WWE Hell In A Cell 2014
Dallas, Texas 10/26/14
Before I begin, I should mention that there was a pre-show match
on the WWE Network Kickoff Show that featured Bo Dallas against Mark Henry.
There really isn’t much to say about it, as Henry made quick work of Dallas,
beating him in around 30 seconds, give or take.
1.) WWE Intercontinental Title – 2/3 Falls Match – Dolph Ziggler
vs. Cesaro: ***3/4
The show properly kicks off with a battle for the
Intercontinental Title in a 2/3 Falls Match. You know that whenever you have
these two guys in a match, it’s going to be good, at a bare minimum. This was a very good opening match. Great
action throughout this match. Ziggler would end up beating Cesaro in two
straight falls to retain the Intercontinental Title.
2.) Nikki Bella vs. Brie Bella: **3/4
Back at SummerSlam, Nikki Bella turned on her sister Brie Bella
while the latter was having a match with Stephanie McMahon. It’s been almost a
year since that feud (as I type this review), and I still remember how bad it
was. Who could forget Nikki saying that she wished Brie died in the womb? How
about when they got into it with Jerry Springer? Good times (not really). The
stipulation for this match is that the loser has to be the winner’s assistant
for 30 Days. Despite all of the crap on RAW
leading up to this, the match itself was surprisingly solid. There were a
few rough points, but on the whole I think it was much better than most would
have thought coming in. The crowd wasn’t into it initially, but they seemed to
be invested by the end of it. Nikki Bella would get the win, which means that
Brie Bella would have to be her personal assistant for 30 Days.
3.) WWE Tag Team Titles – Goldust & Stardust vs. The Usos:
***
The Rhodes Brothers won the WWE Tag Team Titles back at Night of Champions. This is a chance for
The Usos to get the titles back. I thought this was a fine match. It wasn’t
great, and it wasn’t terrible. It was a pretty solid tag team match. Exactly
what you would expect from these guys. Goldust & Stardust would eventually
get the win to retain their WWE Tag Team Titles.
4.) Hell In A Cell #1 Contender’s Match – John Cena vs. Randy
Orton: ***3/4
I’ve lost track of how many times these guys have faced off over
the years. In fact, this is the second time these two have wrestled each other
inside Hell In A Cell (they had a WWE Title Match inside the structure in
2009). The winner of this particular encounter will face Brock Lesnar for the
WWE World Title at a future date. Despite the stale nature of this match, it
still ended up being pretty solid. John Cena always gives it his all in a big
match situation, and Randy Orton looked pretty good in here as well. We saw a
number of weapons used in here, including the steel steps, chairs, and a table.
In the end, Cena picks up the win over Orton with a Super Attitude Adjustment
off the top rope through a table! Cena now is the #1 Contender to the WWE World
Title.
5.) WWE United States Title – Sheamus vs. The Miz (with Damien
Mizdow): **1/2
If you’ll remember Night
of Champions, Sheamus was defending the United States Title against Cesaro,
while The Miz was challenging Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Title.
After that PPV, the champions basically swapped challengers, as Ziggler
retained against Cesaro earlier in the night, and now The Miz is challenging
Sheamus. This was a pretty standard match. It was honestly felt more like a
match on RAW, and that’s not good.
The action was ok, but everyone was paying more attention to Damien Mizdow’s
stunt double antics on the outside (which are great, by the way). Sheamus
eventually retains the United States Title.
6.) Rusev (with Lana) vs. The Big Show: **1/2
Rusev has seemingly been running through the gauntlet of
patriotic Americans as of late. He defeated Jack Swagger at SummerSlam, and Mark Henry at Night of Champions. Now he has his
biggest challenge yet in the form of The Big Show. This was an ok match. It was
about as good as you would expect a match between these two to be. A fine big
man match. Mark Henry came out at one point and tried to get involved, but
Rusev takes him out, and makes The Big Show pass out to The Accolade for the
win.
7.) WWE Diva’s Title – AJ Lee vs. Paige (with Alicia Fox): **1/4
So these two have traded the Diva’s Title back & forth four
times since Paige made her debut the night after WrestleMania XXX. Most recently, AJ Lee recaptured the Diva’s Title
from Paige in a Triple Threat Match at Night
of Champions that also involved Nikki Bella. Alicia Fox accompanies Paige
to ringside for some reason. For some reason, these two just haven’t produced
the kind of singles matches that we hoped for. I think I liked the match at SummerSlam, but that’s about it. AJ Lee eventually
gets the win to retain the Diva’s Title, while Paige gets into it with Alicia
Fox after the match.
8.) Hell In A Cell Match – Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins: ****
This is a match that a lot of people have been looking forward
to since The Shield broke up and the Rollins/Ambrose feud started. These two
are having the type of deeply personal feud that you want to end inside Hell In
A Cell. We saw it all in this match. They brawl at the top of the structure.
Shortly thereafter, they both take a high fall off the side of cage through the
announcer’s tables!! That looked cool & scary at the same time. They
eventually get back in the ring and weapons become a factor. Tables, Chairs,
and other weapons are used. Finally, it looks like Ambrose is going to finish
off with Cinder Blocks (a callback to a Street Fight they had on RAW), when the lights go out. We then
hear a weird chant, and what appears to be a hologram in the middle of the
ring, with smoke coming out of it. Bray Wyatt then shows up out of nowhere and
decks Dean Ambrose. He lays him out, which allows Rollins to get the cheap
victory. If this had a decisive finish, it could have been a Match of the Year
Contender (at least in my opinion). I was really loving this match. Aside from
blood, this had the feel of an old school Hell In A Cell Match. The finish was,
of course, ridiculous & absurd in so many ways. If they want to do a
Ambrose/Wyatt feud, that’s fine, but there were so many better ways to do it.
It just left a bad taste in your mouth. Still, I really enjoyed this, despite
the stupid finish.
Overall:
7.0/10
If you look at the first half of this card (pretty much
everything up to, and including, the John Cena/Randy Orton match), things were
going decently well, and this had the makings of being a solid show. The opener
with Ziggler vs. Cesaro was really good, Nikki Bella vs. Brie Bella was better
than expected, the WWE Tag Team Title Match was perfectly solid, and Cena vs.
Orton was very good, despite the staleness of the match. Unfortunately, the
rest of the card up into the Main Event was incredibly average….like RAW average. People will have a lot of
differing opinions on the Main Event. Personally, I was really enjoying the
match until the finish, which is one of the most frustrating finishes to a WWE
PPV Main Event in recent memory. This show had a few bright spots, but WWE left
a lot to be desired.
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