WWE Hell in a Cell Reaction

Pre-show:

John Cena comes out and addresses the "scandal" between him and AJ that cost her the GM job. Anyway to get John Cena on WWE programming I guess. I wasn't really paying attention because this angle doesn't really interest me, but maybe RAW tomorrow will change my opinion.


Hell in a Cell opens up with a damn good intro which could've been better without Show and Sheamus in it, but I digress.

Randy Orton vs Alberto Del Rio

Orton and Del Rio kick off Hell in a Cell with a average match. Not one of their best encounters, but it was still solid, yet sloppy. Del Rio was the aggressor telling a story and really going to work on Orton's arm selling that point. The match ends with Del Rio scaling the top rope, but landing into an RKO. Pretty sick spot. Orton picks up the win.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match 
Daniel Bryan & Kane vs Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow

Great tag team match between two great teams. Sandow & Rhodes did the traditional tag team wrestling with quick tags, teamwork and everything in between. We saw some great ring action with Daniel Bryan and Damien Sandow who seem to work well together. But let's get to the meat of the matter. The end of the match sees Kane going completely ballistic and hammering away on Sandow and Rhodes so furiously that the ref has to call for the bell. Kane and Bryan seemed to "self-destruct" during the match as well. So, Kane and Bryan lose the match, but they keep the titles because of the disqualification. Didn't think they would go this route. The feud between these two teams is going to continue, but does this mean Rhodes and Sandow are going to capture the tag titles soon, or is this just something WWE came up with so that Kane and Bryan don't get old?

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Kofi (c) vs The Miz

So far, this match is the Match of the Night. It was fast pace, back and forth and so fluid. Miz and Kofi have tremendous chemistry in the ring with each other and despite having no story going into this one, this match was great. In the end, Kofi hits Miz with the Trouble in Paradise for the win retaining the IC Title. I really do hope the IC Title launches Kofi's career. He deserves it. I feel like this is just the beginning.

WWE United States Championship Match
Antonio Cesaro (c) vs Justin Gabriel

Well what do you know? The United States Champion does have a match..

GREAT match. Wow. I never really watched much of Justin Gabriel in singles competition, but on a pay-per-view stage, this kid can GO. By go, I mean he's a great wrestler and phenomenal athlete. Despite the crowd being dull as dishwater since the opening of the show, these two guys put on a great match. I already know how good Cesaro is in the ring, but Gabriel is so agile, making him so mobile and his moves look so fluid, especially working with a guy like Cesaro, they can make each other look good. But getting off that, Cesaro picks up the win the Neutralizer and retains the US Title. What I noticed is that he didn't have Aksana at ringside? Cesaro isn't the best on the mic, so he needs some sort of mouthpiece.

Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs The Primetime Players

Nothing really special. Haven't seen PTP in a while, and they're really trying to push Mysterio and Cara as a legit tag team as the new school version of Mysterio and Guerrero, but those are HUGE shoes to fill. Better yet, their teamwork reminds of Brian Kendrick and Paul London. Never heard of them? Of course not. Look them up and educate yourselves.

Getting to the match, I didn't pay much mind to it. I've seen these teams wrestle before and this really was nothing new. Maybe this should've been.....I don't know....a #1 Contenders match? But nonetheless, it was an enjoyable match. Mysterio and Sin Cara get the win.

On another note, Cara took what looked like a sick bump to the outside landing on Titus and he looks to have injured himself.....again. But he got up and celebrated with Rey. I guess we'll know more later.



While we have some time, let's recap so far. 3 title matches, all 3 Champs retained, the crowd sucks which further proves how some crowds can affect a pay-per-view. You would think after WrestleMania 27, WWE would know Atlanta crowds are bad WWE crowds. But meh. At this point, Kofi and Miz had the Match of the Night so far. The only thing, on my mind at least, is the WWE Championship match.

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Sheamus (c) vs Big Show

Well, I was wrong on two things:

1) I actually liked this match. It didn't go as long as I thought. They made it short and sweet. Well, sort of. A good portion of this match was DOMINATED by Big Show. I mean pure domination. Sheamus got beat down to the point where he had welts on his chest. This match told a great story of how dominant The Giant really is. It took a while for Sheamus to get his offense going, but when he did, the match really picked up. Sheamus got Big Show up for the White Noise move, and even kicked out of Big Show's KO Punch which FINALLY woke the crowd up a little bit. But he didn't do it again. Sheamus geared up for the Brogue Kick, but Show hit him with the KO Punch in mid-motion and won the World Title.

