Last night was a B+ effort from a C+ entertainment provider. The corporate oriented “sports entertainment” giant WWE truly has forgotten what made it the company it is today. Last night’s “special event” had its moments, but it also showed us WWE still has no idea how to book a show.
First off, Hell in a Cell was novel concept that is now taken for granted and used as a crutch to cover up poor booking. The original Cell was 16 ft (4.9 m) high and weighed over two tons but has since been replaced by an amplified version of 20 ft (6.1 m) and five tons. Thirty Hell in a Cell matches have taken place in WWE since its inception in October of 1997. The original concept for the Hell in a Cell structure was created by wrestling legend Jim Cornette reportedly to replace the oft seen steel cage. Here’s the deal. Shawn Michaels refereed a match between Bret Hart and The Undertaker at the 1997 SummerSlam PPV, and Michaels had deliberately interjected himself in the match costing The Undertaker a win. Eventually the two would meet in the first Hell in a Cell, which at the time captured wrestling fans attention like it hadn’t been in a long time. Michaels would win and this match announced to the world that WWE was still breaking ground and was still innovative at its core.
Fast forward to 2014, LIKE SEVENTEEN YEARS LATER….
17 years later we still have the same old HIAC matches with virtually no back story to justify the match being in the structure. We all know that once inside the caged off ring the risks to be taken are few these days. With one injury to one mid-card or main event player WWE scrambles to fill the gaping hole in the shallow pool of money makers they have.There is no mystique in most of the cell matches that the fans crave, and if you removed the cage – the same match could take place and have the same reactions. If a match needs to be settled in a way that prevents persistent outside interference then this is your setup. There was no reason for Cena vs. Orton to square off in an enclosed area except that they believe it makes a match mean something – we’ll get to that later.. WWE is riding off the success of the Attitude Era still, but like I said previously once the Attitude Era dads like myself have kids who grow out of PG wrestling it’s curtains for WWE. The writing is on the wall if they do not stop worrying about 60-90 minutes of commercials in a 3 hour block. People are tuning out WWE because casual fans are starting to recognize that everything is a money grab. This special event was a B+ for a few good reasons.
Absolute MIDDLE FINGER OF SHAME to WWE for the ending to a 5 star match between Rollins and Ambrose. What WWE cannot understand is that if you let your talent shine, if you let them wrestle a 5 star match it does not matter who wins. Let me say that again.
IF YOU LET YOUR TALENT WRESTLE A 5 STAR MATCH THE FANS WIN.
Ambrose vs. Rollins could have ended with a clean win either way. No heat would be lost and if he won, the fans who like Rollins would be happy, and obviously Ambrose’s would be hungry for revenge. Reverse that if Ambrose won. Undertaker used to lose and the fans still cared. The problem is that today WWE doesn’t understand that the MOST POPULAR superstar in the core viewing audience of WWE right now is Dean Ambrose. Rollins vs. Ambrose doesn’t need a title interjected to headline Wrestlemania. They are the future of WWE and instead of allowing them to continue their meteoric rise trust me when I say one of them will job to HHH or Orton soon in a big event and kill their momentum because WWE is living off the amazing talent grab Jim Ross did during the OVW feeder days. But first, let’s throw a poorly booked Bray Wyatt in to the mix because Rollins and Ambrose are stealing the spotlight from John Cena or HHH’s buddy Randy Orton.
