WWE Hell in a Cell 2019: Honest Review
Starting the Show with the Women’s Division
The placing of matches on a card is such an important step!
While it can seem like no big deal placing a match on the wrong section of the night
can alter the feel of the entire show and we have often seen the WWE make this
mistake several times before however, last night at the Hell in a Cell PPV the
WWE did a brilliant job in how they booked each match in terms of where it took
place on the night. With one Hell in a Cell match kick-starting the night and
the other concluding we as fans had the chance to get past the first and
prepare for the second. The women raised the bar (as we talk about soon) and
set the tone for the rest of the night and this was a very smart and needed decision.
Sasha and Becky Tear the House Down
Keeping on the theme of that opening match and wow. Simply…wow.
Following their previous PPV encounter fans were expecting their Hell in a Cell
Collision to be a damn good one but these two women raised the bar incredibly
high and took part in a match that will be considered as one of the best WWE
matches of twenty nineteen. Locked inside the Hell in a Cell structure we saw
one of the most creative bouts in recent memory. Banks and Lynch made sure to
use their surroundings to their full advantage and as a result, fans sat back
and watch spots we haven’t seen performed before. The match felt personal,
intense, barbaric and genuinely left everyone on the edge of their seats. The
bout set the tone for the rest of the evening and while I was personally
surprised to see the RAW women’s championship remain on Lynch its impossible to
be disappointed with any end result to this match and while The Boss proved a
huge point Lynch showed herself to be the true badass, the man of the WWE today.
Harper and Rowan’s Huge Performance
Now, I love a good tornado tag team match. It’s a
stipulation we don’t get to see very often in the WWE today especially on the
main roster but its something that when done right can provide a true standout
contest and that is exactly what we saw last night when the unlikely pairing of
Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan took on Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. While it was
Bryan and Reigns who walked away with the win here it was Rowan and Harper who left
everyone talking come the end of the match. From the beginning these two former
tag team champions looked incredibly dominant and arguably better than ever
before. Their speed, their power, and agility they proved themselves to be incredible
standout superstars and I honestly do hope we get to see more from them as a tag
team moving forward for we know just what these can do within the tag-team
division.
Last Minute Booking
What really injured last night's Hell in a Cell PPV was the
last-minute addition of several matches. After two fantastic opening contests, there was a huge shift in the momentum of the show when the WWE booked Mustafa
and Randy Orton in a singles bout. From this point lasting a good hour, the show
felt like an episode of Smackdown or RAW and it affected the evening massively.
There was a shift in the general feel of the event and I honestly did grow so
bored that I wasn’t even paying attention to my screen. This singles bout along
with the six-man tag team match didn’t have a place on the show and would have
been far better off being added to this week's RAW and Smackdown LIVE episodes. It
was blatantly obvious these matches were added to the card last minute to fill
in those extra minutes of the night and the decision to book them meant the
show lost a lot of its momentum.
A New Side to the Kabuki Warriors
While the women’s tag team championship match wasn’t something,
I was expecting on the card nor did I feel as though it had a place on the
show last night the end result and the match overall was very telling! With a
new, darker and more heel like performance from Asuka and Sane and new
champions crowned in the process it appears as though there has been more life
added to the women’s tag team division. Exploring the position of a heel role
for the Kabuki Warriors promises more entertaining content for the division but
it also ensures better booking and all-round better content from Asuka and Sane
who have needed exactly this change in character!
Charlotte Flair Defeating Bayley
This for me was another huge mistake. It's clear in my eyes
that the WWE could have done so much more with Bayley’s reign as champion. What
I personally would have preferred to have seen was an angry Banks turning on
Bayley, after Bayley had retained the title setting up that rivalry fans, have
been waiting years for! However, what we now have is Bayley and Banks with next
to no momentum and its unclear as to what we can expect now. The WWE has
massively dropped the ball and along with several excellent creative options
for Bayley as champion. Despite being such an incredible superstar Flair didn’t
need this tenth reign just yet and while this is a brilliant milestone for
Charlotte this was one of the clear mistakes made last night.
A Big Mistake
The match I was most excited for last night was of course
Bray Wyatt vs Seth Rollins inside Hell in a Cell. The Fiend has become one of
the biggest and most popular stars in all of professional wrestling today and
it appeared to be rather straight forward booking. Everyone and their mother
was expecting to see Wyatt walk out of Hell in a Cell Universal Champion, its
what fans wanted and it was the clear end result everyone in attendance wanted to
see, however, the WWE managed to make a huge mistake with this one. Now, it's
clear what the WWE was going for here. The Fiend looked like a true monster
something like anything we have seen before but deciding to end a Hell in a
Cell match by DQ was a huge mistake and left a really bad feeling in the air.
The response to this booking decision has been overwhelmingly negative and
again it was a clear example of the WWE missing out on a huge opportunity. Do
fans really want to see more of the Fiend vs Seth Rollins in terms of storytelling?
Or was it simply the right move to booking Wyatt as your new champion straight up?
It appears like an obvious decision to me.
I do, however, have to admit that I really really enjoyed this match. Wyatt was on fire here and I was left genuinely entertained throughout making this a real standout match up, however, the end result left a real bitter taste in the air.
Questionable Decisions
Overall, Hell in a Cell was an interesting PPV event. Things
started off on such a major high with Banks and Lynch really raising the bar
and delivering one heck of a match up. This followed up by great work from the
Tornado Tag team match but we saw a major dip with that last minute booking of
matches that didn’t belong on the card. This really shifted the momentum of the
evening and effected the general feel of the PPV. Those extra matches made it
feel as though we were taking a break from Hell in a Cell and it appeared as
though it returned upon the Smackdown Women’s championship match. The decision to
have the titles change hands here was controversial but it's clear what we saw
here was a booking decision that will ultimately negatively affect Bayley
unless another title change is on the horizon soon!
As for the main event what we can take away from this In
terms of positives is just how well the Fiend came across. Wyatt did a fantastic
job here. The red lighting was a brilliant decision and it really created a
whole different feel to the match and added so much more to The Feind’s character.
Talking of character, Wyatt was delivering in every aspect, from the kendo
sticks having no effect to waving at the fans to the overall performance inside
the Hell in a Cell structure. However, the DQ ending while made the Fiend look
like a complete monster above anything we have ever seen before it just didn’t
make sense and fans were not sold on the idea. This was the perfect night to
crown Wyatt Universal champion and the WWE massively dropped the ball. In an
age where the competition in pro wrestling is so high between promotions, major
booking errors like this just ain't good enough.
Now, of course, I would love to know what you guys think so
feel free to leave a comment below or tweet me over at @TezangiVictoria.
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