Last night, WWE entertained the world once again with their annual Hell In A Cell event!
History has proven that this show is one of WWE’s weakest, despite having one of WWE’s most barbaric matches to build around. Two years ago, Brock Lesnar caused a no contest when he interfered in the cell match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. Last year arguably their worst match of 2019 – Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend. Luckily, the Fiend has managed to stay over since but it is clear he still hasn’t recovered from the malicious takedown by Rollins.
This year broke that terrible streak of its predecessors. WWE gets a lot of criticism, which is well deserved by the way! However, from at least SummerSlam, WWE has had above-average to fantastic PPV’s. That is four great shows! This seems unbelievable when you look at how poor their weekly tv shows have been recently.
SmackDown and mainly Raw may be set for some huge storyline improvements going forward though as Hell In A Cell has seemingly changed the landscape significantly. The Draft organized the pieces and Hell In A Cell put the jigsaw together by the looks of things. Even if you dislike the direction they are going towards, at least it seems they have a path to follow.
Let’s take a look at the ‘Six Biggest Takeaways From WWE Hell In A Cell 2020’:
6. Randy Orton Wins WWE Championship
Firstly, we should discuss how WWE closed their show… With Randy Orton holding up the WWE Championship for the fourteenth time.
Honestly, I do not mind seeing Randy Orton as champion. As much as people call him boring, I believe he is one of WWE’s best heels. He may not try the hardest all the time but whenever ‘Voices’ echoes throughout the arena, you know you are watching something special.
However, there is something about this win jarring with me. It is two months too late.
Orton has had chance after chance to gain his fourteenth title run against Drew McIntyre and time after time Orton failed. This made McIntyre look better than the Apex Predator and heightened his first WWE title run. However, with Orton winning last night, this just subtracts all of that star-power WWE put into the Scottish Psychopath. It can make people believe McIntyre only survived Orton due to backslides and old dudes. This isn’t a lovely way to say goodbye to McIntyre’s title run.
I really feel for Drew. He was set to be the breakout star of 2020 and even though he still is, this pandemic has affected him the most. Firstly, he didn’t get his ‘Mania moment in front of thousands of cheering fans. Then he has had to put his title on the line against stars such as Dolph Ziggler. Then he was thrown into this huge rivalry with Orton, which was exciting at first but burned under WWE’s favourite thing: months-long feuds.
The match was really fun with an incredible top-of-the-cell moment which saw McIntyre drop through the announce table. However, this and McIntyre’s braveheart persona in this cell couldn’t help me stop feeling disappointed for the guy. Surely, he will win his title back post-pandemic but where can he go now? I feel like this story will continue and who really wants to see another McIntyre-Orton main event?
McIntyre could’ve defended against stars such as AJ Styles or The Fiend. However, who can stand up to Orton with as much talent and fearlessness as McIntyre? Riddle isn’t ready yet. Ricochet has been buried. They already have main event heels ready for McIntyre but there is barely any built-up faces ready to take on Orton. This is an unfortunate problem which WWE has to sort and fast.
It is reported that Orton will have a WrestleMania 36 rematch with Edge at ‘Mania 37 next year, which could easily be for the WWE Championship. Can we last six months with an Orton title reign though? I guess time will tell…
5. Jeff Hardy Has An Aggressive Side
In probably my least favourite part of Hell In A Cell, Jeff Hardy lost by disqualification against Elias in a Raw match which happened on a Sunday.
The match barely had time to get started. They locked up, Elias rolled out for a breather and Hardy whacked him with the guitar. Wow, a music-gimmicked star got hit by his musical instrument, not like that has ever happened before…
This could’ve easily been scheduled for Raw but I guess they had to fill this show. It probably has to continue and the only new thing that may be intriguing is Hardy having an aggressive side.
This is annoying though as Elias should be the wrestler we are talking about after this match. He has just returned and has an album coming out. WWE apparently are high on him backstage also. Therefore, why did they have to save Hardy from a loss? If Elias is going to be one of Raw’s biggest stars shouldn’t he have defeated the Charismatic Enigma? I don’t understand this company’s decisions sometimes.
4. The Miz Wins Money In The Bank Contract
In the most polarizing result of the show, The Miz managed to walk away from this match with Otis as Mr. Money In The Bank.
Otis is always fun to watch in the ring from a comedy standpoint and the way he speaks and moves around got him impressively over at the end of 2019. However, WWE took this too far and decided to literally drop the Money in the Bank briefcase into his hands earlier this year. The worst part about Money In The Bank lately is WWE only try to figure out who would look epic winning the match. Whereas they should decide who they want as champion and work backwards to how the contract can help that star reach their destination.
Otis was never going to be champion with McIntyre/Orton and Reigns holding the front. Therefore, WWE got scared and had to find a way for him to lose his briefcase without cashing in.
