To be honest, I thought Hell in a Cell 2018 was going to blow. I had mixed thoughts about Braun Strowman’s stupid decision to give up his Money in the Bank briefcase, his abrupt heel turn and alliance with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre, which was only done supposedly to get Roman Reigns cheered.

   In addition, AJ Styles and Charlotte Flair were paired up for the upcoming Mixed-Match Challenge, so certainly she would retain against Becky Lynch and keep her title for her partnership with the WWE championship. Not to mention U.S champion Shinsuke Nakamura and Kevin Owens were nowhere to be seen. Yeah, I thought this would crash and burn.

   But to my surprise, this was a very entertaining event, possibly one of the best events of the year. The matches, while riddled with false finishes, were all very solid and fun to watch. Was it a perfect show, no. But unlike Extreme rules, it didn’t feel generic or by the numbers. Its small card of eight matches trimmed filler and dedicated more time to bigger bouts, making for a more tightly paced and more focused event than anything I’ve seen this year.

The New Day Def. Rusev and Aiden English (Smackdown tag titles)

   Kicking things off with the preshow, everyone’s favorite pancake/booty enthusiasts the New Day, defended their tag-team championships against Rusev and English in what was a pretty standard tag team match. It felt a lot more like a TV match rather than an epic bout you’d pay to view. But as far as standard TV matches go, it did its job.

   Both teams got in plenty of offense, and there was a decent spot with Aiden English kicking out of an elevated double stomp. As Rusev day began to gain an advantage, English tagged himself in, eventually putting Kingston in the accolade. Then Rusev attempted to tag himself in after he eliminated Big E from the equation, despite the fact that he and English practically had the match won. Due to this, Kingston managed to escape and pick up the win on English. This clearly is setting up the spit between Rusev and English because Rusev just can’t get a proper babyface push, can he?

4/10

Randy Orton Def. Jeff Hardy (Hell in a Cell match)

   Out of all the matches on the card to give the Hell in a Cell treatment, Jeff Hardy vs Randy Orton probably wasn’t the best option. While the feud between the two veterans has been fine enough and has plenty of memorable moments, it wasn’t to the degree where demanded a blow-off match inside Hell in a Cell. I feel like Styles vs Joe would’ve made more sense to contain inside the structure.

   But for what we got, I think it might have been the best Cell match on the card. This fight was downright brutal, and Randy Orton beat Jeff Hardy within an inch of his life. He slammed Hardy into an upside-down ladder, destroyed his back with a chair, and most shockingly of all, took a screwdriver and twisted Jeff Hardy’s ear with it.

   However, Jeff put his all into this match and took the fight to Randy Orton, hitting several twists of fate on the former legend killer. He then set up a ladder and laid Orton out on a table, and then proceeded to swing on the ceiling of the cell before plummeting down onto the prone viper. Just when Hardy thought he had the fight won, Orton just manage to escape and Jeff Hardy Crashed through the table with devastating force.

   This match was awesome from start to finish and showed that Hardy and Orton still got it. It was a perfect way to kick off the night properly and set the bar pretty high for the rest of the evening.

8/10

Becky Lynch Def. Charlotte Flair (Smackdown women’s title)

   Well after 2 and a half years of wandering in the mid-card, Becky Lynch finally took back the Smackdown women’s championship. As I stated above, I feared WWE would keep the title on Charlotte for marketing purposes and the Mixed-Match Challenge. Luckily, I was wrong, as Becky went the distance with Charlotte to reinsert herself at the top of the card on Smackdown.

   The match itself was very good, with Becky Lynch working the arm of Charlotte for most of the match. While all of this was fine enough, the way the match ended was rather odd. Charlotte rushed Becky with a spear, only to be caught and rolled up by the Irish lass-kicker for the win.

   I, along with many others, would’ve liked to see a more conclusive finish to the fight. Other than a strange finish, this match was solid enough, and ultimately the right person won, hopefully now Becky Lynch can enjoy a long, dominant reign as champion that she deserves.

7/10

Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre Def. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins (Raw tag titles)

   Now I’ve not been too kind to the Raw tag division in my past couple reviews. From the overabundance of jobbers to the way the few big stars have been booked, the division seemed more like a joke compared to Smackdown’s tag teams. Well, they fixed that problem rather effectively with this match of the night that pitted Raw tag team champions Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre against Dean Ambrose & Intercontinental champion Seth Rollins.

   The two teams put on an absolute clinic that hadn’t been seen on Raw in a long time. This fight was packed full of high-flying falcon arrows and suicide dives mixed with frustrating blind tags and brutal suplexes. So many times I thought this match was over. Rollins kicking out of a zig-zag, McIntyre powering out of a frog splash, I didn’t know where it was going and I love matches like that.