2) I was wrong about Big Show and the World Title. Upon Big Show's return to the WWE, they were really pushing the fact that he's a Giant and since they don't want him carrying the WWE Champion, the World Heavyweight Championship seems more his game right now because who's going to take him down? Obviously, Sheamus is going to want revenge and has a rematch clause somewhere, so this feud isn't over. And no Ziggler cash-in, so we'll still have to wait on that.

Good match. Really surprised me. Hope Big Show has a good reign with the World Title this time around.

Triple Threat match for the Divas Championship
Eve (c) vs Layla vs Kaitlyn

Despite the crowd being dead as usual, this match was pretty solid. Even though the division has been so bad, there have been some good divas matches. In this match, Kaitlyn really shined. We know how good Eve and Layla are, but Kaitlyn had some pretty good ring time in this match and showed people what she can do and she's improved in the ring in the last few months. But even after all that, Eve retains the Divas Title. Not too surprised there.

Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Championship
CM Punk (c) vs Ryback

This was it. The Main Event. The Big Fight. THE MATCH. CM Punk vs Ryback for the WWE Championship. After the well done video package highlighting their feud, CM Punk makes his way out first, followed by Ryback. This match had a great big fight feel and they really sold the fact Punk was staring death in the face. The match started the way I figured. Punk was avoiding Ryback until he finally got caught and beatdown. He waited for the right distraction and pounced on the opportunity. This match was moving at a slow pace which was just fine for me. In a match of this magnitude, you didn't need to rush anything. This match told a good story that Punk needed to do more than usual to take Ryback down. Punk needed to depend on multiple weapons to bring him down and for short amount of time was in control of the monster Ryback. You can't make Punk look like a complete rag doll. The man is the WWE Champion so it was only a matter of time until he started dominating for a little bit.

And now, we come to end of the match. Punk was hitting Ryback with a Singapore cane, but Ryback had enough, grabbed the cane and tossed it out of the ring. He did the usual moves which included his meat hook clothesline. He got Punk up for the shell shock, but was stopped and low blowed by.......wait for it..........THE REFEREE. Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, the referee stopped Ryback and dropped him with a low blow. Punk rolled him up and the ref fast counted Ryback's shoulders down. Punk wins and retains the WWE Championship.

But wait, there's more! Punk and the crooked ref try to get out of the Cell, but the referee outside was fumbling with the keys and couldn't unlock it in time. Ryback got up and he made both men pay. The referee took quite a bump. Ryback brought him into the ring and tossed him outside the ring right into the Cell. Punk climbed to the top of the Cell to get away from Ryback, who followed. I was going through every possible scenario in my head of what they were going to do up there until I remembered that WWE is PG so, instead of somebody flying off, or going through the Cell, the best we got was just a simple shell shock onto the top of the Cell. The show ends with Ryback literally with his foot on Punk's chest doing the "Feed Me More!"



Ok, so Brock Lesnar didn't show up. Let me get that out of the way right now. But this match did what it had to. Punk kept the WWE Championship and Ryback's character wasn't damaged. As a matter of fact, after his actions after the match, his Monster character grew immensely and looked every bit as strong as he did before the match. It looks like WWE did create that new star that they wanted.

Now, I bet people are going to complain about the screwjob ending. This tells a few things. First of all, people were going to complain no matter how that match ended. Second, WWE backed themselves into a corner and had no clue how to really end this match, and that was the best they could come up with. But the ending really isn't as bad as people are saying. Let's be honest, did any of you see the referee screwing over Ryback? Better yet, did you call it a few weeks ago? If you did, you can either see into the future, or you're a damn liar. People are always saying that the one thing WWE doesn't have anymore is unpredictability. I certainly didn't predict the referee getting involved. If you didn't like how it ended, then please enlighten me on how you would've ended the match given the complications going into it.

I don't like the referee screwjob either, but I give them points on the swerve I guess. CM Punk needed to win and Ryback couldn't become the WWE Champion. Like I said in my last blog post, I don't think he was ready, but I also said him winning the title down the road won't mean as much if he were to win here.

Overall, this show was ok. I wasn't really expecting a stellar show, but it wasn't bad. Miz/Kofi had the best wrestling match of the night, the Show/Sheamus match shocked me not only by the way the match went, but with Show winning the World Title, and Punk retains his title, Ryback is still the Monster. Everybody goes home happy. The only problem I had was the crowd. They were AWFUL.

I'll score this show a C+. The only reason I tuned in was to see Punk vs Ryback and while that match didn't disappoint me, I can't say the rest of the show filled me with joy either. Today's new WWE PG fans are going to remember Ryback standing over Punk on top of the Cell for quite some time. It would be interesting to see how they follow up with this. Do they go back to Punk/Cena or is Ryback going to get his rematch?


