevin Owens played a great foil to him, bringing the brutality he showed to him and Vince and trying to lessen Shane’s high-impact moves. Despite that, this match suffered from the same issue the triple threat match had. It was FAR. TOO. LONG. I kid you not, I dozed off about 5-6 times throughout the match because it was so close to midnight. Seriously, if all of that was leading up to Shane diving from the top of the cage yet again, they should have just cut all the crap, leave the cage open and not spend half the match just wandering around the ring. It was also painfully obvious that was going to be the zenith of the match so why not just get right down to it? I did like some of the action on top of the cage, but I think they spent far too much time to get there.
Overall, this match could have had the same quality if you shaved off 15 minutes. I think Triple H and Shawn Michaels had the longest HIAC match at Bad Blood 2004, but there was no reason Shane McMahon should have been around bumping for 40 minutes. The sheer longevity of the match robbed me of some of the excitement, but I think they told a great story overall and achieved the purpose the match as supposed to. Sami Zayn coming to Kevin Owens’ aide was a great twist and I liked the little tease that they showed with Sami right before the main event segment last week on Smackdown. I’m all for a Sami heel turn, because he’s been as irrelevant as the water boy on an NFL team since the brand split last year, and Sami needs to freshen up his character. There was only so long his character could survive losing in two-minute matches to Mike Kanellis and Aiden English on garbage Smackdown matches on free television. So I say go for it. The match was okay but did not need 40 minutes to lead up to Shane doing a suicide dive yet again. It also didn’t feel as special since Shane more or less did some of the same things he did in his HIAC match against Taker just last year. This also didn’t nearly reach the level of the first HIAC match and this one had double the time of the first HIAC match. ***1/4
Conclusion:
Here’s the bad news. Just like another Smackdown-exclusive PPV, Battleground, the show peaked with its opening match yet again. Here’s the good news. Unlike Battleground, Hell In A Cell had a much more acceptable undercard. Two persistent issues continued with WWE on this PPV. A – The show ran FAR too long and had a lot of unnecessary fluff, which doesn’t include the backstage segments and the Fashion Files. B – The flow of the show is inconsistent, as much of the good stuff comes early on and then the show takes a massive nosedive in quality. And finally, more questionable booking decisions all around. I didn’t feel bad watching it top to finish on first viewing, and I got my money’s worth from the opening HIAC match alone. However, one great match a great show does not make. Fortunately, this show wasn’t downright horrible with the other matches, so I’d say thumbs in the middle, leaning up strictly for the first HIAC match which was damn near perfection. However, if I was going to make a recommendation to a new viewer, I’d say watch the opening match, skip all the way to the final five minutes of the final HIAC match and then turn off the tape. You’ll be much better off. Until next time.