   The match ended with Rollins attempting a falcon arrow, only to be caught with a claymore kick from Drew McIntyre, allowing Dolph Ziggler to pick up the win and retain the titles. I personally wanted Rolins and Ambrose to win the tag titles and hold all the gold with the shield, but for what we got, I was more than impressed and will definitely go back and watch this match again on the WWE Network.

9/10

AJ Styles Def. Samoa Joe (WWE title)

   You know what really grinds my gears, the fact that the WWE championship, the oldest and most prestigious championship in the history of WWE, is once again put in the middle of a pay-per-view like a mid-card belt. It’s especially a shame, considering how tense the feud between AJ Styles and Samoa Joe has been. Joe’s continued harassment of Styles family and Styles’ reaction to the situation made for a rivalry that feels real. Could this match live up to the hype without the Cell stipulation, well kind of.

   The match itself was solid enough. It saw Styles finally take out his frustrations on Joe for a portion of the fight, hitting him with an impressive spinning rack powerbomb. Joe, however, took Styles to his limits beating him down over the course of a long fight. Eventually, he countered a phenomenal forearm into a coquina clutch.

   AJ, however, rolled back and pinned Samoa Joe while still in the clutch where he began to tap out. The ref ultimately counted the pin and Styles won in rather controversial fashion. While this does allow the feud to continue, it feels all too familiar to the lack-luster feud between Styles and Nakamura.

   I guess it’s not the worst ending to a match considering Joe now has more of a drive to take down styles other than wanting to claim the title. But if this fifty-fifty booking continues, Joe will slowly lose momentum and this whole feud will have been pointless.

6/10

The Miz & Maryse Def. Daniel Bryan & Brie Bella

   Serving as the second match in their feud this year, we were treated to a spouse war between Mr. and Mrs. Bryan and Miz and Mrs. Actually, this match can easily be described as Daniel Bryan vs the Miz with mind games between Maryse and Brie Bella in the background. The action, while fine enough, wasn’t what drove this match, but rather the drama between these two couples.

   Bryan and Miz spent the majority of this match attempting to out wrestle and out whit the other. Miz escaped to the outside of the ring, only for Daniel Bryan to wisely tag in his wife Brie. This match was full of one-up moments like that and the San Antonio crowd ate it up.

   The fight ultimately ended with Maryse grabbing the tights of a distracted Brie Bella and rolling her up for the win. While this was the fourth controversial finish of the night (and not the last), it’s enough to keep this feud going, and that’s ok with me.

7/10

Ronda Rousey Def. Alexa Bliss (Raw women’s title)

   Switching gears over to Raw we witnessed Ronda Rousey in her first title defense against Alexa Bliss. And I must say, this was superior to their last encounter. Rather than a glorified squash match, this time there was a fight, and Alexa Bliss pushed Ronda Rousey to her limits.

   The match went roughly twenty minutes, and it mostly consisted of Rousey selling for Alexa, who took advantage of her “injured” ribs. Eventually, though, Ronda Rousey retaliated and with Natalya keeping Alicia Fox and Mickie James at bay, she successfully defeated Alexa Bliss with the armbar. Despite the all the tension at ringside, the match itself remained very clean, and both women emerged looked stronger than before.

7/10

Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman ended in a no contest (Hell in a Cell)

   You heard me right folks, a Hell in a Cell match where anything goes, ended in a no contest. Now despite how STUPID that is, this was still a very entertaining match. The fight between Strowman and Reigns itself was pretty much what you’d expect. It was a big brawl with superman punches, Strowman tossing reigns around and weapons being involved, the typical Hell in a Cell fare.

   After a long brawl filled with chaos, Reigns speared Strowman through a table, laying himself and the monster out in the middle of the ring. Suddenly, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre rushed to the cell to aid the monster, only to be followed by Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins.

   And from there, things kicked into high gear, the two teams battled it out around the cell until Ziggler attempted to flee by climbing up the cell (always a good idea). Seth followed him up, and before long, all four men were duking it out atop Hell in a Cell. Before long, Ambrose, McIntyre, and Rollins were all laid out and Ziggler again attempted to escape. However, Rollins met him halfway down the cell, and the two men plummeted through the announcer’s table.

   With six men down and out, the AT&T arena exploded when Brock Lesnar’s music hit, and the beast stormed down to the ring. He then proceeded to kick down the door of the cell, (very reminiscent of Kane at “Bad Blood” 1997) and bludgeoned Roman and Braun with pieces of a shattered table. While Paul Heyman took out the ref with a spray to the eyes, Lesnar delivered an F5 to each competitor and then walked off.  

   It was odd that the main event was practically put on hold for the brawl between the Shield, Ziggler and McIntyre, not to mention that the ending, in theory, made absolutely no sense. But I have to admit, this was a really fun main event to watch. Sure the booking and pacing were rather sloppy, but it was still an explosive way to end a great pay per view with a bang, and I guess that’s good enough for me.

7.5/10

Samuel Claude
Reporter