Jack Bratcher’s coverage of the event was spot on:
Dean Ambrose is on top of the cell with a tick before the match even starts and he’s already put about five folding chairs in the ring. Security stops Rollins from climbing to the top to start the match. So he orders them to go get Ambrose. Mercury and Noble climb the cell for Ambrose. Ambrose claps that they made it to the top. Ambrose works them over with a Kendo stick. Rollins thens climbs it and smashes Ambrose with the stick while Mercury and Noble hold him down. Rollins tells them to throw him off. He breaks free and Ambrose slams Mercury on the cell ceiling. Rollins and Ambrose now fighting on the side of the cell about halfway up. Ambrose headbutts him and they both fall of onto the announcers tables, smashing them to bits. They are both down and hurt. Handlers are attending to Rollins and they have brought out a stretcher for both of them. The fall looked pretty bad, especially for Rollins who looks to have hurt his arm. They start wheeling both men out. Ambrose gets off his stretcher and goes after Rollins and rams him head first into the cage. Ambrose then throws him inside the cell and makes the handlers lock the door. Ambrose brings out a duffel bag after tossing Rollins into the ring. Ambrose sits down in a chair in the middle of the ring, then picks it up and smashes Rollins across the back over and over. Ambrose drop kicks Rollins off the apron into the cage. Ambrose dives out on top of Rollins. Back in the ring Rollins hits a counter and slams Ambrose onto a chair. Rollins brings out a folding table and leans it on the apron. But Rollins ends up on the table with Ambrose coming off the turnbuckles with an elbow, knocking Rollins through the table onto the floor and breaking it. Both are down. … Back in the ring Rollins smashes Ambrose over and over with the chair. Rollins sets Ambrose up on the briefcase for a curb stomp. Ambrose counters, Rollins counters. Ambrose counters with a clothesline but can’t pin. Ambrose brings in two cinder blocks and puts Rollins’ head on them. At this point the lights go out. What we see next is smoke in the ring with the lights out and a figure in the smoke chanting. Bray Wyatt comes out of the smoke and nails Ambrose. Lights go out, when they come back on Wyatt is doing the spider walk and hits a huge slam on Ambrose that allows Rollins to pin him. Rollins exits and Wyatt is left in the cell with Ambrose. He picks him up and hits a Sister Abigail. … Lights go out again. Nice unexpected twist I must say to have Wyatt come back this way. However, most everyone on Twitter hated the ending.
Moving on….
Cena will always be the cash cow no matter how stale he has become, or the lack of any real persona, or his terrible ring attire. Cena is not the thug life rapper he rose to fame as. Instead we get Super Cena who can shot and kick out. Ask yourself this readers: Is there even a question anymore when Cena wrestles anyone other than Brock Lesnar that he will win? My guess is that your answer is no. Brock Lesnar is reportedly going to put over someone at Wrestlemania like a Roman Reigns, or potentially Randy Orton. Reigns is far from over with WWE crowd and his spear finisher is as played out as Cena’s ring attire. His Superman punch should be his finisher, but what does this have to do with this article? Nothing. The point is that Cena kills careers when they book him because of Vince McMahon’s out of touch decision making and corporate pressures. Next on his list is apparently the now monster heel Rusev – say bye bye to your career Rusev when Super Cena injects comedy in to your feud that takes away from your appearance as a juggernaut, and then defeats you with that grin on his face older fans loathe.
Rusev beating Big Show was the right choice. He beat the biggest threat to date and decisively so it makes sense that only a Randy Orton, John Cena, or HHH could defeat him. There is a big chance that HHH could be the one to end Rusev’s streak if the others are tied up. A longshot is to let him defeat Brock Lesnar and become the next big heel. Not that far fetched if you think about how cartoony the characters are to make action figures, cartoons, and merchandise easier to transition in to. Rusev is turning in to a good mid-card heel.
AJ Lee as the champion is the right thing to do. She is respected by fans, and has real wrestling talent. Paige does too, but her speaking voice sounds like a man’s. As hot as she is it is still troubling to see her look so amazing in that skimpy emo ring attire and then hear that deep voice. Lee is the right choice if you look at the overall package.
Bray Wyatt has been misused, booked poorly, and marketed badly since his meteoric rise. He got bigger, or close to it than John Cena and as Stone Cold says “and that’s something you don’t do”. So they take a guy whose career is on the fritz and put him in the main event scene? More evidence that WWE has no idea what to do with anyone other than Cena or Orton. Rollins and Ambrose have paved their own ways by taking the crap WWE wanted them to shovel and turned it in to solid gold. Let’s hope that this time around Wyatt gets the same chance before getting buried deep in the mid card again despite his talent, speaking ability, and fan support.
Hell in a Cell special events need to go the way Elimination Chamber is reportedly going to – gone for good unless it has meaning behind it.