This way was a Heavy Machinery break-up. After John Morrison got expelled from ringside, Tucker smacked his partner with the briefcase to secure Miz’ win. I would have rather this was a dream than something that actually happened. Miz as Mr. Money In The Bank in 2020?! Furthermore, how many tag teams do WWE have left? They are really enjoying pulling the switch on tag teams this year. It isn’t even like they can feud as they are on separate brands.
Therefore, Otis is going to go nowhere on SmackDown. Tucker will have squash matches for a few weeks then chase R-Truth for the 24/7 title on Raw. No one gets over.
It is also really unlikely for Miz to cash-in and therefore, he could join Corbin, Strowman, Sandow and Cena as a cash-in failure. Unless he cashes in at Survivor Series. Which is November 22nd. The same date as when he cashed in ten years ago against WWE champion, Randy Orton. Oh! What a coincidence that Orton just happens to be WWE Champion now…
3. Sasha Banks Wins SmackDown Women’s Championship
I loved everything about this match.
From the unique kendo stick spots. To Bayley persistently trying to grab the chair that has tortured Banks in the past. To both women going to the only place this feud must go: straight to hell.
Banks and Bayley prove that they have excellent chemistry with each other once again and I pray that this is not the end to their personal rivalry.
Sasha Banks is now SmackDown Women’s Champion after breaking Bayley’s long reign and is ready to be the ‘Legit Boss’ of the blue brand. I hope she has some great matches against women such as Bianca Belair before rekindling her rivalry with Bayley at WrestleMania next year.
2. Retribution Are So Bad
I was one of the fans that had hope for this new stable. How wrong I was. Retribution are so bad, it is honestly madness how quickly WWE messed this act up.
They could’ve been something. But that was thrown in the bin as soon as they were revealed with their stupid names, pathetic cause and childish actions. At first, I thought these four – T-Bar, Slapjack, Mace and Reckoning – were at the top of the Retribution ladder with unknown goons at the bottom to be the fodder that Hurt Business and company can destroy. However, these respective members are just jobbers for Mustafa Ali! Dominick Dijakovic is now a jobber!
Ali is fantastic and deserves so much more than this. I’m glad he is getting something but not this. Please not this!
During the kickoff, Ali stated that MVP can decide which Hurt Business executive will be in action and which Retribution member he can beat up. As a result, we got a United States Championship between Bobby Lashley and Slapjack.
Slapjack tapped out fairly quickly and the segment ended with a Hurt Business-Retribution stare down. With Survivor Series incoming, it looks like this will be the elimination tag match and once that is said and done Retribution will be known as this decade’s Nexus. Rant over.
1. Roman Reigns Remains The Tribal Chief
Finally, let’s discuss the fantastic bout between Roman Reigns and Jey Uso. This was their second encounter and the first Hell In A Cell “I Quit” Match. I never expected them to put on a better clinic than their Clash of Champions fight but how wrong I was.
Reigns has fully embraced this heel character and is certainly the best thing to come out of no fans wrestling. This feud is also the best of this year and it actually has me craving to see SmackDown and find out what’s next. Because this set up so much for the future of the Samoan family.
Reigns stepped into the demonic structure ready to put Jey in his place. If he beat Uso, Jey would be forced to recognize Reigns as his ‘Tribal Chief’ and be a servant for the Universal Champion. He dismantled his cousin with remorse, unlike the Reigns that stepped into the ring against his blood at the last pay per view. This displays how far Reigns has sunk in the last few weeks fighting this personal battle. Which is not just against the Usos. But against himself.
During the latter half of this forty-minute brawl, Reigns had Jey beaten and conquered. He laid steel steps above the carcass of Jey and was trash-talking down at his soon-to-be servant. As he got angrier and angrier, he leaned back with the steps and was ready to cave Uso’s head in like he was in The Walking Dead and was about to be zombie-dinner. However, Jimmy ran in for the save and leaped atop of Jey’s hopeless body.
Reigns finally came to his senses and realized how far he has taken this vendetta. That much that he started to weep. What an actor! Jimmy being the sensible and caring family-member took his hand in support. The bloodline was back together once again. Or so we thought as Reigns revealed it was all a ruse and unleashed on Jimmy.
In my favourite part of the match, Reigns locked in the guillotine on Jimmy for Jey to take his brother’s hand and say “I quit”. He quit the match to save his brother! He was never going to give up but when his brother was choking to death, he had no choice! Absolute terrific storytelling!
To top it all off, Reigns was embraced and coronated as the ‘Tribal Chief’ by his father, Sika and partner, Afa, the Wild Samoans.
I cannot wait any longer for SmackDown. Will Rikishi be in the corner of the Usos? Will Jey be the servant of Reigns? Are we inching closer to The Rock returning and knocking some sense into the supposed ‘Tribal Chief’? I’ve not been excited like this for WWE in a long, long time!
Do you agree with the takeaways? Let us know on Twitter!
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