Feel free to Comment.



By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

Night of Champions Reaction

At first, I didn't want to even bother writing a blog on this show, but I changed my mind.

Pre-show Battle Royal to determine #1 contender for the US Championship
Participants: Brodus Clay, Tensai, Primo, Epico, Justin Gabriel, Michael McGuillicuty, Zack Ryder, Primetime Playas, Jinder Mahal, JTG, Drew McIntyre, Ted Dibiase Jr., Heath Slater, Santino

I won't get into much greater detail than this because this: It was a pretty standard battle royal. Not many faces people would know because they're never on TV, but nonetheless, it was an interesting battle royal. It came down to Tensai and Zack Ryder and Long Island's Finest came away with the win. So, therefore, we will have Zack Ryder vs Antonio Cesaro later on for the US Championship.

I'm sure you all heard what happened to Jerry "The King" Lawler on RAW. If not, then allow me to fill you in.

The King had a heart attack during a match on RAW last Monday. At one point, you could hear him snoring sort of, and then you just hear silence. WWE personnel rush over, and EMT's bring King to the back worked on him for 15 minutes to do CPR. King was treated in the hospital over night, and by Wednesday (?) He was up and feeling better. He posted a tout and all was right with the world. Thank god he's ok and back on his feet, and at home recovering.

While King is at home recovering, JBL came back tonight and took over color commentating duties for the show. Let's get to the event.

Fatal 4 Way Intercontinental Championship Match
The Miz (c) vs Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes vs Sin Cara

This was a good opening match to be honest. Solid action from all four men, we got to see Mysterio and Sin Cara put on a little show, and we had some great spots as well.  An interesting ending here, when Miz was going to power bomb Sin Cara and got a mask put on him. With Miz being able to not see and all, he grabbed the first body and hit the skull crushing finale and got the win. Solid match, I would've expected a little more of a faster pace to the ending, but this works too.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Kofi & R-Truth (c) vs Kane & Daniel Bryan


First off, I gotta say that Daniel Bryan and Kane have become the entertaining portion of the show for the past two weeks, and these anger management segments have been funny. Getting to the match, it was solid, and told a good story. Kane and Bryan argued during portions of the match, even going so far as to hugging it out during the match when they got upset. They were so over that Kofi and Truth, who are also fan favorites, started to get booed at. But this isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened.

The ending sees Kane on the top rope, still arguing with Daniel Bryan. Bryan shoves him off and he lands on Kofi and gets the win and we have NEW Tag Team Champions. And afterwards, they argue and Kane leaves.

This is a great move by WWE here. Kane and Bryan have gotten super over ever since these anger management segments and giving them the tag team titles is a good move. My only thing is, where do they go from here? Who are they gonna find to challenge Kane and Bryan? Unless they throw two other upper mid-carders together to face them. But I don't think the belts will come off these guys any time soon.

United States Championship Match
Antonio Cesaro (c) (w/Aksana) vs Zack Ryder

Solid match. I didn't expect much from the match anyway, but not bad. I said this in my Summerslam reaction blog, I like watching Cesaro wrestle. The man knows what he's doing in there. Also, there was one spot in the match where he sent Ryder in the air and on his way down, he hit him with an uppercut. He used this great move in ROH and other indies before coming up to WWE. It's pretty lethal.

Cesaro wins with the Gotch Neutralizer after Aksana distracts him. So, Cesaro hangs on to the US Title which is a good thing cause this might be what he needs to make him relevant. Cesaro is a great talent and with some work, he could be something big. Maybe WWE can start putting him on RAW too.....a show that people will watch. SmackDown isn't as watchable as it was in the past.

Randy Orton vs Dolph Ziggler

When you think of a match that could be the possible showstealer, this was it. I'm not surprised because these two always put on great matches. Both of these guys have so much chemistry in the ring and this match was amazing. It was slow, fluid, methodical, and fast pace at times, but it didn't really need it. It ended with Orton lifting Ziggler in the air and hit him with an RKO on his way down.

Match of the night so far. But where does Ziggler go from here. He's getting absolutely no steam and no momentum. I mean yea, he's Mr. Money in the Bank, but what does that mean if he keeps losing?

Then again, Daniel Bryan kept on losing matches when he was Mr. Money in the Bank and look where his career is at now. Nuff said. We're just going to have to wait and see when Ziggler will get his chance to shine.

Divas Championship Match
Layla (c) vs Eve

Well, with Kaitlyn out of the mix, Eve takes her spot and faces Layla for the Divas Championship. What happened to Kaitlyn you ask? If you care enough to read, I'll explain.

Earlier on in the night, Kaitlyn "injured" her ankle backstage and was in no condition to compete apparently. How convenient. They didn't build up Kaitlyn one bit, and now she's "injured." Why put her in the match if you were planning to take her out of it? Later on, Booker T. named Eve as the replacement to face Layla. Shocking stuff. Why didn't you just add her to the match in the first place?

I wasn't too sold into this match for obvious reasons. But unlike the crowd, I appreciate a Divas match when both of them can actually wrestle. Layla always had talent, and Eve got better and better in the ring with her move set. That being said, the match was solid and we crowned a NEW Divas Champion in Eve.

I'm not that annoyed with the decision, but let's look at this for a minute:

Kaitlyn was "taken out" earlier on in the night, Eve is her replacement, and then wins the Divas Championship. It doesn't take a genius to realize that Eve was behind everything and it worked out in the end as she wins the Divas Title. All this in order to get Eve over as a heel. Eve lost A LOT of steam since her heel turn on Ryder back in March (?) But Eve wins the title, and I'm pretty sure Layla and Kaitlyn will be back after her.

The only twist they can come up with here (which they'll probably do) is for Eve to have paid someone to take Kaitlyn out so that her hands are clean of the situation. That would at least make the Divas division a little more interesting.

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Sheamus (c) vs Alberto Del Rio

Before the match gets underway, Booker comes out and makes the Brogue Kick legal again taking away all the "suspense" in this match in whether or not Sheamus can win without The Brogue Kick.

So, now that we have that out of the way let's get to the match. It went on for a little while, but it had a slower pace than their match at Summerslam, but this match was still good and told a good story. Del Rio continuously worked on that arm and every time Sheamus would go for the Brogue Kick, he would miss. When Sheamus was locked in the cross armbreaker and looked like he was going to tap, he fought his way to the ropes, twice.

Eventually, Sheamus nails Del Rio with the Brogue Kick and this one is over. And there is no appearance from Ziggler. So, I really don't know where Sheamus will go from here. My guess would be a feud with Orton, or maybe Wade Barrett. But I know THIS should be the last time Del Rio competes for the World Title, at least for a while.

WWE Championship Match
CM Punk (c) vs John Cena

Before the match, Paul Heyman is in the ring and says he's going to be at ringside to watch this match and introduces CM Punk out and here he comes wearing a hoodie and sporting NY Yankee pinstripe trunks clearly since they're in Boston and all. Cena comes out wearing Pink and Black for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Both men get separate introductions and it seems like for once, Boston is actually cheering Cena.

This match had a big fight feel and it didn't disappoint. Then again, Punk and Cena never disappoint. I know I bash PG WWE A LOT, but one thing I'll say is that Cena and Punk know how to put on a damn good show and making every minute worth it. This was another classic match that saw Cena doing a ring dive, multiple kickouts from finishing moves, escapes from submissions, other nearfalls, and just excitement all around. It was simply amazing.

But here's where I scratch my head. Ok, so at the end, Cena does a German Suplex from the top rope and the ref counts and apparently Cena wins the WWE Title! But wait, once Cena is done celebrating, the ref takes the belt away from Cena and says both his and Punk's shoulders were down on the mat when he counted the fall. Mr. Referee ends this match on a draw. Therefore, Punk keeps the WWE Title. And afterwards, while Cena is complaining about the decision, he turns around and Punk drops him with the belt.

I had to let this sink in for a bit. They really couldn't have Cena lose in his Hometown? Really? I mean it's not like it hasn't happened before. Anyway, they didn't want Cena to lose in Boston, and they didn't want Punk to lose the title, so this draw scenario is actually kind of interesting. Not only does it leave the people of Boston extremely upset which gives Punk more heat, but it shows how even they are. They did everything to each other and nobody walked out with a clean win on one another. I just feel like they could've executed it better. I mean when they showed the replay, Cena's shoulders were barely on the mat. I commend the move, but it just seemed off.

We're going to see Punk/Cena again at Hell in a Cell, and do you have Punk win there? There have been talks of Punk holding onto the title up until The Royal Rumble, but this scenario seems too familiar. Cena doesn't win the first match, but almost always wins the rematch. There is a method to all this madness.


Overall, this show was pretty damn entertaining. Way better than Summerslam that's for damn sure.

As much as I hate to say it, Cena/Punk surpassed Orton/Ziggler for Match of the Night, and we crowned two new Champions. All this adds up to a must see RAW tomorrow night. Good show, great wrestling, but a sloppy ending. I'll give a 7/10. WWE still has a lot to do in the world of building up every match like they used to do before the PG Era started.



Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete